Search Results for: marketing strategy

How Graphics and UI can Generate More Leads

Posted on By Vikas Bhatt

Think about it for a second.   What do you remember from the last website or blog you visited (except for the content, of course!)?    Most of the answers are graphics, infographics, Pinterest image, logo, easy to browse experience etc.   So, if any of these are not at its best, you are running at a risk of losing potential buyers quickly.   Next question is pretty obvious –   What should do you do? Or What can you do about it?   It’s simple. Hire a professional graphics designer and UI/UX developer (or outsource your design work) to work with you and create the best experience for your buyers.   Because experience is all that matters today.   In this post, we will discuss how graphics and UI are used to generate more quality B2B leads for your business.   Using graphics to generate more leads Do you know that 37% of the marketers say that visual marketing was the most important part of their content marketing strategy, second only to blogging, which came in at 38%?   One of the most obvious inference from the statement above is that graphic design is an important part of any content marketing strategy, especially when your aim is to generate more leads.   Interesting graphic, right? Attractive and well designed featured images, infographics, logo, thumbnails, Pinterest images etc require professional designing.   And, hence, it becomes quintessential for any business that wants to generate more leads, to find a quality graphic design artist or a partner (like OnlyB2B).     1. Social media is all about images 74% of social media marketers say they use images in their social media marketing, coming in ahead of blogs at 68% and videos at 60%.   I wouldn’t need to look at a research to believe these particular statistics.   Come on!   Whether it is Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest; you can attract the users ONLY if you have attractive graphics (or images). Lets look at a few more statistics to prove this   Tweets with images receive 150% more retweets than those which don’t have graphics. Post with images have 2.3 times more engagement on Facebook Instagram and Pinterest are totally image based, so no doubt there! LinkedIn is definitely an exception. However, graphics do play an important role if you are sharing blog posts, articles, infographics etc on the platform.   Look –   The attention span of buyers nowadays is very short. Increase your visibility to generate more leads by using professionally designed graphics or outsourcing your design work.   3. Recall and Remember brand Consumers recall only 10% of the information they learn from reading about a brand. However, they remember 65% of the information if it is in the form of images and other graphics.   Trademarks are based on this idea itself!This is enough to understand the potential of graphic designing for any business. Ready to outsource it to an agency?   4. The new graphics, Infographics   Infographics have started dominating the social media space. After all, they are shared 3 times more than any other form of content.   They are attractive, easy to skim through and simplifies complex data/statistics. Much better than blocks of text that need to be read!   No doubt, infographics can often generate more leads for your business. So, go ahead, choose the right graphics partner for your business.   Using UI/UX to generate more leads     Look, making things easier for your prospective buyer will go a long way in achieving your business objectives.   Must Read: Why You Should Consider Outsourcing Design Work A. First impression with your website Do you have any instance where you recall the name any website that was difficult to browse? Mostly, NOT.   That is because their UI/UX must really be sucked and you closed the window!   Now, if you think about it, the entire purpose of creating the website is to generate more leads. A seamless and trouble-free interface will help potential customers find all the relevant information quickly and remember you.   Ask yourself   Is your interface user-friendly? Can the customers get all the information quickly? etc   Your website is (mostly) the first touch-point between your potential lead and the company, so the first impression counts.   B. Landing pages and forms One of the most common ways of generating more leads through a website is using web forms.  Make the UI extremely simple, concise and easy to answer. Ask yourself   How many fields do I really require? What colors creates a positive response?  Do I create an opt-in/out checkbox? C. Call-to-Action An experience UI designer would have accumulated adequate experience to guide you through the best practices for your website, product type or industry. They also have the knowledge about the psychology of the buyers. For example, they will know if using benefits buttons work better than task-based buttons.   It is darn simple – You will start losing sales if a good product/service is hidden behind a bad UI.   There you go.   This is how UI and graphics can help you generate more leads and grow your business. So, hire today or take advantage of several benefits of outsourcing this work.  A good user interface along with attractive graphics has high conversion rates. What do you think? What is your experience with using UI and graphics to generate more leads? Lets talk about it in the comments section.

Why Is Content Syndication called The New SEO?

