Michael Miller has written more than 100 nonfiction how-to books over the past 20 years, including The Ultimate Web Marketing Guide, YouTube for Business , Using Google AdWords and AdSense, and The Absolute Beginner's Guide to Computer Basics , all for Que. His other best-selling online marketing books include The Complete Idiot's Guide to Search Engine Optimization (Alpha Books), Sams Teach Yourself Google Analytics in 10 Minutes (Sams), and Online Marketing Heroes (Wiley). Mr. Miller has established a reputation for clearly explaining technical topics to nontechnical readers, and for offering useful real-world advice about complicated topics. More information can be found at the author's website, located at www.molehillgroup.com.

Introduction 1 I PLANNING 1 Understanding Digital Marketing 5 What Is Digital Marketing? ...6 Why Digital Marketing Matters for B2B ...6 Digital Marketing Keeps You Competitive ...7 Digital Marketing Is Becoming More Prevalent...8 Digital Marketing Improves Customer Relationships ...9 Digital Marketing: A 21st Century Imperative ...9 Getting to Know the Components of Digital Marketing ...10 Website Marketing ...10 Search Engine Marketing ...11 Online Advertising ...12 Email Marketing ...13 Blog Marketing ...14 Social Media Marketing ...15 Audio, Video, and Interactive Marketing...16 Public Relations...17 Mobile Marketing ...18 Migrating from Traditional Channels to Digital Channels ...19 Migrating from Cold Calling to Search Engine Marketing ...19 Migrating from Literature to Websites ...20 Migrating from Trade Advertising to Web Advertising ...20 Migrating from Direct Mail to Email ...20 Migrating from Newsletters and Phone Calls to Social Media ...21 Migrating from Trade Magazine PR to Blog PR ...21 Migrating from Live Events to Webinars ...21 How B2B Companies Can Use Digital Marketing ...22 Precision, Scale, and Marketability ...22 Understanding the Digital Marketing Process Flow ...22 Choosing the Right Digital Marketing Tools ...23 2 Segmenting Your Audience 27 Why Audience Segmentation Is Important ...28 How to Segment Your Audience ...30 Breakdown and Build-Up Segmentation ...30 A Priori and Post Hoc Segmentation ...31 Common B2B Market Segments ...32 Hierarchy of Characteristics ...32 Organizational Characteristics ...33 Purchasing Characteristics ...34 How Different Segments Use Digital Media ...35 Digital Media by Organizational Characteristics ...35 Digital Media by Purchasing Characteristics ...36 3 Planning for Reach 39 Understanding the B2B Buying Continuum ...40 Reaching Out to New Customers ...41 How Do You Reach New Customers? ...41 Marketing for Reach ...43 Using Digital Media to Reach New Customers ...43 Search Engine Marketing ...44 PPC Advertising ...45 Display Advertising ...46 Blog Marketing ...46 Online PR...47 Mobile Marketing ...47 Which Digital Media Are Less Suited for Reach? ...48 Email Marketing ...48 Multimedia Marketing...49 Social Media Marketing ...50 Website Marketing ...51 4 Planning for Customer Acquisition 53 Understanding the Customer Acquisition Process ...54 Traditional Marketing for Customer Acquisition ...55 Using Digital Media to Acquire New Customers ...55 Website Marketing ...56 Blog Marketing ...59 Multimedia Marketing...59 Email Marketing ...60 Mobile Marketing ...61 Which Digital Media Are Less Suited for Acquisition? ...61 Search Engine Marketing ...62 PPC and Display Advertising ...62 Online PR...62 Social Media Marketing ...62 5 Planning for Sales Conversion 63 Understanding Conversion ...64 Converting Customers, the Traditional Way ...66 Using Digital Media to Convert Customers ...66 Converting from Your Website ...67 Converting via Email ...69 Which Digital Media Are Less Suited for Conversion? ...70 6 Planning for Customer Retention 73 Understanding Customer Retention ...74 Retaining Customers, the Old-Fashioned Way ...75 Using Digital Media to Retain Your Customers ...76 Providing Ongoing Customer Service and Support ...76 Encouraging Repeat Orders ...77 Announcing New Products and Services ...77 Reinforcing the Customer Relationship ...78 Choosing the Right Digital Media for Customer Retention ...79 Website Marketing ...80 Blog Marketing ...81 Email Marketing ...81 Multimedia Marketing...82 Social Media Marketing ...82 Mobile Marketing ...83 Which Digital Media Are Less Likely for Customer Retention? ...83 7 Planning for Customer Loyalty 85 Understanding Customer Loyalty...86 Encouraging Customer Loyalty, the Old School Way ...87 Using Digital Media to Encourage Customer Loyalty ...87 Social Media Marketing ...88 Email Marketing ...89 What Digital Media Are Less Likely for Loyalty Referrals? ...90 8 Creating a B2B Digital Marketing Plan 91 Why You Need a Digital Marketing Plan ...92 Understanding the Elements of a Digital Marketing Plan ...93 Executive Summary ...93 Mission ...94 Situational Analysis ...94 Opportunities and Issues ...95 Goals and Objectives ...95 Marketing Strategy ...96 Action Plan ...97 Budget ...98 Writing Your Marketing Plan ...98 Putting the Plan into Practice ...99 II EXECUTION 9 B2B Website Marketing 101 Why Your Website Is Important ... 