B2B Connection

SEO stands for search engine optimization, and SEM stands for search engine marketing. So what’s the difference between the two? SEO experts focus on generating traffic and leads through organic search whereas SEM experts aim to generate traffic and leads through organic and paid search. When it comes to practicing SEO and SEM, it’s not an either/or — SEM actually includes SEO tactics. Still confused? Don’t worry, it can often sound like jibberish! We’ll explain what both SEO and SEM experts do, rather than soley their differences, to help paint the picture for you.  What does an SEO expert do? An SEO expert’s job includes a number of day-to-day responsibilities, from finding the right keywords to go after to reading industry news daily to ensure that the right tactics are being used. Below are some tasks an SEO expert might focus on. Perform keyword research Anyone working in SEO should have a firm grasp on how to perform keyword research. So, what’s a keyword? A keyword is a word or phrase you type into a search engine, like Google, to find the answer or result that you were looking for. If you’re trying to figure out what kind of spider you […]

Today, we awarded the 2018 TrustRadius Top Rated badges for Predictive Analytics Software. The TrustRadius Top Rated awards are unique in that they are an unbiased reflection of customer sentiment, based solely on user satisfaction scores. Here are the winners in each segment, listed in order of research frequency on TrustRadius. We have also provided insights on how to pick the right predictive analytics software based on your needs and current industry trends. Overall Top Rated Alteryx Analytics SAS Advanced Analytics Anaconda MATLAB RStudio Top Rated by Enterprises Alteryx Analytics SAS Advanced Analytics IBM SPSS Anaconda MATLAB RapidMiner Studio RStudio Top Rated by Mid-Sized Companies Alteryx Analytics SAS Advanced Analytics IBM SPSS Anaconda RStudio What is predictive analytics software? Predictive analytics software is a category of tools that use statistical models and machine learning techniques to identify the likelihood of future outcomes based on historical data. The quality of data is key to producing reliable results. For example, to make predictions about what customers are likely to buy in the future, it’s essential to have detailed data on what they have bought in the past, attributes of purchased products, etc. Provided there is adequate high-quality data, predictive models are created […]

Today, we awarded the 2018 TrustRadius Top Rated badges for Web Analytics Tools. The TrustRadius Top Rated awards are unique in that they are an unbiased reflection of customer sentiment, based solely on user satisfaction scores. Here are the winners in each segment, listed in order of research frequency on TrustRadius. We have also provided insights on how to pick the right web analytics tool based on your needs and current industry trends. Overall Top Rated Google Analytics Adobe Analytics Matomo (formerly Piwik) Mixpanel Google Analytics Premium AT Internet StatCounter Woopra Top Rated by Enterprises Adobe Analytics Google Analytics Mixpanel Google Analytics Premium Top Rated by Mid-Sized Companies Google Analytics Adobe Analytics Google Analytics Premium Kissmetrics Top Rated by Small Businesses Google Analytics Google Analytics Premium StatCounter Woopra What are web analytics tools? Web analytics tools are used to understand how people are interacting with your website so that you can optimize the experience for visitors. Some tools in this space have evolved to track other online interactions as well, such as how people interact with social media and mobile apps. Web analytics tools provide reporting and analysis capabilities that can help you diagnose and improve the effectiveness of your […]

Today, we awarded the 2018 TrustRadius Top Rated badges for Enterprise Video Platforms. The TrustRadius Top Rated awards are unique in that they are an unbiased reflection of customer sentiment, based solely on user satisfaction scores. Here are the winners in each segment, listed in order of research frequency on TrustRadius. We have also provided insights on how to pick the right enterprise video platform based on your needs and current industry trends. Overall Top Rated Vimeo Pro Vidyard Wistia Top Rated by Enterprises Kaltura Brightcove Vidyard Top Rated by Mid-Sized Companies Vimeo Pro Vidyard IBM Cloud Video Wistia Top Rated by Small Businesses Vimeo Pro Brightcove Vidyard What are enterprise video platforms? Enterprise video platforms provide a suite of tools designed to help you effectively leverage video content in your business, whether video is the product you sell, the vehicle you use to advertise your product, or a method of training. These platforms allow you to upload, store, and distribute (or in some cases, live stream) video content to customers and/or employees in a more personal, engaging format. Some products are geared towards particular internal or external use cases, while others are more flexible, with a broad gamut of […]

