The conventional wisdom in marketing circles is that Influencer Marketing is a new spin on celebrity endorsements and celebrity endorsements are nothing new in the business world. One of the earliest ever celebrity endorsements was created by the pottery company, Wedgwood in the United Kingdom. The founder, Josiah Wedgwood used royal endorsements as a marketing device to show value in the company and promote its products in the 1760s.

One of the inherent problems with standard celebrity endorsements is that often the celebrity’s star status can mean that the focus becomes the celebrity rather than the product they are being paid to promote.  A good example of this is Michael Jordan’s endorsement deal with Rayovac batteries.

Influencer Marketing

When brands form strategic partnerships with individuals who have lots of online followers to promote their products or services, this is called Influencer Marketing.

These influencers with large online followings represents an improvement on standard sponsorships or celebrity endorsements because the introduction of Social Media means that they can now connect directly with their followers.

The emergence of influencers with audiences of their own on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook has elevated them to similar potential earnings levels as ‘old school’ celebrities. Consider this, Kylie Jenner now earns $1.2 million per post on Instagram.

I know what you are thinking, this is all very interesting in a general sense but Influencer Marketing is for business to consumer audiences, isn’t it? Kylie Jenner isn’t going to help me sell a SaaS product to middle -aged business executives,  is she?

Micro Influencers

You are right. Kylie Jenner would not the most strategically sound choice in that scenario. First of all, you must identify your target audience and your objectives and then partner with a micro influencer who is relevant for your target audience. A micro influencer has a smaller online audience than an influencer but they are usually experts in their field and have a tight-knit community of followers who trust and respect them.

Micro influencers are accessible and their followers take their recommendations seriously and will act upon them. Consider individuals with 10 -20, 000 followers online rather than millions and assess their engagement levels on their websites and social channels. Micro influencers are perfect for B2B focused businesses and can dramatically increase your company and brand’s exposure, bringing new leads to your business.

Take Action

Have you considered using Micro-influencers for your B2B business? Is this a step that you will now consider after reading this post ? Let me know in the comments section below. Also, let me know if you would like my help.

If you’ve liked this post you will also like the following posts:

LinkedIn: Advice for B2B Businesses Playlist

How to Increase LinkedIn Company Page Followers

Why I Stopped Using LinkedIn Sales Navigator

LinkedIn: Company Page Followers No Longer Viewable

How I Follow Up With LinkedIn Searchers

LinkedIn: How to Approach Leads the Right Way

Is Steemit Dead? 

How to use Telegram for New Business – Part 1

LinkedIn: Inside an Engagement Pod – Part 1.

LinkedIn Storytelling: How to Tell Stories on LinkedIn

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LinkedIn: Advice For B2B Businesses – Playlist

B2B Content Marketing Agency London

Marketing Fundamentals Ltd is a B2B Content Marketing Agency in London that creates Content and manages Social Media for Professional Services firms. We hope you find this information useful.

If you would like our help creating and executing a Content Marketing Plan for your business or organisation give us a call on +44 (0) 845 2264 247. You can also email us via mail@marketingfundamentals.com

On our YouTube channel you will find marketing advice, business advice & inspiration. Subscribe if you work in Marketing for Professional Services or are a business owner or solo-preneur trying to grow your business. New uploads on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Best regards,

Mike Pitt

Founder, Marketing Fundamentals Ltd

Follow Mike on Twitter 

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This is blog post number 574

References:

https://www.campaignindia.in/article/blog-raising-a-toast-to-250-years-of-celebrity-advertising/447282#:~:text=The%20first%20product%20that%20used,hi%2Dquality%20pottery%20and%20chinaware.

https://adage.com/article/news/mj-fails-give-rayovac-a-charge/15493

https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/49124484#:~:text=post%20on%20Instagram-,Kylie%20Jenner%20is%20paid%20around%20%241.2%20million%20(%C2%A3960%2C000)%20for,to%20scheduling%20tool%20Hopper%20HQ.

The post Is Influencer Marketing Relevant for B2B Audiences? appeared first on Marketing Fundamentals.

This video is called, Rev.com Review By Mike Pitt. If you want to subscribe to our YouTube channel, you can . Mike Pitt is the Founder of Marketing Fundamentals Ltd, a B2B Content Marketing Agency in London.

This post may contain affiliate links, please read our disclosure for more info.

In this video, Mike Pitt discusses, Rev.com.

This video will be of interest to content creators, business owners, B2B marketing managers, Content Marketing professionals, Social Media Managers and others who use Social Media to promote their businesses.

