Page 21 – Wild Creek Web Studio

How to Build a B2B Content Marketing Strategy

B2B content marketing involves creating and targeting relevant messages (digital content) towards your audiences from other businesses. Unlike B2C content marketing, where the objective (most of the time) is immediate conversion, B2B marketing caters to a broader aspect of creating brand value, consumer loyalty, and engagement with the consumer, eventually resulting in sales.

B2B content marketing is received by a consumer in a passive format. While coming across a B2B message the consumer may not immediately buy a product or service instead she/he may ponder, compare, evaluate, and then choose. B2B communication is intended in the direction of problem-solving or providing a business solution. So, consumers looking for information on a specific product line, seeking solutions to their business problems, making comparisons amongst services from various providers majorly turn out to be the audience for B2B content marketing.

B2B content Marketing Strategy

Digital platforms today are flooded with content. A consumer can be bombarded with necessary or unnecessary information once she/he is on a digital platform. In such a scenario it becomes vital to create a message that can drown out the crowd. A consumer will read your content only if it creates any value and interests him/her.

How to effectively develop a B2B content marketing strategy?

Content is the king. Therefore a major chunk of your effort should go into creating the right kind of content for the right kind of audience promoted through the right kind of tools. Offer your consumers novel and relevant content, they surely will pay attention. Simple steps you could follow include:

Define who your audience is…The right kind of audience!

Take some time out to think over whom you are intending to talk to through your content. Find out what they need to know from you. Do they know you already or not? Are they the users of your products and services or are they the users of a competitor? What are their experiences, their pain points, and their challenges? Which sources of information do they prefer? What are the social media preferences and what kind of messages excite them, inform them or influence them?

All these questions need to be answered before you brainstorm on giving words to your ideas for reaching out to them. Developing buyer personas and diving deep into the demographics and psychographics can help you define your exact customer and identify their precise needs and concerns.

The next step in the process is to create meaningful messages…The right kind of content!

Once you are aware of who you are talking to and what they want to hear from you, it becomes easier to craft an effective message. An effective message is the one that is perceived by the audience in the same manner as was intended by the communicator. The success of your content is reflected in its ability to achieve the target that you had set before sending it out. If the consumer does not act to the call of action, probably the message did not reach out to them successfully. You may consider redesigning the same if this happens to be the case.

The fundamental goal of any content marketing tactic is to drive results and increase revenues, the cycle of which can either be short term or long. While the results from a B2B marketing strategy are mostly realized in the long term, the message should always be crafted to drive the desired results ultimately.

Another important aspect is determining the structure and form of your content. Once you have researched your target audience you are aware of their preferences and liking. If you know that your targeted group is an avid reader of online content then you can divulge into details for your content, but if you find out that the audience is fond of visuals more than plain text then you may want to add creativity to your content piece. Adding elements that may enhance the visibility and readability of your content is the right choice.

The third step is efficiently promoting the content that you have created…the right kind of tools!

You know your audience; you have the content ready for them, now it’s time to reach out to them. Finding the best tools from the already existing set makes your work much easier and helps you reach your goals timely. You can choose from an array of communication tools that are meant for carrying out successful B2B conversations.

A newsletter, a blog, a guest article on another website, a white paper, a piece of thought leadership, an infographic, a social media post, a podcast, or a video message all comprise a list of effective tools for B2B content marketing. An important tip to add here is to talk about current trends and latest developments prevailing in the industry and thinly veiling these to promote the benefits that your products and services may offer.

A wise choice amongst these tools is needed to be made while keeping in mind the ultimate objective that you want to achieve. For example, if you want to enhance your brand value and emerge as an industry influencer, then tools such as research blogs, thought leadership pieces on solving industry issues, podcasts may be more useful. Similarly, if you intend to increase the brand visibility and generate new leads then enhancing your social media presence can do the job better.

Devising an effective B2B content marketing strategy is not as difficult as it might appear to be. The space has exorbitant potential in bringing out the anticipated results in a more time-saving and cost-effective way and is worth putting in your effort.

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What is Customer Persona and How to Create a Customer Persona?

Organizations that constantly strive to offer the best products and services must thoroughly understand their target audience and reach out to them with the most relevant messaging through the most effective communication channels. Defining a customer persona helps in achieving this goal successfully.