Posted on By Vikas Bhatt

What the hell? How can content syndication be the new SEO? They are not even close!    Confused? Clickbait?  NEITHER!  We are advocates of content syndication and there are strong reasons why we call it the new SEO.    Before that, honestly, tell us one thing –   Have ever heard yourself or the C-suite say    Sometimes, at the least? We are sure!    B2B content syndication strategies are becoming increasingly important for businesses looking to boost their SEO efforts. By strategically placing your high-quality content on relevant industry publications and websites frequented by your target audience, content syndication can help you achieve the same results and exploit the benefits of traditional SEO at a comparatively faster pace. However, it’s important to remember that content syndication is not a replacement for SEO. It acts as a powerful supplement to your overall SEO strategy. You need to focus on both to get the best results. Note: Please note that every marketing strategy takes time. When we say faster pace, we are talking in comparative terms.    In this post, we will discuss why content syndication is the new SEO and how it will help your business.   Must Read: Everything you need to know about content syndication 1. Rank higher with right keywords and drive traffic Using relevant keywords is prerequisite to any SEO strategy. However, it takes time to get indexed and rank for a keyword if you are just starting out. Right?  Content syndication gives you a way out of this. If you have created in-depth content for the right platform and with the right keywords, you can exploit the benefits of the content syndication partners SEO strategy.    Lets say, you are a startup blog. You are building up your credibility, backlinks or domain authority from scratch. Meaning, there are minute chances of ranking higher on search engines.    On the other hand, your article has higher chances of ranking on page 1 of Google, if you are syndicating on The Huffington Post, Entrepreneur or like. They have already established credibility, have high authority backlinks and hence, a higher domain authority. These websites can drive huge amounts of referral traffic to your website.    According to Neil Patel, When we started republishing content from the Kissmetrics blog on sites like Entrepreneur and Search Engine Journal, we saw the referral traffic pick up (we got almost 9,492 visitors a month) This exemplifies how content syndication works. By placing your content on relevant websites with established audiences, you gain exposure to a wider pool of potential visitors, even if your own website doesn’t rank on the first page of search results. This is all about ranking higher, what if you don’t rank high? We understand. Not every piece of content can rank on page 1. If your content does rank on first few pages of Google, you will have the benefit of organic traffic as well as the traffic that syndicating partner gets every day.    If you don’t rank higher, you will still have the benefits of being found on the website by their regular audience. For an example, your SEO expert syndicates your content on a website with 10000 views and even if 50% of the visitors click on your website. At the end of the day, you have 5000 views. Isn’t it fair to say content syndication is the new SEO? Source: Wordstream 2. Quality Backlinks and domain authority We already touched upon this in #1.   Content syndication allows you to point towards your websites from authoritative websites. If one of your SEO goals is to boost page rankings using backlinks, content syndication can help. It is a white hat strategy that works well if your syndicating partner allows dofollow backlinks.   According to Moz, links to a site are treated like votes to the site/page. The quality, quantity, and context of the links from one page to another are used by search engines in classifying and ranking a page.    Along with this, quality backlinks also helps in establishing credibility and domain authority. Most search engines give weightage to other websites that link to your page or site as a whole (backlinks).  To put it extremely simply: If the only sites that link to your blue widget site are blogs that no one else on the Web has linked to, and my blue widget site gets links from trusted places that are linked to frequently, like CNN.com, my site will be more trusted (and assumed to be higher quality) than yours.    But, what about duplication issues? You have the exact same copy on another page, Google doesn’t penalize it?!   In order to avoid any duplication issues, it is a good practice to include a link to your original content.In the screenshot below, you will see this particular advice from Google: Linking to the original article not only gives attribution but also shows search engines that this is just another version.    It is safe to say that content syndication can be considered as the new SEO.  Must Read: Content syndication platforms you must need to know 3. Quantifiable ROI SEO is liked by all marketers because it provides trackable and quantifiable results. SEO marketers can track traffic and conversions.    Content syndication, on the other hand, provides you with the same benefit. It’s trackable and quantifiable, allowing you to measure the return on investment (ROI) of your content syndication campaigns in terms of traffic, leads, sign-ups, referring source, and more. This means you can see the tangible results of your content being distributed on high-traffic platforms. I gained over 600 subscribers from the Lifehacker version and I didn’t have to put in any additional work writing a new article. Do you get what we are pointing at? Content syndication, including video content syndication, is definitely the new SEO strategy! 4. Cost-effectiveness SEO is preferred by marketers and businesses because it automates traffic. You don’t have to rely heavily on marketing and advertising.  Content syndication gives you similar benefits. Syndicating content with high authority domains will help you rank higher and drive crazy amounts of referral traffic. If you end up ranking on page 1 or 2 of Google, it is

How To Maximize Social Media For Demand Generation

Posted on By Vikas Bhatt

Social Demand Generation: Maximizing Social Media for Demand Generation Social media for demand generation is an extremely effective tool. It is used to research buyer behaviour, gather relevant information, generate more demand and nurture leads.   Alex Jones of Brandwatch says We have seen our clients use social media for everything from in-depth behavioral research on Millennials to learning what kind of weather provokes people to buy ice cream  No wonder, social media (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn) is said to be the reason Donald Trump won the U.S. presidency or the key to rebranding egg farming.  Is social media for demand generation gaining traction in the B2B space? Of course!  According to B2B Buyers Survey Report, 53% of B2B buyers spend more time using social media to research vendors and solutions.   Not only this, 83% B2B marketing teams use social media as a part of marketing strategy   So, how do we maximize social media for demand generation? What should we keep in mind while strategizing use of social media for demand generation?   In this post, we will discuss ways in which you can use social media for demand generation.   Must Read: 9 demand generation books every marketing expert should read 1. Start looking at social media as a demand generation tool  If you want to use social media for demand generation effectively, it is important to start looking at it like a demand generation marketer.  What do we mean?   A demand generation marketers not only focuses on brand awareness, but analyzes data involved in conversion optimization and sales cycle. Questions like below are answered in detail before taking an action –   How do I segment leads? What tactics engage buyers the most? What type of content is effective in lead nurturing campaigns? How to ensure that each dollar spent translates into money/revenue earned? etc As a social media manager, you need to start doing the same. Stop looking at social media as a œcontent distribution platform and start looking at it as a revenue generating platform.   The amount of data insights you can gather from social media platforms is incredible (discussed below). Needless to say, there are many ways you can utilize audience insights to improve your demand generation mix. Isn’t it?   2. Focus your efforts on appropriate channels Don’t split your time between ALL the platforms. Decide on 1 or 2 platforms that will help you achieve business goals.   Did you know that Snapchat ads are viewed up to one million times a day (source)?  However, if you are in to medical equipment space, your buyers probably do not hang out on snapchat. In case you are into marketing tools, you want to try it out!    Must Read: 5 Common demand generation plan problems to avoid According to KippBodnar, CMO of HubSpot, B2B marketers are moving beyond LinkedIn and Twitter as platforms such as Instagram and Snapchat to gain traction among buyers.   Recent figures by Statista.com show the dominance of Facebook because of it appeals to both personal side as well as professional. Source: Epitomise Surprised at the list? This is why you shouldn’t decide on a platform based on your bias or preference.    So, do your research. Not every platform will fetch tangible results for your business.   Social media for demand generation will truly work if you choose the right platform to implement your strategy.   3. Use social listening to make an informed decision According to Dominique on Sprout Social, social listening allows you to find the exact preferences, problems and challenges your target audience has, and then create solutions to offer them that are based in the value proposition of your brand.  In short, social listening is about gathering relevant information based on overall sentiment and tone of conversation going on about your brand. Most marketers ignore the readily available information on social media.   You need the right MarTech stack to gather information, analyze and present it in a way that is easier to understand. For example, sprouts social tool can create reports to track trends, hashtags, tag messages etc. This is an excellent example of using sprout social tool for social listening.   Let’s take an example. If you track social media behaviour, you may realize that millions of people crack phone screens every day. There is a clear demand for shatter-resistant phones. This information can also be useful for phone accessory manufacturers. They can share content or webinar updates that deals with this area to maximize engagement and drive demand for their product (for example, a tempered glass).   You can also gather the trending keywords and steer your SEO strategy towards that. When you create content keeping in mind the reason behind why it trended along with using the right keywords, you are bound to drive crazy traffic to your business.  By identifying such information, needs and gaps in the market, social intelligence can inform demand generation strategy, lead generation mechanisms, content marketing, value propositions and positioning of your brand.   Must Read: Top 6 Demand Generation Strategies Which Work! 4. Use social data to segment and nurture leads You can use social data to segment potential buyers into personas. There are several tools, including Brandwatch, which allows you to collect these leads.   Such tools allow you to create a panel of profiles that fit the persona or demographic you are targeting. These lists can be used to understand the trending topics among your prospects, the overarching concerns they have, and the language they use. You can also understand influencers in your niche for a targeted outreach or collaboration.   This information can drive your demand marketing tactics along with steering content marketing strategy and social media marketing towards lead nurturing and demand generation. 5. Include Social engagement data into a lead scoring model Your lead scoring already incorporates behavioral data. For example, it includes a click to download or click through from an email etc. Unfortunately, most lead scoring models do not include leads social media engagement even though these are great indicators of TOFU interest.  According to Socedo, socially engaged leads tend to better qualified leads (Sales

