7 B2B Marketing Strategies You Need to Be Using Now
B2B Marketing (Business to Business) is the distribution of goods and services to businesses. B2B Marketing focuses on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of selling goods or services to businesses. The term b2b marketing usually refers to companies who sell to other businesses instead of individuals.
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So you’ve made your way through the jungle of digital marketing. You’ve learned how to create a website, build a blog, create engaging social media posts, and set up an email marketing campaign.
You’ve also got a good idea of optimizing your site for SEO, leveraging paid ads to drive traffic, and using video to increase engagement.
Now what?
That’s where I come in.
In today’s post, I will share with you seven B2B marketing strategies you need to use now.
I’m going to explain how they work, and I’m going to walk you through the best ways to apply them.
Let’s jump right in.
The best B2B marketing strategies
Take a B2C approach.
B2C and B2B are two distinct approaches that serve two different markets. But you’d be wrong. The fact is, your audience comes from all backgrounds. So why have companies traditionally been limited in the B2B space and struggled to communicate effectively with customers?
A recent study from the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Amherst shows that people are increasingly becoming connected to brands in B2C and B2B markets.
What does this mean?
It means that, as consumers get more comfortable sharing opinions and views online, they engage with businesses that understand them better.
If you want to take your business to the next level, it’s time to move beyond just marketing to a more integrated approach. This involves the entire customer journey, from discovery to purchase and everything in between.
As more people become accustomed to social media, your business needs to follow suit. You must understand how to leverage platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, etc., to connect and engage with your audience.
It’s no longer enough to simply have a presence on social media. You must do more than post once and leave it at that. It will help if you stay active, engaging, and responsive.
You’ll need to become an active user of these platforms, and you’ll need to engage with your audience on a deeper level, asking questions and interacting more with them.
This communication will allow your brand to develop a strong relationship with its audience, ultimately driving more sales and generating a positive customer experience.
So, the next time you sit down to write a traditional B2B marketing strategy, consider the whole customer journey and ask yourself how this could impact the success of your business.
Supplement automation with AI
B2B marketers are looking for ways to increase conversion rates, boost sales, and reach more prospects and customers. Many companies use automation technology to manage tasks such as data collection, data cleaning and lead nurturing. However, marketing automation technology needs to work better on its own. It needs human support to perform effectively. This support can come from email copy, lead nurture processes, or other tasks.
Here are three reasons why you should supplement automation with human support:
1 – Data quality is critical to successful marketing.
As mentioned, marketing automation systems work best when they are used with a well-designed strategy that takes advantage of insights generated by the data they collect. Unfortunately, many companies still need to invest in proper data collection because they assume the data is correct. This can have disastrous effects on your marketing efforts. For instance, if you only gather data that is not accurate or complete, you’ll be spending too much money on products and services that aren’t resonating with your audience.
2 – Lead nurturing is an effective method of increasing sales.
Lead nurturing is a crucial part of any successful marketing plan. When done well, it increases the chances of a prospect taking action by converting them into customers. Marketing automation systems typically handle the process of capturing leads and converting them into customers. While this is important, many organizations need to pay more attention to the lead nurturing phase, resulting in lower sales rates.
3 – Automation only works if you use the right tools.
Marketing automation technology is only effective with the right tools. If you’re relying solely on the system to perform the tasks of data collection, analysis, and nurturing tasks, you will miss out on many opportunities. It would help if you supplemented automation with other technologies, such as a CRM, to create a holistic strategy focused on reaching more people.
Have an SEO keyword funnel
In a recent blog post, Google announced that its search algorithm would favor sites with a high volume of relevant traffic. This change will likely impact most businesses that need to optimize their content. If you’re not doing that, chances are you’re missing out on the traffic that can help build your brand.
The term “organic” (and its variants) is often used to describe the traffic that a website generates through natural links. That is, the links come from websites that are built by a human being rather than a robot. The organic traffic to your website is usually higher than the paid traffic, which comes from ads or promotions that the owner of the website places.
Google uses various algorithms and other factors to determine whether a site is “relevant” to a given query. Relevancy is determined using the information contained in the page’s meta tags, the title of the page, the description, and the text. These are referred to as the “on-page” factors.
Google also considers off-page factors, including the quality and quantity of other websites linking to a given site. The number of off-page factors can be pretty complex, but the bottom line is that Google is looking for “natural” results. This means that a site is considered more relevant than one boosted by paid ads or other types of paid marketing.
