A new partnership between Devon Security and Berry Network, Inc. is particularly important to Devcon’s massive nationwide expansion efforts.   By leveraging Berry Network’s strength and expertise in local search advertising, the new alliance will help Devon Security build brand awareness and increase advertising presence in new market areas.    “We chose to partner with Berry Network because of the strategic value they bring to the table,” said Kristin Clark, Devcon Security’s Vice President of Marketing. “The team at Berry Network excels at implementing our advertising programs, but more importantly, they’re willing to develop and explore unconventional strategies to help us achieve our goals.”   “Devcon is a perfect fit for our agency,” according to Sherri Kavanaugh, Berry Network’s Vice President of Client Strategy.  “We’re at our best when we’re working with clients that desire a true strategic partner. Devcon is strong, expanding rapidly and there are lots of opportunities for us to utilize our expertise, tools and proprietary technology to support and accelerate their growth.”   About Devcon: Devcon Security is one of the fastest growing security companies in the nation. Founded in 2004, the Devcon brand is composed of local security companies rooted in the security business since 1968. Devcon is run by a management team with more than 100 years of security experience and employs nearly 1100 people in offices across the nation. Utilizing state-of-the-art equipment, Devcon maintains two monitoring centers and offers superior customer service. The company offers residential home security systems, as well as small and large business security solutions – including commercial alarms and video surveillance systems. Devcon is proud to be among a small percentage of security companies to have a 5-Diamond certification from the Central Station Alarm Association.

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Why do some BtoB companies excel at content based, social media marketing while others falter? Based on my experience, and observing how other companies have used content based marketing, I think the biggest reason is company buy-in.  With traditional marketing, the marketing team creates the message, branding, ad content, sales collateral, and the like. They control the message and push it out through the regular channels.  The rest of the company sits back and lets marketing do their thing. With traditional marketing, the biggest challenge is getting the funds needed to carry out the marketing plan. The challenges with content based marketing are decidedly different. Sure, the budget issue is still there, but the biggest hurdle is developing a steady stream of relevant content that resonates with clients and prospects. With content based marketing, you need to go beyond blogging about your newest product enhancement; you have to do more than talk about yourself. Let’s face it, most BtoB companies are not that interesting. You can quickly bore your clients and prospects, and when that happens they will tune you out. How do you not fall into the trap of only talking about yourself and being boring? The marketing department can only do so much. While marketing must take the lead and pave the way, the subject matter experts within the organization must be willing to share their knowledge, experience, and time. They must get in the game. They must blog, tweet, engage on your company’s Facebook page, help write white papers, and the like. They may not realize it, but most companies have numerous subject matter experts that have unique stories, insight, and experience that clients and prospects would love to learn from. They have knowledge and experience that if shared, would truly help their clients and prospects. They could contribute to building the reputation of the company, and help them stand out from the competition. They should not only help create the content, but share it through their own social channels, spreading the message far beyond where marketing can take it on their own. Leaving content based marketing to a couple of people in the marketing department to do it on their own isn’t enough; it doesn’t work. So why do companies struggle with this? The reasons vary. For some, it is a time and resource issue. For others, it is because they don’t understand the power of content based marketing.  Maybe marketing needs to do a better job at selling the concept. For others, it is because they don’t have an appreciation for the knowledge and insight they have. They don’t think anyone would be interested in what they have to say. The company buy-in issue goes beyond just content creation. It extends to how the sales organization will use the content.  Will they see the value in it and use it to nurture their prospects? For companies that excel at content based marketing, the answer is yes. Has your company engaged in content based, social media marketing ?  Did you get company buy-in or is the marketing department doing it on their own? Please share your comments.

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I am a big fan of Facebook Pages. I have spent a lot of time reading, blogging, and educating myself about using Facebook Pages as a marketing tool; just look at my last few blog posts. I think Facebook Pages are a powerful way for businesses to connect with their customers. Even so, I am a realist. I know that given the media attention Facebook is getting these days, that there are a lot of misconceptions about Facebook Pages. While I encourage all marketers to embrace the use of Facebook Pages, those of us who have been through the learning curve have a responsibility to cut through the hype and inform those that are new to Facebook marketing about the realities of the medium.  With that said, below are three hard truths about Facebook marketing.   1. Facebook Pages won’t drive instant sales Marketers that build Facebook Pages looking for instant sales are going to be disappointed. Why? Because Facebook Pages are not intended to target the ready-to-buy consumer. While a very small percentage of users may be ready to buy while browsing Facebook, the vast majority won’t. So why have a business page? Because it gives you the opportunity to engage in relationship marketing and build and maintain a loyal customer following over time.  It lets you stay engaged with the not-ready-to buy market, which in most cases will be significantly larger than the “ready-to-buy” market.  It’s all about awareness and making sure that when your customers are ready to buy, your business is top of mind.   2. Cultivating Likes is hard work I have spoken to numerous marketers who build Facebook Pages. Many of them find themselves frustrated over the number of people that have Liked their page. With all the hype surrounding Facebook, many marketers have fallen prey to the “build it and they will come” mentality. The same thing happened with the dot com frenzy back in the early 90’s.  Building your Likes is not a one-time event, it is an on-going task that requires a significant amount of work.  It involves integrating Facebook into your entire marketing mix and promote your page from other channels; including every print ad, direct mail piece, collateral, press release, website, company newsletter, in-store signage, and so on. More important is the need to continually come up with interesting content that resonates with your audience and gets them engaged, which is sometimes easier said than done.   3. Few people will visit your Wall after they have Liked your Page This one hurts, especially after having spent so much time customizing your Page with carefully chosen graphics, apps, pictures, video and the like. The reality is most of your fans will see your updates in their Newsfeed, not your Wall. This does not mean that all of the work you put into building the perfect Page was for naught. First time visitors will surely explore your Page, and making a good first impression is key to turning visits into Likes on Facebook. It means that when writing updates, you need to write for the Newsfeed, not the Wall. You need to make it easy for people to interact with your brand. Avoid posts that say things like “click on our coupon app to get today’s special offer.” This is of little use to fans reading your newsfeed. It is fine if you want to reference another part of your page in your Wall posts, but remember to write for the Newsfeed and not the Wall. Include photos, videos, polls and questions to draw your audience in. Do you have any advice to share with someone new to Facebook marketing? Please share your thoughts below.

