Though it’s typical for marketers to invest more time and legwork in the mechanics of search (keywords, bid strategy, campaign structure), the majority of pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns are won or lost at the close: the landing page, says Howard J. Sewell, president of Spear Marketing Group, a full-service marketing agency. “The rewards from making even slight improvements to your PPC landing pages can be dramatic,” he says. “Improve conversion (click to lead) rates by just a percentage point or two, and you can increase lead volume (and slash cost per lead) disproportionately.” Sewell says these seven tips can make a difference:

1. Include a clear, specific call to action: Don’t use terms like “learn more,” or “for more information …” Sewell cautions — make the reward specific and tangible.

2. Sell the offer:  “Remember, it’s not the company you’re selling, or the product, it’s that white paper or video or webinar the prospect gets when he or she fills out the form,” Sewell emphasizes. “If the offer is a video, show screen shots. If it’s a white paper, include excerpts, Amazon-type page previews, even reader reviews. The more detail, the better.”

3. Write a headline that reflects the ad copy: “Effective PPC campaigns start with effective, action-oriented ad copy that’s relevant to the search term,” says Sewell. “They end with an engaging, easy to navigate landing page that’s relevant to the ad copy.” The goal, he says, is one seamless user experience in which every step validates and rewards the prospect’s information needs.

4. Keep the registration form short, and above the fold: If you have a robust, systematic lead nurturing program in place there’s no need to capture every morsel of information from the prospect at first touch, says Sewell. Every required field you add to your registration form lowers your conversion rate accordingly. “Ask for the minimum information possible, and keep the form high on the page where the reader can see it (and act) immediately,” he recommends.

5. Don’t skimp on selling copy: “PPC landing pages are different in this respect from say, an e-mail landing page, because the reader barely knows anything yet about your company or the offer,” notes Sewell. Accordingly, he advises, be sure to include sufficient selling copy to: a) adequately sell the offer; b) address any anticipated concerns or objections; and c) help ensure a high quality score by offering what Google calls “relevant and original content” — i.e. content related to the offer in the advertisement.

6. Don’t include external links: “That means no links back to your home page, and for Pete’s sake no navigation bar,” cautions Sewell. “The landing page should have one purpose only, and that’s getting the prospect to fill out a form.”

7. Be cautious with customer logos, award icons, and gushing quotes of praise for your company or product: Testimonials of this type can detract from the primary offer and create the aura of a sales pitch for your company that runs counter to the information of value the reader is searching for, Sewell says. “Exceptions to this rule occur when your offer is a demo or free trial, situations in which an extra dose of credibility helps sell the offer,” he adds.

Source: Business 2 Community

Posted January 31st, 2012 under Intellectual Property Marketing. [ Comments: none ]

When it comes to university-based innovations, traditional investors have become nearly obsessively risk-averse, and getting the backing you need to commercialize your promising technologies and fund your start-ups has become a tougher challenge. Creating an in-house accelerator fund has become a key success strategy for a growing number of TTOs, freeing up resources that help ensure your high-potential university technologies get a fair shake — and the development dollars they need — to reach commercial viability. But, establishing a strategic financing structure within your university technology transfer system or research foundation can be a risky and daunting task, and requires careful planning as well as expert execution. That’s why our Distance Learning Division has scheduled this dynamic and practical webinar featuring two of the world’s leading TTO financing executives: Build and Manage a Successful Accelerator Fund for Your University, scheduled for Wednesday, March 7. Please join Richard S. Schifreen, PhD, who leads the Accelerator Program at the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, Jonathan Gortat, coordinator of the Emerging Innovations Fund at Purdue Research Foundation, for an eye-opening session that will reveal best practices and offer “how-to” strategies for building and managing a successful accelerator fund. To register and for complete details, CLICK HERE.

ALSO COMING SOON:

• February 15: Licensee Red Flags: 12 Critical Signs that Should Trigger an Audit
• February 15: SBIR/STTR Grant Funding: Innovation Research and Technology Transfer
• February 28: How to Outsource and Offshore TTO Activities for Huge Savings and Efficiency Gains

Posted January 31st, 2012 under Audioconferences, Intellectual Property Marketing. [ Comments: none ]

Despite all the evidence that content marketing can be beneficial to your marketing efforts, some marketers are still be behind the eight ball when it comes to producing content, notes Roman Kniahynyckyj, a regular contributor to Business 2 Community. If you plead “guilty” to that charge, he offers these suggestions to help get the content ball rolling: 

Repurpose existing content from your website: “Many websites already have FAQ sections or areas focusing on product or service details,” notes Kniahynyckyj. “These pages may also see a good deal of visitor traffic. If you can repurpose FAQ or product and service content into a whitepaper or cheat sheet that lives behind a conversion page, you’ll get the benefit of generating a lead that downloads this content that can then be entered into a lead nurturing campaign.”

