Datateam Business Media unveils UK Manufacturing Magazine
As Brexit presents challenges for the manufacturing industry, manufacturers are striding forward with a positive attitude.
Manufacturers appear to be quietly confident about the conditions in their industry, with firms focused on delivering ambitious growth plans and feeling positive about productivity and sales for the year ahead.
With this positivity in mind, Datateam Business Media have decided to launch a new online publication 'UK Manufacturing' dedicated to helping the industry. The magazine, released each quarter, will look at the latest technology, products and solutions available to firms, in an attempt to help manufacturers become more agile, competitive and profitable. In these increasingly uncertain times the industry is facing, UK Manufacturing aims to help manufacturers overcome the potential challenges ahead, as we move further into 2017.
To receive your own copy of UK Manufacturing, straight to your inbox, sign up online
MMG Publishing and CIE appoint New Members to their Teams
MMG Publishing have appointed Charlotte Morgan, as their new Director of Sales, whose focus will be heading up sales across the MMG portfolio. This will include magazines such as Electronics Sourcing UK and Ireland, Electronics Sourcing Europe, and Electronics Sourcing Deutschland.
Charlotte is joining the team after her successful time at CIE as advertising manager, and Mark Leary, MMG’s publisher, is delighted to have Charlotte as part of the team. Having previously work together, Mark describes Charlotte as professional, successful and ideal for the role, and will help to further expand MMG’s organic growth and portfolio.
A further congratulations is in order for Neera Khan, who has taken over from Charlotte at CIE, as advertising manager. Neera previously worked as a sales executive for the monthly publication Show House, and prior to that she was a sales executive for C21 Media who sell B2B news within the TV industry globally.
We wish both of them the best of luck in their new roles.
Why should you write a book? (and simple ideas to help you write your own)
In the last 6 months we’ve seen a trend emerging here at Napier. Marketing collateral is big part of our remit with our B2B technology clients and recently we’ve been involved in creating books - lots and lots of them! We’re huge advocates of the inbound methodology (in case you hadn’t noticed!) and in order to execute this methodology successfully you need great content. If you are a B2B marketer, you really should write a book!
Books for lead generation
Books are a great resource to give your prospects. Packed full of information about the challenges and frustrations your clients may face and by providing a solution of how you can help to solve them, books are up there as one of the best content giveaways for lead generation. All you need is a landing page with a form, some compelling copy about the contents of your book and a PDF copy of the book itself [link to landing pages blog]. The reason why books work so well is that they are seen as highly valuable by prospects and the exchange of an email address for all this great information seems like a fair deal.
Books as a sales tool
In just the same way that books can help you to generate leads, they are also great as a leave behind at a meeting or take-away from a trade show. By creating your own book you can customise the content as you see fit and create different versions for each of your buyer persona’s or industry verticals. Sales people work best when they have all the tools to hand and a branded book, with all your vital statistics enclosed, helps them to feel confident and keeps your company top of mind. This book can be used to write notes to highlight areas of interest for your prospect during a meeting and then can be given to the potential client to keep, adding value to your company’s offering in the prospects eyes and increasing the potential for conversion. As this is your book, your contact details are already included, ready for when the prospect wants to get in touch.
Isn’t a book time consuming and hard to write?
A book sounds like hard work, but in reality you probably have all the content you need sitting on your server. Books don’t have to be long or full of flowing prose – books can be a collection of all of your ‘best bits’ of collateral and marketing messages held together in one place. A great example is a Coverage book that we created for one of our clients [include link to coverage book post]. This book is used by the sales team to showcase their expertise in the automotive software testing industry. We’ve since gone on to produce an additional 5 industry vertical specific books for this client in English, as well as German to help them reach their target market.
Don’t you need fancy and expensive tools to bring it all together?
To create a professional looking book you do need to use some tools but they don’t need to be fancy or expensive. There are numerous online self-publishing platforms that you could use if you want your book to live online, or specialist services that can print short runs – ideal if you don’t want to commit to storing thousands of copies.
What should you include?