Maximize Your ROI with Paid Advertising Services

Posted on By Vikas Bhatt

PPC visitors are 50% more likely to purchase something than organic visitors. (Unbounce) 65% of B2B companies have acquired a customer through LinkedIn marketing. (HubSpot) 64.6% of people click on Google ads when they are looking to buy an item online. Website visitors who are retargeted with display ads are 70% more likely to convert on retailers website. The statistics can go on and on to show the limitless benefits of paid advertising for businesses. But, paid advertising can quickly become an expense if not done properly. We at Only B2B provide you with paid advertising services that work because Research and requirement gathering: We spend a lot of time in understanding the needs and budget of our clients. Do they want branding? Are they looking to increase visitors or focus on selling their product/services? Etc. Crafting a proposal: Based on these inputs, our team works on an extensive proposal which contains details on what ads to use, how to use and how the budget should be allocated for different campaigns to ensure maximum returns Keyword research: We do an extensive keyword research to create themed campaigns which target the specific audience and increase online visibility. Have a structured campaign, not just ads: Our structures are scalable and at the same time, easy to understand. Analytics: We measure, manage and analyze the performance of all the ad campaigns to maximize effectiveness and boost ROI Updates: We read the trends and customer preferences from the analysis and modify strategy accordingly Read More: 7 Steps to Developing a Content Marketing Strategy BEING A PPC MARKETING AGENCY, WE PROVIDE A BROAD RANGE OF PAID ADVERTISING SERVICES Depending on your requirements, we include the perfect mix of these ads in your paid advertising strategy Text Link Ad: It appears above the search engines organic result. We provide you with copy and a strong call to action that compels your target audience to visit or call you. Ads on Social Media platform: This includes, Facebook Ads Instagram Ads Twitter Ads LinkedIn Ads Reddit Ads YouTube Ads Facebook alone has 2.072 billion users! Yes, that is true and not made up. If you are not advertising on these social media channels already, you are missing out on quality leads and revenue.  Google Ads: Every second there are 3 million searches performed on Google and most of these pages include Google Ads. They are the perfect way to drive relevant traffic and appear when your target audiences is finding businesses or products similar to yours. Geographically targeted ads: What’s better than targeting your customers based on their location? Increase your revenue and brand awareness, locally! Do you know that 63% of smartphone users are using apps that require them to share locations? Also, 90% of US marketing agencies have been asked to carry out a geographically targeted ad. Shopping Ads: Again, if you are appearing on page 1 of any search engine in the related search, you can drive crazy amounts of conversions. Retargeting: Follow your visitors and remind them of your existence. No, it’s not stalking, it is retargeting ads. Website visitors who are retargeted with Ads are 70% more likely to convert! We also do text ads, image Ads, branded keyword campaigns and pay per clicks. Still think, paid advertising is not for your business? Think again! If you are looking to grow this year, double your sales target and revenue or gain a foothold in the market, a proper paid advertising campaign can help you! Make no mistake! A proper PPC campaign takes years of experience and understanding of your industry. This mean, our experts work with you to understand every minute detail before your paid advertising campaign goes live!  Read More: 8 Super Effective Content Syndication Tools and Strategies For MarTech Experts

