One of the greatest challenges that B-to-B marketers face is generating and cultivating new leads. If you're facing a similar challenge, consider hosting a Webinar to initiate a one-to-one dialogue with your target customers. Ovation recently conducted a two-part Webinar series for one of our clients that produced an ROI of more than 58%. The event attracted 750 registrants, of which two-thirds attended the event. It was highly successful in generating new leads (65% of attendees were not in the client's database), and it also enabled our client to connect with its current customers in a meaningful way.

We conducted a multichannel marketing effort to encourage people to sign up for the Webinar. The campaign consisted of an e-mail invitation to prospects and current customers, a print and online ad in industry trade publications, a press release, and a flyer that sales representatives could send to their customers. The e-mail generated more than 50% of the registrations with the trade ad producing approximately 20% of the sign-ups. There was also significant word-of-mouth. Nearly 20% of the registrants heard about the Webinar from a colleague.

At the conclusion of each event, attendees were asked to take a brief survey. We measured their satisfaction with various aspects of the event (content, duration, delivery, etc.) and requested their input on other topics they'd like to learn more about in future Webinars. This feedback has been valuable for planning upcoming events. If you're considering conducting a Webinar to generate B2B sales leads, here are a few key factors to keep in mind:

1. Don't go overboard talking about your products and services. Attendees will immediately be turned off if you use the event to overtly sell your products/services. It's acceptable to occasionally give your company a plug, but keep it subtle and avoid the temptation to sell, sell, sell.
2. Keep the Webinar less than an hour and leave ample time for Q&A. We also found that people prefer to have multiple Q&A sessions during the presentation rather than have one session at the end.
3. Use polls to keep attendees engaged. We saw a spike in the number of questions attendees posted shortly after a poll was conducted.
4. Follow up with an e-mail to no-shows to encourage them to participate in an archived version of the Webinar. Post links to the archive on your Web site. Within a week after the event, we had more than 15% of the participants take part in the archived event.
5. Plan your follow-up strategy in advance of the session and don't delay in following up with both attendees and no-shows. These prospects are hot. Now is the time to pitch them on your products and services.

Are you getting ready to launch a new product or service or want to promote a special offer? The key to a successful launch campaign is the landing page to which you're driving traffic. Your landing page should be very focused on (1) communicating the product benefits and (2) capturing and converting leads. Here are five tactics we've found that greatly improves landing page conversion rates for our B2B clients:

1. Engage the audience with video, testimonials or useful downloadable materials. Make sure you build in tracking mechanisms so you know how often this content is being viewed or downloaded. And to increase the assimilation of this information (download rate), refrain from requiring visitors to fill out long forms before they can access the content.
2. Keep the message (benefits) simple. By using rollovers and dynamic content, visitors can drill down for more detail. This helps to keep the focus on the key benefits you're trying to communicate.
3. Feature a prominent call to action. Test button text, graphic treatment and location of the button to maximize conversions.
4. Optimize the landing page for organic search. What words are prospects using to search for products and services like yours? Make sure these most common search terms are laced throughout your landing page (in headlines and copy, the title, within PDFs and filenames).
5. Make it easy for people to provide their contact information. We've seen conversions increase dramatically by merely simplifying the contact form. Oftentimes you're tempted to ask for tons of interesting information to help qualify a lead, but this creates a barrier for people to fill out the form. Instead, try a two-step approach by asking for essential information first (contact name, company name and email) then follow-up in a confirmation or thank you email by asking for more detailed information (mailing address, segmentation-type questions, etc.).

To ensure a successful product launch, the most successful companies test all of these components and more.

Ovation Marketing just wrapped up a 2007 quarterly business-to-consumer e-newsletter campaign for one of its clients. Each issue of the newsletter contained a feature video, useful tips, and downloadable PDFs on how customers can save money on their bill. Consistently, the feature video generated the majority of click-throughs across the campaign ranging from 14-16% of total clicks. Below is a chart highlighting key statistics for this successful campaign. According to MarketingSherpa's 2008 Email Marketing Benchmark Survey, the majority (48%) of B-to-C e-newsletters generate click-through rates of 5% or less with 22% achieving a 5.1 – 10% click-through rate.