In this Article

What is a customer persona and How to create one?

A customer persona is a semi-fictional representation of a typical consumer of the product or service. Persona tries to mimic the real-time characteristics of an ideal consumer of a specific product or service. A persona is not conceived only out of pure imagination, rather is based on facts collected through in-depth research. Understanding the human psyche is the most complex of all processes. A persona helps make business decisions centered around users easier.

Build your customer persona

How to create customer personas for any business?

While the process of creating personas sounds a tad tedious, it is not as complex though. If you are seeking the ultimate goal to make your customers happy and satisfied, you can craft appropriate customer personas by following a few simple steps, as below:

Name them:
Start with giving a name to an imaginary customer who represents the key segments of your target audience. Look out for the most commonly used name in the list of existing customers. With this, you will be able to relate to your customer in a more personalized and practical way.

Know them, and know them well
Dive deep with research into the customers’ basic demography and psychographics. The idea is to know them a bit more and classify them into segments with the common traits and features put together. This helps create a perfect customer persona representing each segment. Some of the key points you must consider, include:

Studying demographics: includes analysis of common factors such as gender, age, education, occupation, income, location, and more.
Studying psychographics: includes understanding the needs, wants, and desires of the customers, their real-life challenges, the buying behavior and factors affecting it, their sources of information and knowledge, their social media presence and usage, their influences and de-motivation, and other parameters affecting their decision making.
Studying the problems: includes attempting to know what the pain areas of the customers are, what are reasons for not using your products and services, the struggles they may be facing while trying to do so and what deters them from making a buying decision? This analysis can help you gain insight into your typical customer relationship with your product/service.

Comprehensive research is required at this step. You can use a mix of traditional as well as new tools including data analytics, surveys, and personal interviews. You may want to access the existing and new client database and dig out vital information and statistics. You can also choose to interact with other team members, who keep direct touch with the real customers and record authentic feedback, reviews, and quotes.

Describe them:
Once you have collected data, the next step is to sketch out an ideal customer persona. These can be more than one in number representing multiple key segments. By now you already know who the right customer is, why is the customer using or not using your product/service, and how you can influence their decision in favor.

After reaching this step you can compare the persona with a real customer and start interacting with him/her. It is imperative at this stage to deal with each persona distinctively. No single rule can be applied to all.

Engage with them:
Define or redefine your communication and marketing strategies to sync seamlessly with the customers’ needs and preferences. The messaging needs to be accurately designed to reach out to your prospective customers addressing their pain points and offering them the best solutions. This not only saves time, money, and effort but also fosters customers’ trust and loyalty towards the brand.

How can persona-based thinking help marketers?

As marketers, once you build a customer persona, you can cleverly integrate more meaningful content into your communication strategies. Since now you know your customer well and you also know which communication platforms she/he uses for information and which ones for entertainment, all your marketing initiatives can be centered on the results received through this method.

After a thorough understanding of their likes and dislikes, you can use keywords and visuals in your social media messaging that appeal to your desired customer profile. With persona-based thinking, you as a marketer can achieve better and precise results with lesser effort and marketing spent.

A plethora of tools and platforms are available in the market to create personas specific to your business. No two people are similar in their likings, tastes, and preferences even though they may be falling in a similar segment of age, gender, or locality.

Working around the consumer’s mindset using personas can go a long way in empathizing with your customers and creating meaningful relationships.

Free Customer Persona Template

Download this sample customer persona template for free.

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If you need any help in crafting your digital marketing strategy, get in touch with us.

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47% increase in SEO Traffic resulted in 102% increase in Online Sales

Wild Creek’s digital marketing strategy produced a 230% increase in SEO traffic in 3 months & 47% increase YoY in Organic SEO traffic leading to 102% increase in online sales.

The Client

Last year, a top FMCG brand reached out to us to help them create a strong online presence. They wanted to establish a solid digital presence, but were struggling to break into the space.

A family run company, it is backed by a rich heritage and strong roots that go back several decades. Having made their foray into food, South Indian cuisine is the focal point of the company’s business. The products are also exported to multiple countries that have Indian population.

