Today is a great day at Jazd Markets. We are thrilled to announce we’ve formed a partnership with the technology content gurus at Technology Business Research, Inc. (TBR)!

We’re committed to forging strong, mutually beneficial partnerships with like-minded businesses (learn more about partnering with Jazd Markets here) and this relationship with TBR is a perfect fit for us.

Both TBR and Jazd Markets are committed to providing their customers with the expert knowledge they need to make smart buying decisions. This mutual commitment to empowerment through education is at the core of this new content interchange.

TBR’s expert market research and analysis will contribute to and enhance the industry news and analysis Jazd Markets directories already offer.

Come August, Jazd Markets users will be able to leverage new content on computer, software, telecom, mobility and the professional services industries through TBR’s market research and customer satisfaction studies.

That is the question.

Ever tried to use a hammer to tighten a screw? No? Then I would stay away from using Twitter as a push marketing tool.

Confused? Well, I bet if you did use a hammer to slam in a screw you wouldn’t be irate at the hammer manufacturer for the dents and cracks its product left behind. You’d know those marks were left because you used a great tool for the wrong purpose.

This is how I approach the Great Twitter Debate. Is it a huge Marketing Time Suck or is it an Innovative Marketing Tool?

Now, I’m by no means a Twitter fan girl. Its frequent crashes are frustrating and finding the right platform with which to access your stream can be annoying. I mean, come on. Why isn’t the Twitter platform the best platform?

That aside, I believe Twitter is an Innovative Marketing Tool . . .  When used correctly.

I’ve found it to be a very useful to listen in on conversations about my company’s brand.

Twitter allows us to be the flies on the wall in our customers’ and in industry experts’ closed-door meetings. Think your latest product launch went off without a hitch? Well, before you give you and your team the proverbial pat-on-the-back, head to twitter and search your company name. What was your customers’ experience? Did the industry have a reaction to your incredible new product or service? If they did, was it positive or negative?

In the positive and negative scenario, creating and keeping up a corporate Twitter account allows you to react to customer feedback and industry feedback in real-time.

Find an unhappy customer? Reply to their Twitter handle and offer your personal assistance. Find a brand evangelist? Reply to their Twitter feed with a heartfelt “Thank You,” or better yet, a tangible reward. Doesn’t need to be big reward – ask them to Direct Message you their address and send them a tchotchke you keep on hand. The people at TechSmith do this very well. Tweet something positive about their screen capture tool Snagit and they’ll send you a titanium spork!

My advice to you is, if you haven’t set up a twitter account for your brand yet, do so soon. Use it as a tool to engage your customers and to network with like-minded businesses in your industry.

Just stay away from hammering your products home. You’ll only wind up bruising your brand.

Video adds immediate value to any marketing campaign. It’s an engaging means of communication and if done well can enjoy a life long after its initial marketing campaign is completed.

Here a few suggestions where to use a video after its campaign has run its course.

• Social Media: Don’t forget to update your corporate Facebook or Twitter status to include a link to your video and a quick sentence telling your fans what they’ll get out of watching it. Include it on your company’s LinkedIn page. You could add a link and a call to action in your status or you could create a discussion forum for your customers based on the subject of your video.

• Newsletters/Emails: What benefit to customers does your video spotlight?  Create a newsletter or an email campaign around this topic and send it to your customers and prospects down the line.

• Blog: Embed your video in a blog on the same topic. Including video to a blog not only adds content value, it also adds value from a visual standpoint.

• Other People’s Blogs: Add a google alert on the subject of your video and see if you can find people writing about a similar subject. Leave a thoughtful comment – no dry marketing speak allowed – along with a link to your video.

• Press Releases:Don’t forget to include your video in a press release! Studies have shown press releases with video included see more views. It’s great for SEO purposes as well.

Have other ideas on where to post video? Let us know in the comment field below – we always love feedback!

I was an early adopter of Facebook.

Actually – to date myself in Internet terms – I was an early adopter of Friendster. And then MySpace. And then, finally, once it opened up to more than just college students, Facebook.

Now, I’m not bragging about my Social Media savvy here. Rather, I’m admitting that I am an Internet Addict. And because of my addiction I’ve noticed a few things . . . a few things about how companies use Facebook to engage a wider client audience.

Here are a few practices I suggest avoiding.

Posting a Zillion Times a Day

No one is that interested in your company’s goings-on. Not even your mother.

For the most part people don’t use Facebook to find out what’s new with the corporate sites they’ve trusted enough to “Like.” In fact, they have little tolerance for too much interaction with companies.

It’s a personal tool, so when you use it for your company you’ve got to keep that in mind and respect that your fans have let your company into their inner circle.

I suggest updating once or twice a day in pre-determined and thoughtfully spaced out intervals. What does that mean? That means don’t post twice, right in row, at lunch time. It means post once around lunch and a second time as you’re leaving for the day.

