For months now I’ve been watching how I and others use mobile devices. I see iPads everywhere I go: one mom I know, for example, answers her email and reads online magazines while at our kids’ fencing lessons. One of my clients is now using hers for mobile banking. I even heard one story of a symphony conductor who put his sheet music on his iPad!

And, as I’ve posted before, I use my iPhone for everything but a phone.

When I read Christina “CK” Kerley’s report about the Mobile Revolution and B2B, and then heard Pauline Jakober of Group Twenty Seven say that she’s now targeting PPC campaigns for mobile, everything “clicked.” (It was one of those “goosebumps” kind of moments when you know you’ve hit a good story.)

Despite the proliferation of mobile, too often content is very un-mobile friendly. A site either doesn’t lend itself to the small screen and the content is very hard to read, the clueless company is still using Flash (rolling my eyes), or I can’t “expand” the page in order to view the copy in a larger font.

For these reasons and more, I installed the nifty WPTouch Plugin for WordPress. This plugin makes your WordPress site and/or blog mobile friendly. I love it!

This is what my home page looks like on the iPhone using the plugin. (The plugin allows users to turn the mobile theme off — you just scroll down to the bottom of the page to see the option.)

But after hearing Pauline talk about mobile, I realized I needed to go one step further: I added a “mobile friendly version” link to my e-newsletter which went out July 1. I placed it at the top of the newsletter so that those people reading it on a smart phone would see it first thing. Here’s how it looked on the iPhone:

If you click the link, you get this nice mobile-friendly version:

When I checked my e-newsletter stats, I was pleasantly surprised to see that of the people who opened my e-newsletter, 28.6% clicked through to the mobile-friendly version. This made me go “hmmmmmm.”

What are the key take-aways?

You must seriously consider how your content looks on mobile devices — My bank, for example, doesn’t have a mobile friendly site, and when I lost my debit card, I had to wait over an hour until I was back at home as I couldn’t access their site or phone numbers from my phone. Grrrrrrrr.

Building your site in Flash is totally stupid and a complete waste of money — I had a small business call with the typical, “I’m not getting any leads from my site” complaint. Well, duh. One of your problems is that it’s in Flash. You can’t view it on Apple mobile devices nor can you optimize it.

Tablet use is soaring — You can track which mobile devices people are using via Google Analytics. Click the “Visitors” report, then Mobile, then Mobile Devices. For my site, iPad use outstrips smart phone use. That makes me go “hmmmmmmm,” too.

What’s your experience with mobile-friendly — or not so mobile-friendly — content? What are you doing to ensure people can access and read your content?

(iPhone images courtesy of my Geek Son. He has the iPhone 4 while I’m still stuck with the lowly 3GS. )

One of the big mistakes I see companies make with Web content is using the wrong font size and color.

I’m referring specifically to fonts that are small, a very light color, reversed out, or placed on a tinted background — as these screen shots show. (Note: I randomly chose these examples by doing a search for “mission statement customer service.”)

An example of small, gray type

An example of colored type on a tinted background

An example of reversed out type

What’s the problem with using these types of font sizes and colors?

They lower reader comprehension. In plain English, it means that people have a hard time reading your message.

The late Colin Wheildon did groundbreaking research into which typefaces and page layouts reduce or improve reader comprehension with regard to print. This research, which you can find in the book, Type and Layout: Are You Communicating or Just Making Pretty Shapes, also applies to the Web.

Wheildon proved, for example, that text printed in black received a 70% level of comprehension and that a muted color (such as grey) received only a 10% level of comprehension.

Wheildon also tested comprehension with regard to printing text on colored backgrounds. He ran a number of tests using different colors and tints, but generally, results proved that the lighter the background tint and the darker the type (e.g. black), the higher the level of comprehension.

As stated in the book, “designers often claim that reversed out type . . . grabs readers’ attention and forces them to read the text.” Wheildon’s research showed the exact opposite. “When type was reversed, comprehension levels plummeted.”

