NGR's Blog

Service businesses, especially companies in the Energy Sector, Are looking outside their usual stomping grounds for new customers…

Perhaps the volatility of the energy markets is driving them to seek new lands offering better stability and security. Perhaps the possibility of positioning their businesses in markets with little, or no, competition has many companies looking at around for bigger and better opportunities. Whatever the reason, there is a growing trend among energy service providers to seek opportunities globally.

You can file this under “things so obvious that it feels stupid to even mention them”, but it’s still an important difference. In setting up a consumer marketing system, the primary discussion is always around where the data will come from and how it will be managed. This accounts for most of the work and most of the cost. By very sharp contrast, B2B marketers rely primarily on their CRM system (that is, Salesforce.com or a competitor) as the primary data source, and complement that with information captured directly by the marketing automation systems’ own landing pages and Web tracking tags. The CRM integration can be set up in days, if not minutes, and next to no time is spent worrying about the marketing database design or update processes.

Marketing Automation has matured from a stand-alone "blasting" solution to a truly integrated communication medium. Many companies have been using stand alone-email blasting solutions for some time and are beginning to realize that the value of email marketing is dramatically improved when used in a "Nurture Marketing" fashion.

NGR has built a powerful yet easy to use solution the NGRPulse for B2B marketers that puts the power of nurture marketing in their hands in a manner that allows even the novice marketer to be successful. NGRPulse supports a variety of email marketing requirements from the most basic bulk email to the most advanced nurture marketing campaigns.  Our pricing structure allows for companies large and small to take advantage of the same enterprise-level feature set that has historically been reserved for only the largest companies.

In the present stressful work environment, vacation trips are usually pushed off merely because people don’t have the time to devise a holiday and mistakenly believe that a travel agent is simply too expensive. While using the help of effective email marketing software, you can offer holiday possibilities and proposals to a large database without breaking your marketing budget. Email newsletters and reminder emails can ignite the imagination of thousands of possible clients and demonstrate how useful and essential your services are.

Email newsletters can deal with a wide range of different ideas rapidly, thereby attracting a much broader audience than a more targeted and inflexible marketing campaign. In the newsletter, you'll be able to discuss  affordable family holidays and discount last minute getaways as well as highlight luxury destinations, thus reaching clients of all economic levels. Additionally, you'll be able to use the newsletter to give travel tips and engaging stories, making the newsletter a pleasure to read to ensure that your communications are not only sought for within the  barrage of emails but also passed directly to others.

Find out below what you will need to generate an email campaign that allows you to send your marketing results to new heights.

When the money is tight, the general rule of thumb is that small businesses need to tighten their purse strings and draw back from efforts like marketing and advertising.

But what if companies actually spent more on their marketing when things were tough? Could marketing department managers just this to their bosses?

It is not a big secret that many small businesses falter not long out of the gates; with some reports stating more than three-fourths of businesses go under in their first year.

While the reasons can vary, one of the main reasons companies bite the dust early on is they do not understand what their special niche or true market really are. Without understanding these areas, many companies are doomed for failure.

While there's no denying email marketing works wonders for the general consumer, does it work in business to business sales and marketing campaigns?

Email marketing is an excellent and inexpensive way to incentivize existing and new customers to make a purchase. While it has its uses in consumer related sales, whether it applies in B2B (Business to Business) marketing and sales efforts remains somewhat uncertain. In order to clarify its benefits, its best to explain how it can not only help in B2B sales, but how it helps to increase a company’s market share.

Companies use email marketing as a tool to deliver product or service information directly to their existing or potential customers. In doing this, a company may include a market and industry newsletter, product or service specifications, information on product usage as well as a summary of a given customer’s account.

Integrating social media tools and online marketing extend your trade show presence far beyond the event itself. As an added benefit for these shaky economic times – their low cost help boost your overall trade show ROI.

Trade Shows – Relationship Marketing in Action

The B2B world is a perfect match for social media marketing. Why? Because both are all about building and nurturing relationships for long-term, ongoing loyalty. It’s not a quick-sell mentality. Trade shows give you the chance to meet your prospects and current clients face to face.

But don’t wait until the show and just see whoever turns up. Use these tips to generate pre-show interest in your company and pull prospects to your booth during the show. Then continue your marketing after the event with a clear follow-up plan.

If there is any single tool that we should be enthusiastically embracing as marketers, it is B2B email marketing. There is simply no way to match the value that B2B email marketing provides for communicating with prospects and customers.

The amazing thing is most of us are not actively engaged in any form of email marketing yet. At best, we send an occasional email blast to our customer base to introduce a new product or announce an event.

Many of us have NEVER sent a single promotional email to a list of prospects or customers. So if you are among the few who have, reach right back and give yourself a hearty slap on the back.

B2B email marketing where you are promoting your services to other businesses is very different from B2C email marketing. Often the B2B buying cycle is much longer and depending on the purchase you often need to engage with people at different levels of the organisation.  Often the person making the buying decision will not be the end user, they may also be reliant on influencers covering a wide group to help make the buying decision. B2B purchasing decisions take time and you should use email marketing to build a relationship and trust with your audience.

With B2B email marketing you are often trying to turn a cold prospect into a lead. How you define a lead will vary from business to business however more likely than not at some point the buyer will interact with the sales team. If your sales team is proactively following up these leads then you need to use your email marketing to gauge how ‘hot’ these prospects are. If you are waiting for leads to approach you then your email marketing needs to nurture the recipient to a point where they are ready to buy.

Triggered emails are getting plenty of attention these days. If you’re a B2B email marketer, don’t skip over those blogs and articles on triggered email. You can use them too.

Typically B2C sales cycles are short while B2B sales cycles are much longer. The consumer purchase is less expensive and time consuming, while the business purchase is costly and requires research and buy in. Often a B2B sales cycle is three or more months, with several people involved in the decision, while a B2C purchase can take place online in just a few clicks.

For all of those reasons, some B2B marketers think triggered emails don’t fit in their email marketing strategy.

The relationship that you have with your target market is the cornerstone of your company’s success. And there’s no better way to build a relationship and provide great customer service than growing and nurturing an email marketing list. Email marketing provides you with a direct channel to create a relationship with your market and become the “go to” service or product in your category.