Think about how you check your own personal Facebook and take your own habits into consideration. I check mine around lunch and then when I leave for the day. If your corporate Facebook follows suit then I’ll see both of your posts before they’re buried in my news stream. And I won’t be frustrated that I saw your company’s posts when I snuck on to Facebook on my iPhone around 10 a.m., and then again at 3 p.m. You get the idea.

Including a Link and Only a Link in Your Status Updates

Think about it. If you were in a business meeting and someone asked you about what your company has been up to lately, you wouldn’t write down a link to a recent Press Release and mutely pass it over to them, would you? If you would, then we’ve got more to discuss than Facebook practices.

When given a chance to show personality, passion and enthusiasm for your company, TAKE IT.

Sounds like a no-brainer, right? But you have no idea how many corporate Facebook pages I’ve seen that just throw links up, SMACK! in their status updates. No explanations, no engaging text. Just the ugly URL to whatever it is on which they want to direct their audience to click. Avoid this.

No Logo

Now I know internally everyone thinks the picture of a seedling depicts the potential growth your clients companies could see if they just sought out your services. But I can guarantee these potential clients with whom you’d like to engage – as well as a fair share of your current clients with whom you already engage – will have no idea who your company is or what it is your company does.

If you think your logo needs a bit of dressing up to attract Facebook fans, by all means (after discussing it with your marketing team) dress it up a bit. Just don’t forget it.

What are some Facebook tips you suggest?

Enter any online-online marketing help forum or discussion group and you’re guaranteed to see a myriad of posts about the subject.

“SEO Help!” “Long-Tail Terms, Worth It?” “Five SEO Tips to Drive Traffic.” You get the idea.

Well for those of you who swear by the Three-Word-Rule you can give yourself a big ol’ pat on the back for being right . . . for the most part.

Chitika, an ad network (you may know them from their iPad tracker), recently published results showing that there is a “SEO Sweet Spot.” And according to their findings, most organic search traffic was the result of three-word searches.

Chitika came to this conclusion after looking at a sample of 41,103,403 impressions of search engine traffic coming into their network between June 13th and 19th.

“Within the sample, 10,710,579 impressions – some 26% of all search traffic – came from three-word searches,” Chitika posted. “The next top word counts were two-word (19%), four-word (17%), and finally one-word (14%). “

And if your query is longer than five words you can forget about it being effective. According to Chitika “Any query beyond five words will see dramatically lower traffic, throwing into perspective just how fragmented traffic from long queries really is.”

Chitika also took a deeper look into whether there was a correlation between the word count of a query and a visitor’s intent when it comes to advertising click rates.

Turns out there is.

In the case of advertising click rates; having 5, 6, and 4 word search terms is best.

The conclusion? There is a definitive window for success in search optimization and it lives between three and five word long queries.

Will this change how you about the way you approach SEO terms?

A b2b directory is a global marketplace for international buyers and sellers. It is an online platform where you can find new products and business partners. Let’s say you are an apparel manufacturer and want buyers to find you from all around the world. The best way to make your company known to the global world is to register with a b2b directory and start promoting apparels there. It is like yellow pages for traders where all business information can be found easily.

Advantages of using a B2B directory

Getting a chance to introduce your company to global buyers: Introducing yourself is one of the most important part of selling products online. It is always required that your company is always known to others. Buyers should know about your company profile which depicts your credibility. All information about your company, your products and services should be presented in a professional manner in a directory.

Display more products means more buyers and more business: You can give all the complete details about your products on b2b directories. It is a fact that the more products you display, the more buyers you attract. One thing should always be remembered that a potential buyer uses keywords to find your products. For example, if Supplier X displays 1 product and Supplier Y displays 10 products then obviously Supplier Y will attract 10 times more buyers than Supplier X. Similarly as a supplier, you post 1 product and your direct competitor posts 5 products. If you are attracting 100 buyers through your 1 product then your competitor will be attracting 500 buyers. There is huge difference in it, isn’t it?
Post your latest deals or offers: Whenever there is a new product or deal, you can post it online on a directory. These “Sell Offers” are a great way of attracting buyers. So, post as many offers as you can. You can also edit your offers when the promotion expires or create more offers if you run more campaigns.

Keep track of new offers and services: Another advantage of using a b2b directory is to keep up with the latest market trends through trade alerts. You as a supplier can easily monitor who is the latest entrant in your industry. You can simply subscribe to “Trade Alerts” and keep an eye on your competitors and their products.

The bottom line is when you register in a b2b directory; you are climbing the ladder to success. Whether you are a buyer or supplier, an online directory is indispensable for all traders interested in growing their business at a rapid pace. A business to business directory must be used effectively to ensure that buyers manage to find you and contact you instead of your rivals.

JAZ’D! operates multiple on-line B2B markets under the brands: www.jazdchemicals.com, www.jazdtech.com, www.jazdlifesciences.com, www.jazdhotels.com where buyers can easily find and the right product/service.
For more information visit JAZD Markets at www.jazd.net .