Today, we awarded the 2018 TrustRadius Top Rated badges for Contact Center Software. The TrustRadius Top Rated awards are unique in that they are an unbiased reflection of customer sentiment, based solely on user satisfaction scores. Here are the winners in each segment, listed in order of research frequency on TrustRadius. We have also provided insights on how to pick the right contact center software based on your needs and current industry trends. Overall Top Rated Genesys PureConnect Tenfold Five9 Virtual Contact Center NICE inContact CXone Top Rated by Enterprises Genesys PureConnect NICE inContact CXone Tenfold Top Rated by Mid-Sized Companies Genesys PureConnect Five9 Virtual Contact Center Tenfold Genesys PureEngage What is contact center software? Contact center software provides robust customer care tools and features that can be scaled and customized across all your support channels such as phone, email, instant messaging, text, social media, and self-service portals. Contact center solutions support multiple channels of service communication, but each mode is typically managed by a separate system and sometimes even adheres to unique business processes or procedures. Despite the advantages of multi-channel tools, contact centers are usually implemented as a phone-first solution for businesses. These solutions can handle large call […]

Today, we awarded the 2018 TrustRadius Top Rated badges for Survey and Form Building Tools. The TrustRadius Top Rated awards are unique in that they are an unbiased reflection of customer sentiment, based solely on user satisfaction scores. Here are the winners in each segment, listed in order of research frequency on TrustRadius. We have also provided insights on how to pick the right survey tool based on your needs and current industry trends. Overall Top Rated Qualtrics Google Forms Typeform Formstack GetFeedback FormAssembly AskNicely Top Rated by Enterprises Qualtrics Google Forms Inquisium FormAssembly Top Rated by Mid-Sized Companies Qualtrics Typeform Formstack QuestionPro AskNicely Top Rated by Small Businesses Qualtrics Wufoo Typeform FormAssembly AskNicely What are survey tools? Survey and form building tools allow you to create and distribute online questionnaires and analyze responses and feedback. Typically, web forms are used to gather information which will be stored in a database for analysis. Using the form building features, you can create and format customized surveys to send via email or embed on your website. More robust survey platforms include tools to distribute surveys, collect responses, and analyze results built in. There are also survey tools that simply allow for data […]

Today, we awarded the 2018 TrustRadius Top Rated badges for SEO Tools. The TrustRadius Top Rated awards are unique in that they are an unbiased reflection of customer sentiment, based solely on user satisfaction scores.   Here are the winners in each segment, listed in order of research frequency on TrustRadius. We have also provided insights on how to pick the right SEO tool based on your needs and current industry trends. Overall Top Rated SEMRush Conductor Searchlight Screaming Frog SEO Spider Yoast WordPress SEO Plugins Ahrefs Site Explorer Majestic SEO Top Rated by Enterprises Conductor Searchlight Google Search Console Top Rated by Mid-Sized Companies SEMRush Conductor Searchlight Screaming Frog SEO Spider Yoast WordPress SEO Plugins Ahrefs Site Explorer Majestic SEO Top Rated by Small Businesses SEMRush Screaming Frog SEO Spider Yoast WordPress SEO Plugins Ahrefs Site Explorer BrightEdge Conductor Searchlight Google Search Console What is SEO? Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a method of driving free or organic traffic to your website by optimizing your headers, web copy, and metadata tags to index your site and drive it to the top of the search results on engines such as Google or Bing. SEO tools provide you with features designed […]