Rev.com

Rev.com is a website that will allow you to have audio files transcribed into text. You can send audio files or links to videos on YouTube and they will use their network of transcribers to create a text document for you. Rev.com is a great website for content creators and authors. In this video, I discuss the two occasions I have used Rev.com and give my review of the website and its services.

Take Action

Have you ever used Rev.com to help with your Content Marketing activities? Is it something that you will now consider? Let me know in the comments section below. Also, let me know if you would like my help.

If you’ve liked this post you will also like the following posts:

LinkedIn: Advice for B2B Businesses Playlist

How to Increase LinkedIn Company Page Followers

Why I Stopped Using LinkedIn Sales Navigator

LinkedIn: Company Page Followers No Longer Viewable

How I Follow Up With LinkedIn Searchers

LinkedIn: How to Approach Leads the Right Way

Is Steemit Dead? 

How to use Telegram for New Business – Part 1

LinkedIn: Inside an Engagement Pod – Part 1.

LinkedIn Storytelling: How to Tell Stories on LinkedIn

My Most Viewed Post on LinkedIn

LinkedIn: Advice For B2B Businesses – Playlist

B2B Content Marketing Agency London

Marketing Fundamentals Ltd is a B2B Content Marketing Agency in London that creates Content and manages Social Media for Professional Services firms. We hope you find this information useful.

If you would like our help creating and executing a Content Marketing Plan for your business or organisation give us a call on +44 (0) 845 2264 247. You can also email us via mail@marketingfundamentals.com

On our YouTube channel you will find marketing advice, business advice & inspiration. Subscribe if you work in Marketing for Professional Services or are a business owner or solo-preneur trying to grow your business. New uploads on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Best regards,

Mike Pitt

Founder, Marketing Fundamentals Ltd

Follow Mike on Twitter 

Subscribe to

Follow us on LinkedIn

Web Hosting Special Offer

This is video number 380 and blog post number 568

The post Rev.com Review appeared first on Marketing Fundamentals.

This post may contain affiliate links please read our disclosure for more info.

This video is called, LinkedIn: How to get More Recommendations By Mike Pitt. If you want to subscribe to our YouTube channel, you can . Mike Pitt is the Founder of Marketing Fundamentals Ltd, a B2B Content Marketing Agency in London.

In this video, Mike Pitt discusses, LinkedIn: How to get More Recommendations.

This video will be of interest to business owners, B2B marketing managers, Content Marketing professionals, Social Media Managers and others who use LinkedIn to promote their businesses.

LinkedIn Recommendations

If someone discovers you on LinkedIn and wants to make an assessment of you they are likely to read your recommendations. Recommendations are very important because they are a testimony to your credibility in your field of expertise; it is therefore very beneficial to to have a lot of recommendations. Most people are not proactive enough when it comes to requesting and collecting recommendations on LinkedIn. In this video, I explain 4 steps you should take to generate more LinkedIn Recommendations. When you’ve watched the video, I’d be happy to read your thoughts in the comments section below.

LinkedIn Reach

If your objective is to increase your audience on LinkedIn, there are some other methods to consider that I discuss in this post, LinkedIn: 6 Ways to Increase Your Reach.

Have you got many LinkedIn Recommendations? Do you want more? Let me know in the comments section below.

If you’ve liked this post you will also like the following posts:

Quora For Business – Course Updated

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How I Follow Up With LinkedIn Searchers

LinkedIn: How to Approach Leads the Right Way

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My Most Viewed Post on LinkedIn

LinkedIn: Company Page Followers No Longer Viewable

Professional Services: How Do You Build Trust in Your Company ? 5 ways

LinkedIn: Advice For B2B Businesses – Playlist

B2B Content Marketing Agency London

Marketing Fundamentals Ltd is a B2B Content Marketing Agency in London that creates Content and manages Social Media for Professional Services firms. We hope you find this information useful.

If you would like our help creating and executing a Content Marketing Plan for your business or organisation give us a call on +44 (0) 845 2264 247. You can also email us via mail@marketingfundamentals.com

On our YouTube channel you will find marketing advice, business advice & inspiration. Subscribe if you work in Marketing for Professional Services or are a business owner or solo-preneur trying to grow your business. New uploads on Wednesdays.

Best regards,

Mike Pitt

Founder, Marketing Fundamentals Ltd

Follow Mike on Twitter 

Subscribe to

Follow us on LinkedIn

Follow Mike on Pinterest

Web Hosting Special Offer

This is video number 290 and blog post number 523.

The post LinkedIn: How to get More Recommendations – 4 Steps appeared first on Marketing Fundamentals.

