Happy Friday, B2B marketers! You may be starting to act on your 2017 resolutions and marketing goals. If you’re striving to generate more leads, prove the value of your content and campaigns, or simply test new approaches, this week’s articles are for you. This week’s Fast & Easy Friday provides an overview of different outlets and channels that marketers can focus on and, ultimately, see a greater return on their marketing investments:
- Turn your lead gen forms into a work of art: You may not believe it, but lead gen forms actually have a significant impact on buyer behaviors and ultimately, content consumption. The design, colors and imagery used in your lead gen forms can either infatuate site visitors or turn them off. We’ve covered this topic on our own blog, and this piece featured on Demand Gen Report also offers some great tips and best practices. Specifically, A/B testing shouldn’t be overlooked. Landing pages are a great channel to test different design approaches, colors, imagery choices and even messaging. Tracking downloads and page visits can help you gauge what works and what doesn’t for your audience. These insights aren’t just valuable for your landing pages and promo; it’s beneficial for your overall content strategy, too.
- Create really, really, ridiculously good-looking emails: Just like landing pages, emails are pivotal to B2B marketers’ marketing mix. The challenge with emails, though, is that everyone gets them…a lot of them. I was recently speaking with a CIO/CTO who said he receives so many emails, he just deletes them if they’re from vendors he doesn’t recognize. That puts B2B brands in a bad spot. Well, C4D team member Melanie Kinney wrote this awesome piece to show how B2B brands can ramp up their email marketing game. Interactivity, segmentation and focus all lead the way in terms of best practices, according to Kinney. The examples she shares in the blog really drive these points home. If you’re itching for more insights, check out this blog she wrote on what makes objects clickable.
- Seriously, it’s time to get mobile friendly: We’ve seen the numbers in Demand Gen Report’s annual Content Preferences Survey that prove more buyers are using their mobile devices to access and engage with vendor content. Smartphones and tablets are becoming critical devices as workers strive to stay productive anywhere and at all times during the day. Your web site, content and other brand channels need to be optimized for these screen sizes. If you’re making prospects and customers pinch, zoom and jump through hoops to learn about your brand and products, you’re leading them down a path to frustration. Don’t ruin potentially profitable relationships with poor mobile experiences.
- Perk up buyers with your content: We’re big proponents of the idea that B2B doesn’t have to be boring. In fact, we believe that B2B can’t be boring if brands want to stand out and truly thrive. You may think this is easier said than done if you’re in a (forgive my bluntness) dry industry. But we’ve written some articles and hosted some webinars to show how brands can put a new spin on their content formats and storytelling. This article also offers some great tips that can help you humanize your brand. And if you need to get buy-in from your team, this piece also includes some valuable statistics and proof points.
Did we miss any other helpful articles this week? We’d love to see them, and your thoughts on these articles, in the comments section below.
