Smart Marketing Blog

Case Study: Knowles Precision Devices

It’s difficult to ignore the benefits surrounding an inbound marketing approach and the positive results it can produce for companies in engineering and technical industries. In this day and age technical audiences expect to access service and product information on vendor websites and social media channels, allowing them to research and draw comparisons before making a purchasing decision.

Tips to Gain Momentum with Inbound Content

How do I gain momentum with content marketing? A customer recently asked us this question as he was working with his team to implement content marketing. And it's a good one. For any organization, establishing a new system or process can seem daunting and time consuming. Many run lean, agile teams whose members already wear multiple hats and are stretched thin with current projects and tasks. Getting them inspired to add another hat and become a content subject matter expert, writer, and/or promoter may not be an easy sell.   

Introducing Content Marketing, Engineered Academy

We're excited to announced the launch of Content Marketing, Engineered Academy, a resource for B2B technical marketing training courses. The first course, Content Writing, Engineered, launches on August 3, 2020 and is available for pre-order today.

Build a Strong B2B Social Media Strategy in 6 Steps

Social media has an interesting place in the world of B2B marketing, with some companies ignoring social or relegating posting to the summer intern; some companies posting regularly but not actively fine-tuning their content strategy or approach; and still others devoting entire employees or teams to social strategy, content creation, audience engagement and reporting. There is no blanket answer to “how much time should my company devote to social media” or “how often should we post”, or even “what should we post and to which channels”. That’s where developing your individual strategy, based on your company’s goals and audiences, comes into play.

8 Tips and Tricks to B2B Webinar Success

Updated 06.16.2020 with current research Webinars tend to be seen as difficult, time-consuming, and requiring specific expertise to pull off. The barriers to entry seem daunting, and it can be difficult to convince management and your company’s technical experts to participate. However, not only are webinars easier to organize and host than they appear, but they also can result in huge marketing and sales successes by generating new, engaged leads and opportunities.

Q&A from Webinar: Getting Started with Content Marketing, Year One

Thank you to all who joined our recent webinar: Getting Started with Content Marketing, Year One. Over 150 marketing and engineering professionals registered to learn how to better reach technical audiences, underscoring the importance of creating content to engage and attract new prospective buyers of your products and services.

Engage More, Stand Out with Sales Videos

Video is an interesting, memorable and inexpensive way for salespeople to personalize and humanize their messages, particularly for companies conducting some or all of their sales processes by phone or online. It can also have a profound effect on your connect success rate. One study I ran across found a 5X increase in email open rate and 8X increase in click-through rate for companies that incorporated videos into their sales processes.

Live Webinar: Getting Started with Content Marketing, Year One

Content is the fuel that powers your marketing plan and takes you toward your goals. The B2B buyer’s journey has transformed, especially for technical and engineering companies. In today’s world, consumers are constantly searching for information, testimonials, and examples of products and services that make their projects better, faster, and cheaper. Nearly all engineers prefer to do online research and evaluate vendors before talking to sales.  The majority of engineers are more likely to do business with a company that regularly produces new and current content over one that does not. Content is THE deciding factor.

Social Media Template Design: The Importance of Visual Imagery

In the first post of our social media blog series, we discussed common questions we get about social media. Today, we'll discuss how important visual imagery is to a successful social media program. It's pretty common knowledge that social media posts with images or video generate more impressions and clicks than posts without imagery do. To maximize your social media efforts, it’s imperative that you find or create images for every post you share.

Top 5 Questions We Hear About Social Media

Many B2B technical companies are lost when it comes to social media. While engineers understand how to use their personal social media accounts, they often don't know how to use social media to boost web visits and leads.