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For generations, distributors and manufacturers relied heavily on face-to-face selling as the primary driver for new business growth. While the role of the salesperson is still critical, your old tactics are no longer enough to compete in this rapidly evolving marketplace.
The changing face and needs of your customers, combined with the rise of online and mobile technologies in the workplace, has rendered your old tactics inadequate. If you’re still relying on marketing strategies from past decades, your B2B company’s success may be in question for the next decade. It’s time to step up and take action. But what should you do?
To ensure your company’s success, you must continually evaluate and evolve how you do business to grow revenue and profits. B2B online marketing represents a tremendous opportunity for growth for your company, as more business is conducted online now more than ever before. Here are nine online marketing ideas you need to embrace to be successful.
If you think of B2B marketing merely as an expense, chances are you’re doing it wrong. Try thinking of it as an investment that should produce a measurable return in the form of qualified leads and bankable sales. Just as you would carefully review the return on investment for stocks, bonds, and mutual funds in your retirement portfolio, you need to carefully evaluate the return on investment in your company’s marketing portfolio.
So, what type of return on investment should your B2B digital marketing initiatives produce? Well, your marketing should produce a measurable return in four ways. Your marketing should:
It is much easier to sell to existing customers than it is to new ones, because you have already earned their trust and you have credibility. That’s why a balanced investment approach is necessary in marketing too.
You’ve put it off long enough. Now is the time to get serious about your website.
As the endorsed B2B digital marketing consultant for a variety of industrial and B2B trade associations, I review hundreds of B2B websites each year. Unfortunately, the vast majority of them are subpar. While you may have been able to get away with this in the past, you will not be able to much longer. The changing face and needs of your customers, combined with the rise of online technologies in the workplace, have rendered your neglected website inadequate.
If you use Google on a daily basis to research products and companies, don’t you think your customers do too? Make it a priority to turn your site into a customer-focused sales machine.
There’s a paradox in marketing you need to embrace: the smaller your target market, the bigger your opportunity.
This may seem counter-intuitive, because you may think marketing your business to the widest possible audience will get you the most opportunity. But it’s true! Trying to be all things to all people is a fast track to failure.
If you say your target customer is “everyone” – the reality is you are targeting no one. Or, to put it another way, when you try to be all things to all people, no one will remember you. You need to become a niche marketer.
There are a number of significant benefits of focusing on a niche.
SVM is living proof of this concept. If you’d like to know how, ask me. I’d be happy to share my experience about this topic.
Successful B2B companies are realizing that megaphone marketing tactics (also referred to as outbound marketing) just don’t work. This outdated marketing technique relies on shouting at many with the hopes of attracting a few. Examples of outbound marketing tactics include driving billboards, print advertising, untargeted banner advertising, cold calls and mass email blasts.
Consumers are assaulted by megaphone marketing on a daily basis. Don’t be part of that noise. Instead, embrace magnet marketing tactics.
Magnet marketing (or inbound marketing) is not about being “in your face”. It’s about providing prospects with something of value without asking for anything in return. These tactics help you get found by customers at the very moment they have a need for your products and services without overwhelming them with too much noise. It allows you to earn trust by providing customers with information they value to attract them to your website to do business, when they are ready to do so.
Examples of magnet marketing tactics include content marketing, search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising and social media marketing. Not only do magnet marketing tactics generate more leads and sales, but they are also less expensive.
Search engines, blogs, social networking sites and other online platforms offer tremendous opportunity to engage directly with customers. However, to get in front of them in the first place, you need valuable content. Spend less time focusing on traditional advertising, and spend more time creating great content. People don’t choose to do business with you just because you offer the right products at the right price. They choose you because you and your team have valuable, specialized knowledge about the applications of your products. Lead with that specialized knowledge in your marketing by writing best practice articles, filming ‘how to’ videos, producing an insightful blog and creating educational guides. By marketing your knowledge instead of just marketing your products or services, you will create a unique differentiation in your industry.
In 2019, we spent more time on the internet than on TV for the first time in history. And, more than 50% of internet website traffic is coming from mobile traffic. Have you prepared for this mobile marketing revolution?
Take a look at your website on a smartphone. If it’s difficult to read, you may want to consider creating a new mobile responsive website. Also, include more video content on your website, because it’s easier to view than text. Perhaps you should create an app to help your customers and salespeople be more effective. Whatever your strategy, start thinking about how you should optimize your B2B business for the small screen.
More and more these days, people are ‘googling’ names of people they deal with before they do business. What will they find when they search on your name? If you haven’t started building your personal online brand, it is time to start. It will come in handy when you’re trying to make a sale, find a job or form a business partnership.
Begin by creating a content-rich LinkedIn profile for yourself. Consider registering a domain name with your name (e.g., bobdestefano.com) and start producing a blog. Start writing articles and submit them to online trade publications. You have an online brand whether you like it or not, so you might as well take charge of it.
It’s time to stop relying on gut feel or subjective measures when evaluating the return on your marketing investments. Marketing needs to be accountable for revenue and profits so you can easily identify the activities that are working and not working. The best way to accomplish this is by embracing analytics. One of the great things about b2b online marketing is you can measure everything. So, leverage web analytics, trackable phone numbers and a CRM system to track leads and sales generated by each marketing activity. With this process in place, you will know what to cut and what to continue.
Ensure your company’s continued success by putting these ideas into action. Which ideas are you going to start with?
Here are some other resources you may find valuable:
Not sure where to get started? That’s where we come in! Simply schedule a free online marketing consultation.