This really depends on who you are writing your book for but examples of useful things to include are:
- Datasheets
- Whitepapers
- Relevant editorial coverage
- Case studies
- Q&A’s or interviews
- Print quality images of your products (if relevant)
- Industry tips from FAE’s or other technical staff
If you’re considering creating a book then don’t forget to think about who you’re writing for and how you’ll use the end product. Creating a book is much simpler than you think. If you want help or advice with writing a book then get in touch.
Apprenticeship graduation and next steps
In this latest apprenticeship blog, Taylor from our team at sister agency Peter Bush Communications talks about her apprenticeship experience and what's coming next for her...head over to the Peter Bush Communications site to read Taylor's Blog.
It's official - Napier is one of the Top 10 B2B PR Agencies in the UK
Napier has been listed as one of the top 10 B2B PR Agencies in the UK. The ranking forms part of B2B Marketing’s annual Benchmarking report which offers a guide to the UK’s leading B2B Marcomms and PR Agencies.
In recent years Napier has been climbing the rankings in a number of bench-marking reports, having previously been ranked in the top 40 UK agencies list and named as one of the top 10 fastest growing agencies in the UK by B2B Marketing. Napier has also featured in PR Week’s Top agencies outside London list, ranking in the top third out of 150 agencies.
Managing Director, Mike Maynard says, “As a results driven agency, we are so thrilled to receive accolades such as this from B2B Marketing. We pride ourselves on delivering the very best campaigns for our clients and working in the B2B sector is incredibly hard work but equally rewarding. Client feedback is always invaluable but this acknowledgement is the icing on the cake. Our focus has always been in the B2B sector with technology PR and marketing being our niche, and this recognition of our continuing efforts is fantastic for all of us at Napier.”
The B2B Marketing bench-marking report is in its twelfth year and includes rankings of the UK’s top 75 B2B Marcomms agencies, as well as the results of exclusive research and insights into the state of the B2B agency landscape.
The BEEA's Awards 2017 are open for entries...
The British Engineering Excellence Awards (BEEAs) for 2017 are now open for entries. Having launched in 2009, entries span a huge range of industries, with previous winning entries including chip design, kinetic energy recovery, marine communications as well as medical imaging technology.
If you have developed breakthrough technology, grown an innovative business or excelled in your specialist field, then why not enter the British Engineering Excellence Awards?
The BEEAs reward companies who have shown innovation in design within the last year and the design engineers who made those innovations possible. The Awards also recognise outstanding performances from engineering consultancies, start-ups and small companies.
The 2017 categories are:
- Consultancy of the Year
- Design Engineer of the Year
- Design Team of the Year
- Engineering Ambassador
- Materials Application of the Year
- New Product of the Year (Aerospace)
- New Product of the Year (Electronic)
See the BEEAs website for further details and follow @TheBEEAs for updates and latest news
Interempresas Media announces new publication Eurofach Electronica
The publishers of Electronica & Communicaciones, Interempresas Media, has taken a step further in its expansion strategy thanks to the acquisition of the technical publications Eurofach and Electronica & Communicaciones and the resulting creation of Eurofach Electrónica. Eurofach Electrónica will have 6 issues per year with a circulation of 12,500 and a newsletter subscriber base of 11,400 due to the acquisition. Cristina Minguez from Electronica & Communicaciones takes the helm as editor of Eurofach Electrónica.
Interempresas Media is part of the Catalan Nova Àgora Group which currently publishes 40 printed magazines, 55 e-magazines, and more than 115 industry newsletters per month. As such Interempresas Media has one of the best known industrial portals aimed at Spanish-speaking readers in the world, with an average of approximately 900,000 visits each month.
Firmware magazine to celebrate Embedded IoT Conference ‘17 with a special edition
Firmware the digital Italian magazine, plan to produce a special printed edition for their April issue, surrounding the Embedded IoT conference 2017.
Firmware Magazine, currently published by EMCelettronica, has previously focused on embedded electronics, technology and components. Their special edition for April will be focused around the conference, with plans to distribute this issue at the event.