Today, we awarded the 2018 TrustRadius Top Rated badges for Email Marketing Software. The TrustRadius Top Rated awards are unique in that they are an unbiased reflection of customer sentiment, based solely on user satisfaction scores. Here are the winners in each segment, listed in order of research frequency on TrustRadius. We have also provided insights on how to pick the right email marketing software based on your needs and current industry trends. Overall Top Rated MailChimp Bronto Marketing Platform SendGrid Marketing Email ActiveCampaign Emma GetResponse Robly Top Rated by Mid-Sized Companies MailChimp Bronto Marketing Platform Sailthru Campaign Monitor Emma Top Rated by Small Businesses MailChimp SendinBlue SendGrid Marketing Email ActiveCampaign Emma GetResponse Robly What is email marketing software?   Email marketing software is a business staple, and is constantly evolving to keep pace with marketing trends. Leveraging email is critical for distributing content, nurturing leads, enabling outbound sales and supporting an account-based approach. Email marketing software enables these strategies by providing a way to individualize marketing efforts, with the efficiency of sending those messages in a bulk, batched, or triggered format. Email marketing solutions integrate with other popular business systems, primarily CRMs, to streamline your marketing efforts and effectively […]

Content marketing is a pretty widely interpreted and applied marketing term. The Content Marketing Institute defines content marketing as a “strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience – and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.” Due to the broad definition of content marketing, it’s not uncommon to see many campaigns fail. I’m here to tell you that understanding content marketing and the results that it can drive can be as simple as a ratio. Specifically, an 80:20 ratio. The Pareto Principle & How It’s Related to Content Marketing Back in 1896, an Italian Economist named Vilfredo Pareto first noted that 80% of Italy’s land was owned by 20% of Italy’s population. After several follow-up studies, he then found a similar ratio in other European countries. People have been finding this same ratio in places that Mr. Pareto would’ve never thought. This principle can be applied to computer science (20% of most-reported bugs cause 80% of crashes), sales and business (20% of your customers account for 80% of your profit), and even criminal investigation (20% of crimes are committed by 80% of criminals). Regardless of the action […]

Are you dialed in to what people are saying about your company, brand, or industry? Perhaps you’ve conducted some focus groups and you try to stay up-to-date on industry journals, but the best way to find out what consumers really think about your industry — what they love, where their pain points are — is by engaging in social listening. Social listening is monitoring and responding to conversations that are naturally occurring about your brand. For instance, recently the actress, Kristen Bell, wrote a letter to the pasta company, Banza, to express how much she liked their pasta. Banza responded by sending her a box of their pasta, custom packaged for Bell, espousing her charm, humor, range and many other fun compliments where they would normally list ingredients. Bell was thrilled and shared an Instagram story about the exchange that has since been viewed by hundreds of thousands of her followers. Another great example is from one of Europe’s oldest vacuum cleaner companies, Zelmer. Zelmer noticed an Instagram user’s #zelmer on a post about how her 4-year old son is so enamored with their vacuum that she actually made his birthday cake to resemble one. Zelmer followed up by inviting the […]

Customer experience is the very lifeblood of a business. From what customers find on your website or in your physical location, to the salespeople they work with and the customer service and support they receive, their likelihood to remain loyal and recommend you depends on more than just the quality of your product. Whether your customers are consumers or businesses, their experience with your brand carries a big influence with their peers. This often extends even beyond their personal networks.   Presently, we are in the age of review sites. On the B2C side, you have sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor. Alternatively, you have TrustRadius and others on the B2B side. All in all, it’s more important than ever to learn how to not only meet but exceed your customers’ expectations. A great customer experience can set you apart from your competitors. This is especially true in highly saturated markets where customers have many options to choose from.  Thankfully, there are plenty of experts in the field who blog about customer experience management (CXM or CEM for short), turning their own successes, failures, and observations into helpful advice, tips, and tricks for you. Curious about who knows their stuff and […]

Today, driving to an office in a fancy looking suit isn’t the only way to make a stable living. The world has evolved. Freelancers in almost every industry are turning their work-from-home jobs into legitimate stacks of cash, challenging our perceptions of what a “good job” ought to be. Making money as a freelancer, however, requires that you have clients. Arguably, one of the biggest challenges facing freelancers is finding enough clients to fill their schedule so that income streams don’t dry up. Whether you are just starting out or are already a freelancing veteran, promoting your work as a freelancer is the bedrock of your business. In this post, we will look at 5 powerful online platforms that you can use to promote your work. We’ll also look at which platforms may be best suited for your needs while sharing tips on how you can stand out and compete amongst a sea of other talented freelancers. Let’s get into it. LinkedIn ProFinder LinkedIn has long been the place where professionals connect and network. So, it made sense that LinkedIn finally launched LinkedIn ProFinder in 2016 as a place to showcase your expertise as a freelancer. Even better, small businesses can also use […]