No time to blog? Make videos: If you’re an articulate speaker who is better at crystallizing ideas verbally than through writing, use videos as a content mechanism, suggests Kniahynyckyj. “You can then embed your videos in a blog post and post them on YouTube,” he says.

No time at all? Get some help: With the growing importance of content creation there are numerous content marketplaces like Writer Access or Zerys that offer access to quality writers who will produce website content for you at competitive prices, Kniahynyckyj notes. “Remember, Google (and Bing) reward hard work,” he says. “In many instances, that hard work comes in the form of regular, valuable content.”

Source: Business 2 Community

Posted January 31st, 2012 under Intellectual Property Marketing. [ Comments: none ]

Oregon Health & Science University has generated a record number of industry-sponsored research agreements for 2011, with 118 such agreements generating more than $12 million — that’s compared with just 30 or so agreements totaling $2.5 million in 2004. Arundeep Pradhan, MS, associate vice president for the university’s TTO, says this was no accident, but rather the result of a concerted effort to seek out this type of funding, and to create the kind of “business-friendly” atmosphere that helps lay the foundation for such success.

“A lot of this was driven by the desire of faculty to receive research funding,” says Pradhan, who notes that traditionally, OHSU researchers have always viewed industry as an “alternative source” to pursue if they were not getting federal grants; they did not always go to industry as a prime source. “What we’ve effectively been doing over several years, in response to the economy and changes in federal funding, is to proactively work with faculty, saying that industry should be considered as a prime source of research and collaborations,” he says. “The nature of the money may be different, but not necessarily the nature of the projects.”

Part of the “sell,” he explains, is that fundamentally both researchers and industry have a lot to offer each other. “Companies will approach problems from a slightly different perspective, and in order to have good science one should look at problems from various perspectives as opposed to through the same lens,” notes Pradhan. “From the collaborative standpoint, opening your research faculty’s eyes to the value the other side brings and then working with companies to express the value we bring as an academic institution is important.” A detailed article on OHSU’s approach appears in the January 2012 issue of Intellectual Property Marketing Advisor. For subscription information, CLICK HERE.

Posted January 31st, 2012 under Intellectual Property Marketing. [ Comments: none ]

In this just released 2012 edition of BioWorld Biotechnology and Medical Device VC Directory, you’ll have crucial data and intelligence on the world of venture capital focused on the life sciences. The essential information found in the international BioWorld Biotechnology and Medical Device VC Directory 2012 is broken out in profiles and indexes that arrange the 543 pages of data by:

• Company location
• Investment portfolios
• Companies invested in
• Areas of focus
• Primary contact personnel
• Funding areas/indications
• Stages funded
• Total dollars under management

Having easy access to this critical data can mean the difference between getting the funding you need to advance your start-up or develop your technology and seeing it die on the vine from lack of resources. With the new BioWorld Biotechnology and Medical Device VC Directory 2012, you’ll have access to the information you need — covering VCs in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia — so you can find the right financial partner and keep your company on solid ground. For more details and to order, CLICK HERE.

Posted January 31st, 2012 under Intellectual Property Marketing. [ Comments: none ]

This is the second in a two-part series on turning your social channels into a more effective lead funnel. In the last installment Justin Gray, the CEO at LeadMd, which helps businesses better generate and manage leads through marketing automation processes and technologies, shared his thoughts on making the technology your “friend”  and using the right social channels. Here are some of his additional recommendations:

Follow them, too: Understanding the social behavior of your newfound prospects is key to making this form of lead nurturing successful, says Gray. “Use your marketing automation and CRM systems to keep track of the types of social media content that interest these particular prospects and respond with similar messaging both inside and outside of the social sites,” he recommends. He offers the following example: Let’s say you identify a group of prospects on your company’s LinkedIn page who tend to favor video content. They view it when you post it (and you know this because you’re using trackable video tools like Vimeo or NextSlide), they share and re-tweet yours and/or other video content, and perhaps they’re even posting their own video content on their sites. “This should be noted in your lead funnel,” says Gray. “Now you can schedule video content to be delivered to them through your other marketing channels.”