Text printed black on white had a 70% comprehension level. White text printed on black had a zero level of comprehension. In fact, 80% of study participants said that reversed out type “vibrated . . . which made the lines of type seem to move and merge into one another.” (Reminds me of motion sickness — ugh!)

What does all this research mean? It means that if people can’t read or comprehend your message, they won’t understand what you’re offering. In effect, you’re making it twice as hard for people to take the next step in the buying process.

I’m not saying that your Web pages should be devoid of graphical elements or that you should never use color or reversed out text. What I am saying is that you should consider formatting your pages to make them easy to read:

• Use white backgrounds and black text to significantly improve reader comprehension.
• Use a font size of 9 or above — Remember, not everyone knows how to adjust font size using browser tools.
• Increase “leading” — Leading refers to the space between lines of type. A little more leading makes things easier to read. As you can see right here, the leading in these bullet points is less than the leading in the paragraphs above. Which is a little easier to read?
• Avoid large blocks of text — Reading text online is exhausting and hard on the eyes. Make it easy for people to skim by breaking up large blocks of text into smaller chunks. Sub-heads, bullets, bolding and smaller paragraphs improve readability.

Edmond Arnold, the father of newspaper design, said to “start with good typography — the kind that best suits the reader.” What works best for print also works best for the Web.

What do you think? Do you agree or disagree and why?

I’ve spent a lot of time of late adding followers to clients’ Twitter accounts and RSS feeds to Google Reader. (Be sure to read my post about why Google Reader should be your BFF in terms of managing the content tsunami we’re all dealing with.)

Here’s what I’ve learned from doing this somewhat tedious but important work: For companies actively participating on social media platforms and who want to help people follow their brands, social icon placement needs to be standardized much the same way Website navigation is now standard.

(I’m purposely not covering those companies who lack a social presence but place icons in the hope that people will tweet / Like their content. That’s a whole other article.)

In short, social media icons need to be part of a site’s universal navigational structure AND they need to be placed at the top of each page on the site.

Why?

1. Due to search, people don’t always come to a site via the home page. If your icons are placed only on the home page (or worse, on your PR page or “Contact Us” page or some other obscure place), no one will find them.

2. If I’m a prospect, I may want to learn more about a company by passively following via Facebook or Twitter. Making it so that social icons are easily found makes it easier for people to follow you and begin the engagement process.

3. For people like me who are helping clients build their online brand / presence, following industry influencers, players, journalists, etc. is important. I want to be able to go to a site, find those icons and get back out. I don’t want to have to scroll up and down a page hunting for tiny icons.

Once I realized the importance of where social icons are placed on a page, I moved mine from the middle of my site’s sidebar to the header.

(Also note that my phone number is at the top of every page. This makes it easy for people using smart phones to call me — all they have to do is touch my phone number, which appears as a link on a smart phone. No searching around my site for a “Contact Me” page. It’s little things like this that make your brand / Website “people friendly.” Trust me.)

You can also do a “Social” tab the way Food Processing does. I like how this organization created a drop down menu that shows links to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Click on each link and you get taken directly to the social page. Easy!

What do you think? Take my Twtpoll or leave your comments below.

Is your company website not doing its job — i.e. generating leads and sales? I asked some of the best minds in the business for their tips on what you can do RIGHT NOW to improve your website. Below you’ll find their tips and as well as mine.

Design

1. Check to see if your site is easy to see via the iPhone or iPad. If it’s designed in Flash, your customers can’t view it using these devices.

2. If you’re using social media, add social media icons to each page of your site to make it easy for people to follow you.

3. If you’ve been quoted in the media, add media logos to your home page to boost your brand and image.

4. Check your site speed. Enter your URL here and on the results page, scroll down to the “Download times” section. Check that the time to load your site isn’t too big! If it is, the rest of the page gives tips as to why. A common problem is that images haven’t been optimized properly.

5. Add your phone number on all of your web pages, in text, not an image. This way people can click it using a smartphone and can easily call you. Images aren’t clickable.

