Top B2B Digital Marketing Practices for Driving Growth

Digital marketing strategies have plenty of benefits in their corner. They are far-reaching, customizable, and backed by algorithms and analytical metrics which make for precise reporting and performance checks. Better yet, digital marketing generates considerably higher revenues than traditional methods which increases their appeal in the B2B world. With an array of digital tactics to choose from, businesses can select those that match their budget and goals. Here are some worthwhile options.

Acquaint Yourself with Big Data

We often associate big data usage with larger companies but in the real sense, even smaller businesses can harness its use to make better decisions.

As B2B vendors invest in technological innovations, they find themselves collecting enormous data in varying formats about their customers by the day. Data that they analyse and derive insights to ramp up decision-making.

Top benefits may include:

• Gaining deeper customer insights. Big data can reveal how people navigate your web pages, high-interest pages/blogs/articles, and the channels that bring them to your product or pricing pages. You can the items people added to carts and later removed to help you organize retargeting campaigns.
• Increasing market intelligence. By gaining a broader understanding of your market’s dynamics including customer preferences and experiences, you can develop customer-specific solutions for high-value market segments.
• Taking advantage of predictive analytics to manage supply chains. With modern supply chains becoming increasingly fragile, predictive analytics may help keep production, distribution, and staffing optimal at all times. 
• Making smarter recommendations. Building on customer insights, vendors can turn to big data to make highly relevant recommendations based off consumer behavior, market trends, and demographics. It can also help you identify upselling opportunities.

Improve Customer Experiences

A brand’s success or decline is often pegged on customer experiences. Positive experiences encourage repeat purchases and encourage loyalty giving you a much-needed edge over the competition. 

With exceptional customer service, you can build brand equity allowing you to charge a premium for your solutions. Buyers are known to pay more if it means they will receive superb all-round service.

To help you establish positive customer experiences, consider the following:

• Know your customers. Most buyers experience anxiety during and after purchases as they need to prove they spent company money wisely. Leverage the information they have shared to understand their unique needs and pressures and create experiences that ease their anxiety.
• Create an enterprise-wide customer-centric vision. Whether it’s a phone call or web ad, or email communication, all customer interactions must be intentionally designed to exude a positive experience. Empower your staff to build solid relationships with customers and solve their problems expediently.
• Invest in customer service tech. Consider tech that will help facilitate pleasant experiences once you onboard customers. Automate processes, use chatbots, and tailor product recommendations based off customer data
• Educate your audience. Taking an advisory role means buyers can turn to you for product knowledge and new insights ultimately increasing your credibility.

Leverage Cold Calls

There’s no brushing cold calling aside. Research shows that up to 82 percent of buyers will willingly meet with a team whose salespeople reach out to them. It’s a powerful opportunity to connect with new prospects and share what your solutions can do for them.

Having said that, many reps are unable to maximize the potency of this strategy and we have tips to help you:

• Be patient and persistent. You’re likely to hear several “nos” before a “yes” comes through so don’t give up after your first call. Success requires patience and multiple attempts so keep at it.
• Take an active interest in making cold calls. Call reluctance is real and affects many reps. Start by seeing yourself as a helpful consultant rather than just a salesperson. Strive toward making meaningful conversations with prospects and inject some humor into your pitch.
• Prepare yourself. Know what you’re selling and keep industry-relevant information as well as provable stats from your old customers handy. Research your prospect and check how well your solutions fit their needs.
• Interact with your prospect. Make the prospect comfortable, show genuine interest, and aim for a dialogue rather than a pitch-spitting monologue. Ask relevant questions without being pushy and build from the answers they provide.

Content Marketing

Effective content marketing goes beyond attracting audiences to read your content pieces or watch your videos. It needs to inspire curiosity and compel your target audiences to engage you in conversations that may lead to sales.

Best practices include:

• Understand audience needs. Talk to your customers to unravel what they struggle with, join relevant LinkedIn communities, or scan your competitor’s site. You can turn the audiences’ comments, concerns, and questions into topics for your team to tackle in depth.
• Let your industry determine your content formats. If you’re in office design or furniture business, visual content is your best option. Other industries may prefer text-based content. While you’re at it, figure out the best (social) distribution channels to maximize reach.
• Systematize your process. Put together a content calendar, plan the stories, and decide on content collaborators and how often they need to submit work for review and publishing. Consistency lets your audience when to expect content from your organization.

LinkedIn Marketing

The B2C sector is already capitalizing on social platforms to market and sell its goods. 

While you may not do the same, the LinkedIn platform—a favorite among business professionals—is superb for familiarizing potential customers with your brand. And better yet, get them to visit your website.

To win with this strategy consider:

• Encouraging staff members to build and maintain an active presence on the platform. Let staff share your posts, interact with customers and prospects on community groups, and forge connections. Their posts and responses should exude empathy and expertise to elicit trust.
• Experimenting with LinkedIn ads. These will target qualified audiences aka the people who make purchase decisions. LinkedIn video ads are particularly useful as they play automatically ensuring your target audience catches your content.
• Publishing valuable content. From virtual demos to thought leadership pieces, customer success stories, industry insights, and quality blogs publish expert and value-laden content to establish authority. A good mix may help maintain audience interest and steer them towards engaging and buying from you.