We’ll Call You: Is Outbound Marketing Dead?

May 29, 2019 No Comments

If we build it, will they come? This is the question on every B2B marketer’s mind when they invest thousands of dollars into their website. There’s an anxious passivity associated with the major shift in today’s marketing methods as outbound marketing—billboards, print ads, email blasts, cold calls—is steadily supplanted by inbound marketing: SEO, Google Ads, … Read More

Psst…B2B Websites Need Updating, Too.

May 1, 2019 No Comments

Small to mid-sized B2B manufacturers are a busy bunch. Part of the reason SMS came into being was to help these kinds of companies focus on marketing as they often become too mired in the complex, insular, day-to-day activities of sticking to production schedules and finding increasingly efficient ways to make stuff. To say that … Read More

Let’s Bounce: When Short Sessions Are A Good Thing

April 16, 2019 No Comments

A client recently asked us to define “bounce rate” and undoubtedly the question arose from a supposed red flag on their analytics report. We’re trained to perceive bounce rates as bad things – flat-out rejections of our content – bringing on plenty of professional anxiety. This can be true in some cases, but not all. … Read More

Why “Scientific” Marketing Services?

March 26, 2019 No Comments

While attending PittCon 2019 last week in Philadelphia, I experienced a flood of professional nostalgia. Forty years ago my father, Robert Norton, founded Scientific Marketing Services, Inc. to address the specific marketing needs of companies in the scientific marketplaces. He saw an opportunity to service clients with a unique structure that quoted on a project-by-project … Read More

Wading Into the Web: Transitioning Into Digital Marketing

February 27, 2019 No Comments

As advertising and brand building goes from print to the web, many B2B companies are feeling increasing pressure to reallocate marketing resources towards the new digital frontier. The company website – once a place to promote the company’s message and capabilities – is now a dynamic and sensitive marketing tool. With the advent of search … Read More

B2B Branding: Values Over Bonafides

February 12, 2019 No Comments

Before we get started, consider this perhaps oversimplified and playful adage that branding your company is like building a fort: no one really cares about the materials you used to build it, they just want to know if it will keep their parents out. Or maybe the bonafides are the fort’s solid construction and plenty … Read More

Want More Effective Google Ads? Focus On Application.

January 15, 2019 No Comments

Let’s do a little paid traffic marketing review, starting with the basics: Google Ads (a.k.a. Google AdWords, Pay-Per-Click programs) are designed to drive traffic to commercial websites to help sell their products and services. To do this, a significant portion of that traffic needs to land on pertinent and engaging content that’s been optimized to … Read More

The Three Most Important Web Marketing Moves for 2019

December 31, 2018 No Comments

Over the past year, this blog has covered many digital marketing methods and concepts for the high-tech, industrial and manufacturing marketplaces. With the new year upon us, I thought I would identify the three most important for growing your business in 2019. Website Optimization. Without question, a responsive website with your company’s key message and … Read More

Mining for SEO Content? Dig Into Your Customers.

December 10, 2018 No Comments

As has been previously established on this blog and practically every other SEO resource in existence, the best way to improve the search rankings of your company’s website is though adding and refreshing its content. There can be multiple reasons why your website is improving its position on SERPs including an increase in traffic driven by … Read More

Media Buying: Only Getting What You Pay For?

November 28, 2018 No Comments

When it comes to integrated marketing services, the range of programs can run the gamut depending on your company’s budget and its primary markets. For the high-tech and industrial B-2-B community, the mix of traditional and digital marketing methods continues to hover somewhere around a fifty-fifty split. This is partially a result of the narrow … Read More