MarketStar Blog

Only a few years ago, the term social media was restricted to social interactions on a Friendster or MySpace page. Fast forward a few years and you find social media playing a pivotal role in almost all aspects of our daily lives and interactions – from purchasing decisions to election results. With the clever blend of convenient technology and interaction capabilities, social media is now redefining how people communicate, consume and distribute information.  

Did you know that 50% of people learn about the latest happenings and events in the world through social media? Studies have found that the average time spent by people aged 18 to 64 years old on social media is more than three hours daily! What does this mean for the B2B marketer? It means that if you are not where your customers are, you will be losing precious business. 

The rise of social media networks has caused a significant shift in the manner in which people interact with brands. When pleased with a brand experience, customers now express their sentiments in the form of a like on a Facebook or LinkedIn page and when displeased, send an angry tweet on Twitter with the ability to do irreparable damage by going viral. As a B2B marketer, this change in customer behavior coupled with the opportunities presented by the channel itself means that you can no longer afford to ignore this medium. 

With the advent of new social networks, there is a tendency and also an added pressure for marketers to utilize all the social channels. But B2B marketers must strictly only use those channels which are effective for the objectives they plan to meet. This means that while making a social media marketing plan, you should map your overall objective to social media channels which are effective in meeting those objectives. Here is a list of some of the most important objectives for B2B marketers along with the social media strategies for each one of them: 

Customer Success is quickly becoming the Holy Grail for all companies with a subscription-based revenue model. It’s not surprising, since Customer Success done correctly can massively expand conversions and renewals, reduce churn, increase customer satisfaction and advocacy, and greatly increase revenue. 

Technology over the last five years has integrated into nearly every aspect of our lives, and it’s not just coming from Silicon Valley anymore. It’s spreading (some may think like the plague—thanks mom), from New England based start-ups to the newly termed Silicon Slopes of Utah. Huge surges of technology start-ups resembling the dot-com days have emerged. Everything has become more efficient, better integrated, and dare I say more complex. Especially as we start talking about direct sales teams. 

Utah-Based Company Gains National Recognition as Digital Agency Superstar

Although it is found that Mobile ads outperform traditional online ads by as much as 4 to 5 times (Source: Social Media Today), marketers and advertisers are still not tapping the immense potential offered by the channel. A research on mobile marketing trends by Regalix had revealed that only 20% of marketers use mobile advertisers to connect and engage with their target audience. With more and more people using mobile devices to access, search and share valuable information; it is going to become increasingly crucial for marketers to utilize this channel to create long lasting relationships with their customers. 

Marketing a product in the digital age means utilizing those means used by your customers to communicate product information to them. With video fast becoming the content consumption format of choice for senior executives as indicated by 60% business executives who reported a preference to watching a video as opposed to reading text on the same webpage (Source: Forbes survey), it has become absolutely critical for B2B marketers to use videos for marketing their products and services . With this post, we bring to you tips that will allow you to use videos for successfully marketing your products and services. 

Recently, a study conducted by SiriusDecisions demonstrated a rapid increase in the demand for Marketing Automation, with the industry projected to grow at approximately 50% by 2015. But once the automation system has been implemented, how does one determine whether it is working for them or not or in other words, compute the return on their investment. 

Video analytics are important to marketers in order to understand and measure how viewers get to an online video and their behavior post watching the video. Adequate measurement of video metrics will enable marketers to understand the impact and effectiveness of their video and will also allow them to make necessary edits to their video campaigns at regular time intervals.

On the 22nd of February 2016, Starbucks announced that it was planning to make significant changes to its popular loyalty program. In the weeks and months that followed, even as the company rolled out its revised program, it faced intense criticism from customers and disappointing quarterly results on Wall Street1. Negative press notwithstanding, it was clear that Starbucks was doing something right. The company’s loyalty program was not ignored, like most programs are, but instead it carried influence and created an impact. 

Video marketing is more popular than ever. As a medium for getting your message out to the world, it’s unparalleled in its ability to instantly engage a viewer and keep them interested in what you have to say. Video marketing for channel partners is no different. However, where you put your videos affects the process differently, depending on with whom you partner. Needs across different channel partners change your approach.