6. Add your phone number to the top of your home page so that people don’t have to search for it when using a smart phone or e-tablet device.

7. Add an email link to the top of each of your pages so that people can easily email you.

8. Get rid of stock images and use photos of real people — preferably from your company.

9. Include “breadcrumbs” in your navigation so visitors can easily determine where they are on your site.

Navigation

10. Too few pages and too much information crammed on those pages — but your budget won’t allow for a complete redesign? Consider having your web designer create new navigation for you that includes drop down menus — making it easier to find information.

11. Ensure your site has a “main” or universal navigation structure and use it on all pages of your site to make it easier to navigate your site.

12. Make your logo a clickable link to your home page.

13. If your site has drop down menus, ensure people can use them via smart phone or e-tablet.

SEO

14. Register and verify your site with Google Webmaster Central.

15. Get your local listing(s) verified in Google Places (Maps) — do this even if you do business nationally.

16. Use ONE URL and drive all traffic to it. Directing people to more than one URL lowers your link juice, plus it’s just plain confusing.

17. Go open your website. Look at the top of the browser bar. If it says, “Welcome to ‘company name,’” your site probably isn’t optimized (what you’re seeing is your Title tag). Ditto for internal pages that have Title tags that read, “Products” or “Services.” Fix this, pronto.

18. Know who your target audience is and figure out the keyword phrases they might be using to find the types of products or services you offer on your website, through keyword research tools.

19. Take a pad of paper and create a list of keywords, as well as two and three and four-word keyword phrases, that you believe are related to your business, products and services. Don’t forget geographic keywords!

20. Rank each keyword/phase in order of importance: A, B, or C (A being keywords you absolutely MUST show up for on a Google search engine results page, B are keywords/phrases you should show up for, C would be nice to show up for and generally less competitive and have fewer searches (sometimes called the “long tail”).

21. After you create your list, go to the Google Keyword Tool to find anything you might have missed or other search phrases you probably didn’t even think of. Do this after your initial brainstorming!

22. Optimize your site for keywords people actually use in their searches — meaning, those keywords that have traffic volume according to the keyword tool.

23. Target the content and tags of each product/service page of your site to a specific set of related keyword phrases–pay special attention to Title tags as Google and Bing/Yahoo display the Title tags in the search engine results pages.

24. Use Google Adwords combined with Google Analytics to see which keyword phrases convert into leads or sales and feature them and other related ones more prominently within the content of your website.

25. Don’t put your company name first in the Title tag of the home page — put your number one keyword phrase here instead. This tells the search engines it’s important.

26. Use your list of search phrases as a guide when creating new web pages, blog posts, and even social media posts.

27. Instead of grouping all of your Services or Products on one page, create a page for each of your services or products — and then optimize each page.

28. Start commenting productively on industry related blogs and make sure to include the hyperlink to your website in the comment fields.

29. Start using a web reporting tool (i.e. Google Analytics).

30. Review your Web analytics each month. Go beyond the “top 10″ keywords or pages viewed and really dig deep into what people are doing when they get to your site.

31. Tweak your site content or add new content based on what types of information people are looking for (hint: view the long-tail keywords on your Google Analytics keyword report).

32. See how search engines see your website by looking at it in text format. Does the order of the content reflect the importance you intended things to have? What text content is missing that you should have? You can use Yellowpipe or Google’s “Cached” tool: Enter your business name in the Google search box, and when your listing appears, click “Cached” and then “Text only version.”

33. Make it a habit to check the number of links back to your site each month. One good tool is Yahoo’s Site Explorer. Note how many sites are linking to yours and make it a goal to increase this number each month.

34. If you have a blog, use a plugin, such as the All in One SEO Pack, to optimize your blog posts and the blog home page.

35. Fire your SEO firm if you have no clue what they’re doing for you or if your website isn’t generating leads via search.

