Posted by Businesses are always looking for ways to stand out from the crowd. You can do that with a solid marketing strategy — one that works well and is tailored to fit your brand’s goals.
However, it is no secret that building a successful marketing strategy requires you to also think about how you are going to brand yourself in the future. With new technologies and marketing trends constantly emerging, staying on top of your game is more important than ever.
You will have to consider how the internet has changed the way that people buy, and how this affects the type of content that you produce. You will have to look at your company’s strengths and weaknesses as well as the goals that your company is trying to achieve.
While it can be overwhelming to keep up with every trend, there are some key strategies that are sure to help you drive success. Here are some of our favorites:
1. Leverage the power of content marketing
In this digital age, we Google everything. We search for products and services that address our current needs or wants. And if you think about it, there’s not a lot of difference between the two.
Sitting at home one evening, you realize that your daughter is sick and needs medicine from the pharmacy. You Google “local pharmacies open late,” and you find one in the same neighborhood as your house. You grab your keys, cards, and phone, and head out the door.
That’s content marketing. We use Google to find something we need, which leads us directly to a company that can meet that need. Content marketing is all about creating targeted content — content that addresses specific keywords or phrases that someone types into their search engine of choice. Your content draws them in as potential customers through an answer to their questions.
Effective content marketing works without a sales pitch (and hopefully you won’t have to call any pharmacies late at night!).
Content marketing allows you to communicate directly with your audience and helps you to grow to your fullest potential. You can use content marketing in different ways, such as through blog posts, whitepapers, webinars, podcasts, and videos.
2. What’s content without SEO?
Search Engine Optimization is the process of making sure that your website ranks higher within search engines (ex: Google). There are many different ways to do this including keywords, website load time, images, product descriptions, backlinks, and other strategies.
Implementing the right SEO should be the top priority for B2B companies because it will continue to be a major source of branding in 2022.
SEO is effective because:
- It is always evolving — Google keeps making improvements on its algorithm and search results. This makes it hard for companies to keep up with the constantly changing trends.
- It simplifies searches for customers — Users are able to find information easier now that they are able to use filters in search engines.
Let’s face it: SEO can feel like a full-time job. But if you want to make sure your business is going to be around in the years to come, you need to think about SEO now.
3. Explore the scope of marketing automation
It’s not easy to keep up with all marketing trends and at the same time try to improve your existing sales and lead generation campaigns.
Marketing automation has burst onto the scene in recent years, quickly moving up the agenda of many companies. In fact, according to Forrester, businesses will be spending $25.1 billion annually on marketing automation tools by 2023.
It is basically an algorithm that automates and streamlines your sales and marketing tasks in order to save you time and make your business more efficient. It covers everything from lead profiling, sending targeted emails to customer profiling, and branding.
How does it do this?
Well, who hasn’t spent several hours combing through their sales collaboration data, trying to find a particular piece of information? Thanks to marketing automation, you don’t have to do that anymore: You just plug in the information you want to find, and voila! The system will analyze your data and tell you what you need to know.
You can also use marketing automation to automate newsletters or send out personalized emails based on certain triggers — like buying history or location — that would help you better engage with your customers and clients.
And let’s say you’re having trouble managing your social media accounts: Marketing automation can help with that too! Most automation systems come integrated with marketing tools that would let you automate your social media content depending on when you wish to publish them.
4. Go all out on social media marketing
Do you feel like you’re missing out on the B2B social media marketing bandwagon?
Maybe your heart’s not in it. Or maybe you’re just not sure how it will help your business.
First of all, we get it. Social media can be a bit of a crapshoot for B2B companies — connecting with individual consumers is one thing, but it takes a whole different approach to connect with businesses. Plus, there’s the extra time and effort required to craft content that connects with your audience.
And yet… Many B2B buyers use social media when making a purchase decision — and that number is growing every year! That means it’s more important than ever for B2B companies to pay attention to social media marketing.
Being active on social media helps potential customers connect with your brand. It also gives your brand an online personality and humanizes your company. Note that these are powerful factors when it comes to marketing and connecting with your prospects online.
Social media is also an awesome channel for content sharing and enhancing your brand value, both of which B2B customers appreciate.
While LinkedIn is typically the first network that comes to mind when you think of B2B marketing, Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube also offer a variety of opportunities for you to connect with your target market.
5. Harness the power of email marketing
A lot of people think email is dead, but that couldn’t be further from the truth!
Due to the rise of social media platforms, many consumers are starting to get their updates from Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter — but that doesn’t mean you have to write off email marketing. In fact, email marketing has its own unique advantages.
For starters, it is an effective way to start an interaction with your prospect, provide educational content, advance offers, and sell them your products.
So, how do you get started? If you haven’t already, it’s time to invest in an email marketing service like Mailchimp. These platforms offer free templates, landing pages, and the ability to create professional newsletters that reflect your brand personality.
For example, here’s how you can proceed:
- Send introductory emails to welcome new subscribers.
- Follow up with a series of educational emails about your industry or niche (so people feel comfortable trusting you)
- Invite people to sign up for webinars or live events (which can help build credibility and trust)
- Automatically send out a series of emails just before your big launch so those on your list can participate (and boost sales)
- Prompt people to review your book, product, or service and let the word out to build credibility. This way you can increase your email open rates too.
6. Focus on a selected group of prospects with ABM
Account-based marketing (ABM) is a specialized approach to digital marketing that’s becoming increasingly common in the business-to-business (B2B) industry.
If you’re not familiar with the concept, ABM means developing content, hosting events, and designing entire campaigns specifically aimed at one account or person of interest.
This means that when you are marketing to specific people, you take the time to learn about their company and what they need from you, rather than taking a shotgun approach to your advertising.
7. Adopt omnichannel marketing
The future of business is about integration.
“Omnichannel marketing” is a new term, but an old idea. For decades, businesses have been struggling to find the balance between brick-and-mortar experiences and online shopping.
Companies like Amazon and eBay have become household names because they’ve led the way in integrating online shopping experiences with tangible sales.
The integration among all these platforms creates what we know now as Omnichannel Marketing which has become increasingly popular. This is because of its ability to offer better experiences at every touchpoint and across multiple mediums within their buying cycle.
This isn’t just about eCommerce anymore — it’s about providing customers with the ability to conduct business across multiple channels, for example, in-store, online, or via a mobile app.
8. Focus on the customer journey
We all know that in the end, everything boils down to the buyer. Once they’ve decided to buy your competitor’s product, it’s too late for you to convince them otherwise.
The buyer is the one who will make the final decision, so you need to pay attention to their needs and concerns. They don’t care how great your company is or how big your product is; they only care about what your product can do for them.
So, when you’re creating any sort of content or campaign, whether it’s a blog post or a series of videos designed to showcase your products, keep in mind that you should be putting the customer first.
This means that you should be writing with their needs in mind and tailoring any content you create for them so that it appeals directly to their problems and concerns.
If you can start a conversation with them and build trust by showing them that you understand their pain points and can solve their problems, then you have an excellent shot of converting them into customers.
Get Started With Your B2B Marketing Strategies
It’s not difficult to see that the way B2B marketing is conducted will change significantly in the coming years. Your marketing strategies need to keep up with this change if you want them to remain effective.
And, as you’ve seen above, there are plenty of changes waiting for you. Be sure to keep them in mind when implementing B2B marketing strategies, and do your best to stay ahead of the curve.