If your B2B marketing strategy is lagging back in the Stone Age, then you’ve come to the right place! The marketing world never stops evolving, making it easy for even the hottest marketing tricks to become yesterday’s news. Businesses must adapt to the new rules of the game, or great leads may well pass them by.
Today’s buyers are tech-savvy, and they prefer to perform their own product research before reaching out to a provider; they depend heavily on website content, videos, and detailed service product descriptions.
Buyers want to build relationships with B2B companies that have a strong online presence and an information-rich strategy to support their marketing efforts.
Here are some things you might be doing wrong and what you need to do to step up your B2B marketing game:
Creating Content That Makes You Sounds Like A Used Car Salesman
If your approach to content marketing is to write one long commercial that sounds pretty or looks cool but doesn’t really connect to anyone at all, you risk your leads losing interest after the first paragraph. Heck, some prospective customers might be cruel enough to desert you after the first sentence. Ouch!
Good content marketers will engage an audience by delivering relevant, high-quality information in a variety of formats.
You should pay close attention to how your target audience searches, what keywords they use, and what problems they’re looking to solve. Tailor your content to meet these metrics, and focus on providing answers and offering guidance rather than selling. You should also update your most popular content pieces with new information and relevant data to draw people back in and attract new customers. Remember: you can’t stop resting once you lure in a few people; you have to keep luring them in, and then keep them there!
You’re Making Social Media An Afterthought
A white paper sponsored and published by LinkedIn states that “75% of B2B buyers and 84% of C-level or vice-president level executives use social media to make purchasing decisions.” Another study found that “90% of B2B decision makers never respond to any form of cold outreach, while 75% of them use social media in their decision making process.”
However, there’s no way on planet earth that you’ll be able to get this kind of return by taking semi-relevant content, distributing it across a bunch of platforms, and just hoping something sticks. In order to get real results, you’ll need to devise a plan that strikes a balance between your own content and sharing pieces from other sources, pieces that will truly pique your audience’s interest.
Holding Your Breath And Hoping To Generate Leads Through In-person Contact
Trade shows, conferences, and other events can be great for networking, but you’re wasting your time if face-to-face meetings are the core of your B2B strategy. Remember that your primary audience is online. They are constantly researching and bombarded by new information. Make sure the info you provide them counts!
Additionally, you need to track and analyze your audience’s behaviors should be tracked so that you can properly tailor your messaging for your target consumers. This is not something that can be done by making contacts alone. Furthermore, performing data analytics for your online audience makes it much easier to perform follow-ups.
B2B businesses should focus on targeting specific geographic regions, product applications, or different distribution channels. It is easier to generate more leads and increase your sales when you create targeted marketing aimed at specific groups of B2B organizations
B2Bs are segmented by the following factors:
- Size of Company
- Geographic Location
- Market Sector or Niche
Sounding Like A Broken Record
No matter how you choose to market, creating you should definitely personalize your content as much as you can. People like to feel special; it flatters them. Show your customers you care and that they matter as individuals. Sending the same message to every potential lead you come across suggests that you don’t understand (or even care to understand) what is important to each customer. The same amount of personalization that applies in B2C marketing, applies to B2B, and should be embraced with customized email messages, landing pages, social media content and remarketing strategies. You should develop lists and groups each of your audience segments, and deliver content that is tailored to the needs of the decision makers in each of those segments.
Creating a strong plan for the future of your business will help support robust sales and build a thriving brand!
Not Taking Advantage of Google Analytics
A major part of B2B marketing happens through your website presence. But how can you tell if your website content is a hit or a miss?
Google Analytics tells you exactly how your website is performing, what online channels are bringing in visitors, how many are bouncing away, and how many are clicking through.
Harness the power of Google analytics to make sure you’re on track to create higher lead values.
Stop using the same cold-calling and in-person ‘take you out to lunch’ business to business marketing strategies. You’re missing out on the opportunity to appeal to your current B2B buyer personas. Instead, create valuable long-term client connections by leveraging the latest marketing strategies.
Need help with your online marketing? Consider consulting with an expert.