Situation

The client had built a new e-commerce website, had done a few social media activities but stopped as they were not able to see any traction happening. Predominantly an offline brand, they struggled to make any inroads in the online space and kept changing vendors in order to improve their e-commerce sales.

When the client approached us, they had only one agenda – increase their sales from the eCommerce store.

Challenges identified by Wild Creek:

After a preliminary meeting to understand the requirements, we identified a few more challenges using our Digital Diagnostic Framework.

Technical Glitches – Though the website was built using WordPress, it had its share of technical issues which did not provide a smooth user experience and was hampering the sales.
Lack of any SEO – Though the client had utilized the services of multiple vendors, none of them optimized the website resulting in a gradual loss of SEO traffic.
No Long-Term view – Despite the background, when it came to the online space, the client did not have a clear road map in place for long term growth. This coupled with a lack of digital strategy did not allow them to take timely decisions that would help them to leverage the brand online. Because of this, they failed to lay a strong foundation for their digital assets.

Wild Creek Marketing Strategy and Digital Solution:

Having understood the problem at hand, we implemented our unique 3-Step Strategy named E-A-C to address the challenges faced by the client.

Step #1 – Education: We understood the top management did not have a proper understanding of how the digital medium worked and what was needed to get things rolling. We presented our audit findings and that helped them understand the implications in detail. We also helped them realize the importance of laying down a strong foundation that was crucial for long term growth.

Step #2 – Action: Our next task was to fix the technical glitches that were causing major issues with the user experience. The site had no optimization done and was extremely slow.

We worked to first fix all the technical glitches and then on improving the SEO.

This had an immediate impact with seo traffic and sales improving slowly.

Step #3 – Consistency: Consistency is vital to all digital marketing activities. One has to constantly stay at the forefront of the customer mind by reinforcing the brand again and again. Using a combination of social media, branding and SEO, we put together a strategy that helped them to reach out to their customer base on a regular basis.

The above 3-step strategic approach helped the client to also get their Return on Investment (ROI) over and above their initial requirement.

A SUMMARY of RESULTS:

230% increase in seo traffic in 90 days. YoY 47% increase in Organic SEO traffic.
200% increase in audience reach and engagement
102% increase in E-Commerce Sales
58% increase YoY in new users to the website
85% increase YoY in page views

Google Analytics Screenshot of Organic SEO Traffic Increase

eCommerce Sales Data

Wrapping it all up:

The client was extremely happy and acknowledged our approach of going right to the roots to fix issues and creating a customized strategy. With our intervention, the client also realized the immense potential of the brand on the digital medium, which they were unable to envision initially. This has led the brand to broaden its scope and activities on the digital media and be open to explore opportunities to strengthen their name in the digital world.

Wild Creek was able to turn around the digital marketing efforts of the client by improving the UX and increasing the seo traffic which directly resulted in increasing their revenue. Our approach also helped in setting up of a strong foundation that would help them to scale up even further.

If you would like to turn your business around with a digital strategy that produces long-term results, connect with us to find out how we can help.

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The One Action That is Killing Your Brand Online

When you’re born, your first instinct is to survive. Then you must find the meaning of your life. – Arsene Wenger

Creating a brand is easy these days. It involves just these 4 steps:

Find your passion.
Come up with a few crazy ideas to capture attention (something that no one has attempted or simply copy an existing model).
Create a product or service and attach a name to it.
A few go the additional step of finding a kick-ass designer and build a very good brand logo/identity.

And with this, most people believe a brand is born. This couldn’t be further from the truth and completely misses the point behind branding.

Building a brand is like raising a child.

It takes time. It takes a lot of effort. Most of all, it is a long process that requires constant nurturing and learning along with a few sleepless nights.

Most of the times, the name or the identify will only create a first impression. A name and a creative logo can help, but it is no guarantee for success in the real world.

You will have to go deeper to make sure it is successful.

The way your business communicates will have an impact on the future success. It needs to speak the language your customers speak in a clear manner that will make people listen.

Your customer’s experience with your product or service plays an integral role in the overall success of your brand.

Most often business owners cripple a brand by ignoring to nurture it during its stage of growth. Many skip this stage of development completely!