36. Fire your web design firm if they have no clue what SEO is or they’re trying to sell you a Flash website.

37. Don’t hire any SEO firm that promises you “#1 rankings for hundreds of keywords.” You get what you pay for — if an SEO promise sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Content

38. Focus your site copy on how you can help your prospects and customers — not on how wonderful you are (no one cares).

39. Highlight informative content, such as eBooks, guides, and tip sheets, on your home page and throughout your site where relevant.

40. Include calls to action on all pages.

41. Make a list of three pieces of content you can create in the next 90 days — then get them done.

42. When you create a piece of content, write a press release about it and submit to one of the online wire services, such as PRWeb.

43. Do a search for all the content, articles, blog mentions, etc. about your company. Create a Press Room page and add this information to it. Keep it updated.

44. Create a Client List page if you don’t already have one. If you do have one, make sure it’s up-to-date.

45. Create a Testimonials page if you don’t already have one. if you do have one, update it with Testimonials from current happy customers.

46. Ask three customers if they’re willing to be the subject of case studies. Hire an outside writer to conduct interviews and write the case studies; add them to your site.

47. Publicize your content via Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook (and YouTube, if video). Ask your friends to help publicize it, too.

48. If you have a professionally done video about your company, add it to your home page.

49. Create a landing page for each of your white papers. Create content that *sells* each white paper rather than leaving people to wonder why they should hand over their contact info.

50. Add webinar transcripts, downloadable slides, and Q&A from your webinars on the page where you offer your on-demand webinars.

51. Consider adding a blog to spur discussions and give site visitors a reason to frequent your site.

52. If you have a blog on a separate URL, consider moving it to your domain — i.e. www.companyname.com/blog. This way you have all that nice blog traffic coming to one domain versus two.

53. Include a link to your blog in your main navigation.

54. Add your newsletter subscription form to every page of your site — not just the home page or buried deep on some other page.

55. Add an end user sitemap page.

56. Use contact forms for tracking lead information.

57. Add FAQ pages to help answer people’s questions.

Contributors

Thank you to the following Web design, SEO and content marketing experts for sharing their expertise.

Rachel Cunliffe, President, Cre8d Designs — Rachel and her team provide WordPress and Drupal sites to companies around the world. Follow her on Twitter at @Cre8d.

Derek Edmond, KoMarketing Associates — The managing partner, Derek and his team provide B2B companies with SEO, PPC and social media services. Follow him on Twitter at @derekedmond.

Chris Jaeger, Chris Jaeger Consulting — Chris helps his clients generate more leads through Website design and SEO. Follow him on Twitter at @imchrisjaeger.

Stephanie Tilton, TenTon Marketing — Stephanie helps B2B companies advance prospects through the buying cycle with white papers, case studies, and e-books. Follow her on Twitter at @StephanieTilton.

Jill Whalen, High Rankings — The founder of High Rankings and SEMNE, Jill is one of top SEO experts in the world and is a frequent speaker at SEO conferences. Follow her on Twitter at @jillwhalen.

In the B2B Content Marketing 2010: Manufacturing / Process Industry Report that I produced in partnership with the Content Marketing Institute, 84% of B2B manufacturing marketers surveyed indicated they use content marketing — in fact, manufacturing firms have some of the highest adoption rates for new marketing tactics, including articles (80%), social media (73%) and video (48%).

As someone who does a lot of work with B2B manufacturing companies, I found this statistic quite heartening, especially given the fact that manufacturing is up across the U.S. and it outproduces China by 40%.

In the blog post I wrote for CMI about this report, “How to Resolve a Key Disconnect for Manufacturing Marketers,” I talk at length about the “disconnect” between manufacturing marketers’ number one goal, building brand awareness, and how they measure this goal via Web traffic.

Another piece of data that I found interesting in this report is the chart showing how marketers rated the effectiveness of their content marketing. What’s really interesting is that “while companies may be invested in a number of content marketing tactics, they don’t feel confident in how they’re using these tactics.”

So, while 80% of manufacturing marketers indicated they use articles, only 43% believed this tactic to be effective. (I’m not sure why or how marketers are using articles, but as Jill Whalen points out in her High Rankings newsletter article, “Just Say No to SEO Articles!” it’s a crappy SEO tactic.)