Content Marketing Helped Our Client Get Acquired

This client operates in the Vertical Transportation sector; an industry focused on the installation and maintenance of elevators and escalators. When I started working with them they wanted to raise their profile in their niche and generate more leads. I have been blogging for them and managing their Social Media for two years. In September 2015, because of their raised profile and prominence within their niche a multi billion dollar company acquired my client. This was an ideal scenario for my client.

Does this mean that Content Marketing can help businesses be sold? Yes, in some cases it can. The business must be a solid and profitable business, though. No amount of well-executed Content Marketing will ‘paper over the cracks’ of a failing business.  You can read the full case study and read a testimonial from our client here . If you have liked this post you will also like, Content Hacks – Learning From Your Most Popular Post.

B2B Content Marketing Agency London

Marketing Fundamentals Ltd is a B2B Content Marketing Agency in London that creates Content and manages Social Media for Professional Services firms.

If you would like our help creating and executing a Content Marketing Plan for your business or organisation give us a call on +44 (0) 845 2264 247. You can also email us via mail@marketingfundamentals.com

On our YouTube channel you will find marketing advice, business advice & inspiration. Subscribe if you work in Marketing for Professional Services or are a business owner or solo-preneur trying to grow your business. New uploads on Wednesdays.

I hope you find this information useful.

Best wishes,

Mike Pitt

Founder & CEO

Marketing Fundamentals Ltd

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Online courses:

How to TurboCharge Your Business with a Blog
Meet Edgar Social Media Management
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This is blog post number 345

Mike Pitt

Founder, Marketing Fundamentals Ltd

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The post Case Study: Content Marketing Helped Our Client Get Acquired appeared first on Marketing Fundamentals.

This post may contain affiliate links please read our disclosure for more info.

Learning from what others are doing is a sound business strategy. To inspire you to refine your business’s  content marketing strategy, we’ve compiled three powerful B2B content marketing case studies which shed light on successful content tips. To ensure our own impartiality for this post we have not chosen any of our clients.

B2B Content Marketing Case Studies

Oracle Using SlideShare

Oracle, the world’s leading supplier of software for information management, puts SlideShare at the heart of its content marketing strategy. SlideShare is a slide hosting service used primarily by business professionals. The company was founded in 2006 and, after years of steady growth, was purchased by LinkedIn in 2012 for $118 million USD. You can read more about SlideShare and how it can help your business generate leads here.

Oracle makes effective use of this uniquely informative content driven platform by regularly sharing presentations, infographics, reports and videos for prospects to view, comment on, and share. Much of this content is repurposed from existing corporate PowerPoint presentations.

Content ranges from entire presentations that have been repurposed from PowerPoint to infographics which make use of existing graphs and charts. Amongst Oracle’s successful content is presentations like “Oracle Cloud: Strategy,” which outlines the product’s USPs. Far from being flashy; this simple and straightforward presentation has been viewed over 1200 times.

Oracle has published over 160 SlideShare presentations and over 100 videos to date. Those pieces of content that achieve high visibility find themselves featured in SlideShare’s “Technology” stream, which shares the company’s content with an even broader audience. With an estimated 58 million unique visitors to the site each month, SlideShare is a great platform for B2B businesses to demonstrate their expertise in their niche and increase their brand visibility with a primarily professional audience.

Lesson: Oracle’s strategy is effective because their content provides relevant information to B2B researchers about their products and services, which helps sway the buyer’s purchasing decisions and ultimately generate sales.

GE Using Pinterest

GE uses Pinterest, the social media platform which allows users to ‘pin’ visual images to virtual pinboards, to great effect. It does so by regularly sharing content with its followers relating to its corporate values, sources of inspiration, and history, among others.

These boards help differentiate GE from its competitors by revealing aspects of the company’s personality and giving it a desirable ‘human’ quality.  Boards like “Hey Girl,” which riff off of a popular feminist meme that originated on Tumblr, collate images of Thomas Edison with humorous scientific puns or pick-up lines. While lighthearted in nature, this board effectively reenforces GE’s commitment to women’s place within the science and tech industries by creating content specifically marketed at young female scientists.

GE’s content marketing strategy  on Pinterest is particularly powerful when one considers the platform’s active millennial user base. According to recent findings from Google, nearly half of all B2B researchers influencing deals of over $10, 000 USD or more are now millennials. By including light-hearted content into their content rota like the “Hey Girl” images, GE are able to cultivate positive brand associations amongst key influencers.