B2B Advertisers stating that current on-line programs were NOT meeting their planned expectations along key dimensions:

• 88.5%  - Cost Per Action (CPA)
• 54.9%  – Cost per Impression (CPM)
• 78.2%  – Leads into the Pipeline
• 75.6%  – Top of the List Priority Display Ad Placement

One of the more interesting feedback points that came through load and clear was that as perceived value rapidly diminishes the cost for advertising was continuing to increase in all traditional venues. B2B Advertisers were very specific in their needs and recommendations for their advertising venue partners.

1. Guaranteed CPA’s and CPM’s
2. High qualified traffic volumes
3. Free listings and offerings for immediate value
4. Ability to contextually present content with our products
5. Directory functionality that highlights vendor and product value
6. Ability to directly measure the results from an investment with a traditional B2B publishers

In general, it is safe to say that little has changed in the world of on-line advertising with B2B content publishers, including improved results. Traditional B2B publishers have been reluctant to invest in developing state of the art interactive ad platforms for their clients. They have failed to embrace technology and traffic generation capabilities and have leaned on the traditional value of their “brand” as the reason for advertisers to spend their tight budget dollars with them. This is simply not working any more as books get thinner and unique visitors and relevant page views diminish. B2B Advertisers are now demanding more and they are getting it in other venues.

In a related study over 53% of the publishers readership no longer looks to them as a viable place to seek out information when they are making a considered purchase. B2B Publisers sole existence is really to bring buyers and sellers together in a trusted environment that has a direct imapct for both parties. B2B Publishing needs a new approach and a new answer for this critical problem. While B2B publishers tangle with the maladies of paper based publishing (if you need any refresher course on this one simply pick up a recent trade publication or newspaper and note how thin it really is) you wonder who if dealing with the growth potential of the future and will the incumbent management size the day or simply yield the market to Google and the industry portals. That topic is for another rant on another day.

JAZD was built simply for the expressed purpose of offering B2B content publishers another option to exceed B2B advertisers increasing expectations.

JAZD operates multiple on-line B2B markets under the brands: jazdchemicals.com, jazdenergy.com, jazdtech.com, jazdfoodandbeverage.com, jazdconstruction.com, jazdtelecom.com, jazdmanufacturing.com, jazdhospitality.com , jazdelectronics.com, jazdoilandgas.com, jazdpackaging.com where buyers can easily find and the right product/service.  JAZD establishes partnerships with B2B content publishers that allow them to focus on their brand while mutually building traffic and revenues.

Most Valuable Resources for Buyers – rated either valuable or extremely valuable

1. Vendor Websites – 78%
2. Product Specific Directories – 67%
3. General Search Engines – 65%

Least Valuable Resources for Buyers – rated either not valuable or do not use

1. Oil and Gas Trade Magazine Websites – 53%
2. Oil and Gas specific Search Engines – 53%
3. Oil and Gas content Portals – 49%

Buyers are expecting more than the 1,000 page book that sits on the desk ear marked for the listings of companies that they know and frequent. Buyers can’t understand why such a basic on-line capability continues to be unaddressed by current solutions. The lack of development and perceived low user value has driven sellers to alternatives to engage buyers in meaningful dialogue. The Jaz’d! study shows that while Oil and Gas trade publications and on-line content sites still have active and highly qualified readership they continue to fail to understand how to drive real value for users on-line other than presenting them with articles and display advertising that they are not interested in.

Key features that oil and gas buyers require from an on-line buying resource:

1. Complete listing of all companies and products – not just those that are paid advertisers!
2. Ability to sort options geographically – an alpha based listing of companies is not sufficient
3. Side by side product comparisons with meaningful features compared - I can do it on any B2C site
4. Downloadable product specifications and brochures – don’t make me pay or register to be a lead
5. Get a quote with valid pricing – now I am ready to speak with a vendor

As the on-line world starts to embrace social and community based capabilities buyers are starting to look for the same capabilities within their B2B on-line resources. Similar to the basic directory capabilities listed above traditional on-line resources in Oil and Gas have failed to keep pace. The Jaz’d! study shows that oil and gas is ready to apply the Myspace and Facebook era in purchasing. Al beit the pace of adoption will focus on basic buying related needs for the foreseable future.

Social Features that Oil and Gas executives are looking for and place great value on:

1. User generated ratings and reviews by company and product
2. Product related discussion forums for buyers
3. Ability to connect with other buyers and share ideas about products and vendors

At Jaz’d! we are listening hard to this very clear feedback. We will launch www.Jazdoilandgas.com in May in partnership with a leading Oil and Gas Publishing Group. It will be the first full functionality oil and gas directory in the market. The directory platform will include detailed directory functionality, complete company and product listings by taxonomy and georgraphy, audio and video media all coupled with detailed social community capabilities. The directory platform for oil and gas will finally offer both buyers and sellers in oil and gas a chance to meet all of their needs. Let us know what you think? It is going to be a great New Year in 2009 at Jaz’d!

We wish you all a Happy and Prosperous New Year in 2009.

Jamie Bedard