3 Demand Generation Trends in 2018

Posted on By Ameet Bhinganiya

The job of any marketer is to get as many quality leads as possible for the business. But, is it possible without a well-thought-of demand generation strategy? Of course, not! It won’t be possible without driving demand in the first place It is only when you map out a good demand-lead generation strategy along your sales funnel that you can capture high-quality leads effectively. With this in mind, we are discussing 4 demand generation trends that can help you boost B2B lead generation this year. 1. Live Streaming Videos are trending, no doubt about that! You can see video content (live or recorded) almost on all the social media platforms. Live streaming on social media quickly gained popularity amongst B2C brands who were trying to increase engagement with their buyers. For B2B industry, it seems to be catching on now. More and more companies are adopting live videos, especially webinars and webcasts, to attract their customer base. Did you know that 32% of B2B marketers believe webinars and webcasts are critical to the success of their content marketing strategy? Also, according to Content Marketing Institute, 58% of B2B marketers have already included live video as apart of their content marketing strategy. Wondering, how to use live streaming for your B2B services/products? Here are a few ways you can implement it – Start teaching your buyers: How-to videos perform are as “in-demand” as how-to blog posts. Besides that, live Q&A sessions and webinars on topics of interest will boost engagement. People are always willing to learn from industry experts. Show them who you are: Highlight your brand values, employees, customer success etc. Give your customers a peek behind the curtains. Live stream events. It could be a conference you are going to or a conference you are organizing. For example, you can stream bits and pieces of your product launch. Stream highlights, get feedback and engage with your customers. There is no doubt left that live streaming will be the next big demand generation tool for B2B industry. If you are looking to boost your demand generation in 2018, you should start using live streaming. Periscope, Facebook Live, Livestream, UStream, and YouNow are the major players in this area.   Must Read: Top 6 Demand Generation Strategies Which Work! 2. Content Syndication and Industry Influencers With so many brands creating content online, it is difficult to be found, noticed and admired. Collaborating with influencers and syndicating content gives you access to millions of potential buyers. Content Syndication: Content Syndication is the process of sharing content on third party sites in order to make yourself visible in front of a huge following. For example, publishing a post from your blog (which might have traffic in thousands) to Huffington Post, Forbes or Entrepreneur (platforms which have traffic in millions). Neil Patel says, When we started republishing content from the Kissmetrics blog on sites like Entrepreneur and Search Engine Journal, we saw the referral traffic pick up (we got almost 9,492 visitors a month) It is one of the most powerful tactics to engage target audience and gaining visibility. You can know more about content syndication here, here and here.  Must Read: 14 Expert Tips to Boost Your Blog Traffic with Content Syndication Influencer Marketing With more and more people being tagged as influencers in different niches, collaborating with them to reach your target audience seems like the obvious choice. Not only do you grow your audience, but also improve sales by leaps and bounds. We can learn a lesson from Hubspot’s blog. They regularly partner with influencers who have experience in content marketing, digital marketing and sales. These Influencers write for their blog on areas of their expertise. Not only does Hubspot enjoy new content, it also gains authority. Similarly, SAP works with influencers to create content and organize events. The key aim to collaborate with influencers is to create thought leadership content and gain industry authority. With growing influencer collaborations and marketing in 2017, the FTC put out regulations around branded and sponsored content. It clarifies what brands and influencers have to disclose when working together. Instagram has made it easier with its branded content option. According to Quicksprout, these are a few platforms you can work on with influencers. If you want to generate demand quickly, influencer marketing is the way to go. You can make use of tools like Tapinfluence and Upfluence to find influencers and manage workflow. 3. Retargeting and Native Advertising Retargeting While you feel that ads that follow are creepy, 3 out of 4 customers now notice re-targeted advertising. It allows marketers to stay on the minds of their audience, increase the visibility and boost the chances of conversion. According to WordStream research, conversion rates increase with retargeting ads being displayed to an internet user again and the wholecreepy factor is overblown. You can use Google dynamic remarketing and Facebook custom audience for retargeting your website visitors. In 2018, more marketers will have a dedicated budget for retargeting. Native advertising It is a non-disruptive form of paid media advertising. According to HubShout, 85 percent of internet users don’t feel that their browsing experience is hindered by native ads Graeme Donnelly, the founder of Quality Formations, says Native advertising has been so well accepted by internet users because it feels natural to the readers. Compared with traditional banners and pop-up ads, native ads are much less disruptive and they don’t give the feeling that the page is cluttered. Promoted tweets on Twitter, suggested posts on Facebook and content recommendation on content discovery platforms are a few known forms. You can read about 12 examples of native advertising here. To give you an example, a native advertising campaign helped GE get 416,000 click-throughs. There is no way you should miss on including native advertising in your demand generation strategy.” Must Read: 5 Best Practices Every Marketer Should Follow