Instead of focusing on a catchy name, flashy design and vanity numbers, start with your brand values, brand experience, and work your way backward.

Rather than focusing on short term success, take some effort and build your brand with a strong foundation that will last for a long time.

Don’t kill your brand by dreaming too small or not daring to dream at all. It is important to dream big. But what’s even more important is to match that dream with action.

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Are you the captain of your ship and the master of your digital assets?

In the post-covid world, a large number of businesses are making the pivot to go online.

With digital taking prominence for driving consumer awareness, engagement and sales, it is time to safeguard your digital assets.

Many of them are struggling to find answers to questions such as – How will moving online be helpful? What would be the long-term benefits? Where to get started?

Nearly all SMEs, Consultants and Startup businesses rely on third-party service providers for everything from domain registration to social media management to running paid ads for their business.

As more and more businesses are getting online there is an increasing demand for digital marketing experts and agencies.

This is where business owners must be very careful about whom they work with.

We are living in a time where ownership of the brand’s digital assets are crucial for the survival and continuity of a business in the online space.

Here are some key points that you need to consider very carefully when it comes to your digital assets:

1. Claim Your Brand Identities: Ensure that you are the admin for the social media channels that you use to promote your business. This could be you or could be multiple people from the organization.

2. Safeguard Your Digital Properties: Ensure that the domain name and web hosting account are tied to your email id. Even if they have been registered by the service provider, change them to your id that you check regularly.

3. Stop Sharing Account Passwords: Nearly most platforms allow you to give access to others via user roles. Unless it is essential you do not need to give your account credentials.

4. Backup, Backup and Backup: Always ensure that your website files are backed up safely (if needed on multiple platforms). While most good hosting companies are reliable, there are several low-cost companies that do not back up your data. So, ensure you take frequent backups of your website files, databases and emails.

These are just 4 basic, yet important steps that one needs to consider and take care of very carefully.

Take these 4 real cases that has happened just in the last few months:

Case #1: The digital expert created a social media page for the client and refused to hand over the credentials because it was created through his personal account.

Case #2: The agency deleted the Facebook page after the client did not renew the yearly contract. And the reason given was “once the agreement is over, we will remove all client data”.

Case #3: The client website was being hosted on the web hosting account of the agency. When the client asked for access to the website, they were given only the wp-admin access and that too only an editor access.

Case #4: The client had no idea where the domain was registered and the website was hosted. So when they asked the marketing company to transfer it to their account for records, the agency charged them 10x the normal cost for a domain renewal + management charges.

These are just 4 among many stories I have heard personally and come across in various FB groups.

The covid situation has given birth to plenty of overnight experts and agencies offering services at an extremely low rate because they need to survive.

So, before you outsource your digital marketing to the expert or company, ask them these basic questions.

– Their client portfolio
– Client references
– How can they price themselves so low
– Do they have any partnerships with Google?
– How do they keep themselves updated with industry changes?

Remember, it is better to be safe than worry because you did not have a plan to navigate the complex digital ocean.

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How We Grew the SEO Traffic by 800% of a National Brand

One of the most important aspect about any SEO activity is to have a realistic expectation. SEO is not about short-term gains; it is all about long term sustenance.

SEO is not a one-time activity. You cannot just SEO a website and forget all about it. As long as the website exists, SEO is an integral part of it. It is an ongoing process that has no end date.

SEO is like nurturing a plant, if you want it to give the results you expect, you have to nurture it, feed it and take care of it every day.

In this Article

Introduction:

A few months ago, we were contacted by the Entertainment Editor of a leading national newspaper brand. They was experiencing very low website traffic despite being a national brand.

Situation:

The client had spun off a separate division to focus on the entertainment industry with regular celebrity interviews and movie reviews. While they were popular in print, they hit a roadblock with their website traffic. Despite multiple efforts, that included huge spends on paid advertising, they were unable to increase the traffic numbers beyond a particular level.

Requirement:

When they reached out to us, the client had two key requirements.

Increase the organic SEO traffic.
Reduce the spend on paid advertisement.

Challenges Identified by Wild Creek:

Before taking up the project, using Wild Creek’s Digital Diagnostic Framework, we identified a few challenges.

