CUTTING THROUGH THE NOISE IN THE BUSINESS WORLD
In recent times, a large percentage of marketing campaigns and strategies in the business world fail, with companies not meeting their targets. This is often the case with a lot of B2B companies.
The challenge often lies with the problem of generating quality traffic and leads, tackling information overload, how to stay top of mind and improving creativity, etc. This article explores 5 top marketing strategies for B2B proven to be relevant and effective in modern-day marketing.
It is obvious that there is a marketing revolution following the effects of Covid 19 and the attendant lockdown of countries across the globe. B2B buyers do not solely rely on sales copies anymore; rather they guide themselves through decision-making process by getting reviews of products and services from their peers and influencers.
Following the above observation, better marketing strategies are being explored by B2B marketers. This is with the objective of engaging both potential and current customers, and in the long run, meeting up with their sales goals. Top amongst the said strategies being currently adopted by companies are Content Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Marketing, Inbound Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, etc.
Content marketing is one of the top and most effective marketing strategies adopted by B2B marketers for leading brands. It requires the provision of relevant and informative content to a brand’s prospects and customers. It is pertinent that the content is one that is capable of helping them solve their problems. Content marketing replaces the traditional mode of marketing where a brand merely pitches its products or services to the prospects and customers.
Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach that is focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience. This is done with the intention of generating profitable customer action.
Content is said to be the present and future of marketing, thus making content marketing a top marketing strategy that is not just applicable to B2B companies, but the business world in general. Seth Godin, Author of Tribes in describing the importance of content marketing said “Content Marketing is all the marketing that’s left.”
The major catch with content marketing is that regardless of the marketing strategy a brand decides to apply, there is always a need for some content marketing to be incorporated into the process to produce the desired result.
This is because valuable content is the major focus for all the other forms of marketing. For example, in the use of search engine optimization, it is only effective for businesses that publish valuable and consistent content, and then in the case of inbound marketing too, content is also important in driving inbound traffic and leads generation, etc.
Content marketing is beneficial to B2B businesses because it is generally effective at increasing sales, it helps in saving marketing costs, it promotes and allows for customer loyalty, etc. it is effective based on its ability to attract prospects through a sales funnel, grows brand visibility, integrity and appeal. It also helps in aligning target markets with appropriate information.
It is a fact that 9 out of 10 B2B buyers say online content has a moderate to major effect on their purchase decisions. It is thus important to strategically create an avenue for consumers to learn about your brand and engage with it through intentional content, with a focus on educating the buyers. This is underscored by a recent statistic by CEB to the effect that, B2B buyers are typically 57% of the way to a buying decision before actively engaging with sales.
To be effective at content marketing, it is essential to have a documented content marketing strategy. Thinkzilla PR and Consulting Group is a successful Marketing Strategy Firm has helped lots of clients map out a formal B2B content marketing strategy that resulted in the companies making 10 times their sales return, using a lot of innovation and creativity, which is usually lacking in a lot of traditional marketing.
Inbound marketing is a digital marketing strategy that guides B2B buyers to your company when they are looking for solutions to a problem. It involves the creation of relevant content and experiences that make the consumers come to the company, rather than the company seeking them out directly
Hubspot refers to inbound marketing as a marketing strategy that attracts customers by creating valuable content and experiences tailored to them. It is a strategy just as in the content marketing discussed above, that involves building meaningful, lasting relationships with consumers, prospects, and customers.
It requires companies to target and attract the right consumers using valuable content. This is followed by presenting solutions and various insights that reflects an understanding of their pain points and goals. Then finally it also involves providing adequate help and support to find meaningful success with their eventual purchase.
The inbound marketing process works in a way that is a complete opposite of traditional marketing, this is in the sense that it does not rely on marketing details such as the use of TV, radio, telemarketing, press releases, billboards, etc., to generate leads, rather the B2B buyers are positioned to seek out the B2B companies. So, instead of going to meet the buyers in the conventional outward way, they come into the companies in an inbound manner.
The benefit of this marketing strategy lies in the fact that it is content-based and so it is cost effective. It also has the ability to generate quality traffic and brand exposure for the company. It is also in tune with the psychology of the modern buyer, who turns to the internet for a seamless buying experience. Inbound marketing is an appealing marketing strategy because of its capability of increasing trust and brand loyalty between the B2B consumer and the company.