Data Cleansing and Appending

Posted on By Vikas Bhatt

What is Data cleansing (or scrubbing) and Data appending? It may sound complicated with words like scrubbing and appending – but it is as simple as throwing away a can in the bin. We all clean our houses at regular intervals or we like to give away useless stuff lying in our garage. Isn’t it? B2b data cleansing and appending is similar to that. It is all about deleting incorrect, duplicate or corrupt information and updating it with correct information which is easier to comprehend. Whether it is you or us, every business needs more business to grow. For business to grow, you require qualified leads (Marketing qualified or Sales qualified). For qualified leads, you need to have targeted marketing strategies. For targeted marketing strategies, you need to know your prospects. To know your prospects, you need data. To have structured data, you need a clean database. So, it is very important that you have accurate and clean data to ensure you have maximum click through rates and qualified leads through any of your marketing strategy. Owning a huge database might not get you any of these as much as a small database with accurate information can. All you need to do is to accept the fact that your database might be dirty or unclean  with inaccuracies, typos, missing information or outdated information. Must Read: Data Hygiene: Mastering CRM Data Cleansing for Optimal Performance Did you know that the data of every organization gradually decays for around 20-22 per cent every year due to recipient’s job change or location change? While you may keep adding missing information to your database and updating it, it will only grow the corrupt or incorrect data alongside which will not drive any business results. It shouldn’t be a surprise to you, if your sales team calls up a lead only to realize that their contact information has changed or they send out targeted emails to see that a number of them have bounced back. You not only wasted efforts but with each of this – you lose money! Hence, data cleansing and appending is the core of any telemarketing and e-mail marketing strategies. That gets us to our next question? What is data appending and enhancement? You are launching a new business in your area and decide to send personalized invites to your prospects. You have their names, but the ZIP code of their address is missing or you do not know their exact last name or you do not know whether they are the decision makers. In such a scenario, you will not be able to send them effective invites which can ensure they would come to your launch. Makes sense? Like every medicine has an expiry date, like every software needs updates and like every food product has a shelf life – every database has limitations too. You cannot carry out an effective marketing strategy without having all the relevant data. ‘Relevant’ being the key word here. And hence, the database needs to be updated and appended with missing information like e-mails, addresses, phones etc. which will help you understand your customers. Must Read: What Is Data Cleansing, Why Is It Important, And How Can You Do It? What are the benefits of Data cleansing and data appending services? There are numerous benefits of Data cleansing services. However, we would say It helps in effective marketing which drives real business results. It helps in personalizing content because you know the relevant information about your prospect. You can easily keep a track of your prospects changing details. Your e-mails will be sent (and received) successfully. It will increase your CTRs. You will understand your prospects and will be able to carry out analysis/research which is effective. You can plan and execute campaigns with accuracy. Clean data helps you segment information properly. Data cleansing and data appending services help you avoid duplicate leads. We are sure you understand that sending an e-mail to the same person twice in 5 minutes can be very harsh on your credibility and reputation. Helps you get maximum ROI. Minimized wastage of resources. Increase Your Marketing Campaign ROI – Data appending services allow email  marketing campaigns to extract maximum value and revenue. Data cleansing services not only helps you grow business effectively, it also helps to boost the morale of your sales team. After all, every answered call and every opened e-mail has chances of bringing in more conversions A bad database not only damages your reputation and throws you in spam, but it is also a lost opportunity and loss of credibility. Now, that we understand the dangers of being dirty, let’s list a few benefits of data appending too. It helps create a single window to understand your prospects completely: You are most likely to have all the required information about your prospects but it is all scattered. Across people, databases and systems. It gets lost and doesn’t translate into a valuable database information which possesses the capacity of turning quality leads. Data appending helps you bring all the information together. Having a single window insight will help you use the actionable information to draw quality initiatives/strategies and ensure best customer experience This, in turn would help you improve efficiencies, streamline efforts and maximize revenue opportunities. What is the process for Data cleansing and appending? Build a plan: You need to figure out the priority data and segments needed for developing effective marketing techniques. Analyze the gaps and figure out the missing information and redundant data in the present database Identify resources who can help you clean the database manually. The higher quality of database you seek, the higher amount of time and intervention these resources will need to give. Track the process and mechanisms used. Build processes and written guidelines around it. Automate the process making it a must do Append missing data – You can approach it via 3rd party append sites or contacting the prospects directly or extensive stalking (yes, you read it right!) on platforms like Google, LinkedIn etc. Monitor – You need to closely watch