Absence of On-Page SEO: While the client recently revamped the website, it was lacking in SEO.
Lack of SEO optimized content: The client had several journalists writing content, but they were not optimized for SEO.

Based on these two major challenges and along with several others, we crafted a customized solution that would address all of the issues.

Wild Creek Strategy and Solution:

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Having understood the client’s situation, requirements and challenges, we created and implemented a unique 3E Strategy to address this case.

3E Strategy for SEO

Step 1: Eliminate

Our first step was to work on improving the on-page challenges that we identified with our Digital Diagnostic Framework.

Working alongside their technical team, we eliminated all of the on-page issues and ensured the website was fully SEO optimized.

Step 2: Educate / Engage

As our next step we began to work with the team of content writers the client had. Working in tandem with the chief editor of the entertainment division, we designed a Content Framework Guide. All content published by the client were required to adhere to the recommendations provided in the guide.

To make this happen, we engaged with the writers and educated the publishing team to have content written and published in line with this new framework.

When this exercise was implemented, the client realized importance of the new framework that we brought in as they saw immediate results in terms on steady increase in traffic and new users consuming content.

Step 3: Execution

With the initial challenges sorted, we set about increasing their off-page SEO parameters. Earlier efforts by the client in Link Building had not paid off as it was not approached in the appropriate manner. Link building is a significant part of a strong SEO strategy but it has to be done properly.

When we explained our approach to the client, they realized that acquiring back links when the website structure is poor was pointless. Unless the site had solid foundations, acquiring links would do more harm than any good.

That is why the last and final step was the execution. We made sure that our link building strategy focused on three crucial aspects –

Quality over quantity
Relevance
Building authority

Every single link that we built for this client came from relevant and established sites that amplified the reach of this client’s website.

The result:

The SEO traffic grew from an average of 18,941 visitors per month to 172,705 at the peak.

Organic SEO Traffic Growth - Google Analytics

Despite such a competitive segment the client was in, we were able to increase the organic SEO traffic by 811% over a 16-month period. This organic increase helped the client save significant costs in terms of advertisement expenditure.

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Conclusion:

By bringing in a strategy that worked at the foundation of building the client’s digital presence, Wild Creek was able to establish the brand’s authority in the digital space, rivaling their offline popularity. This skyrocketed their web traffic which in turn directly contributed to increasing their revenue from digital media.

If you would like to turn your business around with a digital strategy that produces long-term results, click here to connect with us.

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How to Find the Best Web Design Agency in 5 Simple Steps

Companies spend a lot of time in building websites that provide a dynamic and unique user experience, built on the latest frameworks and database management systems. Attractive websites are a great way of showcasing your products, vision, and customer reviews.

Your website represents your brand and having an attractive and engaging website is the first step towards building your brand and business digitally. Website design complexity necessitates you entrust only the best for this intricate task.

Here is a 5-Step process to help you find a web design agency that is the best match for you and that can help you make your digital identity dream come true.

In this Article

STEP 1: Who (or what!) is Ajax? Understand what you want your website to do – before you hire somebody:

What exactly do you want your website to do? It is a simple question with no easy answer. It would need some thought on how technology like the internet would interact (via the medium of the website) with your business, your (prospective) customers, and your market category (think competitors!). What synergies would be possible and what conflicts would need to be avoided.

As a business owner, you might have an understanding on what your customer needs are. You might also have a good knowledge on your industry segment. But if you are not sure how the web design process works, then there are companies that take you for a ride.

So, it is imperative that you get some knowledge of web development – what can be done and what cannot be done. Only when you have this understanding, it becomes possible to envision how you want the website to be.

While the web design agency will have its process and method, it is recommended that you have a clarity on the kind of website you want to have. Should it be an informational website or an e-commerce website, do you need email marketing features, admin back-end to change the content later, etc.

Once you have this clarity, it becomes easier to communicate your requirements to the company that will be building your website. This clarity reduces the conflicts, confusion and the multiple levels of communication leading to an increase in project time. It also ensures that the end results are in line with what you envisioned.

STEP 2: Budget, Budget, Budget:

It all comes down to money, does it not? In a perfect world, you would have unlimited resources and we would not even be having this conversation. Just continue throwing money until you have the very best website in the world with your very own crack team of front and back end developers.