The Embedded IoT conference 2017, will be held in Milan at the Marriott Hotel from the 16th to the 17th May. The conference will feature insights into the main applications of IoT, including Smart Home, Supply Chain Management and Industry 4.0. Key business topics at the event will include: Smart Environment, Smart Parking, eHealth, Waste Management and Smart Lighting. Excitingly, due to the collaboration with partners and trade associations, the event will also feature live demo areas and “hands on” experiences on innovative IoT solutions for the respective technologies.
See the Embedded IoT Conference website for more details, and follow@ElettronicaOpen for further updates and information.
A fond farewell to Donal McDonald
Napier is shocked and saddened at the sudden death of Donal McDonald, publisher of several influential electronics titles including Electronics Components World and Electronics Production World. Donal died of a massive stroke while preparing for the APEX show in San Diego in February.
Donal was a familiar presence at all our industry’s major events. He began his career working in the family media company in Ireland before forming his own business and expanding to offer Pan-European coverage with a global perspective. He was one of the first publishers to fully embrace the digital age, spotting its potential early on and offering his publications as an App before that became a general practice.
His many business acquaintances were proud to call him friend as well professional colleague. Known for his generosity, kindness and charm, as well as his business acumen, Donal will be remembered for his inclusive spirit – he always invited everyone to the party.
Away from business, Donal loved martial arts and poker. He will be greatly missed by everyone who knew him, and our thoughts are with his partner, Ann, and children Dan and Leah.
If you didn't know Donal, read his obituary on ECW.
Manufacturing & Engineering event returns to Newcastle
Now in its third year, Manufacturing & Engineering is the leading exhibition and conference in the North East, celebrating manufacturing technology and design engineering and their importance to the economy of the North of England. This award winning exhibition and conference takes place on the 5 & 6th July, registration for tickets is free.
Manufacturing & Engineering comprises three key elements: keynote conference sessions from industry leaders, practical workshops and an exhibition of over 90 suppliers. In response to feedback from previous visitors the 2017 show will feature a new Subcontractor Village, hosting subcontractors from the North East alongside returning global suppliers and design consultancies.
New for 2017 will be a virtual reality demo area where visitors will be able to take part in hands-on demonstrations of the latest VR design and manufacturing technology.
Manufacturing & Engineering is delivered in association with Eureka, Machinery and Works Management magazines.
Register for your free ticket now and follow all the latest news @MandE_Events
Finland to Host their first ever Embedded Conference
Finland will hold their first ever Embedded Conference in May this year, hosted by the publishing house ETN. This one-day event will be invitation only, gathering professionals from both the embedded hardware and software industries.
The event will have significant keynotes, panel discussions and two technical tracks; Software and Hardware solutions. The website for this event has just gone live - visit Embedded Conference Finland for more information.
If you’d like to get involved and participate as an exhibitor, get in touch with Editor-in-Chief Veijo Ojanperä at vo@etn.fi, or Sales Manager Anne-Charlotte Sparrvik at ac@etn.fi for more information.
Embedded World 2017- The best one yet?
The Embedded World Conference will soon be upon us, and many are predicting this year’s event will be the most successful yet. The conference held in Nuremberg, Germany from the 14th-16th March, has built itself a reputation as the best place for meeting and networking with peers from the international embedded community.
Having reached its fifteenth year, the conference is continually growing with this year's display area expected to be considerably larger than last years, with 1000 exhibitors already expected to take part. The theme of the conference is ‘Securely Connecting the Embedded World’, with the main topics including Internet of Things, Security and Safety, Software and Systems Engineering, Hardware Engineering, Embedded OS and management Focus.
Keynote speeches on the topical issues of ‘The Internet of Things’ and ‘Security and Safety’ will also be a hugely important element of the conference held by Rick Clemmer, CEO of NXP and Riccardo Mariani, Chief Functional Safety Technologist at Intel.
To learn more about the conference, visit the website or follow @embedded_world for recent updates and information.
Electronic Notes revamp boosts growth
Since the revamp of Electronic Notes website in October last year, the popularity of the site has begun to rise, resulting in over 100k page views a month. Impressively, although the site has only been live since October, they have received a considerably remarkable amount of traffic in this short time.