 Define success: “Too many organizations feel they aren’t seeing ROI around social,” says Gray. For 60% of businesses, he says, the success of their social strategy is measured by the number of fans, followers, and likes. “Getting people to follow your Twitter page isn’t very hard, and if you task your CMO with achieving this feat, he or she will easily go out and do it,” he notes. “If instead you tell them to boost leads by 15% percent through social channels, that’s a whole different ballgame — one that doesn’t have a lot to do with how many people ‘like’ you.” It may be a while before you can directly tie leads back to tweets, he cautions, and you shouldn’t be watching that pot waiting for it to boil anyway. “Lead acquisition and nurturing is about letting your brand be a magnet for prospects, getting them into your pipeline, and using their social behavior to drive how you nurture them,” Gray explains.

If you are already adding every person who follows you on Twitter into your lead funnel, he suggests you try this exercise: tally the total number of net new leads brought into your funnel through a social channel. Now see how many of those leads actually score high enough to qualify as a lead worthy to pass over to sales (be honest). “That’s a metric that shows social media value and it’s very easy to do with just about any marketing automation software,” says Gray. 

Source: CustomerThink

Posted January 31st, 2012 under Intellectual Property Marketing. [ Comments: none ]

Most start-ups lack skills and expertise with marketing in general and online marketing in particular, claims Paul Gillin, a regular contributor to Business 2 Community. “That’s understandable: The founders are usually more passionate about what they do than about promoting themselves,” he observes. But with Facebook becoming the place you just have to be for businesses of all sizes, a little marketing know-how comes in handy, says Gillin. He recently spoke to Mark Schmulen, general manager of social media at Constant Contact, about how to go beyond the Facebook wall and make the social network a practical and measurable small business marketing platform. Schmulen offered the following tips for Facebook success:

Know what your goals are: Depending on the business, goals might range from generating orders to attracting subscribers to building thought leadership, notes Schmulen. But whatever your goal, make sure you matches your offer to that goal, whether it’s a free trial, information, or downloads.

Make your offer shareable: The average Facebook member has 130 friends and the fastest way to spread a message is through social sharing, Schmulen says. Facebook automatically offers members the opportunity to share a Like, but the real creativity, he notes, comes when you can convince people to share some kind of unique content or offer you provide. For example, Intrepid Travel invites visitors to play a trivia game and share results with friends. Each answer to the quiz is shareable, as is the final score.

Keep it simple: For most small businesses, less is more, Schmulen recommends. He favors an approach like that of Fitness magazine, which rewards new fans with “our all-time favorite abs workout!” Fitness has a variety of other offers on its Facebook presence, but it leads with the simplest one.

Promote everywhere: “’Field of Dreams’ was a horrible movie for people who are learning about marketing,” Schmulen says. “Just because you build it doesn’t mean people will come. When you create a campaign, share it across all your social networks and e-mails. Use every channel you have.”

Measure: Facebook’s built-in analytics give you a pretty good idea of what’s sparking conversation on your page, notes Gillin, who suggests you take the 10-minute tour and learn what they mean. “PageLever is one of the first independent Facebook measurement tools, and I expect there will be more,” he says. “You can also use free and simple utilities like Bit.ly and Google URL Builder to track the popularity of links you post on Facebook.” Schmulen ticks off some factors to consider: “How many people visit the landing page? How many participate in the offer? How many share the offer? If people visit the page but don’t take the offer, it isn’t compelling enough. If they accept the offer but don’t share it, it isn’t distinctive enough. A great campaign gets people to connect, accept your offer and share it with their friends.”

Source: Business 2 Community

Posted January 31st, 2012 under Intellectual Property Marketing. [ Comments: none ]

“Nothing kills an online buzz like a poorly designed or drastically outdated website,” says Lauren Hockenson, the partner content editorial assistant at Mashable. “Dry and boring default templates, broken assets, confusing pages and invasive widgets do nothing but harm a page’s style, which in turn reflects poorly on the company.” She suggests you keep the following tips in mind when you clean up your organization’s website:

Don’t be afraid to be bold: “Opting for a bold design element is a great way to modernize a website and keep it on trend in the coming years,” says Hockenson, who notes that a bold design can be obtained with very little money, especially for those who aren’t necessarily experienced in coding. “For example, web pages operating on a WordPress can find a host of free templates that offer a wide range of customizable options to suit any business,” she notes. “New and exciting fonts can be found via Google’s open API font styles and require a simple set of code to be dropped in for compatibility with a website. Inspiration and how-to’s for more hands-on DIY upgrades can be found at coding/design blogs like A List Apart, One Extra Pixel and Mashable‘s Dev and Design channel.”

