Industrial Insights Newsletter: See eCatalog Impact Study

The hot topic in the manufacturing sector continues to be SEO-friendly websites. Why? Because global markets for complex-engineered OEM products have moved their product discovery to the Internet. Manufacturers' websites are now on the front lines as the primary channel to capture new customers, while simultaneously self-serving and retaining hard-won customers and selling partners. If you believe your website has become your primary marketing and sales channel, the summary results of our i-MARK eCatalog SEO Impact Study is an essential read.

We are very excited to report that our SEO research uncovered surprising and valuable added i-MARK benefits - the most significant of them being the frequency of multiple page 1 search results or as we say, Double-Duty Page 1 SEO.

See the dramatic positive impact that our 24/7 BUSINESS^TM eCatalogs and eConfigurators have made on our customers' SEO performance!

Website Tips

The Seven Second Test for B2B Marketers

At the Social Media Camp on Long Island this past July, we got into an interesting discussion about how to get attention to drive sales leads. When I shared the "7 Second Test," one of the experts agreed, "That's why every comedian makes sure his first joke is his best. That's what grabs the audience."

The idea of the "7 Second Test" is that you have 7 seconds to get the attention of the visitor to your website. In those first few seconds, they decide if your website is worth further investigation. If the conclusion is "yes," they continue on. If it's "no," they leave.

As a B2B marketer, what can we do to measure how well we are doing in the "7 Second Test"?

Here's what I suggest:

Get a stopwatch and a swatch of black felt.
Find someone who is unfamiliar with your company. (Your mom's a good candidate.)
On a computer, go to your company's home page.
Cover the monitor with felt, so she cannot see it.
Sit your mom down in front of the monitor. Don't tell her what you're doing, only that you want her to tell you what she sees.
Start the stopwatch and uncover the monitor.
When the stopwatch gets to 7 seconds, hit the power button on the monitor to turn it off.
Ask your test subject (mom) to describe what she saw.

o    Can she describe your company?
o    Can she articulate your value?
o    Can she state your value proposition?
o    Can she identify your target market?

If she did not do very well, rethink your website design. How can you grab the reader in 7 seconds?

Source: By Jeff Ogden, President of Find New Customers "Lead Generation Made Simple"

Research Nuggets & Stats

IDC Report: Time to Rethink Your B2B Strategy?

According to a recent report from technology research firm International Data Corporation (IDC), "Enterprises begin the process of re-thinking B2B integration when they realize their existing approach is some combination of too expensive, not responsive enough or is an impediment to innovation."

The four key factors involved in a reassessment of B2B vendor relationships, as outlined in the IDC report, are as follows:

Improvements in customer service - Many companies are asking suppliers to make changes that decrease the cost of doing business and some are keeping a closer eye on service-level agreements, making customer service a priority for B2B vendors.

Greater process efficiency - Increasing automation, reducing error rate and similar process efficiency measures are a major part of keeping costs low.

Solving staffing problems - Staffing levels, skills shortages and the retirement of experienced employees are posing a challenge to handling work volumes in B2B integration projects.

Better alignment with business initiatives - Meeting changing business needs is crucial during acquisitions that require combining B2B services or when a business expands and needs to upgrade its B2B capabilities.

B2B marketing professionals are also responding to changing market requirements by looking for more comprehensive, client-oriented approaches to their work.

"These days, successful B2B marketing requires a different, multi-dimensional approach. Demand and lead generation alone are not enough," Forbes.com's MarketShare blog explains. "Instead, you need a solid business strategy that will use both customer retention and new prospects to drive value and growth. That strategy must be market-focused, not just product-focused, and it must be integrated with other core business functions."

Source: IDC, Forbes.com

Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute Labor Day Survey

The second annual Public Viewpoint on Manufacturing survey, released on September 3rd by Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute, indicates that 78 percent of Americans have a strong view of the significance of manufacturing, seeing it as very important to the country's economic prosperity.
Read More and Get Survey Results

Source: Deloitte, The Manufacturing Institute

i-MARK Featured News See all recent news here>>

CT-based Haydon Kerk Motion Solutions, Inc. chooses 24/7 BUSINESS™ to give buyers an innovative new way to test and buy their custom devices.

Haydon Kerk Motion Solutions, Inc of Waterbury, CT designs and manufactures precision linear motion products, such as: stepper motor-based linear actuators; rotary motors; lead screw assemblies; linear rail systems; and sealed switches. Their products are custom-manufactured to precise customer' requirements based upon 'test use' of Haydon's standard products. Using the new 24/7 BUSINESS eCatalog, standard products will now easily be parametrically selected.

Acument Global Technologies, N.A. (MI) selects 24/7 BUSINESS™ to meet their global fastening customers' demand for online self-service product info, RFQs and purchases.

Michigan-based Acument Global Technologies, North America, deliverer of premier fastening solutions to the automotive, industrial, commercial, defense, aerospace and other manufacturing industries, has chosen i-MARK's SaaS-based 24/7 BUSINESS™ eCatalog and eBusiness solution to produce and operate their new eBusiness Center. In adding Acument to its rapidly-growing customer base, i-MARK's 24/7 BUSINESS will operate eBusiness Centers for fifty (50) global manufacturing business units.

Warner Linear (IL) Selects i-MARK's 24/7 BUSINESS™ to Produce and Operate their New eBusiness Center to Best Serve their Global Markets and Resellers.

IL-based Warner Linear, a leading global provider of rugged service electromechanical actuators, has chosen i-MARK's SaaS-based 24/7 BUSINESS™ eCatalog and eBusiness solution to produce and operate their new eBusiness Center, which they launched today. Warner Linear also selected three additional i-MARK modules to round-out their eBusiness Center: a Web Media Center to manage selection and distribution of their electronic and print literature; a Sales & Distributor Locator; and a Sales Order Manager, integrated with their back-end ERP system.

93% of All Buyers/Specifiers are Online.

Capture their business with an eCatalog - View Demo!

i-MARK, Inc.
We get websites to work
imark.com | info@imark.com

i-MARK is the leading provider of interactive guided selling and b2b ecommerce software for industrial product manufacturers. Our affordable SaaS solution - 24/7 BUSINESS™ - includes our eCatalog and eConfigurator that seamlessly integrate into your existing website to make complex product search, configuration, selection and purchase easy and intuitive.