The site is continuing to grow, as resources are added and updated regularly, including launching their first YouTube channel. With an online presence becoming increasingly important in this industry, Electronic Notes have taken advantage of this, achieving 500 subscribers in their first 3 and a half months on YouTube.
To discover more about Electronic Notes take a look at their website at or subscribe to their YouTube channel
Napier Is Named as One of England’s Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers
On Friday we heard the news that Napier has been recognised as one of England’s top 100 Apprenticeship employers by the National Apprenticeship Service.
This recognition for Napier is the latest in a series of accolades we have received for our ongoing commitment to supporting apprenticeships. Companies from all of the National Apprenticeship Awards employer categories were eligible and only the most exceptional feature in the list announced on Friday, which showcases the breadth of employers who now offer apprenticeships.
We are huge advocates of Apprenticeships and actively seek to employ apprentices to grow and enhance the workforce. On hearing the news of this latest recognition for Napier, Mike Maynard proudly commented, “2016 has been a fantastic year for us. Having won Highly Commended in the SME category in October, hiring another new apprentice and now making the Centrica Top 100 Apprenticeship employer list, we are incredibly proud and remain certain that apprentices will be a part of Napier’s future. The diversity of companies in this list proves that apprenticeships are a fantastic route to building a career and highlights that they are beneficial to companies of all sizes and industries.”
Sue Husband, Director of the National Apprenticeship Service commented on Napier Partnership being named a Centrica Top 100 Apprenticeship Employer saying, “The Top 100 Apprenticeship Employer list 2016 demonstrates clearly the impact apprentices can have on an organisation. Apprentice employers are creating opportunities for individuals to gain the skills and knowledge needed to succeed, up to degree level, while working and earning. These Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers are making a difference to the lives of their apprentices by investing in their future. In return, apprentices are helping employers to develop a skilled, qualified workforce to build a stronger economy. I hope the success of these Top 100 Apprenticeship Employers will mean more businesses across England aspire to follow their example and to find out for themselves how apprenticeships help to grow a skilled and highly qualified workforce.
What does HubSpot’s 'State of Inbound 2016' report tell B2B marketers?
As proud partners of HubSpot, we eagerly awaited their eighth annual State of Inbound Report, presenting the trends and growth of inbound marketing. We weren’t disappointed as we delved into HubSpot’s report, discovering the state of inbound marketing in 2016 and HubSpot’s predictions for the future of inbound marketing.
74% of marketers surveyed recognised the importance of converting leads to customers, rating it as their company’s top marketing priority for the next 12 months. If the time taken to convert leads to customers can be shortened and speed through the sales funnel increased, then inbound marketing is the perfect marketing strategy and is a highly profitable approach for businesses. Here at Napier, we understand the value of maximising lead conversions to make B2B campaigns more profitable, and are continually working hard to develop techniques that increase the speed that a lead converts to a customer for our client’s campaigns.
Interestingly, the State of Inbound report results showed that although conversions are named as the biggest priority, when companies were asked to look at their marketing on a project level, the projects that they actually prioritised were SEO and blogging. Less than half of the respondents prioritised marketing automation. Unsurprisingly given this information, HubSpot’s research shows that a quarter of companies convert less than 10% of their leads to customers, so there is clearly a need for companies to focus on marketing activities that drive conversions.
The report highlights the ongoing transformations in inbound marketing and how the methodology is being employed by marketers. For the last two years, marketers have been focusing on increasing the number of contacts or leads. Now we are seeing a shift from purely quantity metrics to a mix of quality and quantity. For 2016 and beyond, companies are concentrating on conversion rates and how to achieve a higher conversion rate for the best ROI. Inbound, by nature, is all about attracting the the target customers for your business and so it follows that the leads you generate will inherently be of a higher quality and which will lead to better conversions.
As we know, marketing and sales are dependent upon each other and the results of this latest HubSpot report reinforces the importance of this co-dependent relationship. The 2016 report shows that closing more deals is unsurprisingly the top priority for businesses, with 70% ranking this as the most important priority, however this percentage has dropped by 2% in comparison to last year. Improving the efficiency of the sales funnel is the next most important sales priority with reducing the length of the sales cycle following close behind. The stats for this are interesting as there has been a 2% increase from 2015 to 2016 in respondents focusing on speed. The increasing importance of reducing the sales cycle shows that companies are looking for ways to work smarter and implementing inbound marketing can definitely play a part in this.