But resources are always limited and those limitations are to be respected. Determine what resources you could devote to your website. Would you be able to hire an independent consultant to act as your point man in your interactions with the web design agency? How many people would form the team tasked with coordinating with the web design firm?

Finally, what is the number on the cheque (check) that you would feel comfortable writing out when the contract with the web design agency is finalized?

The answer to these questions would not only determine the nature of your website but also the choice of a web design firm – whether you want to hire a top web design company or work with freelance designer who might be affordable.

STEP 3: Create your long list:

It all starts coming together for you now. You now have a good idea of the website you need within the restrictions of your budget. Start your search by:

– Tapping your network: As always in most endeavors, a recommendation from a trusted source is a good place to start.

– Use your very own browsing history: There would be certain websites that you would have visited with elements you would have considered a good fit for your very own prospective website. Find out who was responsible for creating those websites.

– Online Directories: Use reputed online directories that not only list the popular web design companies, but also verify and authenticate the information provided by these companies.

Some of the good ones that enables you to research and find the top service providers are:

Web Design Companies: Provides an easy to peruse tabular ranking of web design agency along with relevant information like location, size, and charges. Also provides information on the latest trends in web design along with tips from experts to help you identify the right firm for your needs.

Clutch.co: Clutch.co is a well-known resource for businesses with a listing of various firms in various categories. The web design category has over 46,000 firms. Input your preferred budget, location, size, focus area, and other details into the filtering engine to zero onto the right firms. Links to individual firm websites are included in case you need to take a quick look.

Good Firms: The directory for web development firms has over 12000 listings organized in a ranking structure. The dashboard provides quick sorting per country, city, and specific specialty of the web design agency. There is also a filtering engine with options for hourly charges for more granular control of listing results. Each listing has a useful one-paragraph description and also links to the company website in case the visitor requires more information.

Hubspot: A general directory that contains listings of firms across industries ranging from Automotive to Waste Management. The website design category has over 3000 listings. Each listing is accompanied by a short self-introduction by the firm. The filtering engine has the usual budget, location, and firm specialization controls along with ‘HubSpot’ specific controls like awards, tier, and certifications.

Crowd Reviews: Provides a simple tabular ranking of web design companies based on buyer reviews. After crawling for information like a total number of reviews, reviewer quality, average rating, age of reviews, relevance, contributor level, etc the algorithm then spits out a ranking untouched by favoritism. The idea is to remove unreliable, fake, emotional, sponsored, and duplicate reviews while compiling the ranking. Filtering tools are available so that the listings can be focused as per requirements.

STEP 4: Prune your long list and shortlist:

Once you have prepared your list of companies, narrow it down to a few choices so that you start discussions with them to get your website up and running.

Keep the following points in mind while you prepare your shortlist:

Process: Does the firm have a well-defined and well-articulated process?
Case studies: Is the firm confident enough to showcase its work on its website for prospective customers with case studies? Do these case studies resonate with you?
Reputation: How long has the firm been in business and who are their clients? Has the firm been recognized by the industry with awards from the like of Awwwards, CSS Design, and Webby?
Leadership: What is the ethos and philosophy of leadership? Does it complement/match your own? Is the leadership active via participation in industry seminars and conferences?
Search Engine Optimization (SEO): What is the firm’s SEO auditing process? How will they ensure that web site design is optimized to improve organic search result rankings?
Web site hosting: Will the web design firm handle hosting or will that be your headache?
Social media marketing: Does the firm provide a solution to increase the visibility of your websites on social media like Twitter and Facebook?
Metrics: Will the firm handle or assist in website metric tracking and analysis?

STEP 5: The RIGHT web design agency for you:

The last step is to identify the right web design company on the basis of your interactions with them. Keep these three points in mind before you sign the dotted line:

Support: What support do they provide once the website is live and for how long?
Copyright: Who holds the copyright to the designs? Do they transfer all the files and source code of the design elements created or hold onto them? How will that impact you?
Training: What training will the web design agency provide before handing over the website?

Make your choice carefully after a thorough study of the contract and seal the deal. Your spanking new website should soon be ready to be viewed by the world.

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