Digital
GO
DIGITAL
TO ESTABLISH
VIRTUALLY
ATTRACT BUYERS AND GROW YOUR BUSINESS
Generating demand and bringing in enough leads is a daily challenge: According to B2B Marketing, 85% of marketers are under pressure to generate more leads. And Marketing isn’t just on the hook for quantity, either. Lead quality is also its responsibility. You need to find high-quality leads and move them efficiently from awareness to conversion — and the pressure to deliver keeps rising.
DIGITAL DRIVES RESULTS
To come out on top, marketers need a modern approach to demand generation. And for many companies, digital marketing is a cornerstone of that approach. But the complexities of the B2B buying process, plus the range of influencers and decision-makers in the buying group, can make it harder to drive and measure awareness, engagement and conversion. We take a comprehensive approach to ensure we’re driving the marketing outcomes you need through digital technology, media platforms, and data. Our process includes:
- Analysis: Our analysts and strategists evaluate several factors, including data from your digital assets and stakeholder input, as well as those of your competitors and others in related industries or segments.
- Strategy: Based on our initial analysis and insights, we build program plans encompassing business strategies, creativity, content and technology. We collaborate on execution plans that fit your budget and resources.
- Implementation: Our channel specialists are tasked with implementing program plans in their respective areas while keeping a full-program perspective and sharing insights between specialities.
- Monitoring: We monitor programs across all channels and are constantly evaluating performance for optimisation opportunities or areas for expansion. Our proprietary analytics dashboards provide insights into marketing performance across each stage of the buyer’s journey.
SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING
We design, manage and optimise search engine marketing programs (SEM) to build awareness, drive traffic and generate demand. Our holistic approach connects the dots between your content and assets and systematically reaches your audience. Using pay-per-click ads displayed on search engine results pages (SERPs), we can help you capture interest at all stages of the customer lifecycle.
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION
Our SEO experts help websites achieve higher domain and page authority, generate and/or optimise search traffic, and increase conversions through a combination of technical and content-based SEO approaches. We can handle:
- Research: We analyse your business, competitors and industry to determine what language and questions resonate with buyers right now and to best rank your web pages.
- On-page Updates: We build an effective SEO foundation for your website, from keyword-focused content to well-maintained URLs and effective redirects.
- Link-building: We maximise page authority by link-building with leading industry sites and directories. We can even help create and implement a company blog for more thought leadership and link-building potential!
- Content Strategy: Because good SEO is never finished, we ensure that all new content matches your SEO focus, and perform ongoing analysis to keep our approach in line with buyers’ needs.
DIGITAL ADVERTISING
When it comes to digital advertising, we take a tailored approach to understand the buyer personas you need to influence and shape a program to fit your objectives. Our agile approach includes a framework for testing and optimisation to ensure we are meeting your goals, such as increased awareness, better lead quantity and quality, conversion, or a combination of these.
INTEGRATED APPROACH TO MEDIA
Three types of media — owned, paid and earned — are essential to an effective marketing strategy. Our process evaluates opportunities across the media ecosystem and provides allocation recommendations to make the most impact for your brand. And our team of experienced content strategists, copywriters and designers can create compelling content to ensure you are delivering value to customers and making the most of your media investment.
EMAIL MARKETING
Whether it’s done through “batch and blast” or behaviour-based nurture programs, email continues to play an important role in B2B marketing. Leveraging our knowledge of your audience and your industry, we map buyer’s journey streams to nurture and engage prospects and customers. We then develop the strategy and content to resonate with your core audience and their unique pain points and execute in your preferred marketing automation platforms such as Pardot, Marketo or Salesforce Marketing Cloud.
SOCIAL MEDIA
In today’s digital world, the lines are blurring when it comes to B2C and B2B expectations. Engagement in social media continues to increase, and so do the expectations surrounding B2B social media marketing. There are many approaches to social media, from sharing content for demand generation to leveraging key networks to reach new audiences and elevate your company’s profile as a thought leader. We’ll work with you to understand your business objectives to deliver a social media strategy that prioritises the audiences, channels and approaches that make sense to you.
B2B’s move to mobile has already happened, and marketers can’t afford to respond. The majority of people believe their mobile devices are essential to their work, and millennials lead the way, with 84% stating mobile was vital (and half of all B2B researchers fall in this age category). Older generations, however, are not far behind: 76% of Gen X and 60% of baby boomers also said mobile was necessary for their work.
Buyers expect to get information quickly, efficiently and through their preferred platform. Research by Forbes confirms that 70% of executives use smartphones and tablets to look up product or service information upon first learning of an offering. And there’s no better way to accommodate these mobile-minded users than with a B2B mobile app. A custom mobile business app provides the personalised experience users expect, and it keeps your company top of mind for current and potential customers.