Here’s what I found really interesting about what manufacturing marketers find effective: it’s the tried and true content marketing tactics: In-person events (71%), Webinars (64%), e-newsletters (63%) and white papers (62%).

If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say that manufacturing marketers figured out how to measure the effectiveness of these more “traditional” content tactics but haven’t yet figured out how to do so for things like articles, social media, and video (is a “view” really a measurable tactic — and what does a “view” get you?).

Which brings me back to the original point of my CMI blog post: manufacturing marketers need to 1) develop content that helps drive the conversions that move prospects along the sales cycle versus building brand awareness and 2) they need to learn how to measure this behavior versus “clicks” or “hits.” (I positively *hate* the term “hits” as it says absolutely nothing.)

A prospect may come to a B2B Website because of a piece of content found elsewhere. However, that initial visit may be the first in a series of visits that take place over days, weeks or even months. Measuring this behavior is what will end the disconnect and confidence gap regarding content marketing and its effectiveness.

What do you think? Do you agree or disagree? Be sure to download the report — you’ll find lots of great data!

While doing a Website audit for both a B2B Website design firm and a B2B marketing services company last week, I noted that the firms’ owners simply showed screen shots of some of the projects their companies had completed in the last couple of years.

The screen shots, while pretty, lacked any supporting copy.

Here’s the problem with showing just pictures: they don’t tell the story behind the picture. You think they tell a story because you know what the picture is about. Your prospects don’t know the story, however, making the photos pretty much useless as sales tools.

How to get around this? Tell the story!

Telling stories is what made the J.Peterman Co. so successful in its heydey. It wasn’t the products themselves that were so wonderful, it was the story behind them — like this one about the “Secret Thoughts Cape.”

For both the Web design firm and the marketing services company, I recommended that the owners pull out three to five of their best projects and create case study pages for each one. Each case study should include:

1. The business challenge and the solution
2. The implementation
3. The results

Even better, these stories should include quotes from the clients and their names / business titles plus some interesting “bits” to lend color and depth.

Two things happen when you present case studies (or success stories) on your site: You show your company’s expertise, and prospects see themselves in these stories and say, “Hey! This company solved this particular problem, which we’re experiencing, too. I bet they can help us.”

I’m such a believer in telling success stories with words AND pictures that I now include developing a couple of case studies as part of my proposal when quoting New Websites and Website Overhauls.

Story Contest!

B2B marketers — here’s a chance to have some fun. In 100 words or less, tell me the story behind these sneakers and why a collector would want to add them to a “canvas sneaker collection.” Post your story in the comments section. Contest ends Friday, January 21, 2011.

The writers of the top five winning stories will receive Godiva Chocolates plus recognition on this blog. Have fun!

Here’s a safe exercise you can try at home: pretend you’re a B2B prospect looking for a company who can help you solve a business problem. Choose any B2B vertical / industry, a professional service or a product and then do an online search. Once you’re on the search engine results page, click through to those listings that look like company Websites (stay away from article spam and the like).

If possible, visit seven to ten sites. Quickly scan the home page of each one to see if you can figure out what the company offers. Don’t take notes — just run through each one.

Now, which company stood out in terms of content? Do you remember any of the company names? No? Congratulations, you just encountered what your prospects go through when they’re searching for providers / solutions.

The Problem? Poor Messaging

Poor messaging happens when companies use the same staged, corporate-y images purchased from stock photography sites and content written in jargon-y unreadable gobbledygook. After viewing a few sites, everything starts to look and sound the same.

The result is that prospects come to your Website . . . and click right back out.

How do you prevent this problem? Create fresh, original content that explains what your company does and why your company is different — in plain English.