Use HTML5 … with care: HTML5 offers a lot of exciting flexibility that can make a website truly interactive, Hockenson notes. Seamlessly embedded videos, drag-and-drop interfaces and dynamic message posts are all achievable via HTML5, and with relatively little code work. However, she adds, “as with any programming language, there’s always an issue of browser compatibility.” You can take several precautions to ensure that every user has a pleasurable experience on your website without you making a major investment, she continues. “Modernizr is an open-source, JavaScript-based tool that offers feature detection for HTML5, and its just-as-snazzy brother CSS3,” says Hockenson. “Instead of doing simple browser detection, Modernizr will figure out just what features the user’s browser can support and react accordingly.” This solution shouldn’t be implemented by a newbie to code, she warns, “but it does provide a simple way to implement exciting and revolutionary features while still providing support for the little guys.”

Cut the fat: The traditional layouts for websites often call for separate pages that encapsulate the “About,” “Contact” and other informational areas of the website, but 2011 saw minimalist designs from multiple websites which often translated to cutting these pages in favor of a sleeker overall design. Further exploration into one-page websites is a given, says Hockenson, but a single-page website has both its pros and cons. “HTML5 can help create a one-page website that cleverly contains all necessary information via pop-up boxes or other media, but the amount of information that can be on a one-page website is still relatively limited,” she notes. “Do you want your website to make a bold statement about your company and focus less on a blog-style format? If so, a one-page website could be right in your wheelhouse. Are you more interested in showing off testimonials, case studies and blogs from your employees? If yes, then this trend would be worth passing on.”

Tie in social media intelligently: This tip, says Hockenson, could also be titled “Quit it With the Widgets.” “Automatically updating widgets that stream in social media presence seems intrusive and outdated, not to mention that they can be a hassle for a DIY designer to install and maintain,” she notes. “To put it simply, social media should absolutely be a presence on a business website, but it should not be a dominating presence. Integrating social media, whether in graphic links or a social ticker, should be done with the user’s eyes in mind.”

Source: Mashable

Posted January 23rd, 2012 under Intellectual Property Marketing. [ Comments: none ]

One of the most controversial and worrisome provisions of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act is its introduction of a new post-grant review process. The new process, based on experience with a similar review process in Europe, is expected to result in an explosion in the number of challenges, particularly from large companies attempting to delay or derail start-ups and innovations from smaller organizations, including universities. The additional risks may affect licensing efforts, as well as the willingness of investors to commit to patented technologies until the post-grant review period has expired, or any PGRs initiated are settled.

Tech transfer professionals and IP practitioners need to quickly get up to speed on the details of this potentially damaging provision. That’s why our Distance Learning Division has teamed up with attorney experts Michael T. Siekman and Ed Walsh from the Wolf Greenfield IP Law Firm to present this hour-long educational webinar: Life Under AIA: Anticipating and Surviving Post Grant Challenges. Join us this Thursday, January 26, 2012, when Mr. Siekman and Mr. Walsh will provide a detailed review of the post-grant review provisions, their likely impact, remaining uncertainties as the USPTO deals with implementation, and strategies to begin planning now for both patent drafting and responding effectively to post-grant actions. For complete program details and to register, CLICK HERE.

COMING IN FEBRUARY:

• Wednesday, February 15: Licensee Red Flags: 12 Critical Signs that Should Trigger an Audit
• Tuesday, February 28: How to Outsource and Offshore TTO Activities for Huge Savings and Efficiency Gains

Posted January 23rd, 2012 under Audioconferences, Intellectual Property Marketing. [ Comments: none ]

Monika Jansen, principal of Jansen Communications, a marketing writing and editing company, says she has conducted a good deal of research on what makes a B2B Facebook Page successful. Here is as compilation of what she considers the “best-of-the-best” tips:

