As a B2B marketer you want your brand to get noticed, B2B Marketing Strategies to improve and ultimately develop stronger business relationships with your customers and prospects. However, sometimes the continuous drive to remain relevant and innovate can cause some organisations to run out of steam, and ideas.
There are lots of great ideas out there for B2B marketers, and the recent WebAwards are a great place to look for inspiration, identify trends and see what leading brands are doing. In the same way, this post shares 7 brilliant B2B marketing ideas that can readily inject some life into your team’s marketing bones.
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1. LinkedIn
Of all of the social media platforms, LinkedIn, the now not-so-hidden gem, is the best place to generate leads and qualified conversions. Like its more personal social network, Facebook, it allows you to share content and business information. Perhaps LinkedIn’s greatest advantage is the ability to target within a smaller more defined field of likely prospects. You can join groups, use your connections, post ads and reach out in more personalised ways to people who are more likely to engage.
See also: ‘Using LinkedIn for Stronger Lead Generation’
2. Micro-targeting & Precision Marketing
Here marketers get clever by focusing on a smaller target, but are equipped with more strategy and relevant content to make a bigger impact. A carefully directed strategy is applied based on detailed knowledge and profiling of key personas in your target market. A marketing campaign is then devised appealing to each persona, addressing their unique pain points and communicating with the directly via email, direct mail and via telemarketing. Essentially you are creating a value add campaign that is very targeted and more likely to lead to engagement.
A recent example for MIH was a Kimberly-Clark Professional Food Processing campaign. The different, important decision markers including Production Managers and Quality Assurance Personnel were targeted when selling new industrial products.
3. Implementing a Fun Social Media Campaign
We’ve seen some great, fun social media campaigns in this space including Intstagram, Twitter and Facebook. Some organisations have mastered the art of the #hashtag. Used effectively, hashtags can result in social ‘tending‘– which is great for your brand. One such example is conference calling Powwownow, they utilised twitter, inviting clients to tweet any issues they were having at work, or to make suggestions around how their working day could be made better using #powwowHELPMEnow. The result? A hilarious social campaign with powwownow used creative ways to address the posted issues such as moving an office onto the roof for a day. Twitter blew up and the brand received recognition, followers and new prospects. Images and video were shared and the brand made its presence known in a new unique way.
Do you have anything new coming up in your business (such as an event) you could design a hashtag for?
4. Create Digital Content, Video
It’s not just that videos are increasing in popularity; it’s also that they are a much more interesting way to build engagement. Videos for B2B need not be long, and can showcase people using your products, explain how to use your products, include testimonials, interviews and tell a compelling brand story. They can then be shared easily across all marketing platforms. The video tutorials from Method CRM. They don’t always need to be grand productions either – a simple 5 minute video shot on your iPhone (when done right) can also help you connect to your customers!
5. The Power of Mobile
This is a great way that your brand can really differentiate. Aside from the obvious actions such as ensuring your website is mobile ready i.e. responsive, you might like to consider how you present your information, and how this shows up on the various and popular used devices – primarily on their smartphones. Look better than your competition, and also make it easy to interact and buy. You might also want to look at going ‘next level’ and consider developing something useful and creative -- like a mobile app to make interactions with you customers a more pleasant experience.
See also: Latest buzz in mobile marketing
6. The Webinar - Connecting, Informing, Selling
This is a great way to bring in new business, provide value and to retarget customers that may have dropped off the radar. Hosting a webinar on a new trend, topic or issue that is of interest to your industry and audience is a really fantastic way to engage. You’ll need the right software (such as Gotomeeting), an accomplished host and a subject expert to relay the information. Webinars need to be long enough to get the message across and short enough not to make it hard to commit to. Even gifted presenters can be hard to listen to for long periods of time. Where possible, fly without a net and present a live webinar. The terror of technology issues can make this a daunting choice – but having some interactivity between presenters and participants is a much more engaging experience. A recording of the webinar can be accessed by those who are unable to participate live. Typically, webinars run from 30minutes to an hour and are B2B engagement builders. Webinar attendees are more likely to respond to promotions and with any luck, have experienced a positive interaction with your brand.
7. Content Marketing
Content is King - this we know, and it seems to encompass almost anything. For B2B we need to think about our customers and how we can add real value with the content we produce and share. This can include the curation and sharing of useful posts via social media, or generating topical and helpful blog posts. Investing in the preparation of a Whitepaper is going next level. This gives leverage as you are providing something original, valuable and new. You will also be able to market this across all platforms. Generation of interesting interviews, images and infographs are other great ways to promote interest in your brand and industry, and build trust with your customers.
MIH are bursting at the seams with great B2B marketing ideas for your business, B2B or not-for-profit. We’d love to start a conversation about how we can help.