We were encouraged to read that HubSpot’s findings are very closely aligned to Napier’s unique focus on increasing the speed at which visitors become leads and ultimately customers, and that inbound marketing is a great tool to support this goal.
This report is now obsolete. Click here to search for a newer version.
Napier Supports Continued Business Growth with Three New Team Members
Napier has seen its busiest summer to date with new clients wins and to support this business growth, have welcomed three new employees to the team.
Sian Hogan joins the team as Napier’s newest Marketing Specialist. With a solid background in business administration, Sian is looking forward to developing her creative eye and utilising her skills with Napier’s clients.
Svitlana Mawbey joined Napier in August and will be supporting the team by overseeing the day to day financial operations of the business including UK and International payments and payroll.
In September, Debbie McIntosh has taken her place in the team as PA to the Directors and will use her forte for organisation and planning to keep Napier running smoothly through offering office administration support.
Napier is delighted to have Svitlana, Debbie and Sian as part of the team and we look forward to them settling into their respective roles.
Napier shortlisted as a Finalist for South East Employer of The Year in The National Apprenticeship Awards
Napier and sister agency Peter Bush Communications have proudly supported 3 apprentices to date and their commitment to this pathway into employment has been rewarded by the National Apprenticeship Awards.
The Awards, now in their 13th year, recognise how apprenticeships have made a positive difference to organisations across the UK and how the careers of their apprentices have been influenced through making significant contributions in the workplace. Napier are in great company, with other finalists including IBM UK Limited, Siemens, Eden Project and Royal Air Force.
The regional finalists will be celebrated at an event in London on 17th October, with a national ceremony to announce the overall winners on 20th January 2017 at the Grosvenor House in London.
With an award winning apprentice already as part of the team, Napier’s Managing Director Mike Maynard spoke about being shortlisted saying, “We’re overwhelmed at being shortlisted as a regional finalist. We first employed an apprentice about two years ago because we were looking for young talent to build our team. Hiring apprentices is not a quick fix though, it’s a long term investment and we’re actively recruiting for another apprentice as we have experienced mutual success, both for our apprentices and our business. We are very much looking forward to celebrating in October and regardless of the outcome in January, we will continue to be a great advocate of Apprenticeships.”
Wearable developers get their own publication with the launch of WearTechDesign.com
IoT and wearable tech is never out of the news in the electronics industry and now Marjonmedia (publishers of Softei.com) have launched WearTechDesign.com – a new website specifically created for designers developing wearable devices.
As the name suggests, this new website is the home of the latest news and developments in all things wearables, providing not only a technical focus but also keeping visitors up to date with the latest business news in this ‘trend heavy’ sector. WearTechDesign.com showcases information on new hardware and software, key topics such as wireless design and system integration and serves up all the latest industry news, including opinion and insight with a blog from Caroline Hayes.
Talking about the new site, Andy Pratt, MD of Marjonmedia says, "We noticed that every time we posted a new technology for the wearable market story on Softei.com, we received a particularly large number of clicks. Looking closer at this sector of the electronics market, there were no websites specifically looking at the technology for wearable devices, so we decided that the time was right to fill that gap.
Twenty years ago when working in magazine publishing, I saw the way the communications market was going, and introduced communications supplements. The emergence of Wearable Technology will take communications to another level over the next 10/20 years. I now believe that WearTechDesign.com is ideally placed to be a resource platform for designers of these exciting products; enabling them to keep up to date with new products and news from around the industry.”
To get all the latest WearTechDesign.com news directly to your inbox you can sign up to the newsletter here
Everyone has a book in them…have you?
At Napier we work hard to secure the best coverage for our clients. We love nothing more than seeing the results of our hard work come to fruition through seeing client coverage land in our inbox or on our desks. Our clients always enjoy seeing their coverage too and over the years we have chosen to share this with them in numerous ways. Using PR coverage is also a great way to put together valuable content for our clients’ customers.