• When writing content, keep the newsfeed in mind instead of your wall: “Most people will view your content from their newsfeed, so you should write copy that grabs their attention and compels them to act by liking, commenting, or clicking,” says Jansen.
• Along that same vein, increase your comments by asking questions that require more than a simple yes or no answer: “Ask fans what they think about a breaking news story or what features they would like to see in an upgraded version of your product,” Jansen suggests.
• Take advantage of the viral nature of Facebook Photos: “Share plenty of photos, and ask your fans to share some too,” says Jansen. “You could even hold contests that include photos of fans using your products.”
• Keep a balance between your own content and content from other people: “Instead of making your Facebook content all about you, use the 80-20 rule to decide how much you’ll post from outside sources,” says Jansen.
• Show them you’re human: “Your fans want to know they’re interacting with a person, not some nameless, faceless brand or corporation,” says Jansen. “Let your unique voice shine through.”
• Post content hot off the presses (or newsreaders): “Give your fans first dibs on breaking news in your industry and updates about your company so they’ll know they can get the latest information right there on your Facebook Page,” Jansen advises.
• Keep mobile users in mind when you write content: “Many of us are accessing Facebook on mobile devices,” notes Jansen, “So you want to be sure your posts are easily read on the small screen.”
• If you have a physical location, take advantage of Facebook Place Pages to drive traffic to your store or office. 
• Invest in ads to find new fans and expand your network beyond your community’s reach: “To get more bang for your advertising buck, be sure to restrict ads to people who don’t already like your page,” Jansen advises.
• Use caution when using automated posting services to post Facebook content: “Services like HootSuite are great for filling in the gaps on the weekends or after hours, but you don’t want to alienate your fans with constant updates that have clearly been scheduled ahead of time,” says Jansen. “The goal is to be there for interaction surrounding your posts in real time.”
• Provide exclusive information to your fans to keep them checking for your updates: “When you share behind-the-scenes information,” says Jansen, “fans will appreciate being a part of your Facebook ‘inner circle’ and will anticipate knowing the latest news.”

Source: NetworkSolutions.com

Posted January 23rd, 2012 under Intellectual Property Marketing. [ Comments: none ]

2Market Information Inc., publisher of IP Marketing eNews, has just announced the availability of two new, low-priced benchmarking reports for tech transfer offices and professionals. Technology Transfer Office Staffing & Compensation and Technology Transfer Office Outreach & Marketing Activities are each derived from the more comprehensive benchmark report Global Higher Education Technology Transfer Office Benchmarks. They’ve been carved out of the larger volume to allow those who are looking for benchmarks in only one specific area of TTO operations to access that more targeted data less expensively. The two focused editions are available for only $119 and $139, respectively. For complete details on all three reports, including tables of contents, CLICK HERE.

Posted January 23rd, 2012 under Intellectual Property Marketing. [ Comments: none ]

While some organizations, especially those with bigger marketing budgets and people to support each individual marketing initiative, will actually hire someone just to manage the social aspects of their campaigns, few have mastered the art of turning their social channels into a tool for their lead funnels, says Justin Gray, the CEO at LeadMD, which helps businesses generate and manage leads better through marketing automation processes and technologies. 

In fact, says Gray, 41% of those surveyed for a recent study said they still don’t have definitive ROI for their social programs. “Evidently, social feels good, but there are still too many question marks as to how to turn that Google+ business page into a starting point for new leads,” says Gray. He offers the following tips for tying marketing automation back to social media — and vice versa:

 Make the technology your friend: “Most marketing automation platforms have some form of integration into popular social media channels such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn pages so you can use them to share content across those mediums,” Gray notes. “This means that once your organization has collected critical information about a prospect you can actually ‘mash-up’ demographic and firmographic info through popular data sources.” The next step, he says, is to mine your growing base of followers and pull the most relevant into your funnel. “Don’t just grab everyone who ‘likes’ your page; instead, have someone take the time to research new followers every week and slot them into the funnel accordingly,” Gray suggests.

Use mediums that work: “When thinking beyond engagement and into lead acquisition, the content being offered should be designed to drive fans and followers directly into your funnel automatically whenever possible,” notes Gray. “The question then becomes, what kind of content is going to act as the best bait in a social setting?” Eschew white papers or e-mail campaigns, says Gray. “If you’re a B to C company try surveys, games, videos — you know, fun stuff. Then tie in a link to a piece of content that expands on the messaging, preferably a piece you can track for usage,” he suggests.

“For B to B, one example of social success is the communication of trends and breaking news.” For example, he notes, Salesforce.com pulled off “probably the best-calculated social PR campaign following Benioff’s exclusion from Oracle World a few months ago.” They were able to lead their social followers back to a video talk they put on, he notes, and provided “a great channel to allow a video of that event to live forever.”

This is the first of two installments, the second of which will appear in next week’s edition.

Source: CustomerThink

Posted January 23rd, 2012 under Intellectual Property Marketing. [ Comments: none ]

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