Author Archives for Josh Krafchin

When done right, email prospecting is a powerful way to reach a highly targeted decision maker. But the right contacts are for naught unless you get your messaging right.

We recently ran a test with Ditto Labs, a remarkable social media image recognition technology for marketers, that was eye-opening.

Why eye-opening?

The version on the right (the longer version) won … and not by a little. It had a 61% higher CTR and 119% higher conversion to scheduled meetings.

Typically, brevity and concision win in early-touch communications, the theory being that you only have a few seconds to catch someone’s attention. Especially in landing page a/b testing, bullet points punctuated by a powerful headline and CTA are often the winning messaging approach. But I think the version on the right did a few things particularly well:

1. The use of BOLD calls attention to the core question: Are you listening for mentions of your brand in images?

2. This version has impressive statistics to validate the value proposition.

3. The last full paragraph gives details about the ask, including the length and subject matter. It takes this out of the realm of nebulous and makes it actionable.

4. The winning version doesn’t need to mention who the tool is for because we already targeted by these criteria in who we sent to.

Due to lower engagement volume, it can be challenging to gather sufficient data for body copy a/b tests, but this test was conclusive and statistically relevant. Ditto is an awesome image recognition technology dedicated to discovering how to reach marketers effectively and bring them maximum value.

Maybe you’re in a summer slump, maybe growth has flattened, maybe you just want to keep your foot on the growth pedal … regardless, revenue is the lifeblood of your business, and it makes sense to grab all the low-hanging revenue fruit.

Here are 5 proven ways to get that B2B revenue engine working.

1. Prospecting Email

You know your target industry, decision maker title, geography, etc. Don’t be afraid to introduce yourself, company and product or service. If you offer real value and have a good grasp on who needs that value, the email will be welcome.

Homework:

A. Use LinkedIn, Google and other online tools to identify email addresses.

B. Write an awesome, personalized email that gets to the point and makes a phone call irresistible.

C. Press send.

2. Retargeting

Because you’re only serving ads to people who visited your website, it’s low-cost and can be the very thing that yields a lead.

Homework:

A. Write awesome ad copy that reinforces your brand.

B. Make it look great.

C. Set the ads live via AdWords (and probably Facebook and Twitter as well).

3. Reach out to your network

Homework:

Go through …

A. Your LinkedIn contacts

B. Former customers

C. Past referrals

D. Old friends you haven’t talked to in a while

… and say hi!

4. Get published

A. Identify the blogs and publications that reach your audience

B. Come up with a few killer pitches

C. Reach out and share your ideas

5. Stay calm

If you’re anything like me, you have a nasty tendency to freak out if biz gets slow. Resist it. Why?

A. Business, like life, has a tendency to go in cycles. If you’re in a down cycle, enjoy it because before you know it, you’ll be going 100 MPH and wishing you’d taken those calm moments to recharge.

B. You can suffer later, or you can suffer now AND later. I vote for less suffering.

C. We tend to make bad decisions when we panic. Be strategic, put all the groundwork in place, take advantage of the time at your disposal, and you’ll be amazed what you yield.

Once upon a time, many agencies “owned” the SEM accounts they managed on behalf of clients. e.g. Clients often didn’t have logins to their own accounts. When they tried to switch agencies, they had to start over with completely new accounts.

There is absolutely no good reason why you, the client, should not own all of your advertising accounts and related account history. Any work we, the agency, do in those accounts belongs to YOU.

I thought we, as an industry, had long ago abolished the notion or any derivative argument that an agency “owns” a client’s advertising account and related data. I’m writing this post, however, because I’m extremely saddened and frustrated to find that those days are not behind us.

While I can’t change the behavior of other online advertising service providers, I can make it clear what Clever Zebo stands for:

1. You own ALL of your accounts. They’re in your name with your billing details and with you as the admin.

2. All of the work we do in your accounts belongs to you.

3. We support you before, during and after we work together. We completely understand that you may take our responsibilities in-house or transition to another agency. Even if the engagement together ends, we want you to succeed.