One of the interesting stats from the winter issue is that it had the highest click-to-open ratio. The click-to-open ratio can be thought of as “of the number of people who actually opened the e-mail, how many did something with it” (i.e. how engaged were they?). The winter e-mail also had the highest total number of people clicking, 30% more than the second highest (summer) issue. Once again, the video drove the majority of click-throughs, with the winter video having the highest click rate for the entire campaign. Videos are especially effective if you’re trying to encourage customers to make a significant investment, as they typically seek a higher level of involvement or engagement with your product or service before making a decision.

As you’re considering ways to engage your e-mail recipients and Website visitors this year, videos can be very effective in making that one-to-one connection with your prospects and customers.

DM News recently published findings from a report by Jupiter Research, The Maturation of E-mail: Controlling Messaging Chaos through Centralization. The study suggests "e-mail marketing needs to be centralized across all brand communications to increase consumer trust and avoid inbox saturation." I couldn't agree more. Below are the top 10 reasons why centralizing your e-mail marketing across all of your brands makes sense. It allows you to:

1. Coordinate your messages and content across brands based on your customers' expressed interest. According to the Jupiter report, "53% of consumers opt out of e-mail when content no longer interests them."
2. Increase sales and revenue by more easily identifying "best customers."
3. Control the frequency of mailings. Only a centralized approach will allow you to control the frequency of mailings which is also critical to maintaining your opt-in database.
4. Build stronger relationships with customers.
5. Better control your permission/opt-in process.
6. Develop an effective on-boarding or welcoming campaign to introduce customers to your other brands.
7. Conduct more effective tests and capitalize on those learnings to improve your e-mail marketing efforts company-wide.
8. Practice regular database hygiene to ensure a high rate of e-mail deliverability.
9. Eliminate redundancies and streamline your marketing communications efforts (ultimately reducing costs).
10. Optimize your name acquisition efforts and grow your database.

When a friend shared her recent experience of ordering shoes from Zappos.com, I thought I'd give them a try, even though I'm a bit leery of ordering shoes without trying a pair on. But with their "free shipping both ways" policy, how could I lose? Rarely do I experience service that "wows" me enough to talk about it, but Zappos is doing a great job of fostering a one-to-one relationship with me so far. Many companies send a generic shipping notice, but take a look below at the message I received after ordering my first pair of shoes from Zappos. This message does many things right:

1. It's personal and friendly and feels like a real person is talking to me versus a faceless corporation.
2. "We wanted to let you know that we've been working around the clock" – I get a real sense of commitment, care and quality with this statement.
3. It reinforces the brand message and positioning – "we think of ourselves as a service company who happens to sell shoes."
4. It encourages people to tell their friends and family about their experience – as the company relies on word-of-mouth versus spending a lot of money on marketing.

However, there are three things they could employ in this email to take it to the next level:

1. I've just had a great service experience and would like to hear more from this company. Why not include an e-mail opt-in like Land's End does below?
2. Since word-of-mouth is the cornerstone of their marketing strategy, a "Forward to a Friend" feature should be built into all customer communiqués. For example, "So if you enjoyed your experience with us, please be sure to tell your family and friends about Zappos.com by clicking here." The link would take them to a pre-formed e-mail introduction that they could forward to a friend.
3. "We are constantly striving to improve our service. If there is anything we can do to help improve your service, please don't hesitate to let us know." I like how they are encouraging feedback, but they could take it a step further by including a link to an online survey or another e-mail window that allows me to send a message directly to Zappos' customer service department.

Transactional e-mails such as a shipping notice or order confirmation are a great way to stay in touch with your customers while the experience is still fresh in their minds. It's also an opportunity to generate other transactions (feedback, referrals and e-mail opt-ins for example). So don't overlook the power that these communiqués play in developing a one-to-one relationship with your customers.