B2B MOBILE APPS DELIVER VALUE
Why develop mobile apps for business? Because apps deliver value that other digital experiences can’t. They provide anytime, anywhere access to the functionalities users relies on most. They leverage all the benefits of mobile devices: location tracking, personalised identification and more. And they can deliver notifications that automatically feed information straight to users. In short, they create a personalised, customer-centric experience that embeds your business value in users’ devices — and their daily lives.
Our agile approach to mobile app development allows us to identify your needs, and then meet them quickly and efficiently.
WE DESIGN FOR RESULTS
The most important part of a B2B app is the business value it delivers. And to achieve that value, the user experience must be tailor-made: providing what consumers need in the ways they prefer to engage. We’re just as invested in the business side of mobile app development as the technology side — and we’ll make sure your app’s experience is customised for your users.
We can help decide what use cases and features will make the most effective app, or execute a feature set you already have in mind. We bring in-depth user insight into the development process, from A/B testing and heat mapping to beta testing and personas. At the end of the day, we’ll develop an app that’s well-designed, strategically aligned and built for results.
25% OF EXECS SAY THEY’VE PURCHASED A BUSINESS PRODUCT / SERVICE DIRECTLY FROM THEIR MOBILE DEVICE AND RESEARCHED A BUSINESS PURCHASE EXCEEDING $100,000.
Forbes Insights, “The Connected Executive: Mobilizing the Path to Purchase”
OUR DEVELOPMENT PROCESS
Our digital development team brings the technical expertise to create an effective, user-focused mobile business app. We can work efficiently across the platforms your users prefer. We use a blend of proprietary technologies and open-source platforms. Plus, we connect apps to the right back-end systems and databases, so you can be confident the product will function effectively.
We’ve aligned our B2B app development process with industry best practices to work quickly and efficiently. Our agile development methodology allows us to quickly test, receive feedback and respond to changes in the market, the project scope or your needs. To give you peace of mind, we make security a top priority, carefully managing privileges and using secure APIs. And we manage and update apps throughout their lifecycles so they always deliver a consistent and valuable user experience.
Superior technological expertise is important when building a digital property, be that a new website, custom software or a web app. That’s just the cost of entry! We know creating an outstanding web app requires an approach that integrates technology, design and strategic ideation from the outset — and that’s what you get with our web app development team.
We have the right people, the right tools and the right Agile process to bring any project to the finish line and beyond. One project is never the same as another. We build from scratch. We provide additional functionality for existing platforms. We integrate, deploy and customise third-party products like e-commerce platforms or multilingual content management systems.
Our team has an impressive record of success in building a wide range of web apps, including:
- e-Commerce platforms
- Interactive testing tools
- Content management systems
- Gamification apps
- Product selection tools
- Data management tools
- Cost calculators
- Sales support tools
SHOWCASE YOUR BUSINESS VALUE
As today’s B2B buyers continue to bring higher expectations for their digital customer experience, digital transformation is a requirement to succeed. Whether it’s a custom application to enable customers on a complex global website or a mobile app to empower sales reps to respond promptly, we’ll start with an understanding of your business, your market, and your customers to ensure we’re building the right software to deliver the right user experience.
Our in-house team of product owners, technical architects and software engineers produce innovative products with whatever technology best fits your business, on whatever platform best serves your market and IT requirements. We have experience across many industries and will go deep to understand your buyers’ needs and what we can do to showcase your business value through technology. Our Agile methodology ensures you get the business value you need for your investment.
OUR STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT APPROACH
Software development is an art as much as it is a science, and developers are not commodity goods. We work as your business partners, and our analysts have the expertise to look at your needs strategically and holistically to integrate your core business and brand strategies into the solutions we create.
As a full-service marketing agency with an array of talent and resources, we tap into our extensive in-house knowledge base of marketing strategy, business analysis and solutions-design professionals for every project. We also tailor each project to meet your budget and time constraints, while ensuring the most valuable product outcome for your business.
IDEATION, PRIORITISATION AND FOCUS
Our multidisciplinary team will work with you to identify the critical user experiences (CrUXes) that your application must deliver to be successful. We designed our process to help you determine which CrUXes best align with the users you want to reach and the objectives you want to achieve. What’s important to your project? What can you eliminate? Our process is built to ensure we answer these questions.
Together, we’ll identify the priorities of your project, eliminate unnecessary features, and focus on delivering a web app that your target user will truly value.
EXECUTION EXPERTISE
Our technology experts build your application right here in Burr Ridge, Illinois. With our Agile development process, we demonstrate the working code in weeks, not months. Our developers work with over a hundred different technologies, platforms and tools, and we apply the best combination of expertise and technology to work on your particular project.
By building out the application in small, viable feature sets and layering the app over time, we can avoid overruns, fix issues quickly and pivot as necessary. Throughout this iterative development process, we regularly share the app with you and your team so you can provide feedback and we can adapt as needed.