5 Content Syndication Myths | Hard To Believe, But True!

Posted on By Vikas Bhatt

Duplicate content? NO WAY! That’s the reaction we get from a lot of content creators and marketers.That sounds perfectly right! You shouldn’t have duplicate content because it is plagiarism (and illegal!) and you should consider content syndication (which is legally sharing content on third-party sites) because it is not. There is a huge difference between in both duplicated content and syndicated content. Owing to this confusion there are a number of myths which surround content syndication as a content marketing strategy. Must Read: All you need to know about content syndication The biggest content syndication myth: Syndicated content is duplicated content That is one of the most common content syndication myths that float around the marketing world. But, that is not completely true. You need to double check your duplicate content facts. Lets take an example. Huffington Post features already published content sometimes but they always credit the original content creator. Contrastingly, there are sites which only scrape content from others. Neither do they have any original material nor do they credit the source. If you fall in the second category, you have successfully proved the myth right. You will get a penalty if you haven’t already.  But, if you fall in the first category, you have nothing to worry. However, there is one thing you should worry about and i.e. ranking. As per Google:  “If you syndicate your content on other sites, Google will always show the version we think is most appropriate for users in each given search, which may or may not be the version you’d prefer.” This happens when you syndicate on a website which has a higher domain authority than yours. One way to tackle this is to include a link back to your original post and claim Google authorship.  You should ask your syndicating partner to add the rel=canonical tag to your re-published posts. It will tell Google where the original content is. Alternatively, ask them to add noindex tag to the content. According to Neil Patel, the former works much better. A lot of content creators also believe that blocking the crawler access would help. This gets us to our next myth You should block crawler access If you have ever read Google policies, you will know the truth of duplicate content. According to Google Support  “”Google does not recommend blocking crawler access to duplicate content on your website, whether with a robots.txt file or other methods””.  If search engines can’t crawl pages with duplicate content, they can’t automatically detect that these URLs point to the same content and will therefore effectively have to treat them as separate, unique pages.  However, this doesn’t negate the benefits of content syndication. Must Read: 10 content syndication platforms you need to know A better solution is to allow search engines to crawl these URLs, but mark them as duplicates  by using the rel=””canonical”” link element, the URL parameter handling tool, or 301 redirects. However, you can also ask those who use your syndicated material to use the noindexmeta tag to prevent search engines from indexing their version of the content. Losing out on traffic Isn’t that logical to think at first? Why would you want to syndicate your original content and lose out on the organic traffic?  But, this is a flawed thought. Think about it. If you are syndicating content on a branded website like Huffington Post, Forbes or  Hubspot, you will get referral traffic which (honestly!) could be more than what you would have received had you not syndicated.  After all, most of the times you are allowed to link back to your website (which is also good for SEO considering you are getting a backlink from an authoritative website) or social media channel.  Utilizing content syndication tools can further streamline this process. These tools can help you identify high-quality websites for syndication, saving you time and effort in research and outreach. Instead of feasting on your traffic, content syndication helps benyou feast on the traffic of an established website and put your content in front of more visitors. Scraper will hurt your website or republishing will Scrapers, as discussed above, are generally penalized by Google. I am sure you are already aware of Google’s Panda update. It was released to deal with this issue. Google’s Panda penalizes sites which are primarily scrapers (who offering no value to the readers) and rank them low. There is no way they can hurt your website or outrank original content. You need not worry about this at all now.  That gets us to the next question, does it hurt to republish a guest post on your own website? It could. But, there are ways to ensure it doesn’t happen.  Use the relcanonical Tag. This is used to indicate that the original version appeared somewhere else. Just add the tag and publish without worry. If you are still worried, make changes to the post. You can add more value or change the tone. For example, if you had a guest post on content syndication myths you could rewrite it as a guide to content syndication or create a video outlining the benefits. While there are free content syndication options available, exercising caution is crucial. Reputable syndication platforms prioritize ethical practices and proper attribution, protecting your content leafrom scraper activity and potential penalties. Must Read: The ultimate lead generation content syndication strategy Affects brand reputation This is plain ridiculous! Content syndication gives you an opportunity to build your brand and re-publish on authoritative sites, including platforms that excel at video content syndication. It also gives you a chance to be among the thought leaders of your industry. There you go and there goes all the confusion surrounding content syndication myths and duplicate content facts.  With this awareness, you should no longer be raising eyebrows when your team suggests content syndication”

18 Best 2018 B2B Lead Generation Strategies For Marketers

Posted on By Vikas Bhatt

“Have you yet planned your best 2018 B2B lead generation strategies? Well if you have not until now then you should probably know that when it comes to B2B lead Generation, 2018 is going to become the lifeblood of modern sales process. With loads of strategies to choose from, it has become very challenging for businesses to survive the competition. After going through almost hundreds of websites and research on how to plan your B2B lead generation strategies we have come up with 19 best 2018 B2B lead generation strategies for marketers to strengthen their B2B lead generation. We know these lead generation strategies WILL come handy for you. Must Read: How the lead generation in USA market differ from the rest of the world 1. Increase the frequency of publishing the content Content helps to give you some authority and credibility. Focusing on the very fact creating and increasing the frequency of content publishing can give you a better visibility along with reliability. This is one of the most important points to keep your eyes on among the best 2018 B2B lead generation Strategies. Publishing valuable and insightful content in a good frequency positions you as a thought leader in your niche, making you a trustworthy resource for businesses that are ready to purchase. So, make sure this year you pitch your frequency right. 2. CXOs need to Increase their personal network 79% of B2B marketers say that social media is an effective source for lead generation. According to Alex Rynne, studies also show that 80% of B2B leads come from LinkedIn. 2018 is going to be extremely important for marketers, thus all you need in your strategy is to increase personal networking! Send personalized connection request messages to prospective customers. Add more connections to your network through social media sites like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and various forums to get best 2018 B2B lead generation strategies. Go tell your boss the right way! Must Read: Preparing your business for 2023 with B2B lead generation strategies 3. Focus those social media that work Whom are you catering to? Where are your target audience? What are their interest, their age and where do they spend more time? If you have your answer, then stop wasting your time where you might get less leads. Needless to say that social media marketing is no more option but a must-have in your best 2018 B2B lead generation strategies if you are eager to get more leads in your pipeline. Try not to ride on multiple boats at same time – focus on boat that will take you to places. Choose now! 4. Quality over Quantity – always! As a B2B Lead Generation company, that is what we do here – rely on quality over quantity, and thus we get better results. What we all need is to create an authentic and a relevant audience, to a certain extent what we slip out of our mind that creating a quality content rather than quantity content is what engages and entices a relevant audience. When a prospect clicks on your landing page, this may be your one opportunity to convert them into a lead. A quality content creates a more professional and to the point approach than just a lengthy content with less value. Lead Generation Technique To Boost Sales Funnel Must Read: Sales success secrets: The critical role of lead generation and appointment setting 5. Create engaging and trending content The secret to persuading the audience rests in the way you have drawn the blueprints of your content. Depending upon two significant aspects you can easily identify whether your content is compelling enough to engage the reader or not: 1. Drafting of your content 2. Selling point of content Always make sure you draft your content in such a way that even if the reader is not interested in reading the whole thing, he/she at least gets the points that are important in your content. Content is the core of anything marketing strategy creating engaging and trending content is one of the best B2B Lead generation strategies. 6. Host (more) webinars The first stage in marketing/sales process is making sure the prospect knows who you are (awareness) and is interested in learning more about the value you could provide (attraction).  Hosting more webinars create awareness as well as attraction giving your more sign-ups that can be possible leads. Along with social media post and other marketing strategies Webinars are proven to be great mediums for creating awareness among the audience. It does promote the host, but that is a win-win situation for you always. Must Read: High-Performance Inbound Marketing Techniques for Successful Lead Generation Campaigns 7. Are you into Drip Marketing? Creating long emails containing multiple topics is a great way of segregating your prospects. This strategy will give you a better idea about the interests of your prospects. Adding drip marketing as one of your best 2018 B2B lead generation strategies this year can bring a massive visible difference in your understanding of prospect, giving you better clarity to close your leads.  8. You can’t skip video marketing on LinkedIn The best example would be Gary Vaynerchuk’s videos on LinkedIn. Adding text below so that it would be easy for his followers to just watch him speak even without the audio – is just a great way to market. Marketers like Gary fins more innovative ways to attract audiences, thus making a video as a meaningful part of the strategic conversation. After watching a video on LinkedIn, 64% of users are more likely to convert into a customer – and such videos act as a magnet placed between the customers. Adopt what Gary is doing, because video marketing on LinkedIn being one of the best 2018 B2B lead generation strategies, you can’t skip it.  Must Read: Top 6 Strategies For Increasing Lead Quality For Your B2B Business 9. Broaden your niche If everyone starts thinking like a businessman, they can never become an entrepreneur – Steve Jobs is a true example of how he demonstrated his product