It is worth knowing that a recent statistic revealed that globally, 41% of marketers confirm inbound produces measurable ROI, and 82% of marketers who blog see positive ROI for their inbound marketing. And that inbound practices produce 54% more leads than traditional outbound practices.
Thinkzilla PR and Consulting Group also use the inbound Marketing Strategy to help its clients connect with their targeted audiences in a high growth spectrum.
Following the realization that the internet has become a powerful marketing tool in today’s business world, especially as people consultt the internet for information and reviews about product and services before making up their mind on buying, securing a good space on search engine results page has become a viable marketing strategy to rake in sales by B2B companies.
SEO involves a process where a company tweaks some aspects of its content and webpage with a view to making it more attractive to search engines. This is done in other to increase the value of the website and webpage, which is created to bring educative contents about the product or service and related information to the knowledge of the B2B buyers.
The benefits of SEO are far reaching on the visibility of a B2B company, which in turn positively affects brand sales. From increasing brand awareness on the internet, it also gives out the perception of expertise to the company, then is has a high rate of yielding an increase in conversion of leads, while allowing the company’s brand to have a presence on the internet, thus opening up sales opportunities.
The Search Engine People, 2021 made a study which revealed that 50% of visitors are more likely to click a result if the brand appears multiple times in search engine results. Another Hubspot statistic revealed that the best three lead sources for B2B companies are SEO (14%), email marketing, (13%), and social media (12%).
The Thinkzilla Consulting team has used the SEO marketing strategy to help both small corporations, small to mid-size businesses and faith leaders, to build high growth marketing strategies that have been proven to skyrocket success.
Social media marketing strategy aims at driving website traffic and increasing visibility of a B2B company by providing prospects and consumers content that is relevant. The said content, which could be in the form of videos, images or text, is shared across social media platforms.
This is often a strategic move, made with the goal of increasing the company’s relevance in search results within the social media networks, such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Instagram, etc.
Although most B2B sales initiated through social media marketing may not happen online, social media marketing still has the advantage of sales promotion. This is because social media helps in identifying prospects, positioning the product or service to appeal to them through creating a relationship with potential B2B buyers and general nurturing of leads.
Social media marketing strategy gives a B2B company the visibility to be recognized as an opinion-leader in the company’s field of influence. It helps drive traffic and new lead generation, and helps in nurturing existing relationships between BTB companies and buyers. It provides a human face to brands, thereby encouraging a high conversion rate. It also helps in improving search engine optimization.
According to a Leadsource infographic, 72% of B2B buyers use social media to find what they are looking for. Also Sprout Social reports a research that revealed that 88% of consumers are likely to buy from a brand after reading reviews on social media.
Social media marketing strategy is one of the strategies that the Thinkzilla consulting team utilizes in enabling B2B companies get their marketing right in other to meet sales targets and maximize profit.
A Pardot research revealed that 72% of customers begin at a search engine like Google when researching products and services online. This is the reason why a Search Engine Marketing is a top marketing strategy in the world of marketing today.
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is the science of creating a process of attracting motivated customers to your B2B Company by increasing its website’s visibility and presence in major search engine results such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo, etc.
For a SEM strategy to be effective there is a need to leverage on a combination of Search Engine Optimization and a Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising to be found during those searches. Pay-per-click advertising is a form of internet advertising system that is used to direct traffic to websites. In a PPC system, the advertiser only pays when the advert is clicked.
Basically, a PPC advert requires a B2B company to buy or sponsor a link that appears as an advert in search engine results when keywords related to their product or service are searched.
The benefits of SEM/PPC to a B2B company are that it helps the company to feature in multiple markets and audience, while generating visibility at a cost effective rate.
On the whole, designing an effective B2B marketing strategy that is able to convert and yield sales require consultation with an agency that is creative and innovative with its ideas and strategies, which is not an easy task. For a marketing strategy to be effective, brands need to create an appropriate budget and also develop indicators to measure their success.
Thinkzilla Consulting has used all or a combination of some of the above and many more creative and innovative marketing strategies to help a wide range of businesses, individuals, faith based organizations, etc to improve their social media and website visibility, media value, media impression, and outstanding business growth.
If you are interested in creating an effective, unique and innovative B2B Marketing Strategy, then Thinkzilla’s DEI workplace consulting team in Scottsdale, Atlanta, and Houston will design and implement a strategy that fits perfectly into your company’s budget and projections. Click here to learn more about Thinkzilla’s DEI workplace consulting, workforce diversity recruiting, and development programs in Scottsdale and across the US.