When we receive coverage, whether it be digital or in print we can carefully collate it and can turn it into some fantastic display pieces that continue to attract attention for our clients.
For some of our clients we create a printed coverage montage and this has proven to be very popular with our clients. Our in-house graphic designer Rob takes the coverage and creates digital copies of each piece and carefully arranges each one in turn to form a montage. This montage can then be sent to print on high quality paper and is then framed, and ready to send to the client. We love to send these framed montages as a little surprise and we have had some excellent client feedback, Natalie from HARTING, a client of our partner agency Peter Bush Communications says, “The coverage montages from Napier provide a tangible snapshot of the press coverage we have received. They are a great way to show others that we are working together with the Napier team to achieve the same goal. We proudly display the montages on our Marketing Board for everyone to see”.
Although these frames look great on our clients’ walls, they’re a little impractical to distribute to their customers. So we also create coverage books: collections of articles and other content that clients can use to demonstrate their expertise and showcase their products and services. Recently we worked on a series of articles for our client Vector Software, focussing on the automotive market and trends
and topics within the embedded software testing environment. We secured some excellent coverage across a series of top European automotive and testing publications including Vehicle Electronics, EE Times, All-electronics.de, Elektronik Automotive and TEST Magazine. To really show off this range of coverage to the client, the team decided to create a printed coverage book to display it all in one place. “We were thrilled that we managed to get excellent coverage for these thought leadership articles. As the content was focused on one of the client’s niche sectors, it seemed fitting to compile this together in one place and re-purpose this collection of useful information into a resource. It was brilliant to see the finished result and the client was really impressed.”
Rob carefully scanned the items of coverage, created a contents page and an eye catching front cover with the client’s logo in pride of place. Using our printing service, we were able to have multiple copies of this coverage book printed on high quality glossy paper, and the finished design looks fantastic – and all in less than a week, as well as a PDF version.
Take a look at an example of a coverage book now.
As well as being a great conversation piece, a coverage book is great value for money, and not nearly as expensive as you might think! To make the best use of the work you’ve already done, and have your coverage transformed into a book, contact us to get a quote.
Take a look at an example of a coverage book now.
Content Marketing Made Easy
Content marketing is all the rage and the web is full of tips and tricks but it’s not just a fashionable marketing trend – if done correctly, it is a strategic approach that can attract and importantly engage a clearly defined audience that will drive leads and prospects through the sales funnel much faster than other strategies.
The secret to generating content
As mentioned, content marketing needs to be strategic, there is no point in creating content for the sake of it - it needs to serve a purpose. If you’re new to content marketing it can seem like a struggle to know where to start but the good news is that you have all you need to get inspired at your fingertips. Your current customers and your target audience are your best source of inspiration. If you know who they are and the problems they face, then you need to create content around helping them to find solutions. Content marketing is a great way to position your business as the ‘trusted’ advisor and a market leader which will pave the way for more inbound enquiries.
Choosing the right content for the buyers journey
You’ll be familiar with the concept of the sales funnel and one of the key points with content marketing is matching the right type of content to the different stages of the buyer’s journey. Rushing prospects into ‘closing’ by talking about your product or service from the outset can turn them off, they might not be ready to buy and as we know B2B sales require more nurturing than B2C. This is especially important if your business has a sales gap – a lag of time between prospects becoming leads and then converting to customers. Allow prospects to feel safe in your hands with helpful and supportive content such as blogs and educational content whilst they are building their awareness of what you have to offer. Produce whitepapers or webinars to help them consider if your product or service is right for their needs and only then can you offer specific product literature once the prospect has decided on their strategy for moving forward.
This inbound marketing approach will generate more opportunities for your sales team to sell and can deliver results more quickly, especially if you choose to implement a marketing automation platform such as Hubspot. The right information, delivered at the right time with will move your prospects through the sales funnel faster. This content marketing approach makes your campaigns more effective and can significantly improve ROI and your bottom line. Good news all round!
If you’d like help with understanding more about how the Content Marketing approach could work for your business, download our tip sheet.
Is there still a place for traditional PR?