Lesson: Revealing a sense of your company’s personality and values through your content, like GE does so successfully, will help ensure that your target audience can meaningfully connect with your brand. This ultimately increases sales because it means that buyers will be helped further down your sales funnel by engaging with this content, rendering them more likely to choose your business over your competitors when they are next in the market for your product or services.

Therefore, a diversity of content is key. To outperform your competitors, it is not sufficient to relay messages that relate only to your core brand message. Although GE uses Pinterest as its primary platform to engage with influencers, not all B2B businesses need to be using this platform. This strategy can be implemented using more conventional platforms, such as Twitter and LinkedIn, if done effectively. If you want to read more about whether Pinterest is right for your business, you can read our relevant article here.

American Express and Open Forum

To extend its reach into the small business market, American Express launched Open Forum (OPEN) back in 2007. OPEN is an online initiative designed to assist small business owners grow their business by providing both insights and resources online. Useful blog content is created by a mix of in-house writing staff, users, and publishers like Mashable or Inc. Magazine; making it a hybrid of guest blogging and in-house editorial operation. Content covers a wide array of topics, including advice for small businesses on leadership, marketing, finances, and several other business issues. Open Forum attracts over 16 million unique users per month.

American Express’ success with this content marketing initiative has enabled it to expand into an untapped market and ultimately grow its customer base. Mary Ann Fitzmaurice Reilly, SVP of Partnerships & Business Development for American Express OPEN, said, “We already have a large part of the pie so our biggest opportunity is with small business growth—if they grow, we grow.”

Lesson: Open Forum demonstrates how easy content marketing can be for a B2B company when it provides value-added content, rather than merely pushing product. The communal aspect of the initiative incentivises its users to return to the website and be of assistance to their peers. This year, there were one-quarter of a million link back referrals on the site. This staggering number demonstrates that content marketing strategies are at their best when they invite comment and feedback from your target audience.

Luckily, you don’t need to be American Express to create this sense of community amongst your prospects. Inviting your audience to engage with your business by asking for feedback and/or suggestions at the end of each blog post is a great and easy way to begin executing this strategy.

B2B Content Marketing Agency London

Marketing Fundamentals Ltd is a B2B Content Marketing Agency in London that creates Content and manages Social Media for Professional Services firms. We hope you find this information useful.

If you would like our help creating and executing a Content Marketing Plan for your business or organisation give us a call on +44 (0) 845 2264 247. You can also email us via mail@marketingfundamentals.com

On our YouTube channel you will find marketing advice, business advice & inspiration. Subscribe if you work in Marketing for Professional Services or are a business owner or solo-preneur trying to grow your business. New uploads on Wednesdays.

Best regards,

Karla McDougall
Digital Marketing Intern

Marketing Fundamentals Ltd

Follow Mike on Pinterest

Subscribe to

Follow us on LinkedIn

Online courses:

How to TurboCharge Your Business with a Blog
Meet Edgar Social Media Management
TurboCharge Your Twitter Presence
Quora For Business

Follow Mike on Twitter

This is blog post post number 299.

The post 3 Powerful B2B Content Marketing Case Studies appeared first on Marketing Fundamentals.

Hello everyone. Growing a robust business is not easy. There are no guarantees or magic formulas but there are actions that you can take that will make your success more likely. How do you get your business into the fast lane? Everyone wants their business to be in the fast lane to success but usually they are not putting the work in to achieve that. Below are 6 ways to get you there.

 6 ways to grow your business faster

1. Content
Ensure that you have good web hosting from the outset. Be a content creator. Creating original blog content drives traffic to your website and generates leads and customers. Not surely precisely how to do this? Click here . Ensure that content is SEO optimised. This will ensure that you are more ‘findable’ by search engines and will increase organic traffic to your site.

2. Webinars & Podcasts
Give your community real chances to connect with you – using webinars and hosting a podcast are both excellent ways of doing this. One of our favourite quotes is the following from Mark Twain, “People do business with those they know, like and trust.”. It is very true – allow your audience the opportunity to build up trust in you.

3. Build a Great Team
You will not get your business in the fast lane all by yourself. Recognise where you need help and recruit based on character and build the level of expertise in the team. Do not hire clones of yourself with the same skill set.

4. Stage Wonderful Events
We are sure that you have attended one of those routine conferences that completely lacks enthusiasm and energy. You should take the opportunity to stage and appear at events and ensure that your event or your presence at a event gets people talking for the right reasons. This area represents such a great opportunity to make an impact because so many people are currently getting it wrong.

