There are so many B2B marketing strategies out there, but which ones should you focus on this year? Several business leaders gave us their answer.
Hoping to get results from your B2B marketing strategies, but not sure where to start? Have the strategies you’re using failed to land with your audience?
I asked seven marketing experts for the B2B marketing strategies they believe business leaders should focus on. Here’s what they had to say.
1. Start internally: Make your team your brand advocates.
“Start marketing internally first,” advises Phillip Oakley, CEO of branding agency Common Giant. “Time and time again we see B2B marketers only concerned about their outbound messaging, and their employees are clueless about the company mission, brand, voice or values.
“By making sure the entire company lives, eats and breathes the brand, you can turn them into evangelists and influencers,” Oakley continues. “A 2,000-employee company can start a campaign with 2,000 voices instead of one.”
2. Drop the industry jargon.
David Baldwin is the founder of award-winning advertising agency Baldwin&. He offers a simple B2B marketing strategies tip: Drop the jargon.
“What we recommend to B2B marketers is to drop the jargon and talk to people as human beings,” he says. “No one stops being a person when they walk into their office, yet so many B2B clients talk to their audiences as if they’re drones or robots.”
3. Try geofencing and location-based social engagement.
Earl Knight, the founder of the geofencing and location-based social engagement tool GoBabl, suggests a targeted approach to connecting with customers when considering new B2B marketing strategies.
You need a mix of marketing tactics and activities to ensure marketing is properly supporting your business objectives.
—Jeanette Jordan, head of product marketing, AdRoll
Geofencing gives you the ability to tap into what people are saying through social engagement and location-based services. You’ll have access to instant updates and data that you can use to make strategic decisions and find leads.
According to Knight, geofencing and location-based social engagement strategies can be used in a variety of scenarios, including at conferences, festivals and buildings.
“One of our clients uses geofences as a lead-generation strategy at their conference to engage with all the people who are at that location,” Knight says.
4. Create a digital publication.
Vlad Moldavskiy, partner and head of digital at digital marketing agency Mabbly, says creating your own digital publication can be a great way to attract new leads, keep existing clients engaged and build thought leadership and authority.
You can use your own digital publication to produce content that’s relevant to your target audience and ask them to contribute, too, Moldavskiy says. Two good examples are Adobe’s CMO.com and SAP’s Digitalist Magazine.
5. Educate through email marketing and content.
Karl Kangur is CEO of MRR Media, a content marketing agency that specializes in SaaS companies. He says email marketing is alive and well. He still views it as an important tool in the B2B sales process.
“The B2B buying cycle is a long one and fairly high-touch,” Kangur says. “One thing that has worked best for our B2B clients is education through email marketing.”
He suggests getting started by creating blog posts, email courses and white papers that are filled with educational (not sales-oriented) content. Then you can push them to your leads through your email marketing efforts.
Kangur stresses that the key is to create content that “solves their key problems or addresses their concerns.”
6. Incorporate referral marketing.
Jeff Epstein, founder of the referral marketing platform Ambassador, recommends considering referral marketing when thinking through new B2B marketing strategies.
Referral marketing is about using the power of your biggest fans to help spread the word about your offering.
“Referral marketing is a highly effective way to scale customer acquisition,” Epstein says. “More importantly, referral marketing is efficient. The modern consumer looks to referrals and their networks before making purchases.”
You might be itching to try these new strategies, but before you do, Jeanette Jordan, head of product marketing at prospecting and retargeting platform AdRoll, says to make sure you and your team are clear on your goals and objectives.
“It’s important to ask yourself or your team how marketing can support your overall business objectives. What are you trying to accomplish this year, and how can your marketing help get you there? For instance, a focus on growing your market penetration with customers might lead you to strengthening your brand awareness, versus a focus on growing your revenue [which]might lead you to boost how you drive conversions.”
Once you’re clear on what you want to accomplish, Jordan recommends spending time validating that your tactics match your objectives.
“Marketing tactics are not one size fits all,” she says. “You need a mix of marketing tactics and activities to ensure marketing is properly supporting your business objectives.”
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This article first appeared in www.americanexpress.com
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