In the digital age, it’s understandable to ask, "Is there still a place for traditional PR?"… and the answer? Undoubtedly yes - traditional PR most definitely has its place. You might think we’re biased as a B2B Marketing and PR agency but we see the value in traditional methods through the results of our campaigns that ultimately translates into a European sales advantage for our clients.
Download the PR, Content Marketing and the Sales Funnel Tip Sheet Now.
Traditional doesn’t mean old fashioned
When we talk about traditional PR what do we mean? News or press releases, editor briefings and print editorial are all still valid and valuable ways to communicate a brand message as they create interest and demand attention. This is a vital part of the sales process as it starts the ball rolling. Yes, digital media has seen huge growth and is tremendously popular but depending on the industry, different tactics will reach different audiences. If your target audience prefers the print approach, despite trying to move with the times, writing a blog promoting your amazing ‘solution’ to their ‘problem’ won’t create the desired results. That said, once you have a press release written, you can distribute it in whichever way works best for your audience, whether that’s in print, online or both!
Does anyone read press releases?
YES! So often businesses take for granted that their news or achievements need promoting. The art of writing press releases is a fine one, but don’t let that put you off. If you don’t have anyone in-house, speak to an agency and hire a professional and you’ll be glad you did. A compelling, well written press release, pitched in the right way will open doors and paves the way for strong media relationships - Perfect for laying the foundation for longevity. The more consistently you issue newsworthy stories the better your reputation and the more your brand gets noticed. The key here is consistency not frequency. Our 20+ years of experience have shown that issuing press releases develops a level of trust and confidence that is vital when businesses - your potential customers - are making a purchasing decision.
How does a press release affect my sales figures?
It not as simple as being able to attribute a single press release to boosting sales (unless you are Apple) but PR needs to be seen as part of the wider sales process. Issuing press releases is the start of the sales funnel, your publicity is responsible for driving interest to another source where prospects can find more information about your company, such as your website. Press releases are also a great way to announce your news internationally. We see first-hand the positive influence that a local language Press Release can have on a regional EU campaign. Delivering international news locally can have a positive impact when there is a local sales person to handle leads generated from local language PR. This tactic works really well for growth orientated businesses looking to expand their customer base in Europe.
If you’re embarking on a new product launch or have a great business story to tell your prospects, Download the PR, Content Marketing and the Sales Funnel Tip Sheet Now for more advice.
Read the next blogs in this series:
Facebook Social Media Report – A Study by Napier on B2B Facebook Marketing
Over 65% of businesses in the B2B technology sector think that Social Media is important to their campaigns according to our tech marketing survey earlier this year. Social marketing is more popular than ever but each channel has its own features and benefits and understanding these is key to making sure that your social strategy will achieve your objectives.
So businesses can understand the benefits we conducted our own research by creating our own business page called Farad a Day and compiled a report on our findings.
Download our B2B Facebook Marketing Report.
In the technology sector, Facebook is perceived as one of the more challenging channels to crack, with lower than average usage by engineers. There are also concerns about the ability to reach enough of your target audience organically due to changes made by Facebook and how this change is prompting more business page owners to look at Facebook advertising options.
By their own admission, Facebook made an important update last year that affected which stories shared from Facebook Business Pages were shown in users News Feeds which caused these business pages to see a very noticeable reduction in reach and engagement. Read what Facebook had to say on their blog. Needless to say, this change ruffled a few feathers and has left marketers wondering what value is left in their Facebook Business Page what impact it will have on their B2B Facebook marketing campaigns.
Based on research that we conducted over 3 months, our report outlines our experience of creating and using a Facebook Business page for a marketing campaign and how reach and engagement were affected by organic and paid approaches using Facebook advertising.
If you’re considering a Facebook marketing strategy Download our B2B Facebook Marketing Report.
How Native Ads Can Boost Your Digital Advertising Strategy
In January this year we conducted our ‘Tech Marketing Survey’ and asked you how you would be spending your marketing budget this year. Your answers indicated that advertising costs accounted for approximately 15% of the 2016 budget. With this precious budget, marketers can have a tough time deciding what the best options are for their B2B digital advertising. As there are so many avenues, how do you know which ad types will give you best bang for your buck? We’ve created a Digital Advertising tip sheet to give you an overview.
