Speaking on this panel are David Stoller – Business.com, John Andrews – Upper Left Placement, Kerry McClenahan – McBru, and Daniel Boberg – Yahoo!
Kerry McClenahan of McBru starts off the panel discussion with a real life example of marketing to IT buyers, a common B2B target audience for Search Marketing. She points out the opportunity to optimize PR materials and blogs for SEO. Be sure to integrate brand awareness goals into SEM strategy to drive B2B Search Marketing. Search Marketing needs to be a part of the overall marketing process.
David Stroller of Business.com is up next. We can thank David for the top swag item of the day, everyone’s lanyard. Business.com has performed exhaustive research on the new marketing landscape for 2009. No surprise, this year is all about ROI.
B2B vs. B2C
The most important difference between B2B and B2C search marketing is in the buying cycle. B2B optimization should focus on search queries indicating searchers early in the buying cycle. Because of multiple decision makers and longer buying process, you need to focus your content to the needs of this important audience.
B2B Search Marketing Rules:
1. Know your audience and find them online.
2. Cover the entire buying cycle. B2B is far less ‘transactional’ than B2C.
3. Focus on traffic quality – For PPC, avoid competing with a B2C company that will drive up your bid cost.
4. Drive visitors to action – Once you attract the right searcher, drive them to complete your desired task.
5. Measure what you can and acknowledge limits – Focus on top metrics and don’t get bogged down by complex statistics.
6. Start targeted, then expand – Identify target audience, then expand reach.
Daniel Boberg offers up some B2B Search Marketing Best Practices:
1. Match campaigns to longer sales cycle of B2B conversions
2. Track all conversion types – not every visitor ‘converts’ the same way
3. Drive visitors to action
4. Qualify your audience and drive leads through search copy
5. Link search ads to reach multiple decision makers
As of October 2008, search marketers can set bid amounts by city, state, and zip code. Also use ad schedules to bid on your keywords based on specific time zones during prime B2B searching hours.
John Andrews is the final panelist and will focus on SEO dynamics of B2B Search Campaigns. Consider the three major query types: informational, navigational, and transactional. Help your audience through the funnel at every stage. If you attract a visitor from an informational query, but do not also provide information on transactional intent, you may be driving them back to Google and ultimately to your competitors’ sites!
Tyson Braun, Search Engine Specialist, EngineWorks
Graduated from the University of Iowa in the Summer of 2008. I moved to Portland shortly after and am now a Search Specialist at EngineWorks. I’m Loving Portland and Search Marketing. Drop me a line if you ever want to talk SEO.