It would be best if you focused on on-page optimization to get ahead in the search engines. You must put keywords into your meta tags, title, and description. You can also use keyword-rich content, but this only works if you’re targeting the right audience. Otherwise, you’ll get lots of people clicking through to your site, but they will only be interested in something other than your offering.
The point of keyword research is to find your target audience’s keywords to look for products or services related to yours. This helps you determine whether the search engine traffic you’re getting is genuinely relevant or whether you need to make changes to your website to improve its relevance.
So, what keywords do you want to use in your content? Do you want to focus on broad keywords or on those that are more specific? Broad keywords are often found in the title but can also appear in the meta tags and the body.
When you choose a keyword, make sure it’s one that your audience is searching for. You’ll get the most traffic when you match the keywords they use. Once you’ve done this, test your pages to make sure that the keywords are present in the relevant places.
A keyword-tracking tool like Google’s Keyword Planner is also a good idea. This tool will tell you which keywords are working, which ones aren’t, and how to change your content to optimize for those that are.
Google offers tools that will help you optimize your on-page elements. Check out their Webmaster Central Blog for the latest updates.
If you have a product or service that you want to promote, you’ll need to decide how much of your budget you want to spend on paid search. It’s also important to note that paid traffic doesn’t necessarily equal conversions, especially if your site needs to be optimized for conversions.
Finally, it would help if you thought about the overall cost of your campaign. Paid search is inexpensive but can consume a significant portion of your budget. In addition, it is possible to waste money by bidding too high on keywords. Remember to set a budget and stick with it.
For B2B companies, this approach is much more complex. You’ll want to identify different channels and networks that can help boost your brand visibility and drive more targeted traffic.
To start, it’s crucial to establish your business profile on social media sites like LinkedIn and Facebook. Your company profile can help attract the attention of your potential customers while establishing yourself as an expert in your industry.
Next, it’s good to network. Join LinkedIn groups and attend industry trade shows. You don’t have to pay for these activities, but you must be prepared to discuss your business.
If you’re looking for a more direct route to getting traffic to your site, consider starting a blog. While blogs are often associated with the world of B2C companies, they can help your B2B brand gain more visibility.
The key is to use the right keywords in your blog posts. When writing your blog posts, make sure that you include keywords in your title, in the first few paragraphs, and throughout the post. Using these keywords will help you rank for the keywords you want, which will help you attract the right audience.
Use emotion in your ads.
The answer lies in human nature. Humans, in general, are emotional creatures. So, they respond to emotions.
Nowadays, most companies are using this strategy for their online advertising campaigns. These companies understand that when we see an emotional video, we can connect emotionally to the product.
Emotional videos usually show us something touching, fun, or positive. They make us happy, motivated, excited, and interested in the product.
In the B2B world, the same concept can be applied. But, the goal here is to connect with potential customers and turn them into clients.
So, how do we do that?
We make the video creative. We create something that will get people excited about the product. But don’t go overboard with emotions. It’s a subtle strategy that needs to be done wisely.
Here are some examples of emotional marketing:
1. Create a story
2. Connect with people
3. Get them to laugh
4. Share your passion
5. Tell the truth
6. Be authentic
7. Be funny
8. Inspire
9. Surprise
10. Emotionally connect
Which one is your favorite? I think it’s #10. If you use an emotional marketing strategy, create a video that will touch and inspire your audience.
B2B Marketing Is About Listening
B2B marketing is about listening. We have to listen to what our potential customers want. We have to know what kind of messages are relevant to them. And we have to adapt the messaging and messaging tools according to our audience.
So, what do you need to know about your customers?
You need to know how they communicate, how they interact, what kind of devices they use, what social media platforms they use, what content they like, and what their problems are.
The bottom line is that you need to know everything about your target audience to make the right decisions.
Use Facebook ads, Messenger, and reviews.
Pay attention to these three key platforms to increase the leads you generate through your sales funnel.
Facebook ads are currently one of the most effective ways to increase conversions, but they are also costly. Even if you spend $100 daily on ads, you’ll only get a 3% conversion rate.
Messenger ads can target your audience based on their demographics, interests, and location. With this targeting, you can focus on certain types of customers.
For example, you can target users interested in a specific product or service, have recently purchased that product or service, or are currently interested in your company.
Reviews are an essential part of the business to business marketing, as they increase your reputation as a trustworthy company, which can lead to more sales. The Harvard Business Review says, “The number of consumers who trust reviews continues to grow as more online review platforms emerge and become mainstream.”
Run nurture email campaigns
B2B marketing is all about building relationships. Your email campaign is no exception to this rule. It’s no longer enough to simply send a newsletter to your list, hoping they’ll open the email and engage.