102 Designing Your Website for B2B ... 103 Keeping It Simple... 103 Minimizing Technology--and Design ... 104 Providing the Right Content ... 105 Keeping the Content Simple--and Accessible ... 106 Putting Content on the Page ... 106 Providing Content for Search Engines ... 107 Providing Easy Navigation ... 108 Considering the Look and Feel of Your Site ... 110 Creating Unique Landing Pages ... 111 Choosing the Right Content and Features ... 112 Designing Your Website for Acquisition ... 113 Organization and Navigation ... 113 Content and Collateral ... 114 Access for Everyone? ... 116 Asking for More ... 117 Designing Your Website for Conversion ... 117 Is Online Conversion for You? ... 118 Designing for E-Commerce ... 118 Providing Customer Service ... 119 Designing Your Website for Retention ... 119 Providing Support ... 120 Providing Additional Information ... 121 Providing Community ... 121 10 B2B Search Engine Marketing 123 Why Search Engine Marketing Is Important ... 124 Understanding Search Engine Optimization ... 125 Understanding Web Search ... 126 How a Typical Search Works ... 126 How a Search Site Builds Its Database--And Assembles Its Index ... 127 Examining the Major Search Engines ... 128 What Search Engines Look For ... 130 Keywords ... 131 HTML Tags ... 132 Inbound Links ... 133 Optimizing Your Site's Content ... 133 What Is Quality Content? ... 133 Why Does Quality Content Matter? ... 134 Writing Engaging Copy ... 134 Crafting SEO-Friendly Content ... 135 Optimizing Your Site's Keywords ... 136 Performing Keyword Research ... 136 Fine-Tuning Keywords for B2B ... 137 Determining the Right Keyword Density ... 138 Writing Keyword-Oriented Copy ... 138 Optimizing Your Site's HTML Tags ... 140 Tags ... 140 Tags ... 141 Header Tags ... 143 Anchor Text ... 144 Optimizing Your Site's Design and Organization ... 144 Put the Most Important Stuff First on the Page ... 145 Use Headings and Subheadings ... 145 Use Text, Not Pictures (or Videos or Flash...) ... 145 Optimizing Inbound Links ... 146 Creating Linkworthy Content ... 146 Getting the Word Out... 146 Making Link Requests... 147 Engaging in Link Trading... 147 Purchasing Links ... 148 Optimizing Links Between Pages on Your Site ... 148 Optimizing Images ... 149 Using the ALT Attribute ... 149 Using the TITLE Attribute ... 150 11 B2B Online Advertising 151 How Effective Is B2B Online Advertising? ... 152 How Online Advertising Differs from Traditional Advertising ... 153 Targeted Placement ... 154 Improved Tracking ... 155 Efficiency of Investment ... 155 Different Payment Models... 156 CPM--Cost-Per-Thousand ... 156 CPC--Cost-Per-Click ... 157 Using PPC Ads... 158 How PPC Advertising Works ... 158 Understanding Context-Sensitive Ad Placement ... 159 Paying by the Click ... 160 Bidding for Keywords ... 161 Choosing a Bidding Strategy ... 162 Writing Effective Ad Copy ... 164 Creating PPC Image Ads ... 166 Using Display Ads ... 167 Understanding Display Ads ... 167 Examining Rich Media Ads ... 168 Choosing a Display Ad Format ... 169 Creating Effective Display Ads ... 171 Getting to Know the Big Ad Networks ... 172 Maximizing Effectiveness with a Custom Landing Page ... 174 Why Landing Pages Are Important ... 174 Why You Need a Separate Landing Page ... 174 Creating an Effective Landing Page ... 175 Asking for the Lead ... 176 12 B2B Email Marketing 179 Understanding B2B Email Marketing ... 180 Email Marketing Is Direct Marketing ... 180 Email Marketing Is Database Marketing ... 180 Email Marketing Is Targeted Marketing ... 181 Email Marketing Is Proactive Marketing ... 181 Email Marketing Is Inexpensive Marketing ... 182 Email Marketing Is Permission Marketing ... 183 Using Email to Reach New Prospects ... 185 Sharing Names ... 186 Best Practices for Email Lead Solicitation ... 187 Using Email for Customer Acquisition ... 187 Using Email for Conversion ... 188 Using Email for Customer Retention ... 189 Getting Permission ... 189 Different Types of Mailings ... 189 Best Practices for Customer Retention Emails ... 191 Using Email to Encourage Customer Loyalty ... 