Category "notizie dai blog"

One of the oldest, and creepiest, adages about the value of content marketing is that you can’t ask someone to marry you on the first date.

Weird as it might feel, there’s a good reason this metaphor has held sway. A marriage is a serious and high-stakes commitment, and nobody wants to enter one without truly feeling like they know and trust their future partner.

In the business realm, purchase influencers and decision makers are under huge pressure to get it right. It’s not enough to understand the product, its price, or its features. Buyers want to believe in the brand and the people behind it.

Increasingly, significant business purchases need to be buoyed by a strong relationship. (The non-romantic type, to be clear.) Smart and strategic content marketing is how those relationships are built.

What Is Relationship Marketing?

The Association of National Advertisers defines relationship marketing as “a strategy of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) that emphasizes customer retention, satisfaction, and lifetime customer value.”

Personally I think that description only partially covers the breadth of the strategy and its purpose. As we’ll explore today, relationship marketing is also a powerful – even essential – tool for attracting new high-quality B2B leads that are more likely to convert.

For this reason, I prefer the broader definition provided by HubSpot: “Relationship marketing refers to the marketing strategy of cultivating more meaningful relationships with customers to ensure long-term satisfaction and brand loyalty.”

The process of ensuring long-term satisfaction and brand loyalty can start long before someone makes a purchase with you.

Content is the currency of relationship marketing

There are plenty of jargony definitions of content marketing out there, but what it comes down to is this: creating something of value to a specific type of audience, as a means of bringing those individuals into your brand’s orbit. Great content is what attracts the right people and sparks the journey.

It’s also what sustains and builds upon these relationships. Nine out of 10 B2B buyers say online content has a major or moderate impact on vendor selection.

Simply put, content marketing is your chance to make a first impression that leads to a lasting, fruitful relationship.

[bctt tweet=”“Content marketing is your chance to make a first impression that leads to a lasting, fruitful relationship.” — Nick Nelson @NickNelsonMN” username=”toprank”]

Benefits of Building Relationships with B2B Content

Why make content-fueled relationship marketing a fixture in your B2B strategy? Here are five compelling reasons.

1 — Leads are more qualified and advanced

The beauty of a smart SEO-driven content strategy focused on intent is this: audiences engaging with your content are inherently qualifying themselves. By searching out articles, guides, podcasts, or videos focusing on subjects and pain points pertinent to your category, they are raising their hands as the kind of people you want to create trust and awareness with. And when they find quality content from your brand that best answers their questions, you start doing just that.

It’s no surprise, then, that organic search routinely drives the highest conversion rates of any traffic source.

(Source)

2 — Strong relationships weather the storms of tough times

Business leaders are bracing for a recession in 2023. Economic downturns force difficult decisions. The strong relationships survive.

Research shows brands that continue to invest in advertising during recessions tend to come out stronger on the other end than those that don’t. Why? Because they stayed present for their audiences during a tough period, even while recognizing that purchasing activity may be scaled back.

Strong relationships weather the storms of tough times … especially when they are forged during tough times.

[bctt tweet=”“Strong relationships weather the storms of tough times … especially when they are forged during tough times.” — Nick Nelson @NickNelsonMN” username=”toprank”]

3 — Lopsided focus on demand generation leads to poor results

It is well understood throughout the world of marketing that strong brand awareness contributes to better lead gen ROI. People are more likely to respond to your sales activation campaigns when they’re familiar with your brand.

There’s a reason why campaigns focusing on both brand and acquisition perform six times better than acquisition-only campaigns. It’s much the same reason 75% of shoppers say they’re more likely to buy from a company that knows their name and purchase history.

(Source)

There’s plenty more data to reinforce this idea, but you probably don’t even need it. Just think about how familiarity and affinity influence decisions in your own life. When you’re choosing a doctor, a babysitter, a financial advisor… with all other things being equal, you’re going to go with the one you already know and like. Right?

Not only does a sharp relationship-focused content strategy help generate demand and convert more customers, it also makes those customers more invested in your brand, increasing the likelihood of upsells, cross-sells, and referrals.

4 — Gain deeper insight about your target audience

A key byproduct of engaging more frequently and intentionally with your prospects and customers is that you learn a lot about them through the process. You find out what type of content they’re engaging with, what channels they’re showing up on, and what they really care about.

The folks at Accenture put together a great playbook on “life centricity,” or the idea of driving growth through relevance.

“To move toward life centricity,” the brief explains, “executives need to see their customers as multifaceted and understand the complex external forces that impact them.”

Step one? “Gain a profound understanding of people.” Relationship marketing, and the data it derives, are among the most effective ways to gain this understanding.

5 — Well liked brands can charge more premium pricing

One of the biggest ways an outstanding brand can add value, aside from attracting and retaining customers, is by enhancing perceived value and enabling you to charge more for goods and services.

Based in consumer psychology, this approach to premium pricing can create a virtuous loop. People will pay more for products or services from a brand they think highly of; meanwhile, when other people see that the brand charges higher prices, they perceive it as being higher-quality or more luxurious than others.

This is not to say anyone should be inflating prices or ripping off their customers. But when companies put real effort into building relationships through their content, service, and resources, it becomes a tangible value-add that justifies a higher price.

I’ll pay more for a pair of shoes if I know their customer service department has my back. I’ll pay more for an ebook if the author automatically opts me into his secret email club.

In the business world, even when a solution fits your needs, there can be real headaches down the line if the company behind it isn’t rock solid. Buyers will pay more to avoid those headaches, and they’ll be happy they did. Relationship-focused content sends that message.