How to Identify and Use Buying Intent Signals in B2B?

Posted on By Vikas Bhatt

In a live sales conversation, intent is easier to read. You hear it in the questions, you see it in the pauses, and you pick it up in how specific the discussion becomes. You don’t get this clarity in a digital buying journey. With Gartner’s report highlighting that around 80% of B2B sales interactions are now on digital channels, this challenge doesn’t get any easier. Most buyers move through research independently. Search queries, repeated website visits, time spent on specific pages, content downloads, and review platform activity. None of these say anything explicitly. But together, they begin to indicate direction. These digital breadcrumbs are not noise. They are signals. The challenge is not access to this activity. It is knowing how to read it well enough to understand when interest becomes intent. This is where buying intent signals become useful. Not as additional data, but as a way to interpret behavior with enough clarity to act at the right time. What Are Buying Intent Signals? Buying intent signals are behavior patterns of a potential buyer that show their interest in a specific solution, product, or topic. These behaviors might include reading articles, downloading assets, or direct demo requests. It is anything that shows you that the buyer is in the market, making their move. You can see these signals from your first-party sources like your email or website or from third-party sources like syndication platforms, review sites, etc. These signals help sales and marketing teams know who is actively looking for a similar solution in the market. Types of Buying Intent Signals in B2B Intent shows up in different ways depending on where the activity happens and what it actually reveals about the buyer. Not every signal comes from direct interaction with your brand, and not every meaningful signal looks like engagement. A more practical way to look at intent is through four distinct lenses. Each one captures a different kind of movement inside an account. Engagement Intent This is the most visible form of intent because it happens directly on your channels. It reflects how a prospect is interacting with your brand and how that interaction is evolving over time. It usually starts broad and becomes more specific. This includes: When engagement becomes deeper and more focused, it starts indicating real consideration. Technographic Intent Signals These signals reflect changes in a company’s technology environment. They are less obvious, but often more telling because they indicate shifts in infrastructure, priorities, or capability. These intent signals include: These signals rarely show urgency on their own. But they often indicate that the conditions for a buying decision are forming. Company Activity Intent Signals Not all intent comes from engagement or tools. Sometimes it comes from what is happening inside the business itself. This includes: These shifts usually come with new budgets, new priorities, or new problems to solve. These signals do not tell you that a company is actively evaluating vendors. But they often explain why they might start soon. Hiring Intent Signals Hiring patterns are one of the more overlooked indicators of intent. The roles a company is hiring for often reflect what they are planning to build, fix, or scale. Examples of hiring intent signals include: Hiring does not confirm immediate intent. But it signals direction. And in many cases, direction is enough to prioritize an account earlier than competitors. Each of these signal types captures a different layer of buyer behavior. Engagement shows attention. Technographic signals show capability shifts. Company activity shows business context. Hiring shows future direction. When these start aligning, intent becomes much clearer. High-Intent vs Low-Intent Signals Not all intent signals reflect the same level of buying readiness. The difference is not just in what the action is, but in what it represents in the buyer’s journey. Low-intent signals usually appear early. They sit at the awareness stage where the buyer is exploring, trying to understand the space, and gathering context. This includes reading general content, browsing category pages, or engaging with broad topics. These signals indicate interest, not urgency. They tell you the buyer is paying attention, but not necessarily preparing to act. Treating them as triggers for immediate outreach often leads to conversations that feel out of place. At this stage, the role is to stay relevant and allow the intent to develop. High-intent signals look different. They tend to show up when the buyer has moved into evaluation and is actively narrowing options. Repeated visits to pricing pages, engagement with case studies, comparison-focused research, and demo requests are rarely accidental. They indicate that the buyer is moving closer to a decision. This is where intent signal strength becomes useful. It helps distinguish between signals that require patience and those that justify action. The shift is simple but important. Not every interaction needs the same response. The right interactions, at the right stage, should not be ignored. Interpreting signals in the context of buying stages is what turns activity into direction. Common Buying Intent Signals to Track Intent signals show up in many forms. Some are obvious. Others are easy to miss because they do not look like direct engagement. Here are some of the most useful signals to pay attention to: Repeated visits to your website A single visit can be curiosity. Multiple visits over a short period, especially to product or pricing pages, usually indicate deeper interest or internal discussion. Time spent on educational content Engaging with blogs, webinars, or learning resources shows the buyer is trying to understand a problem or evaluate approaches. This often sits between awareness and consideration. Searching for competitor comparisons or alternatives Queries like “[competitor] vs [your brand]” or “best tools in [category]” suggest the buyer is actively comparing options and narrowing choices. Activity on third-party review platforms Visits to sites like G2 or TrustRadius indicate evaluation. If your category is being researched there, the buyer is likely building a shortlist. Account-level engagement spikes A sudden increase in activity from a single company across content, ads,

Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) Template for B2B SaaS (With Example)

Posted on By Vikas Bhatt

Most SaaS products are not built for every company in the market. They work best in specific environments, with certain team structures, technology stacks, and operational needs. The challenge is that many go‑to‑market teams begin by asking how to generate more demand instead of asking a simple and more logical question: which companies should we be targeting in the first place? Top-performing SaaS organizations answer that question early. They define the type of company where their product naturally fits, delivers value quickly, and supports long‑term growth. That definition becomes the Ideal Customer Profile (ICP), a clear description of the companies a SaaS business is truly built to serve. What Is an ICP in B2B SaaS? An ideal customer profile for SaaS describes the type of company that gains the most value from your product and, in return, creates the most value for your business. These are the organizations that adopt the product quickly, integrate it deeply into their operations, and remain customers for the long term. An ICP is not simply a list of companies you want to sell to. It is a structured description of organizations where three important conditions align: ICP vs Buyer Persona The terms are often used interchangeably, but they answer two very different strategic questions. High‑performing SaaS teams typically define the ICP first. Once the right companies are clear, personas help navigate the buying committee inside those organizations. Dimension Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) Buyer Persona Focus The company or account The individual decision maker Purpose Identify which organizations should enter the pipeline Understand motivations of people involved in the purchase Data Used Firmographics, technographics, revenue size, growth stage Job role, goals, challenges, objections Owned By Revenue leadership, sales strategy, marketing ops Marketing, sales enablement Key Question Which companies are the best fit for our product? Who inside the company influences the buying decision? When It Is Used Account targeting and market segmentation Messaging, outreach, and content strategy Both frameworks are necessary. The ICP ensures the business pursues the right accounts, while buyer personas help teams communicate effectively with the stakeholders inside those accounts. Why SaaS Companies Need a Strong ICP For SaaS companies, targeting decisions influence far more than lead generation. They shape the economics of the entire revenue model by helping sales and marketing operate in alignment. Organizations see up to 36% higher retention and 38% stronger win rates, with marketing contributing significantly more to revenue overall. When the ICP for B2B SaaS is clearly defined, several operational advantages appear across marketing, sales, and customer success. 1. Lower Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) Marketing campaigns become more efficient when they focus on organizations with strong product-market alignment. Instead of attracting large volumes of low-quality leads, teams concentrate on accounts that are more likely to convert. This reduces wasted marketing spend and improves campaign performance. 2. Higher Lifetime Value (LTV) Customers that closely match the ideal customer profile often adopt the product more successfully. They implement it faster, integrate it with existing workflows, and expand usage across teams. As a result, these customers typically generate higher lifetime value. 3. Predictable Expansion Revenue Expansion revenue is a major growth driver in SaaS. When the initial account structure aligns with the product’s natural use cases, upsell and cross-sell opportunities emerge more naturally. Organizations with multiple teams, departments, or regions often provide stronger expansion potential. 4. Lower Churn Risk High churn is often interpreted as a product problem. But in many cases, it is actually a targeting problem. When companies adopt a product that does not fully fit their operational needs, implementation becomes difficult and long-term retention declines. This is why many SaaS leaders eventually recognize that growth is not simply about generating more demand. It is about improving the quality of demand entering the system. And that process begins with a well-defined ICP. Core Components of an Effective ICP A strong B2B ICP framework is built on multiple layers of company insight. Instead of relying on assumptions, it combines structural, technological, and behavioral signals that reveal where the product works best. Firmographics Firmographic data describes the structural characteristics of a company. Typical firmographic criteria include: For example, a SaaS collaboration tool designed for distributed teams may align naturally with mid-market technology companies rather than small local businesses. Technographics Technographic insight focuses on the technology environment inside the target organization. Common technographic indicators include: Organizations with compatible technology stacks typically experience faster onboarding and higher product adoption. Behavioral Signals Behavioral signals provide valuable insight into a company’s level of interest or readiness to adopt a solution. These signals can include: Behavioral patterns often reveal when companies are actively exploring solutions in a specific category. Revenue Fit Revenue fit reflects whether the economic structure of a company aligns with your pricing model. SaaS companies typically evaluate: Buying Committee Structure Understanding the typical buying committee helps anticipate sales cycle complexity. It also helps sales teams prepare for conversations with different decision-makers. For SaaS products, common stakeholders often include: Mapping this structure helps teams design more effective sales strategies. SaaS-Specific ICP Criteria While traditional B2B targeting focuses on company attributes, SaaS companies often need additional criteria tailored to subscription-based growth models. 1. ACV Tiering: Not all accounts deserve equal focus; here is how you can tier prospects as per their buying potential. The goal is to prioritize long-term revenue, not just initial deals. 2. Product Fit (Usage & Value) This includes strong ICP accounts that have a clear, urgent use case. The best customers make the product part of how they work. 3. Integration Stack (Technographic Fit) Adoption of the software depends on ecosystem fit. Better fit reduces friction and speeds up time-to-value. 4. Expansion Potential (Scaling & NRR) Ideal accounts grow after acquisition. Ideal Customer Profile Template (Fill-In Framework) Use this structured framework to define your ICP clearly and align marketing, sales, and revenue teams around high-fit accounts. Industry / Vertical Company Size Annual Revenue Geography Technology Stack Operational Challenge Buying Committee Budget Readiness Growth Stage Expansion Potential This framework

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