192 Creating an Effective Email Preference Center ... 192 13 B2B Blog Marketing 197 Why Create a Company Blog? ... 198 Why Corporate Blogging Works ... 198 Blogging for Reach ... 201 Blogging for Acquisition ... 202 Blogging for Retention ... 202 Running Your Blog ... 203 Putting Together a Plan ... 203 Determining Who Contributes to the Blog ... 204 Deciding What to Write About ... 205 Creating Powerful Titles ... 206 Writing Blog Posts ... 207 Determining the Right Frequency ... 207 Marketing to Other Blogs... 209 Why Other Blogs Are Important ... 209 How to Get Bloggers to Notice--and Mention--You ... 210 Giving Bloggers Everything They Need ... 212 14 B2B Social Media Marketing 213 Understanding Social Media ... 214 Social Networking with Facebook, Google+, and LinkedIn ... 214 Blogging as a Social Medium ... 215 Microblogging with Twitter ... 216 Social Bookmarking with Digg, Delicious, and StumbleUpon ... 216 Social Sharing with YouTube and Flickr ... 217 Social Location Sharing with Foursquare, Gowalla, and MyTown ... 218 How Important Is Social Media Marketing for B2B? ... 218 Which Social Media Should You Target? ... 221 Developing a Social Media Marketing Strategy... 222 Participating in Social Conversations ... 223 Responding to Online Comments ... 223 Using Social Media for Customer Reach and Acquisition ... 225 Using Social Media for Customer Retention and Loyalty ... 226 Using Specific Social Media ... 227 Using Facebook ... 227 Using Google+ ... 229 Using LinkedIn ... 231 Using Twitter ... 233 15 B2B Audio, Video, and Interactive Marketing 237 Using Podcasts for B2B Marketing ... 238 Understanding Podcasts ... 238 Creating a Podcast: The Technical Details ... 239 Developing a Podcast Strategy ... 240 Distributing Your Podcast ... 241 Using Video for B2B Marketing ... 242 What Kinds of Videos Are Most Effective? ... 242 Producing an Online Video ... 245 Tips for More Effective Online Videos ... 246 Using Interactive Media for B2B Marketing ... 251 Understanding Interactive Media... 251 Do Webinars Make Sense for You? ... 252 Tips for More Effective Interactive Marketing ... 253 16 B2B Public Relations 257 What Is Online PR--and How Does It Differ from Traditional PR? ... 258 Who You Influence ... 258 How You Influence Them ... 259 Using the New Technology ... 260 Online PR Databases ... 260 Social Media Search ... 261 Press Release Distribution ... 262 The Benefits of Online PR ... 263 Developing New Online Sources ... 264 Targeting Websites and Online Publications ... 265 Targeting Online Writers and Reviewers ... 265 Targeting Bloggers ... 266 Targeting Online Message Forums ... 267 Targeting Social Media ... 267 Creating an Online Press Room ... 268 Why Do You Need a Press Room on Your Website? ... 268 Stocking Your Online Press Room ... 269 17 B2B Mobile Marketing 275 Why Mobile Is Important ... 276 Mobile Marketing in the B2B World... 276 Mobile Marketing: Big and Getting Bigger ... 277 How Mobile B2B Marketing Differs from Traditional B2B Marketing ... 278 Marketing for a Smaller Screen ... 278 Targeted Marketing ... 279 Adapting Your Website for Mobile ... 280 Adapting Email Marketing for Mobile ... 285 Adapting Other Digital Media for Mobile ... 287 Mobile Search Engine Marketing ... 287 Mobile Advertising ... 288 Mobile Social Marketing ... 288 Mobile Audio/Video Marketing ... 289 Mobile Interactive Marketing ... 289 Using SMS Marketing ... 289 III MEASUREMENT AND REFOCUS 18 Quantifying Results 291 Analyzing Digital Media Performance ... 292 Analyzing Website Performance ... 292 Analyzing Search Engine Marketing Performance ... 295 Analyzing Advertising Performance ... 297 Analyzing Email Performance ... 300 Analyzing Blog Performance ... 301 Analyzing Social Media Performance ... 304 Analyzing Podcast Performance... 304 Analyzing Online Video Performance ... 305 Analyzing Interactive Marketing Performance ... 306 Analyzing Online PR Performance ... 306 Analyzing Mobile Marketing Performance ... 307 Analyzing Performance by Buying Stage ... 308 Analyzing Reach ... 308 Analyzing Acquisition ... 309 Analyzing Conversion ... 309 Analyzing Retention... 310 Analyzing Loyalty ... 311 19 Qualifying Results 313 Analyzing Social Media ... 314 Analyzing Engagement ... 315 Analyzing Comments ... 317 Analyzing Sentiment ... 319 20 Looking Forward 321 Evaluating--and Modifying--Your B2B Digital Marketing Strategy ... 322 Evaluating Results ... 322 Adjusting Your Budget ... 323 Adjusting Your Plan ... 324 Looking to the Future ... 325 Email Is Fading ... 325 Blogs Are Fading ... 327 Social Networking Is Taking Over ... 327 Mobility Matters ... 328 Index