Today, we awarded the 2018 TrustRadius Top Rated badges for Social Media Management Tools. The TrustRadius Top Rated awards are unique in that they are an unbiased reflection of customer sentiment, based solely on user satisfaction scores. They are not influenced by analyst opinion, the vendor’s company size, popularity, site traffic, or status as a TrustRadius customer. Social Media Management Tools make it easier for businesses to successfully engage their audience across various social channels. These tools consolidate multiple accounts into a single dashboard, allowing brands to manage their social media presence across channels and teams, from one platform. Social media management platforms are suites that provide features for multiple use cases, including: monitoring for brand mentions or other keywords, posting to multiple channels, responding to inquiries, running marketing campaigns, managing paid advertising on social channels, and measuring the success of social media campaigns. Many platforms started out with core competencies in one of the above capabilities, and later expanded to add additional capabilities as vendors aimed to become a single platform solution. (Though many companies continue using multiple social media tools). A few key factors that differentiate social media management products include whether and how well they function for […]

Today, we awarded the 2018 TrustRadius Top Rated badges for Marketing Automation Software. The TrustRadius Top Rated awards are unique in that they are an unbiased reflection of customer sentiment, based solely on user satisfaction scores. They are not influenced by analyst opinion, the vendor’s company size, popularity, site traffic, or status as a TrustRadius customer. Marketing Automation software allows marketers to scale inbound and outbound marketing efforts by automating their digital communication workflows, using demographic and behavioral data to personalize the audience, content, and timing of their messages. Products in this category typically have email marketing at their core, but they also include tools to manage campaigns on other channels (like social and mobile), to publish web content (blogs, landing pages, etc.), to analyze engagement with content, and to update the sales and marketing system of record–either via a built-in CRM in the case of tools for smaller businesses, or via an integration to Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, SugarCRM, etc. Because Marketing Automation is a well-established category, many products tout similar features and value propositions. However, they differ greatly when it comes to campaign complexity, scalability, reporting capabilities, and ecosystem, i.e. their ability to integrate with the rest of […]

Today, we awarded the 2018 TrustRadius Top Rated badges for A/B Testing and Personalization Tools. The TrustRadius Top Rated awards are unique in that they are an unbiased reflection of customer sentiment, based solely on user satisfaction scores. They are not influenced by analyst opinion, the vendor’s company size, popularity, site traffic, or status as a TrustRadius customer. A/B testing is the process of comparing two versions of a single variable by testing the response to variable A, against variable B, to determine which is more effective. A/B testing, or split testing, divides web traffic among multiple versions of a webpage and determines which version of the page performs better at achieving desired outcomes, including signups, purchases, conversions, or increased traffic. A/B testing tools promise to allow users to create, launch and measure tests on their website more easily, and more independently of the IT department. More advanced products allow for segmentation, targeting and personalization, which involve understanding which variations or content perform best among different site visitors based on demographics or behavior, serving up optimal content for different segments, and even delivering personalized experiences. Tools differ in price, level of sophistication, and ease of use for non-technical users.   […]

Today, we awarded the 2018 TrustRadius Top Rated badges for Content Management Systems. The TrustRadius Top Rated awards are unique in that they are an unbiased reflection of customer sentiment, based solely on user satisfaction scores. They are not influenced by analyst opinion, the vendor’s company size, popularity, site traffic, or status as a TrustRadius customer. A Content Management System (CMS) allows a user to quickly manage and publish content for a variety of website types, including blogs, corporate websites, and ecommerce sites, without needing the expertise of a developer. Most CMS products offer a WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) editor with pre-built templates, layouts, and themes, along with other features like search, tagging, SEO, content versioning, and scheduling. In reality, different CMS products require more or less technical skill, depending on the integrations/plugins, amount of custom styling, content types, and size of the website an organization plans to deploy. Reviews can provide helpful insight for buyers into ease of use versus website complexity, and what (if any) development resources were required with each CMS. Here are the winners: Overall Top Rated Adobe Experience Manager dobe Experience Manager is a business content management solution that supports multi-site content creation, management, and deployment. Users […]

