The Growing Power of Social Media to Influence Foodservice Purchase Decisions
Foodservice is much more than an industry or an occupation. It’s a culture, a passion and a lifestyle for operators and decision makers. Foodservice is also a very insular world. Operators frequently consult each other, their customers and trusted sales representatives before making important purchase decisions. But that structure is changing, and the perfect example is the evolving relationship between social media and food industry decision makers. To truly understand the new dynamic between social media and food industry purchase decisions, a new food industry research study consulted operators about their buyer’s journey and what influences them along the way. The “Media Consumption Behaviors and the Decision-Making Journey of Foodservice Operators” Study
How to Select Great Focus Keywords for Your Content
Focus keywords are the building blocks of on-page SEO. Selecting great keywords can help you set your blog, website or landing page up for success. But actually finding those keywords is often daunting. What makes a good keyword? And where can you find new keywords? Here are a few tips to increase your keyword selection expertise: Google AdWords is your friend. If you’re stumped for keywords, the best place to start is the free Keyword Planner tool in Google AdWords. Type in a subject or set of words, and Keyword Planner will generate a list of related suggestions. These suggestions range from variations on the words you typed to other words
New Food Industry Research Study Tracks the Decision-Making Buyer’s Journey of Foodservice Operators
by Randy Mitchell, Creative Director A restaurant owner in San Antonio just changed her menu. Whose advice did she follow? A university cafeteria director in Pennsylvania just bought a new electric steamer. What influenced his decision? A millennial operator in Florida just upgraded his supply inventory tracking system. Where did he research his technology options? If you could follow those foodservice professionals from the first moment of consideration all the way up to the moment of decision, it would be a fascinating experience. Then you could see first-hand what truly influenced their actions at every stage of their purchase decision journeys. You would also find some surprising insights along the way. That dynamic decision-making journey
B2B Webinar Best Practices to Wow Your Audience and Generate Leads
Many B2B companies are starting to include webinars as part of their marketing mix. And it’s a smart move—webinars generate leads, demonstrate thought leadership, and build up content that can be used in the future. But a great webinar isn’t something you can just throw together. It takes careful planning and targeted promotion. Let these webinar best practices guide your planning: Determine what you want your webinar to be. What are your objectives? What content do you want to cover? Who do you want to target as your audience? How do you want to present your content? Answer these questions in a concrete and specific way and develop a strong plan
B2B Brand Strategy: 3 Tools to Understand What Makes You Different
What makes you stand out from the crowd? And why should a customer choose you, anyway? If you can’t answer these questions about your business, you won’t be able to convince potential customers that you offer the solution they need. An essential part of B2B brand strategy is determining your points of difference, or the compelling things that make your business unique. You can then use these points of difference as the basis of your marketing strategy, informing everything from your website design to your conversations with prospects. How do you determine what makes you different? Especially if your business is in a large city or a highly competitive industry, you may
Inbound and Outbound Marketing: What You Need To Know
B2B marketing generally falls into one of two categories: inbound or outbound marketing. These two terms get thrown around a lot, with some marketers suggesting that inbound is the strategy of the future and outbound is outdated. But is this belief valid? And what do these terms really mean? This blog post will break down inbound and outbound marketing, including the benefits and drawbacks of each strategy. Outbound marketing is what most people think of when they think of marketing: paying to put your message in front of an audience. It includes print ads, digital banners and pop-ups on websites, direct mail campaigns, broadcast advertising, outdoor advertising and cold calling. Outbound
Omnichannel Marketing Avengers: The True B2B Superheroes
by Randy Mitchell, Creative Director Did you ever have superhero aspirations when you were younger? I certainly did. I always wanted to be the Flash. There were two reasons for this longing. First, I thought his lightning bolt logo was pretty cool. Second, I was a chubby kid who invariably finished last in any race. So far, I have not made it into the superhero pantheon. But I am happy to say that I do work with some true marketing superheroes on a daily basis. I call this brave assembly the Omnichannel Marketing Avengers and they have the power to save any campaign. Just like the vaunted Avengers of Marvel comic book and movie
Get Back On Track With These Four SEO Fixes
The Internet is full of guides for B2B marketers who are looking to get their start with search engine optimization (SEO). But what if you’ve made a commitment to SEO already…and it just sucks? Maybe you’ve analyzed your website with a tool like Hubspot’s Website Grader or Moz Pro’s Open Site Explorer and your score was dismal. Maybe your keywords were selected some time ago and search trends have moved on since then. Or maybe you see your competitors dominating search and are wondering how to keep from getting left behind. Whatever the case, you’re looking for some SEO fixes to help your website get back on track. While a total,
Boomm Cleans Up on B2B Marketing Awards
Boomm has been getting some recognition for our marketing work. That’s exciting news for our clients and our agency. Recently, we won five B2B marketing awards from three different competitions. Here’s what we received: Hermes Awards The Hermes Awards recognizes outstanding work by marketing professionals worldwide. Our brochure for ConAgra’s Cottage Bakery artisan bread brand won a Hermes Platinum Award. Boomm also received a Gold Award from Hermes for our work on the blog of Magnetrol International, a level and flow instrumentation provider. This is our second year in a row receiving a Hermes award. AVA Digital Awards This international competition honors excellence in the planning and development of digital communications. Boomm won two
Make Your B2B Video Marketing Stand Out With Silence
What qualities make for great B2B video marketing? A compelling story and strong visuals top the list. But in order for your message to be seen by the right audience, you need to adapt to the way the audience views video. And increasingly, much of the audience is viewing the video with the sound turned off. Over the past couple years, Facebook has become a major platform for video, hosting upwards of 8 billion views per day. But new research shows that as much as 85% of all video watched on Facebook is watched with the sound off. This behavior is encouraged by Facebook’s platform design. As a Facebook user scrolls