With ‘native’ advertising becoming a popular choice and social channels providing more and more options, our tip sheet tells you the facts so you can decide which approach will be best suited to your B2B digital advertising strategy. We address key questions such as:
• What is the difference between native and display advertising?
• Is retargeting just creepy?
• How can social ads help me?
• Do I need to be using Google Adwords?
Things have changed a lot, so we're not offering this report any more. Please contact us for more information about how you can use Native Ads.
Three Key Elements to Creating A Successful Landing Page Form
As we’ve discovered through previous blog posts, there are a number of key factors that can influence the success of your landing page including title, explanatory text and a good content offer but the crucial piece that brings all this together is the form. In this blog post, find out the 3 key elements that make a successful landing page form that converts.
If you’re in a hurry, Download The Simple Way to Create Landing Pages Tip Sheet.
Form Design
Use form encapsulation when you can. The conversion goal for any landing page is the form so it needs to be positioned front and centre and encapsulated in a container which allows critical content above it to connect visually. Your form needs to draw attention. See our previous post The Anatomy of A Landing Page for more info.
Form Length
Following tests from Unbounce (creators of a landing page building and publishing tool) on establishing the ideal number of form fields for optimum conversion, the conclusion has been that it varies. Depending on the perceived value of the offer, between 4 and 7 fields will provide a good conversion rate. Anything between 1 and 3 fields provides better results as your potential lead experiences less friction. If you have more than 7 fields on your form, your content offer needs to provide AMAZING value.
Marketing experts Hubspot have written many blogs on this very topic and this chart by Eloqua indicates that 5-10 fields is the ideal range for optimum conversions.
Hubspot have run their own research and their conclusion was that as the number of form fields increases, conversion rates decrease slightly but not too steeply. They did discover that text area and drop-down form fields seem to be the ones that are most off-putting to potential leads.
So who is right? In reality there is no right and wrong, or a magic number that will mean your landing page hits the lead generation jackpot. What is evident from both parties is that when creating a landing page, you need to decide whether you want a higher number of leads or better quality leads. If you want better quality leads you have to consider what valuable offer you are going to leverage to get landing page visitors to convert and become leads - when you provide more value with your content offer you can ask for more information. If your leads take the time to fill in a longer form that means they are clearly interested, which is great news.
Form Placement
The general rule for the position of the form is to place it above the scroll on the page. Going through infinity scroll pages to find the form is not what visitors are expecting nor what they desire to do. However, if your landing page has more information to present before considering the offer, such as an event (agenda, location, times, benefits etc) then place it at the bottom of the page.
These 3 tips should have you well on your way to creating a fantastic landing page that converts visitors to leads. For more information, Download The Simple Way to Create Landing Pages Tip Sheet.
UK Embedded Systems Conference Goes From Strength To Strength
We are well and truly into trade show season now and whether we are helping our clients who are exhibiting or organising our own trips to the must see shows, what is clear is that industry shows, especially in the B2B markets are thriving. Take a look at our most recent post about our client IDTechEx
The 2016 UK Device Developers' Conference was held at the Cambourne Belfry last week on the 27th and 28th April and played host to some of the UK’s most senior hi-tech engineers involved in the development of intelligent systems and devices. This year’s event, sponsored by Lauterbach, IDS and JTAG was co-located with H/WExpo 2016 covering Hardware Development, Test Instrumentation and Production.
This year's conference covered topics such as the development of safety critical software, internet connected vehicles, interface design and device security as well as offering an exhibition space and a stream of presentations dedicated to hardware development and hardware testing.
Engineers from companies such as Rolls Royce and Panasonic attended to explore new tools and technologies and Conference Manager, Richard Blackburn said, “This 2016 event has been the best so far. We had a very strong agenda and a lot of industry support. The feedback has been very positive, it's been a very rewarding couple of days.”
Fresh from the success of 2016’s event, the 2017 event is already looking bigger still with sponsors already pledging their commitment and conference organisers making plans for more workshops, more exhibitors to attract an even wider audience.