Marketers usually refer to this process as “developing your message” or “determining your position.” It’s the first step you need to take when redesigning your Website. To develop your message, consider the following strategies:

1. Conduct competitive research
Most small and mid-sized business owners often know exactly who their competitors are and what they offer. Get this information out of people’s heads and onto paper (or an Excel spreadsheet or white board) by holding a strategy meeting with all parties. Also include any “scuttlebutt” you’ve picked up in your travels and from reading the news media.

Analyze your competitors’ Websites to see how they position themselves. What words and images do they use? How are their offerings similar or different from what you offer / provide?

My client, Greenway Golf, for example, differentiates itself from other golf course maintenance companies by stating that they help golf course owners and managers significantly lower costs while vastly improving playing surfaces.

2. Analyze your strengths
Look at how you’ve solved your customers’ challenges in the last few years: what value did you bring to the table? What was your expertise and how were you able to use it to solve the problem?

Ask your customers why they hired you and why they continue to do business with you. (Conversely, go over recent deals that fell through and ask why you didn’t get the deal — this knowledge will help you craft messages that resonate with future prospects).

Ask sales people for feedback they get from customers — this is all valuable information that you can use in your content and to help better define your position.

Also look at the awards you’ve won, industry certifications, and any data you have that shows how your customers are better off since implementing your solution. Veterans Development Corporation, for example, has earned a highly coveted 94% DECAM rating from the State of Massachusetts (a rating providing by the state based on past performance), a fact they point out on their Website in various places.

3. Tell some stories
Do you have great success stories — stories that really show your expertise, strengths and can-do attitude? Showcase them on your Website! While formatted PDF case studies that people can download are always wonderful, you can include vignettes and what I call “mini case-studies” within the content on your site.

These stories don’t have to be text-based or follow the traditional “problem, solution, result” format. I like how Macro-Air Technologies, for example, uses a video to show how their HVLS Six-Blade Fans beat out their competition. I also like how Greenway links to industry articles about their clients via their blog posts.

The goal of implementing these simple strategies is to create fresh, original content that reflects your company’s values and expertise . . . and that gets potential customers to call or email you.

I know lots of other strategies exist for developing great messaging — feel free to list yours below.

I’ve noticed people on Twitter talking about QR codes, so of course they popped out at me while I perused the November 15, 2010 issue of Fortune. Specifically, companies are using them in ads: in this particular issue, Time, Fortune and Ford ran ads that included QR codes.

What is a QR Code?
According to Wikipedia, “a QR Code is a matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code), readable by QR scanners, mobile phones with a camera, and smartphones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on white background. The information encoded can be text, URL or other data.”

Because they’re so new, the three ads gave instructions for what to do with the QR code — which is how I learned that you need some background info in order to see the marketing riches behind these funky codes.

“Simply scan the QR code with your smartphone” . . . uh no.
The ads for Time and Fortune carried easy to follow instructions — “simply scan the QR code with your smartphone.” To me, scan means “scanner,” as in a scanner iPhone app, as in RedLaser, which is a really cool app, in case you don’t have it.

RedLaser does scan the QR code and then gives you a URL. You then have to cut and paste the URL into your iPhone’s browser, a two-step process. You can also download QR scanner apps. My son, who is much geekier than I, immediately took on the challenge of downloading QR code apps; we spent close to an hour trying to figure out how the codes and apps worked.

The problem with using RedLaser to scan QR codes is that you have to ensure the code is in an upright position. To do this, I had to tear the ads out of the magazine and then hold the ad steady while trying to scan the code. This process worked for the Time and Fortune codes, but this is because the printed codes were fairly large. The Ford ad didn’t work at all and I think this is because the code is too small.

After trying to open the Ford QR code via TwittQR (see below) I finally followed the instructions on the ad, which read, “Simply open your phone’s browser and download the free app at gettag.mobi [from Microsoft] or text “MFORDTOUCH” to 4FORD. Then follow the directions to snap this tag and see MyFord Touch come to life.”

This worked. After downloading the app and then scanning the code, I was taken directly to a mobile Web page advertising Ford’s new 2011 Edge.

(You Droid users have it easy: a scanner is part of your phone.)