Build Relationships with B2B Leads to Boost Your Pipeline

As B2B grows more complex, more digital, and more impersonal, those companies that focus on creating connections with their audience and making their brand as desirable as their offerings will be the ones that lead the way – even (or especially) in challenging economic times.

It all begins with a thoughtful, audience-first B2B content marketing strategy. If you’re ready to put yours into motion and reach the next level with relationship marketing, we can help.

The post Why Relationship Marketing Is Essential To B2B Lead Generation appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog – TopRank®.

Ultimo aggiornamento: 2022/11/07 17:15.

Alcuni mi hanno chiesto se mi preoccupa l’idea che un collasso di Twitter mi possa causare problemi, visto che ho circa 400.000 follower su questo social network. Beh, diciamo che il numero di follower in astratto non è una mia ragione di vita. Non sto dicendo che non me ne importa nulla di chi mi segue. Ma so che le persone che sono realmente interessate a quello che scrivo sanno benissimo dove trovarmi altrove. Ero online ben prima dei social, ci sarò anche dopo.

E così alle 9.12 di stamattina ho fatto questo:

Credo che sia la risposta più semplice.

English-language readers: please scroll down to the English section of this post.

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Si dice spesso che la satira migliore è quella che non ha bisogno di essere spiegata e che spiegarla la rovina, ma in questo caso credo sia opportuna qualche parola di chiarimento.

Elon Musk stanotte ha tweetato che in futuro qualunque utente che tenti di impersonare qualcuno senza specificare chiaramente che si tratta di parodia verrà sospeso permanentemente (“Going forward, any Twitter handles engaging in impersonation without clearly specifying “parody” will be permanently suspended”) e senza preavviso. Ci sono già stati alcuni casi.

E così ho cambiato il mio nome su Twitter come vedete qui sopra, come gesto di protesta all’assurdità di Musk di essere così feroce contro gli impersonatori ma dichiararsi un paladino della libertà di espressione. Usare un nome parodistico è una forma di espressione: sto solo esercitando la libertà che Musk dichiara di avere così a cuore.

Questa è una forma di protesta. E la protesta è espressione. Questa è satira. E la satira è una forma di espressione. Elon Musk dice di essere a favore della libertà assoluta di espressione, ma dice anche che sospenderà permanentemente e senza preavviso chi impersonerà qualcuno senza dichiararlo esplicitamente, e questo va contro la sua asserita libertà assoluta di espressione.

Non è questione di pagare otto dollari al mese o di truffe basate su false identità. È questione di creare un Twitter a due velocità, una per paganti e l’altra per plebei, dopo aver detto che Twitter attualmente ha un “sistema di nobili e plebei“ che “è una stronzata”. 

È questione di Elon Musk che ci va giù pesante con chi lo impersona, ma non fa nulla contro la piaga dell’odio online su Twitter.

È questione di creare un Twitter nel quale chiunque non possa identificarsi, per sicurezza o privacy, verrà relegato insieme a spammer e bot. Questo vuol dire negare la libertà di espressione a coloro che più ne hanno bisogno. Questo vuol dire che vostra figlia dovrà identificarsi, se vuole essere vista e letta. Questo faciliterà i molestatori, gli stalker e i predatori nel trovarla.

Sì, le identità false online sono un problema. Ma il piano di Musk non è il modo giusto per risolverlo. Non lo risolve affatto.

E sì, mi rendo conto che ho 400.000 follower e che potrei trovarmi bannato perché il sostenitore della libertà assoluta di espressione non sopporta la libertà di espressione quando lo prende in giro. Una protesta non vale nulla se non si mette in gioco nulla.

Chicca finale: il mio nome attuale su Twitter è E-I-O-N, non E-L-O-N. Visto? La satira perde mordente quando viene spiegata. Come volevasi dimostrare.

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2022/11/07 17:15. Sono ormai passate otto ore, in California sono le nove del mattino passate, e il mio account è ancora attivo. Nel frattempo Elon Musk (sì, è proprio lui) ha postato questa raccomandazione di voto pro-repubblicana appena prima delle elezioni americane di metà mandato.

To independent-minded voters:
Shared power curbs the worst excesses of both parties, therefore I recommend voting for a Republican Congress, given that the Presidency is Democratic
Hardcore Democrats or Republicans never vote for the other side, so independent voters are the ones who actually decide who’s in charge!

Un commento di propaganda politica in piena contraddizione con i proclami di Musk sulla necessità che Twitter non prenda posizioni politiche: “per meritarsi la fiducia del pubblico, deve essere politicamente neutro”.

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For my English-speaking readers:

To clarify and for late joiners: this is a protest in the form of satire. Protest is free speech. Satire is free speech. Elon Musk says he’s for absolute free speech, but he also says this, which is a limitation of free speech:

This is not about paying $8/month or about identity fraud. It’s about the contradiction of creating a two-tiered Twitter after saying this:

It’s about Musk cracking down hard on “impersonators” but doing nothing about hate speech.

It’s about creating a Twitter where anyone who cannot ID themselves for security or privacy will be relegated with spammers and bots. That means banning free speech for those who need it most. That means your daughter will have to ID herself if she wants to be seen and heard. That will make it easy for harassers, stalkers and predators to find her.

Yes, fake online identities are a problem. But Musk’s plan is definitely not the right way to solve it. It doesn’t solve it at all.

And yes, I realize that I have 400,000 followers and I may get banned because the “free speech absolutist” can’t stand free speech when it satirizes him. A protest is worthless if there’s nothing at stake.