REFINEMENT AND EVOLUTION ARE KEY
Because iterations of the app are released and refined regularly, we can continue to evolve your web app’s target feature set while still accounting for budget and time constraints. You hold the keys, and you’re not locked in scope when you work on a project with us. As users’ needs evolve, we can build on the app, ensuring the project remains relevant and evergreen.
EXPLORE THE POSSIBILITIES
No matter what kind of web app you’re looking for, we have the people, process and toolsets to deliver it. We can create one-of-a-kind web apps that have never been seen before, use off-the-shelf components to provide basic functionality or anything in between.
Whether you know exactly what you’re looking for or only have a kernel of an idea, we’ll work with you to build the vision and ensure your web app project turns out to be exactly what you want and need.
DESIGN FOR TODAY’S BUYERS
For today’s B2B buyers, the digital purchase journey is the new normal. If your site doesn’t make it easy for them to gather information, compare options and decide if your company can meet their needs, they’ll visit another one that does. Is your website up to the challenge?
A modern website’s functionality must align with buyers’ decision-making priorities. It should leverage responsive web design to perform well across all devices. It should provide a brand experience that fosters trust, engages and educates with interesting interactive content, generates demand, and moves buyers toward the sale.
Your website is one of your biggest conversion and branding tools. We know how important it is to your business, and we have a proven track record of developing highly effective, award-winning B2B websites.
OUR GOAL-ORIENTED APPROACH
To help maximise its value, we align our web design and development process with buyers’ unique needs, taking your business goals into account from day one. Should the website focus on branding? Conversion? Product education? Multiple goals at once? Whatever the goal, we’ll design the most effective website to achieve it.
Of course, change is a given for marketers — so as requirements evolve, we’ll adapt to meet them. Our Agile development methodology lets us quickly respond to shifting priorities and market feedback.
WEBSITE PROCESS
In our web development process, strategy and goal-setting come first. Then, we work in phases to meet those goals efficiently. We provide expertise in all areas, including:
Information Architecture
To get buyers to what they’re looking for quickly and easily, a website’s structure should reflect their actual use cases. We’ll help develop an intuitive information architecture that puts frequently referenced information at buyers’ fingertips, creating a frictionless experience.
UI/UX Design
Our website designs prioritise your business goals — not passing trends. We incorporate market feedback through A/B testing, letting buyers show us which choices they respond to best. And we hard-code best practices into a site’s framework using modular website design.
CMS Selection and Integration
Modern websites aren’t static brochure ware — they’re ever-evolving vehicles for your message. We design flexible, easy-to-manage websites built on the most effective content management systems (CMS): Sitecore, WordPress, Ektron, DotNetNuke, Drupal or another CMS you prefer.
Responsive Web Design
For most buyers, a website’s mobile experience is a priority: Google reports that 74% of B2B buyers are more likely to return to a company’s website if it’s mobile-friendly. To capture those buyers, we’ll create a unique mobile experience for your website that prioritises usability across all major browsers and devices.
Hosting and Management
We’re committed to keeping websites reliable and efficient. Using Amazon Web Services and Pantheon servers, we ensure that every website loads quickly and can be managed easily. And we keep security top-of-mind at all times, so you can rest assured that your website is well protected.
Website Optimisation Services
If a website doesn’t make it easy for customers to find the information they need, they’ll move to one that does. Ongoing website optimisation ensures that your site matches your buyer’s journey, driving traffic, sparking engagement, and generating leads.
Search Engine Optimisation Services
Our SEO experts help websites achieve higher domain and page authority, generate and/or optimise search traffic, and increase conversions. Our SEO services include research, on-page updates, link-building and content strategy.
WEBSITE ANALYTICS
Websites are full of valuable data, and we help you leverage it to evaluate and improve your performance. First, we build an analytics foundation, implementing tools like Google Analytics into a website. Then, based on your strategic goals, we determine which metrics matter most: click paths, site time, downloads and more.
We build regular and on-demand reports around these metrics, so you’ll always be in the loop. We’ll provide more than surface-level insights: audience information, visitor behaviour, and campaign and content performance. Who visited your site? What did they do? What’s driving conversions, and why are visitors bouncing? We’ll provide the answers, revealing what’s working — and what can be revised or tested.
OTHER WEB SERVICES INCLUDE:
- e-Commerce: Our on-staff experts create B2B e-commerce solutions that are secure, and reliable based on critical user experiences.
- Conversion Optimisation & Analysis: We’ll hone conversion-focused content by evaluating web forms and calls to action, identifying top conversion paths, and seeing where users drop off.
- A / B and Multivariate Website Testing: We test website layout, design and content options head-to-head, identifying those that will drive the best results.
- Real-time Web Personalisation: To increase conversion potential, we can deliver a personalised experience and tailored content to web visitors based on persona, industry or segment.
- Usability Testing: We gather real-time user feedback to see how real people interact with your site, and then determine areas to improve.
- Website Performance Optimisation: We improve website speed, webpage load time and other website performance issues that can hurt your conversion rate.