5. Email Strategy
Social Media did not kill off email. It should be working in conjunction with email. For many businesses the fast lane to larger revenues is an effective email strategy. Monthly newsletters will not suffice. Build the relationship with your audience by emailing once a week if appropriate. Construct email auto responder sequences  for people who join your mailing list. If this is difficult for your existing team to manage – bring in experts to execute this for you. It is very important.

6. Video
Video is extremely effective when well executed and from a SEO point of view it is easier to get a video onto Google’s first page of search results than with text only. There are a number of easily accessible options available including YouTube, Instagram and Vine. It is time for you to start using video effectively.

Great execution is key with all of these approaches. In our travels and conversations we have found that lots of people seem to know the right strategy but fail to execute. If that is you – it’s time for you to make that change now. You will also need money.

If you like this post, you will also like,  Simple way to find out who unfollows on Instagram.

We hope this information has been useful to you. If you’d like to talk to us about getting your business into the fast lane give us a call on +44 845 2264 247 or email us via mail@marketingfundamentals.com

Best regards,

Marketing Fundamentals Team

Note – The car featured in the foreground is a Lamborghini Reventón – Photo credit – Mike Pitt, Marketing Fundamentals Ltd

The post How do you get Your Business into the Fast Lane? 6 Ways appeared first on Marketing Fundamentals.

Building a Brand – Seven Great Examples

1. AVIS
In the early 1960s, the Avis car rental company was flailing. They were the second-largest rental company in the U.S., but sales were slipping then genius hit. Enumerated in a single tagline, “When you’re only number two, you try harder. Or else.” Avis became a brand to be reckoned with and sales soared through the late 1960s. The lesson here? Illuminating your shortcomings as a business isn’t always a bad thing and smart companies know how to turn negatives into positives.
2. HARDEE’S
In the early aughts, Hardee’s faced an uphill battle. They made 2,000 calorie burgers in an age where everyone was going “light,” but the company used this hurdle as a branding opportunity. Hardee’s quickly branded itself as the alternative to lighter fare, offering increasingly ridiculously indulgent foods to a loyal core base, mostly made up of young men. Through commercials, magazine ads, and coupons, Hardee’s continues this branding legacy to this day.

3. RED BULL
The great thing about Red Bull’s branding is how varied it truly is. The energy drink company constantly throws its name behind all kinds of adventure events, from the Red Bull Flutag (held annually) to the longest space jump in world history, aired live in 2012. By positioning itself as a sponsor, rather than as a competitor to other energy drinks, Red Bull has really created a niche.

4. OLD SPICE
Who can forget Old Spice’s hilariously absurd ads from 2010 and beyond? The “Old Spice Man” has become ubiquitous and a part of the pop culture narrative. What’s different about the Old Spice branding campaign than other, less successful campaigns is that the company did a great job tying their name, logo, and product into the seemingly-random ads.

5. OBAMA CAMPAIGN, 2008
This campaign proves that anything can be a brand! From a catchy, easy-to-recognize logo (a first in politics) to a signature tagline (“Yes we can”) the Obama campaign really opened the box of branding, proving that in today’s digital age everything has a brand, from people to ideas to events.

6. FACEBOOK
Facebook is one of the first websites to become a brand in and of itself. Part of the reason the Facebook brand is so successful is because it’s been so carefully cultivated…from a language all its own (“friending”) to a specific blue color, to a notorious company culture. Facebook is the ultimate crossover brand.

7. APPLE
Apple started out as an underdog. Today, it’s the most powerful brand in the world and the greatest lesson they can teach us is that sometimes building a brand means forging your own path. The Apple brand is unique in that it doesn’t pay much attention to what other brands are doing. This strategy won’t work for everyone, but it’s an interesting path nonetheless.

If you’re in charge of marketing for a business, it’s important you take note of some of the greatest branding successes in recent history, and also of the greatest failures. Sometimes the worst branding decisions add up to little more than bad timing.

This guest post was written by Ryan Currie who is a product manager at BizShark.com, with 5 years experience in online marketing and product development. Do you want to discuss any aspect of your Digital marketing & Content Marketing? Feel free to give us a call on +44 (0) 845 226247 or drop us an email via mail@marketingfundamentals.com – We look forward to hearing from you.

We hope you have found this information useful.

Best regards,

Marketing Fundamentals Team

The post How do you change a brand’s fortunes? – 7 Examples. Guest post by Ryan Currie appeared first on Marketing Fundamentals.

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This is a client testimonial for Mike Pitt of Marketing Fundamentals Ltd from Louise Henry of the London Evening Standard newspaper. Like what you’ve heard? Feel free to give us a call on +44 (0) 845 2264 247

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