Whether you’re a digital marketer, a savvy entrepreneur, or a website owner trying to boost your site’s conversions, there’s no doubt A/B testing has at one point been a high priority. And if terms like “statistical confidence” or “test variants” leave you feeling confused, it’s time to put yourself on a path towards clarity, and confidence. In this article, we’ve broken down the different parts to A/B testing and the key components to look out for. This information will help you take tactical steps towards improving conversion rates, and ultimately, your bottom line. Now doesn’t that sound like a nice change of pace? The first step in conversion rate optimization (CRO) is to conduct a website analysis to understand how users flow through a site. This is done by identifying where users get stuck on a page, and where they are leaving the site. This analysis is usually done with a variety of tools, including Google Analytics, heat maps, and surveys. Once it is determined what pages and elements on the website need to be optimized, new design elements are created and A/B tested. Examples of design elements include modifying the size of a call-to-action (CTA) button or changing the copy […]

You already know you need to meet your customers on their turf: social media. But successfully engaging them isn’t as simple as creating an account across every platform and shooting outbound posts into a void. Nowadays, your social media needs to be a customer service nerve center, sensitive to every mention of your brand, as well as a tool used to aggregate data about customers so you can learn what they really want. That’s where social customer relationship management comes in. Your social media efforts shouldn’t be detached from your overall customer engagement strategy. Marketing, sales, and support all have occasion to interact with customers on social media; a social CRM strategy will help you organize these interactions so that you can learn from them. With the right tools and savvy execution, you can use branded social media to stretch your influence and deepen your understanding of your audience. What is Social Customer Relationship Management? A social customer relationship management strategy is a coordinated effort between an organization’s marketing, sales, and customer service departments to better engage with customers and increase brand awareness. Social CRM isn’t just about gathering data and making the sale. It’s about creating a two-way conversation […]

Lead-based marketing strategies have ruled the digital age, but in the past couple of years an alternative B2B marketing strategy called account-based marketing (ABM) has picked up steam, challenging marketers to think more strategically about the companies they sell to — the contexts in which their leads work. If lead-based marketing is like throwing semi-adhesive objects at a wall to see what sticks, account-based marketing is precisely selecting objects, applying a careful dob of glue, and arranging them as desired. The strategy that leaves the most objects on the wall entirely depends on the organization, its target market, and its approach. For marketing or sales teams that view account-based marketing with a combination of intrigue and skepticism, Demand Gen Report’s ABM Early Benchmark Survey Report may help you understand whether it might be a good fit for your organization. It shows the choices companies make to achieve success with ABM, including how they build a list of accounts to go after, and which content, technology, and measurements they use in ABM campaigns. But before we analyze the report, let’s discuss the concept of ABM in a little more detail. What Is Account-Based Marketing? ABM deployments require the sales, marketing, and […]

MarTech 2017–the annual conference for senior-level marketing, IT, and digital executives and experts at the intersection of marketing, technology, and customer experience–is fast approaching. At the conference, Scott Brinker will unveil his updated MarTech landscape, ushering marketers into the latest wave of marketing technology innovations. Last year’s landscape showed 3,874 marketing technology solutions, almost twice as many as the previous year. You can check out his pre-release of the 2017 Marketing Automation category here; this piece of the landscape alone is up 36% from the 2016 version. In preparation for this year’s conference, which takes place in San Francisco May 9-11, TrustRadius talked with two of the conference organizers and martech thought leaders, Barry Levine (right) and Marc Sirkin (left), about the biggest trends influencing the marketing technology landscape right now, and how collaboration, integration, and strategic investment in technology can drive better marketing practices. Barry Levine covers marketing technology for Third Door Media. Marc Sirkin is VP eCommerce & Marketing, Third Door Media. Data Accessibility & The Evolution of the MarTech Stack What makes a marketing tech stack effective in 2017? What are the biggest differences you see in the technology landscape, as “Martec’s Law” continues to unfold? BL: The “effectiveness” of a […]