In the past year, we’ve seen more brick-and-mortar businesses shift their efforts online.
Justifiably so with government and health protocols disrupting our usual way of life.
But is having an online presence enough to bring in business?
No.
Not if you don’t understand the inner workings of the online world. Like physical selling, online selling has its set of dynamics.
B2B buyers independently gather information about the products or services they want to purchase. They compare offerings, prices, and tangible ROI before getting in touch with a sales rep.
As a seller, your digital marketing strategy can help influence their purchase decision, in your favor or otherwise.
Today, we’ll share five B2B digital marketing strategies to help tip the scales in your favor.
- Set Clear Goals Focused on Your Ideal Customer
The first question you should ask is, “What do I want to achieve from my online activities?”
Is it to create brand awareness? Generate leads, sell, or build deeper relationships with my existing customers?
When you know what your goal is, you can then create buyer personas that fit your goals.
If your offerings target a specific niche, half the work is already done, but those targeting audiences across multiple industries will need to put in some work.
It’s important to make the personas as truthful as possible, otherwise, your marketing campaigns will be time-wasting hit-or-miss efforts.
Some questions you can ask include:
- Who will use our products or services?
- Who are the decision-makers? Where do they hang out online?
- What is the location and size of my prospective clients?
- How has the pandemic impacted their operations – positively or otherwise? What are their pain points?
- How do our solutions tie with their needs?
- How are they currently handling their pain points? Is our solution more effective? If so, how?
- Who are our competitors? How are their offerings compared to our own?
- What are our key differentiators?
- Make Your Website Dynamic
Sales experts say you have approximately 8 seconds to impress website visitors. If they find your site boring, and outdated, the majority will leave.
They may lose confidence in you as an active and vibrant business and may not return to your site soon.
Here’s how you can revamp your website:
- Keep the home page simple and uncluttered. Showcase fewer offerings with detailed information about these solutions.
- Use landing pages to explain the value proposition of your offerings. You can talk about your solutions’ specific benefits and ability to solve problems.
- Add visually appealing images and video to key conversion pages. Many site visitors prefer viewing content over reading it.
- Find creative ways of capturing your visitors’ email addresses such as offering free downloads depending on your industry.
- Add fresh content regularly. Blog posts, videos, industry analyses, ebooks, and white papers are great content for your site.
- Add social proof for credibility. Use testimonials, case studies, and pictures of your staff.
- Install live chat to ensure prospects receive prompt answers to their questions
- Optimize the site for mobile use, to allow decision-makers to view your offerings on the go.
- Make Cold Calls
“Hello, _______. This is _______ from XYZ company. May I have a minute of your time to share the solutions we’ve created to address such-and-such a problem?”
The phone line goes dead.
Cold calling sends shivers down our spine and just about every salesperson around the world has been down this road.
Should we give it up?
Absolutely not.
Recent research shows that up to 69% of buyers willingly accept calls from new salespeople.
It tells you that cold calling still works, you just have to be strategic about it.
Here are cold calling best practices that you can employ:
- Understand what you’re selling: there’s nothing worse than a salesperson who has poor knowledge of the product or service they are selling.
- Research the prospect: we can’t overstate the importance of researching your lead. Get their name right, their designation, the pain points their company or industry is dealing with, and how your solution can make their life better.
- Find a commonality: research what interests or connections you have in common. Or look up an achievement they had recently and find a natural way of bringing it into the conversation. The listener will appreciate it.
- Modulate your voice: monotone is boring and will see that call end faster than you had expected. A fresh voice that’s coupled with enthusiasm will make the call more appealing.
- Know the ideal day and time to call: experts recommend avoiding Mondays and Fridays, leaving Tuesday to Thursday as the best days to make cold calls. Schedule your calls for 9 – 10 am and 3 – 4 pm in the evenings.
- Embrace Social Advertising
Before Covid-19 happened, social advertising was already taking over the digital market space. The pandemic scaled it.
If you want B2B buyers to discover your solutions, social media campaigns will help draw in your targeted audience.
B2B sellers use social platforms for various reasons including:
- Social listening: companies gather behavioral data and characteristics from potential buyers to help them curate effective marketing campaigns.
- Brand awareness: “hello world” is best demonstrated on social platforms. If you want to introduce your business to new markets and prospects, social media is the way to go.
- Driving sales: some businesses sell directly from their social platforms while others use the platforms to promote products or services
Popular platforms among B2B sellers include:
This is where most B2B professionals and decision-makers hang out. They read status updates, articles, and other useful information available. It’s a great platform to educate your audience and generate leads for nurturing.
Your Facebook business page is crucial in keeping current and prospective customers engaged in your brand. Text, product/service explainer videos, and podcasts will keep your audience in the loop.
YouTube
It’s a known fact that video is king. YouTube is the perfect platform for your “how-to” and other educational videos that explain your unique value proposition.
- Use Virtual Events
The possibilities of virtual events are practically endless and they help businesses stay connected to their consumers.
From online webinars to conventions, and live streaming, these events carry a host of benefits.
First, they are much cheaper to run compared to traditional meetings since you won’t have to consider transportation costs, rental space or size, and other hassles.
Virtual events reach wider audiences, giving them immediate access to you irrespective of their location. Further, footage and materials from your events such as photos or talks can be repurposed for content marketing.
With virtual events, you can measure the quality and quantity of interactions. You’ll get clear insights into topics your audience resonated with most and use this information to nurture leads.
These events take many shapes, including webinars, conferences, live demos, how-to videos, sales presentations, Q & A sessions, and expert panels among others.
To make sure you get the best of virtual events:
- Invest in high-quality production tools like a good camera, computers with good speaker quality and stable internet connection.
- Promote the event on your site and social platforms to maximize reach.
- Create compelling content that will resonate with your target audience.
- Conduct dry runs to check ambient noise, sound quality, lighting, backdrops, and help your speakers feel at ease.
- Host the event at a time that best suits your audiences, keeping in mind differing time zones.