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Part 1 of a 4-Part series on Yellow Pages ad design    In the Yellow Pages environment, attracting attention with your ad is almost as important as having your phone number in the ad. All of your competitors are right there on the page next to you - if Yellow Pages users don’t look at your ad… there is no way they are going to call. Attracting attention really does come down to seconds or fractions of a second. The human brain has a tendency to want to make sense out of whatever the eyes are looking at and searches for items that are visually prominent, familiar, different, or interesting. Here are three key factors for making sure your YP ad is attracting attention. Focal Point Many Yellow Pages ads have what I call ‘sameness syndrome’ where everything in the ad is similarly sized and spread out so the entire ad is just a pool of ‘blah’.  Or they try to make so many things stand out that the result is pure chaos. To attract attention, your ad needs to have a strong visual focal point. A focal point uses design principles like size, contrast, color, shape, etc. to create a single point or area of focus. Ideally, your ad’s focal point will be strong enough to not only stand out within your ad, but also make your ad the focal point of the two page spread your ad occupies. Obviously, the size of your ad can have an impact on this – it is much easier to attract attention with a full page ad than an eighth page ad. Headline and Image The most common items to use as a focal point are a prominent headline, an engaging image or photo, or a paired combination of both. Your headline should be between 5-8 words long and occupy about 10-25% of the ad. Your image or photo needs to be visually simple. No more than three people in the photo. Avoid distracting backgrounds and crop in to the sweet spot of the photo or area of most interest. Ideally your image will occupy 25-35% of your ad. White Space As opposed to magazine advertising and depending on the size of your ad, generous use of white space in the Yellow Pages may be impractical. Content is the main driver of an effective Yellow Pages ad. Therefore the goal is more to provide adequate breathing space to the elements of your ad. Breathing space means leaving enough space between elements so they are clearly separate and do not run together. Without adequate breathing space your ad will appear cluttered and difficult to scan and read – not very inviting to someone searching for information. In addition to these key factors, you want to use a professional-quality logo that is easily identified in the ad. People want to know they are dealing with a legitimate business that will be around if they have any issues with the product or service. You also want to make sure your information is formatted as short bullets and not paragraphs. Bullets are easier to scan and understand quickly. Paragraphs may look like too much work and Yellow Pages users may move on to your competitor’s ad. If you follow these 3 keys to attracting attention you are off to a great start in developing an effective Yellow Pages ad. In part two we will be looking at a closely related topic - how to create interest in your ad once you have attracted the user’s attention.  How good is your Yellow Pages ad at attracting attention? Leave a comment and let us know. (Want to be notified when the next part of this series is posted? Just enter your email to the right and click ‘Notify Me’.)  

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One of the more frustrating parts about being in marketing is that the ideas we come up with are often scrutinized by others that only see things through their own eyes. They make the assumption that everyone thinks and acts just like them. Take social media; if you are like me, you have probably heard statements like the following: “I don’t understand why we need to invest in Twitter. I tried Twitter and didn’t like it.” - Despite that over 50 million active Twitter users do like it and use it. “Why should we invest in Facebook, only college kids and teenagers use it.” - Despite 38% of Facebook users are age 35 or older and the growth rate for those 55 and older is 59%. “The only thing LinkedIn is good for is to find a new job.” - Despite that LinkedIn can help you get answers to tough business questions by connecting you to experts in your field. You get the picture. The example above is not limited to social media. Take the Yellow Pages. Sure, usage of printed Yellow Pages has declined, but the way some bloggers and others in the media are talking you would think the Yellow Pages is on its last leg, despite the fact that U.S. adults made over 12 billion references made to print Yellow Pages last year. The bottom line is that we can’t allow people to judge our marketing plans based solely on their personal beliefs. It’s a diverse world out there. Some people use Twitter, some don’t. Some people use print Yellow Pages, some don’t. Some people read blogs, some don’t. The good news is that in today’s world there is a wealth of data we can use to support our marketing decisions. Marketers need to arm themselves with this data and defend their positions. We have to have the courage to remind the people who may criticize our marketing plans and that not everyone thinks and acts just like them.

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