In the saturated market today, it’s not easy to sell anything just by using conventional B2B marketing and sales techniques. In fact, bombarding a broad target audience with your marketing ads and making sales via cold-calling and a lackluster sales pitch will only damage your business.
These techniques won’t positively boost your brand name recognition, either. Rather, they can be costly, both in terms of time and money, particularly in comparison with the outcomes they achieve. So, what can you do to get leads? Let’s take a look.
Effective B2B Marketing Strategies
81 percent of B2B companies prefer getting information from a blog instead of ads. This means that to boost your sales, the best way is to offer your prospective customers relevant and valuable content along with keeping them engaged and interested in your products.
According to the Content Marketing Institute, content marketing or inbound marketing gets 3X more leads than paid search advertising.
Here are some effective marketing strategies based on inbound methodology to help you grab more attention in the competitive industry:
1. Offer value to your customers
Did you know, nearly 47 percent of customers view 3 to 5 pieces of content before getting in touch with a sales rep?
When visitors first look at your website, they’re generally not yet ready to purchase your product/service. Chances are that they might be conducting some research on the problems and solutions instead of searching for a specific service/product from a particular brand.
Due to this reason, your marketing and sales initiatives must focus on offering valuable information, guidelines, and findings that’ll address the concerns of your prospective buyers.
For instance, suppose you’re a learning management system (LMS) company. Consider creating a company blog, ebooks, case studies, and infographics on topics relevant to your LMS products. You can also share some do’s and don’ts, and the latest market trends. This type of content mix will position you as an expert and you’ll definitely stick out from the competition.
And, this is exactly why almost 55 percent of marketers consider blog content creation their topmost inbound B2B marketing priority.
2. Maintain uniformity in all channels
To grab attention in a market inundated with products/services similar to yours, you must have a consistent content strategy. There should be uniformity in all channels that you use. Be it in your voice, your brand positioning, or your posting schedule on all networks.
Your prospective buyers must be able to recognize your brand name, even without looking at your logo. A steady stream of high-grade content will retain your brand name on your prospective buyers’ minds, increasing their chances of doing business with you.
3. Incorporate employee-generated content
Many corporate decision-makers prioritize seeking opinions from external frontrunners. And, they often overlook their own employees.
Remember, your employees are a great resource for vital information. For instance, they could communicate their own experience with the business and why they like working with you. They could also share their own opinion on the latest industry trends.
Creating a demo video using an in-house team member is always better than using an outsider. Employee-generated content will humanize your business along with helping you develop better relations with your prospective consumers.
4. Focus on relevant keywords and phrases
One of the most critical aspects of attracting organic traffic via search engines is to optimize your website using relevant keywords and catchphrases.
Conduct thorough research to discover the terms your prospective users are using when they search for your industry related content online. Concentrate more on the less competitive, long-tail keywords.
5. Don’t forget social media
When planning your B2B marketing strategies, you just can’t ignore social media. In fact, a whopping 92 percent of companies claim that social networks play a significant role in boosting their business.
Maintain a solid presence on all social networks where your leads often engage. Follow a posting schedule so your followers know when to expect new content. Keep an eye on all conversations related to your industry as well as your business.
Whenever you create any new content, always share it on your social networks. This will help bring in more web traffic, improving your sales.
6. Focus on nurturing your leads
Many B2B marketing strategies focus so excessively on getting new visitors to their website that they often forget about the old ones. Once you bring in new leads, your sales team must work on nurturing them to convert them into paying customers.
Make consistent strategic calls and weekly emails with useful content that might be of interest to your leads. Ensure that your emails are tailored, from the subject line to the message, to improve your click-through rate.
Using a personalized approach to nurture your leads will help you draw in more attention in the saturated industry today.
Content is Key
Unlike expensive ads and boring sales calls that don’t offer much value to your prospects, inbound B2B marketing focusing on content marketing can help you develop as an authority in your industry. This way, you’ll attract more qualified leads to you without even reaching out to them—the real recipe for success.
The original version of this article was first published on V3Broadsuite.
- 6 B2B Marketing Strategies That Really Work - February 17, 2020
