Louis Foong

B2B marketing is a machine with different moving parts. Putting all of your eggs in one basket may result in your company having a fantastic blog or social media presence, but you’d be missing out on some crucial tools that would support your efforts. A brilliant B2B marketing strategy is a holistic one that includes some different approaches. This week’s infographic created by Smart Insights is a great primer on how to build up a comprehensive B2B marketing strategy, divided into 7 different steps.  It contains much information, so I’ll be breaking it into two parts posted this week and next.  Hopefully, you will find some new insights or spot a strategy you may have overlooked while developing your plan. Let’s take a look!

Step 1: Develop a B2B Strategy.

It may be hard to believe, but according to the infographic 51% of businesses don’t have a strategy! To gain a competitive edge, make sure that you have a clear target audience, develop a detailed SWOT analysis of your current marketing, build a business case using sales funnel and LTV models.

Which tactic to tackle first?

• 93% of B2B content marketers use social media (other than blogs)
  
• 80% use eNewsletters
  
• 78% post articles on their company’s website
  
• 75% produce illustrations or photos
  
• 74% post videos
  
• 69% organize in-person events
  
• 67% write blogs
  
• 47% create branded content tools
  
• 45% produce infographics
  
• 44% build microsites
  
• 42% develop mobile apps

Step 2: Effective Websites.

B2B customers agree that having a website is crucial when it comes to decision marketing. Having a great B2B website is an ongoing process – you need to test regularly and refine your content. Get feedback from your customers, review your lead generation devices, optimize your customer journeys, and try to strike the right balance between selling, informing, and entertaining your audience.  Tools such as Google Analytics and event tracking can help to flesh out the full story of your website in terms of customer use.

When it comes to the greatest commercial impact of digital marketing activities in 2016, marketing automation (20%), content marketing (18%), Big Data (12%), mobile marketing (9%) and conversion rate optimization (9%) are the best bets.

Step 3: Search Marketing.

30% of B2B marketers regularly overlook SEO, while over half (55%) don’t pay attention to Pay-Per-Click. Get ahead of the competition by getting a handle on B2B search marketing: group target keyphrases by decision-maker, define your key brand messages for search engine results pages, reach out to other content providers to build a network of quality backlinks to your content, and use localized meta-data for international marketing.

The top channels B2B customers use to research purchases include:

• Search engines (82%)
  
• Company websites (80%)
  
• Customer reviews/case studies (54%)
  
• Data and stats (46%)

Next week, I’ll be talking about the remaining four steps to brilliant B2B marketing. In the meantime, let me know what you think about the first three steps. Are you one of the 49% of companies with a current B2B strategy, or are you starting to build one this year? What resources are you using to guide your planning? Let me know in the comments!

About the author: Louis Foong View all posts by Louis Foong

Louis Foong is the founder and CEO of The ALEA Group Inc., one of North America’s most innovative B2B demand generation specialists. With more than three decades of experience in the field, Louis is a thought leader on trends, best practices and issues concerning marketing and lead generation. He is member of the B2B Council of the Canadian Marketing Association (“CMA”) and a regular contributor to the (CMA) blog. His work has appeared in Yahoo News, SmartBrief, CMO.com, USA Today, CustomerThink, Business2Community and on the list of “must reads” by McKinsey on Marketing and Sales. His commentaries and opinion pieces are shared by readers and valued for their industry insights, unique perspective, real-life experiences and often radical views that stimulate active discussions. Louis’ astute sense of marketing and sales along with a clear vision of the evolving lead generation landscape has proved beneficial to numerous organizations, both small and large. With the right advice and a slew of result-driven services, he enables clients to gain maximum return on investment for their lead generation efforts. ALEA’s clients include companies in the technology, telecommunications, software, healthcare and professional services industries. Prior to starting the ALEA Group, Louis Foong has held various senior executive positions within corporate America. Today he is known and well-respected as a thought leader and pioneer in the B2B marketing world. To receive news and B2B lead generation tips from Louis Foong and The ALEA Group, click here.

 

Soure: louisfoong.com