Content Strategies for B2B. The Proof is in the Pudding.

http://blog.eloqua.com/modern-marketing-stats/

Understanding Motivations and Needs: The Key to Any Successful Online Marketing Program

A person who is online is looking to satisfy a need.

Whether it is a product, information, entertainment or just wasting time, people online have motivations for their actions.

Let's look at the quintessential analysis of a person's needs, Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs:

Although online users aren't regularly on the internet to fulfill the basic human needs above (though you could make an argument for that) they do have specific things that they are looking to satisfy, some of which curtail with Maslow's model:

Your marketing likely centers around the bottom level of the pyramid shown above, but the motivations for many users don't sit within that single layer.

Unless someone is specifically looking for your product or service, it does no good to offer it to them. Their motivation simply isn't there.

One might argue that you can convince someone to buy, even if their motivation hasn't manifested itself. However, if you think about what really motivates these sales/actions, it likely falls in a different category. For example, you may be able to capture sales by offering a promotion or special offer, but were you really answering a need for the product or were you actually appealing to someone's desire to feel good about saving money and getting a deal? If you think about it that way, you're actually appealing to their highest form of need, self actualization (saving money makes the user feel good, and saving money helps their ultimate goals).

Too often online marketers get caught up in making something that sounds catchy, looks good, or simply shouts their own message without taking into account the users' needs and motivations.

If you're an online marketer, your audience falls somewhere within this pyramid. The question is, does your product, service or message fulfill any of these needs beyond just selling? Even more important, do you understand your audience motivations, and are you responding to them?

Questions you need to ask yourself when planning online marketing:

What are my targets audiences' possible motivations? 
Why are they online and why would they be interested in what I'm saying? 
Why would they click on my ad? 
What can I give them or say that satisfies their needs throughout the hierarchy?
How can I translate their motivations to build results?

Understanding and responding to your audience's needs and motivations online will reveal new opportunities for success from your online marketing and web channels.

Do You Need Paid Search? Probably, But Not Necessarily. How to Determine if PPC is Right For You.

Weekend Inbound Marketing Links: November 11, 2012

With winter bearing down on many of us, days getting shorter, and holiday music already blaring, what better way to escape the doldrums than by perusing some enlightening and educations inbound links? Let's get started!

IAB: Search Still On Top, Accounting For Nearly Half Of Interactive Ad Spending

Online ad spending is growing, and search is number one. Shocking, indeed.

On Social Media, Authenticity Always Wins

Why your personality should shine in social media, even for business.

20 Ways to Increase Your Facebook Likes and Engagement

With Facebook ad spend growing and targeting capabilities become more powerful, these 20 tips may help you generate better results.

7 Companies That Totally 'Get' Their Buyer Personas

I love buyer personas, or really building a persona for anyone you are marketing to. This article shows some stellar examples of how companies can use these characters to improve their messaging, user experience, and brand strategies.

How to optimise products for Google Shopping and Product Listing Ads

Any company with products that can be sold online should heed this advice for how to improve product listings in Google. 

Google Product Listing ads deliver higher CTR than search ads

And why would you want to optimize for product listings? Well, looky here.

New Study Reveals: Content is King… Not Social Media

Too many companies launch social media and just...talk. Building valuable, interesting content is still the most effective form of social media. If you build it, they will come.

14 Tips To Source and Create Great Content For Social Media

But how do you build great content? Check out these tips.

Double Vision – Global Trends in Tablet and Smartphone Use while Watching TV

Are you neglecting second screen experience in your marketing? Are you avoiding building that mobile-friendly website? You might want to reconsider.

Optimized for Unique Program Challenges: Why There is No "One Size Fits All" Paid Search Optimization Plan

often think there is one simple equation for making paid search advertising programs work.

Small clients: need to think about budget all of the time. Lowest CPC. Highest gain. More awareness?

Larger clients: Can afford slightly higher CPCs to get volume at efficient costs.

Geotargeted - need more localization?

B2B

etc