B2B MARKETING STRATEGY:
HAVE YOU CONSIDERED THESE FOUR ESSENTIAL FACTORS?
A Workable B2B Marketing Strategy Looks To The Future
If you’re a B2B company, then what kind of digital marketing strategy should you employ? It’s a big question, because having the right B2B marketing plan is what’s going to help you become a success.
An unplanned digital marketing strategy won’t help in the long-term, you need to know what your goals are and where you’re going. Without a plan, it’s difficult to know what you need to do in any order, and without it, your plans can quickly lead to poor results and higher costs, leaving you feeling tired, frustrated and beaten.
To point you in the right direction here are 4 B2B marketing strategies you can implement.
1) You Need To Always Look Ahead
You need to look ahead and have a plan that gives a clear indication of your goals for at least up to 3 years. Think about who your competition and target audience is.
What is it about your products or services you feel should be understood properly for them to be a success? Understand your users, and this will really help inform your campaign.
You also need a good website, because without it, you’re not going to get very far, especially if your target audience is mostly online. Even if your clientele is largely offline, you’re missing a trick if you don’t take advantage of a potentially larger and perhaps even global audience.
2) You Need To Develop Your Marketing Strategy
Developing B2B marketing strategies definitely needs defined marketing goals which should include:
– Capturing leads
– Improving inbound web visits
– Increasing target audience
– Achieving good search engine rankings
At the beginning your goal will initially be to create the website, or if you already have one, then perhaps getting hold of quality marketing software so you can see how you’re doing.
A B2B marketing plan can grow off the back of your website. You can initiate a marketing campaign that sets a clear number of activities which are all aimed at achieving your goals. They can centre on target audience, major service or product drive, and core messages.
Naturally, for a good content marketing strategy you need your website to have fresh regularly updated content, and downloadable content which offers solutions and answers to common problems related to your products or services, such as reports and e-books. The content you create is essential to your content marketing campaign and it should form part of your strategy.
Content examples include case studies, testimonials, videos and podcasts. Also create some online webinar events, attract users to you and if they like what you’re doing then the rest will follow.
3) You Need Feedback
Make sure you do customer research and get them to feedback on what you’re doing. Survey your audience, audit their feelings on what you’re providing on your website.
It’s a necessity to get feedback, and it helps you to really understand your target audience, otherwise you’re just guessing. A survey on your site helps you to gauge how well you’re doing and improve on any weaknesses detected.
4) Videos, Videos, Videos
Yes, we’ve already mentioned videos, but they really work. There’s enough statistical evidence out there to prove it. Just take a look at this long list of 75 video marketing statistics.
And not just for email leads, your website should have them too, but also an ‘explainer video’; you’ll be helping your users to understand something that’s essential to your ethos, something that’s not only part of your philosophy but something you think will help them to succeed – done your way.
Your video gives ample opportunity for you to prove that your methodology works, as opposed to other ways or more conventional methods.
Conclusions
By looking ahead, by creating a masterful website, getting feedback, offering fresh, useful content, and examining where you want to be and who your target audience is will help you to forge ahead toward success.
Auditing, getting feedback from your customers and using their comments to address any weaknesses helps you to improve and get even better. Explainer videos helps make your methodology and ethos clear to potential users/customers.
If you feel you’d like someone to create a b2b marketing strategy template for you to help get you started, then get in touch with us. Our experienced team are ready to help.
Shane McEvoy is a seasoned SEO and inbound marketing expert with nearly 30 years of experience in advertising. He established Flycast Media, a specialist B2B digital agency, and is a published author of two well-received guides while contributing to several industry publications - read his complete profile here.
