B2B Insights Blog
B2B Insights Blog
J. Leigh Brown
J. Leigh Brown
Interactive Creative Director
For those of you who didn’t run around as a child wishing to be an interactive creative director when you grew up, you might be wondering what exactly that means.
After an education geared toward writing the great American novel, I ended up applying my love of the written word, ability to communicate well, and play nicely with others, to a career in advertising. Then I decided to use my powers for good in a role where I’m an advocate for the most important person in the marketing cycle: the customer. Specifically, the user or web site visitor, as I handle the strategy, creative development, information architecture and design for Godfrey’s Web sites and applications.
I talk to my computer screen, frustrated with poor usability. I actually complete Web site feedback forms. And, I get excited about the potential customer experience a Web site can create. Because it’s not just your Web site, it’s your business.
After an education geared toward writing the great American novel, I ended up applying my love of the written word, ability to communicate well, and play nicely with others, to a career in advertising. Then I decided to use my powers for good in a role where I’m an advocate for the most important person in the marketing cycle: the customer. Specifically, the user or web site visitor, as I handle the strategy, creative development, information architecture and design for Godfrey’s Web sites and applications.
I talk to my computer screen, frustrated with poor usability. I actually complete Web site feedback forms. And, I get excited about the potential customer experience a Web site can create. Because it’s not just your Web site, it’s your business.
July 14, 2008 | 8:59am
Do B-to-B marketers really need a blog? (J. Leigh Brown)
BtoB Magazine reported that the popularity of B-to-B corporate blogging is waning, drawing on new information from Forrester Research’s report "How to Derive Value from B2B Blogging.”
Among those marketers surveyed, 53% said blogs were irrelevant or marginal in their current marketing strategy. The firm attributed this to a misalignment between the investment required and the expected returns. This B-to-B marketing research report has generated a lot of press—enough with information gaps—that Forrester posted a clarification about the methodology. ---More--- |
June 25, 2008 | 9:39am
Stop obsessing about your home page (J. Leigh Brown)
In every B-to-B web site redesign project, the home page always gets a lot of attention. Not only does everyone have an opinion, every area of the company usually feels that they need to be included in the process. Often a committee is created, usually with some acronym as a name to inspire action or teamwork. (WACS, WAT, WEBA) And then, the battle begins. Company divisions start clamoring for heavy exposure on the home page. Upper management wants a lengthy Flash intro splash screen. (No, this isn’t dead yet, and yes, it’s still a bad idea. See note below.) The IR team insists its messages should trump marketing’s. There are months of meetings, rounds of designs, and the end product reflects the company’s internal strife. The final design is often a clunky compromise, a concession to meet the political needs of the company—not the needs of the customer.
Oh, well. They won’t ever see your home page anyway. ---More--- |
May 15, 2008 | 11:31am
In a perfect web world, your web site landing pages would have great conversion rates. A usability expert, user behavior observations, and qualitative research would be a part of every web design project. You would have hard data to know what works before unleashing your designs.
The reality is most B-to-B marketers don’t have the budgets or time to include this type of testing to optimize landing pages. But this doesn’t mean you should resign yourself to continue blindly driving visitors to your site, not knowing why your landing pages aren’t working or how to fix them. Getting results from your landing page If you’re running a campaign and not seeing results on your landing page, consider A/B testing. Although it has limitations, A/B testing is an inexpensive and relatively simple way to improve your site’s conversion rates. ---More--- |
April 11, 2008 | 1:29pm
Social media in b-to-b marketing -- business sense or nonsense? (J. Leigh Brown)
Many b-to-b marketers are slow to add social media elements to their marketing techniques.
Maybe you aren’t sure how to integrate it. Or you’re afraid that your company might not buy into the idea. Perhaps you don’t yet understand why social media is important. Not only is it important, it’s an essential communication method that all b-to-b marketers need to be involved in. Those marketers who participate as early adopters in this new landscape will have the ability to lead—and succeed. Social media isn’t about technology. Or some new buzzword, popular web site, or new blogging tool. It’s about sociology—how people interact, gather, and share information. The tools and distribution methods will continue to evolve. The most popular social networks, bookmarking sites, news aggregators, and media communities will change, and the ways to distribute content ---More--- |
March 19, 2008 | 9:37am
Wondering about Widgets (J. Leigh Brown)
Ah, the widget. Beloved gadget, little module, info snippet, capsule of content or frivolous fun brought right to me. The widget is nothing new, but it’s been hyped a lot lately as marketers salivate over the advertising potential.
