4 Ways to Improve Your B2B Marketing Strategy
There are two kinds of B2B companies, those that have a dedicated content marketing strategy and those that don't. In fact, 51% of B2B companies don't have a dedicated content marketing strategy. The days are gone when a company could rely on brand loyalty for growth. Instead, successful brands achieve market penetration by becoming available to their customers, both in 'top of mind' mental availability and physical availability of having one-click access to your website. Simply, integrated content marketing strategies grow businesses faster.
Which begs the question, how does your content marketing strategy provide value to your potential prospects on their purchasing journey? Today, companies don’t experience a lasting return on their marketing budget with a single-channel approach.
1. Reassess Your Existing Marketing Strategy
A focus on consistently publishing quality content establishes your business as an authority figure within your industry. Especially when 47% of B2B buyers read or watch 3-5 pieces of your company's content before talking to your sales department. Whether it's informative blog articles, explainer videos, or infographics that are choc-full of data and stats—the take away is the same. Quality content increases your business’s digital exposure and develops your authority among the decision-makers you’re targeting.
One of the first things we breakdown with potential B2B clients is their existing marketing efforts. We identify how their business can allocate its marketing budget to yield better results. Then we advise how they can maximize ad reach while stretching their dollar further. The old "cost of doing business" mentality is ineffective. No more pouring budgets into media buys and e-mail blasts. On average, focusing your strategy on content marketing can reduce your cost per lead by 62%.
Although all your channels work in accordance, allocating your digital marketing budget to prioritize the following channels typically delivers the best results:
- Content Marketing
- Social Media Marketing
- SEO
- PPC
For starters, put a little TLC into your content marketing. Try starting with keyword research and competitor research. These insights help strengthen the direction of your content marketing strategy so you can better appeal to Google and the hearts and minds of your prospects.
2. Anticipate Where Your Customers are in their Buying Cycle
Providing more entry points with more valuable content into your sales funnel will undoubtedly increase your conversion rates. The more value you can contribute to prospects means the more authority you'll develop in your industry. The owners, executives, and managers looking to hire your business will generate more trust for your brand. So, make finding your business online convenient.
The reality is that 84% of B2B customers report their buying journey taking longer than expected. This increases the odds of winning business if you're not the leader in your industry, in turn, increasing the importance of a sound strategy. The extra time that your customer spends researching your competitors increases the likelihood that they'll do business.
The takeaway? Regularly publish original and insightful content that answers the common questions that fuel your customers’ research. Search engines will reward your site in the Search Engine Result Pages (SERP), and so will your prospects.
3. Maintain the Value of Creativity & Emotion
Even though you're appealing to a business's bottom line, you're still selling to humans. 80% of B2B buyers expect a B2C experience. As a result, your content strategy should balance an informative and entertaining approach. Your content strategy should reflect a more organic people-first approach. If every post is a sales pitch your followers will tune you out. That same 80% of B2B deciders prefer to encounter your content over your ads. Your email design can make all the difference here for your content.
You can also greatly improve your sales online by improving the customer's experience. What does that entail? First off, consider more customer-centric strategies like influencer partnerships and interactive content to help supplement your informational content. Prove that you value your audience's time with improved UX (user experience) on your site, and through the channels that connect your website with the rest of your platforms. You could even think of UX as a form of digital customer service.
Exceptional customer experience is paramount. The truth is, every touchpoint of your business is a greater insight into your company's operations as a whole. Having a better understanding of your audience allows you to direct your content to the right medium and tailor it accordingly. For example, data shows that even though decision-makers frequently research products, services, and partnerships for their business on mobile, they are ultimately 164% more likely to convert on desktop.
4. Evaluate Your Leads
Not all leads are created equal. The majority of people you want to sell to will never buy the thing you’re selling, even if they click your ad or follow you on social media. That's why lead scoring is paramount. Organizing the good leads from the bad leads provides your sales team with more time and resources to spend on worthwhile prospects who are more primed to convert. On its merits, lead scoring improves ROI by 77%.
For our client Global Keg, we automated this system for them merely by improving their form submission process and created a filter for their inbound contacts. No more chasing down small-time leads, or juggling their return services from place to place. The lead-scoring process we implemented on their website cut their back-office time by 90%.
Just in case we have any die-hard readers out there who want a track off of our greatest hits, it goes a little something like this… "nurture your leads." Only 35% of companies have lead-nurturing campaigns, even though lead nurturing can increase your chances of converting prospects from 27% to 47%. For example, two quick tactics your company can implement right away include an automated welcome email once a lead is received, and a sense and respond effort to better score your lead. Lead nurturing can take the form of whitepapers, thought leadership articles, email newsletters and more. No matter your method, automating your ability to follow-up can double your conversions.
Improving the approach to your company’s B2B marketing is a crucial investment for the survival and growth of your company. To win the marketplace, integrate strategic marketing across the whole supply chain from new product development to branding and distribution to achieve lasting long-term growth. Having a comprehensive content marketing strategy that works in concert with your overall digital strategy improves your ability to convert leads. B2B marketing isn't an impossible code to crack, but it can be a challenge for your business to position your brand to more easily connect with potential prospects more effectively. If this seems like a lot, don’t worry. We can help. Overcome your current marketing challenges the easy way by contacting us.