Digital marketing is still the biggest opportunity for B2B companies. But it can be overwhelming and risky if you don’t know how to manage the tools and the messages you put out. The effort is well worth it. After all, if you want to succeed, you have to meet your prospects where they spend time — online.
- 71% of B2B buyers get their information online.
- Online content marketing costs 62% less than traditional marketing and generates about three times as many leads, according to Demand Metric.
- Brands spend 25–43% of their marketing budget on online content, yet less than a quarter of CMOs feel they are producing the right information for the right audience, and delivering it at the right time and in the correct format, according to Marketing Profs and eMarketer.
Many B2B companies are extremely nervous to enter this sophisticated space, and it’s understandable. But it’s a dangerous mistake to not enter this game and you will be left behind by your competition the longer you wait. Digital enables you to move from one-to-one sales conversations to one-to-many connections that fuel lead generation.
THE FOUR CORE PRINCIPLES OF DIGITAL MARKETING SUCCESS IN 2019
1. Know who you are targeting
How well do you understand your buyer personas? To get maximum ROI out of your digital marketing spend, you need to be sure that your ads and your content are seen by the right people. One mistake we commonly see is when a target audience is too broad. For instance, you can’t just say you are targeting engineers. What type? What size are the companies they work for? What is their specialty?
Here are some examples of the types of information we collect when documenting buyer personas:
- Gender
- Age
- Title
- Level of experience or seniority
- Goals
- Pain points
- Affiliations
- Groups or memberships
- Education
- Interests or hobbies
- Job criteria or compliance needs
- Geographies
- Size of company they work at
2. Clarify how you define success
Determine your KPIs. There are a wide range of marketing goals you can accomplish online, but you must first select the right goal in order to drive the right strategy. Do you want to…
- Drive traffic to your website
- Drive leads to your sales team
- Educate the market or change their buying habits
- Be seen as a thought leader
- Grow the follower counts of your social media channels
- Have a higher level of engagement on social media
- Drive attendance and track follow up for trade shows or other events
- Launch a new product
- Get your message in front of a very specific audience
- Increase your visibility
- Get ranked on Google’s first page of results
3. Budget for consistency
Digital tools become more effective as you acquire more data. Increasing the quality of your data requires consistent application and constant attention. There is no “set it and forget it” mode that will get you results. This is why so many companies choose to source digital marketing to an agency. Even if you do hire an outside expert, know that collaboration is critical to digital ROI. You must have someone in-house willing and able to ask and answer questions, dive into reports and provide approvals. You need to begin the process with an understanding that while you should expect results, you will need to iterate to achieve your maximum potential — which takes time and attention.
4. Use strong calls to action
No matter your goals, you must remember that you are making an exchange. In sales, we know that we are exchanging our product or service for money. In the marketing space, there are two types of exchanges that you need to consider:
- Attention
- Time
When you are trying to get people’s attention (and to get them to remember your name), what are you exchanging that makes an interruption of their already noisy life worth it? What value are you providing in exchange for their attention? Is your message compelling, relevant and interesting? To build your visibility and awareness, you must master the art of getting attention and piquing curiosity.
If you want people to take action, you are asking for time. It’s a finite resource, and no one thinks they have enough of it. What can you provide that is valuable to your market that would be worth spending their equally valuable time? Discover the psychological triggers that prompt buyers to act now in this blog post. Remember, you are not just selling a product or service, you are selling a solution to a problem.
To truly succeed, you need the right partner to help plan and execute your B2B digital marketing strategy. So, what should you look for in a digital marketing agency? Keep these 7 tips in mind.
Blender is a full-service B2B marketing agency focused on accelerating growth for clients in manufacturing, healthcare, software and professional services. If you have any questions, we’re here to help.
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