QR codes now part of marketing campaigns
During this trial and error time, my friend Margie Dana, founder and President of Print Buyers International, and I tweeted back and forth about our frustrations with QR codes and the apps. (Margie also has a new book out: “Print Buying Made Simple,” 138 pages of advice for print buyers. Be sure to check it out.)
In the middle of this, @SpeakFeel tweeted me to say I should check out TwittQR.com for an easy way to handle QR codes.

All you do is take a picture of the QR code, open your Twitter phone app and tweet the picture to @TwittQR. TwittQR then sends you back the URL, which appears in your timeline. You can then click on the link to view.

It took me a couple of tries, but I finally got it. The entire process made me see that I needed to write about this topic, because as I told Margie, if I can’t figure it out, how will non-marketers?

Since he had tweeted me the link to his QR app, I asked Noel Webb, Vice President of SpeakFeel Corporation if I could interview him. (This, my friends, is Real Time Marketing in action. See how it works?)

Svedka Vodka integrates mobile, Facebook
Noel’s company is the genius behind TwittQR and the new Sveda vodka campaign that’s been getting some buzz in the trade press. Posters around Canada advertising Svedka also included a QR code. When people tweeted the code (via TwittQR), they received a message with hashtags “#SVEDKA” and “#TwittQR” plus a custom message and a short URL that went to a mobile site.

Once there, people could then sign in via Facebook and “Like” the Svedka Vodka Page. (For those of you not using Facebook, this means that any time Svedka puts out a message to its “Friends,” that message shows up in their personal profiles. This is why companies are drooling over Facebook’s 500 million users. Who wouldn’t kill for that kind of one-to-one marketing?)

“One of the goals of the campaign,” says Noel, “was to increase the number of Facebook fans, which we accomplished. Svedka also outsold Smirnoff for that quarter.” You can read the full campaign details at Mobile Marketer. You learn more about TwittQR and SpeakFeel Corp. at Going Cellular.

Are QR codes the next best thing?
I definitely see the potential of QR codes and how marketers can use them to engage people by getting them from print to Web. However, the downside is that QR code use is not standard nor are the apps, something pointed out in the Going Cellular post.

In addition, marketers need to use language carefully. As my experience shows, telling people to “simply scan using your smartphone,” isn’t “simple” nor do you “scan” if you’re using an iPhone. And making people download an app, as the Ford ad did, is ok, but it did take me a few minutes. In our now “instant world,” these few minutes are the difference between campaign success and failure.

What’s your experience with QR codes and how do you think B2B companies can incorporate them into the marketing mix? If you’re a B2B company and have successfully used a QR code in a campaign, I’d love to interview you for a blog post.

UPDATE: Also check out these related items:

The CueCat — A barcode reader from the 1990s used for scanning barcodes in catalogs (way before its time, unfortunately). Hat tip to @PeterKretzman.

JagTags — Tags used by consumer brands, such as Macy’s. Hat tip to @LoisGeller.

2d Code — A magazine that is the definitive resource for all things QR Code. Edited by @RogerSmolski (and a hat tip to him).

From visiting Annabelle’s candy factory as a kid (think Big Hunk, Abba Zabba and Look — yummy!) to doing the Cape Cod Potato Chip factory tour as an adult, I’m a sucker for the factory tour.

Love ‘em, can’t get enough of them.

So I’m always thrilled when I get a new client and they offer me a tour. (It doesn’t even have to be a factory — I’ll tour anything including a golf course, a printing plant, and a university, to name a few.)

Tours give me a hands-on feel for the company and its products / services. When I toured the golf course, for example, I studied various types of turf, examined how balls rolled across the greens, and watched people play golf.

Learned more in an hour than I did reading reams of source material.

But the best part of doing tours is talking to the person giving the tour – and getting some of my best content ideas in the process.

It’s during the tour that the person giving the tour opens up in a way that doesn’t happen while sitting at a desk. All of a sudden, he or she is talking a mile a minute, pointing out things, introducing people and handing you things to look at or touch.

