B2B marketing is hard, right?
Actually, B2B marketing is not as difficult as one might think. Knowing your customer’s journey is beneficial when tackling a B2B marketing strategy. Customers first become aware of a product via marketing campaigns, leading to their interest.
During the interest stage, potential customers start to learn about the company and its products. Potential customers become prospective customers as they enter the consideration phase. During consideration, buyers expect to receive case studies, free trials, testimonials, and anything else that could influence their decision. The next segment of the buying process is intent. At this point, prospects are showing signs leading up to making a purchase. Next is the evaluation stage where buyers make their final decisions. Now that the buyer process has been defined we can talk about marketing for a B2B company.
First of all…
Begin by doing research. It is a fundamental part of all marketing strategies. Knowing the target audience, demographics, what customers are looking for, and how they like to buy is discovered through intense brand research. After research, develop a B2B marketing strategy. 51% of businesses do not do this important step! Develop a SWOT analysis of current marketing efforts and use tools like the 5Ss or 5Ps. Knowing how current efforts are measuring up and the information accumulated via research will aid in deciding what strategy will work for your brand. During the buyer’s journey developing relationships with the brand is an influential factor. It not only makes the brand feels more personal but having an open conversation is something the buyer values. Discover your audience’s preferred method of contact for this to be most effective.
B2B marketing needs social too
Many B2B corporations tend to put their social media channels on the back burner. Social media is growing exponentially and isn’t going to stop anytime soon. The sooner B2B businesses embrace the use of social media, the better. Many inbound marketers obtain leads from social media sites like LinkedIn and Facebook. Create content that’s useful, educational, and shareable to catch consumer’s attention. Interacting with users on social media helps show that your brand wants to hear from customers. Using live video streaming or uploading video content can revamp a company’s image and make their marketing more interesting and appealing. Tutorials, FAQs, or product videos can be valuable throughout the buyer stages and keeps current customers engaged. 60% of buyers look at the new service provider’s social media accounts. With that being said, be sure to keep your social media channels up to date, consistent, and stay active. It’s more powerful than you think.
Website
Having a high performing website is a crucial asset. 80% of people go directly to a company website when they are looking for a service. A website that is customer-centric with easily accessible information, and appears to be credible and trustworthy is necessary. Potential customers are more likely to take the next steps to learn more about services when websites run efficiently. Website and online catalog were rated as a number one decision marketing touchpoint by B2B customers. Web and graphic designs are essential to your website too. Design that engages audiences and can set a firm apart from competitors. Finally, having a website that adapts to any device users are accessing it from is important as well.
Personalization
Personalizing content and targeting specific groups within your target market will boost the marketing strategy. Micro-targeting is a trend proven to be extremely useful by segmenting target customers into smaller units based on demographics and consumer data. Many users expect some sort of personalization in the content being sent to them. The tactic can be used across all platforms whether it be social media, email, or direct mail.
Final thoughts
It can take a considerable amount of effort to not only develop, but to actually apply an effective and powerful B2B content marketing strategy. Not all of the steps are easy but some are fairly simple to experiment with and don’t take much time to accomplish and execute. Upgrading current content and multimedia is another fantastic way to increase the effectiveness of a content marketing strategy.