A long-time user of widgets, mostly for aggregating syndicated content, I was recently annoyed when I noticed a change in my iGoogle desktop. My only eye-candy widget, a picture of the day, was no longer visible, pushed off screen by a Google ad, newly inserted above the day’s image. Instantly engaged by the compelling advertisement, I delayed conquering my overflowing E-mail inbox and immediately clicked through to the advertiser's web site. Or so those wide-eyed over widgets want to believe. The Widget ---More--- |
January 25, 2008 | 9:36am
Technology with a Purpose (J. Leigh Brown)
Most business-to-business marketers have a very long to do list for 2008. And if the predictions of BtoB Magazine and others are right, embracing Web 2.0 is probably still on that list.
But what embracing Web 2.0 means isn’t just a matter of subjective semantics, a definition varying with each pundit’s proclamations. How you incorporate new interaction techniques should vary with your company and objectives, but most importantly, the individual segments of your target audiences. Remember that your web site serves many different audiences, all with different goals. Some visitors are just starting to research products, others are looking for service and support, while special groups like journalists, partners, and investors, are interested in a getting information quickly and getting on with their tasks. ---More--- |
December 20, 2007 | 8:54am
Coffee and Google (J. Leigh Brown)
I start my day with coffee and Google. I have my iGoogle home page aggregating information from various business technology, digital and b-to-b marketing, web site design and information architecture sources. I also get Google news alerts on other subjects. The news alerts aren’t always relevant, but there are usually one or two things that interest me.
Today, my web site usability feed had a listing about BMW’s new web site launch, touting that “AJAX technology will increase the site's interactivity, speed, functionality and usability.” Although not a business-to-business web site, I like to stay on top of how leading companies are improving online experiences for customers. After hanging out on the BMW home page for several minutes (reminder to ---More--- |
December 10, 2007 | 10:27pm
B-to-B Privacy Matters (J. Leigh Brown)
The deluge of postings about Facebook’s recent misstep with the implementation of Beacon’s ad platform, and Mark Zuckerberg’s apology has privacy issues on my mind.
Although the news is about controversial consumer advertising within a social networking site, the fundamental privacy issues also apply to business-to-business marketers. Privacy matters. And a failure to respect the rights and requests of your audience is a surefire way to alienate the very group with which you are trying to build loyalty. No doubt you have a prospect database somewhere (or many unrelated sources and a swivel-chair CRM system) filled with names, E-mail addresses, and if you’re lucky, the interests and behaviors of your target audience. ---More--- |
November 29, 2007 | 10:12pm
A Web of Lost Opportunities (J. Leigh Brown)
As 2007 winds down, we’re having great conversations. Planning for 2008, talking about new b-to-b marketing tactics—optimizing press releases, text messaging campaigns, leveraging social networks, launching new Google ads. The wish list varies with every business marketer’s challenge but there’s one item that’s always included: updating the web site to support these promotional activities. Is it on your list? Because when it comes to actual plan execution, this critical area is often the one that drops off marketers' to-do lists.
You put all this new energy into getting your audiences’ attention. You actually get them to respond. And they end up on an old web page that doesn’t support the message you pushed out there. Or the page isn’t designed to get prospects to take the next step. Or you expect too much for too little. Too often I hear: “Just link all the ads to page X.” “Use ---More--- |
October 12, 2007 | 8:25am
Winning with Web 2.0 (J. Leigh Brown)
Many of our discussions about the implementation of Web 2.0 tactics for b-to-b marketing communications revolve around what is appropriate for the target audience and our client’s brand. But beyond using Web 2.0 tools as methods for messaging and building customer relationships, there’s often another beneficial aspect to explore: productivity and efficiency gains.
Having evolved beyond its initial definition, the Web 2.0 term covers a variety of implementations—Ajax applications, blogs, mashups, social networking and more, but they are all, in theory, aimed at helping people collaborate and communicate better. Looking beyond external communications, there are huge opportunities for companies to use these tools internally too. ---More--- |
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