Best of all, if you pay close attention, you’ll hear the nuggets of information upon which you can build an entire message or marketing campaign.

On one tour, for example, the client said a few times that they had all new equipment. I finally asked, “Why is that important?” and she replied, “Oh, because we were outsourcing our manufacturing but the quality was really bad. So we invested in the equipment and now we produce everything in-house. Our quality is back up to close to 100% and we’re shipping product faster.”

I changed their entire messaging based on that one piece of information — which netted fabulous results for them that year.

Another client, Veterans Development Corporation, told me the story of how they got the West End Heating plant in Georgetown working again. The guys telling the story got all excited and animated and in turn I got excited — and ended up developing content for their revamped site around the messages buried in that story: fast response, deep know-how, creative approaches. They loved it.

Yes, yes, I can hear you thinking, you don’t have anything to tour because you make software, or something equally “flat,” and all your people do is sit pecking away at a computer all day.

So get up out of your chair and go for a walkabout anyway!

Going for a walkabout is one of my favorite ways to find ideas that become the basis for new content. What you’re doing when you go for a walk around your company is looking for “news” that you can can turn into case studies, application notes, blog posts, video, white papers, or newsletter articles.

Think like a reporter and sniff out the news by asking people what’s new and exciting and what kinds of projects they’re working on.

If they talk one-on-one with customers, ask them what customers are talking about. While you’re on the topic, ask which questions customers ask the most — you might be amazed at the answers.

If you work in a company that has a few buildings or multiple departments, go visit the other building or department and introduce yourself. Open doors, peek around cubicles, and go down hallways you’ve not been down before. If you need permission to visit an area (i.e. the clean room), ask for a guided tour.

In short, don’t be afraid to learn more about your company and the people in it. Once you make a habit of going for a walkabout, you’ll wonder how you ever got by without it.

For a long time I had one type of bird feeder in my backyard, a feeder I kept filled with one type of food: black sunflower seeds.

The feeder attracted the typical birds you see in New England backyards: Blue Jays, Chickadees, and Cardinals, to name a few.

A few weeks ago, however, I added two new feeders, a nut feeder and a bowl feeder filled with millet in order to attract smaller birds.

Over night my backyard went from being the equivalent of a sleepy small town airstrip to a busy municipal airport.

Birds of all kinds flocked to my feeders — Woodpeckers, Titmice, Nuthatches, Rose Breasted Grosbeaks, Grackles, Finches, Mourning Doves, Sparrows and others I have yet to identify.

In fact, the bowl feeder / millet proved so successful, I now have five to six Sparrows sitting in the bowl eating seed at any given time, others fighting for a position on the bowl and more milling around on the ground waiting for seed to drop.

Wow!

Attract more B2B buyers with multiple offers

Generally, companies offer people something in return for “raising their hand” to be identified. I ask people to give me their first name and email address in exchange for my monthly newsletter, for example.

Other companies ask for additional information when it comes to Webinars, white papers and the like.

Giving people free information is good. The problem, however, is that people respond to offers depending on where they are in the buying cycle.

• Someone just starting research will download white papers or checklists but definitely doesn’t want a sales person to call and isn’t ready for a demo.
• Someone who is narrowing down the vendor selection list has probably already read a half dozen white papers and now is now ready to participate in a Webinar and/or read case studies.
• And a team that’s ready to make a buying decision may want to talk to a sales person or have a demo.

Having just one type of offer, i.e. white papers, will attract some buyers, but these buyers will most likely not be ready to buy for months, which is why you need to include offers that attract buyers no matter where they are in the buying cycle.

Instead of attracting people who are “just looking,” you’ll also attract those who are serious about finding a vendor / partner and making a purchase.

As to my new found birding love, I’m now researching platform feeders. My buddy Mac McIntosh (who inspired this post) said to put out cut up oranges, grapes, and bread crusts. He also recommended suet feeders. What’s your recommendation?

(Photo credit: Liz Leyden)