If you're like most catalogers, you're probably looking for cost-effective ways to combat the rise in postal rates. According to a survey conducted by Penton media, more than three-quarters (77%) of respondents are considering increasing their use of e-mail and one out of four catalog mailers are considering replacing some catalog mailings with postcards. If you're thinking about using postcards or solo mailers to enhance your catalog program, consider these tips:

• Feature one of your best-selling products when prospecting for new customers. Make the product a hero – supplementing it with customer testimonials and a desirable offer.
• Create a sense of urgency by including a deadline for response.
• Don't try to cram too much information onto the postcard or mailer – instead direct them to a specialized landing page where you can provide more details, track results and encourage immediate purchase.
• Solo mailers can be an effective customer acquisition tool, so be sure to include a catalog request form on the landing page.
• Given the cost effectiveness of digital printing, test personalization (e.g. name, offer, etc.) to increase response rate.
• From past research that Ovation has done, we know that many customers tend to shop with a catalog in hand – e-mail and postcards can't take its place. Therefore, you must continuously test to find the optimal mix and frequency of mailings (catalogs vs. postcards/mailers vs. emails).
• Don't overlook mini catalogs as they too can be another cost-effective tool to stay top-of-mind with customers or to prospect for new customers.

A study recently published by Internet Retailer indicates that of the 300 merchants that took part in their survey in April 2007, 94.5% are building bigger opt-in lists and 64.7% are conducting more e-mail campaigns than a year ago. What was interesting though, was that only half (56.6%) of the respondents segment their e-mail lists. Why build a bigger database if you’re not going to take the time to build a relationship with the customers that have already opted in?

In Chris Baggott’s new book E-mail Marketing by the Numbers (which I highly recommend you read if you manage an e-mail program or are considering one) he stresses that “list size is not the goal – relationships that make your organization money are the appropriate goal.” Relationships come from targeting and relevance, not from frequency.” Segmentation really boils down to identifying what will keep your customers engaged. There are many ways to segment your e-mail database, but Baggott recommends these three tactics just for starters:

• Thank your “best” customers and stop asking them to do more. Show them how much they mean to you by making them part of the team (advisory boards, clubs, memberships, etc.).
• Show your best stuff to new subscribers.
• Once you’ve identified your “best” customers, look for others who share similar characteristics (“almost best”) and try to move them to the next level. This is where experimentation and testing can really pay off.

Yellow page advertising is pretty much a given if you’re a small business owner. But if you haven’t considered placing an Internet yellow page ad, think again. This article (http://adage.com/news.cms?newsId=44859) summarizes the results of a study that shows consumers that searched Internet yellow pages spent on average between 5% and 17% more online and between 13% and 17% more in brick-and-mortar stores after searching Internet yellow page ads than conducting a search engine query.

Internet yellow page ads can be more dynamic than static yellow page ads too in that you can test different promotions and special offers to determine which is better at generating sales.

Serenity, peace, relaxation, calm and spirituality.  I recently read an article titled, Zen and the Art of Brand Maintenance, and began to reflect on my own personal affinity towards brands that attach spiritual experiences to their product and wondered what has prompted this trend and how does it affect the way in which people buy.  If you think back to your management classes and the discussions about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, it becomes clear.  The '90s were a time of prosperity.  American consumers (me included) were trying to fulfill their esteem needs and purchasing everything their money could buy.  Did we find happiness in these worldly possessions?  For a short time perhaps, but eventually it just brought frustration.  Too many toys, and no time to play because we’re too busy working to pay off the bills.  For many, this has created the desire for simplification as they journey down the path to self-actualization (truth, goodness, simplicity, totality, uniqueness) through their brand experiences.  Having less, but truly more. 

So how does this affect the way people buy?

Consumers are willing to pay more for brands that fulfill a higher need such as self-actualization.  Brands that offer customers an emotional experience become truly memorable and sought out, such as the Starbucks example in the article above. And cause marketing, if properly aligned with the target market’s needs, interests and passions, plays a more significant role in influencing brand perceptions and forging stronger connections with consumers. 

The Dalai Lama in his book titled, A Simple Path, states that “everything beautiful and good, everything we consider desirable, brings us suffering in the end. That is the nature of things – they change.”  Therefore, spiritually-infused brands will, in time, have to evolve too, as trends, like all things – they change.