Nurturing emails helps you connect with your audience, build relationships, and bond with them.
Regarding nurturing campaigns, there’s only one approach that works for every type of business. But here are four ways that you can incorporate nurturing campaigns into your strategy.
Start with a welcome series.
Welcome emails are a great place to start building relationships. By welcoming new subscribers to your email list, you’re offering a gentle introduction that makes it easier for them to connect with you. Welcome emails can include helpful information about your products or services, ask questions, and set up follow-up conversations.
If you want to add value to your welcome series, consider offering resources or helpful tips for your audience. For example, you could share how-to articles or articles that describe how you solved typical problems. In the first few days after joining your list, you’ll receive fewer unsubscribes than if you don’t make an effort to welcome new subscribers.
Include follow-up emails
Once you’ve sent your welcome emails, it’s time to move on to follow-up emails. Following up with your audience helps ensure that you’re adding value to their inboxes. Sending emails when a user has completed a task is one way to keep your relationship fresh and exciting. When you send nurturing emails asking your subscribers to complete a survey or a task, you’re giving them something to do while also providing you with feedback about what your customers think of your company.
To ensure your follow-up messages are relevant, ask your subscribers to fill out surveys or tasks they can’t do independently. This way, they’ll feel like they’re accomplishing something, which will help keep them engaged and interested in what you have to say.
Include content updates
As your relationship with your customers grows, it’s essential to continue to provide them with helpful information. As a brand, you’ll likely receive a steady stream of inquiries from customers, prospects, and partners. But what happens if one of your customers asks a question about your products that you don’t have the answer to?
You can use content updates to inform your audience about the latest industry developments, products, and services. As a content creator, you’ll want to publish quality, educational content that will add value to your audience. If you’re publishing content regularly, schedule your posts to coincide with the times your audience is most active. For example, if your audience is typically active between 9 am-5 pm, you can schedule your posts to go live on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
Send out news about upcoming events.
Your audience will appreciate any updates you share about upcoming events, conferences, or promotions. It’s also a great way to remind your customers about the benefits of being a part of your email list.
You’ll want to use a nurturing approach when sending out promotional emails. You can send out news about an event or a conference you’re hosting. Or, if you’re attending a conference or other event, send out invites to your audience. These are all examples of ways to tell your customers about events they can benefit from.
Increase click-through rates with video emails
The main reason people don’t open your email is that they don’t know it is there. Email is a proven way to connect with potential customers.
However, it can be frustrating when people unsubscribe from your email list because they get too many emails from you. They may be tired of receiving your messages, or they may have opened your emails and clicked through to your website without ever looking at the full content of the email.
To ensure your emails are effective, optimizing them and increasing your chances of getting opens and clicks is essential. This means ensuring they’re sent when they are most relevant to your audience.
Optimize emails for the time of day that you send them. If you send an email to your customers in the morning, they may be more inclined to open it because it is when they’re getting ready for work.
Similarly, if you send an email to your customers after lunch, you can expect them to be less likely to open it. People are generally less engaged in the afternoon, which makes them less responsive to messages.
For maximum effectiveness, send your email to your target market; at times they’re most likely to open it.
Video emails are an effective way to connect with your audience and communicate your message. However, if you send out too many emails, your customers might get overwhelmed and unsubscribe from your list.
How to increase click-through rates with video emails with B2B marketing strategies?
The best way to optimize your video emails is to use a prerecorded video or script.
You can record your message using video software such as Camtasia, ScreenFlow, or VideoScribe. These programs are available on the Mac and Windows platforms.
Once you’ve created the video, test it to see if it’s clear and concise. You should edit the video so that it is short enough to keep your customers interested and avoid leaving out key details.
When it comes to the length of the video, studies show that shorter videos tend to get more views, and that’s why you need to keep your video as short as possible.
Don’t underestimate the power of images and video. For example, images in your emails help reinforce your topic’s importance.
Many people need help creating compelling videos because they need to be more skilled with video creation tools. If this is you, you should find a service that will do all the work for you.
Try out these B2B marketing strategies to reach your sales goals.
To succeed in today’s market, you must be able to communicate with your customer. This means reaching out to them effectively via email, text, phone, and social media. You must be able to build trust with your audience, and you need to be able to do this quickly.
You must also be able to create and deliver great content that builds relationships with your audience. This includes internal and external content, which we’ll discuss in detail throughout this article.
Finally, you must be able to manage your sales process and effectively convert leads into customers. If you don’t, you won’t be able to scale your business as quickly as you would like.
You can use these seven strategies to help you grow your B2B business in 2023.
