Creating a digital strategy, in general, is a complex task that requires a lot of dedication and commitment. However, when a digital marketing strategy is created with the purpose of delivering on B2B objectives, the work becomes even more complex.

If you’re here, the chances are that you have been trying to find ways to create a successful B2B digital marketing strategy that works.

This article offers a glance at everything that you need to know about a digital marketing strategy for the B2B industry in Canada and the US.

Understanding B2B Marketing Strategies

Before we dive into how to create a successful B2B digital marketing strategy, let’s get perspective on what B2B marketing is.

A B2B digital marketing strategy is a detailed plan of how your online presence will be strengthened with the careful use of the powerful tools of digital marketing. It’s rare that a B2B business will understand all the intricacies involved in getting their website and social media to generate leads.

With a B2C marketing plan, you’re often speaking with one individual, the decision maker. However, in the B2B world, there are many decision makers that may be involved. Therefore, the digital marketing strategy must incorporate into its details exactly how all of these various stakeholders in the purchase decision will be reached. The buyer’s entire journey is complex and nuanced. Where creativity and a solid message may suffice in a B2C marketing campaign, they are simply not enough for B2B marketing efforts. The latter requires substantial evidence of data source, greater reliability, and a more transparent, overarching vision.

 

How a tailored B2B digital marketing strategy will impact businesses

Marketing is an investment in your business growth with a quantifiable return on that investment. Strategic B2B marketing has the potential to make a tangible impact on your business. Yet the benefits of a B2B marketing campaign can only be realized when marketing leadership and investment work in harmony.

The journey of a B2B customer flows in the following direction:

1. Discovery
2. Research
3. Purchase
4. Customer Service
5. Retention

A tailored B2B strategy considers all these aspects and helps move the customer down the funnel toward the sale.

Discovery

In this phase, digital marketing creates the much-needed brand awareness of your business to reach your target audience as a top prospect. Some indicators of a successful B2B marketing in its discovery phase are:

• Increase in web traffic
• Increase in social media traffic
• Higher success rate of initial sales calls

Research

The research phase for a B2B business is more crucial than for a B2C business. Your clients are well-informed about their field and clear about what they need from you. A B2B digital marketing strategy focused on the client’s consideration phase will bring:

• More leads generation
• Increased website conversion rates
• More views on relevant web content and tools
• Better closing rate

Purchase

During the purchase phase, marketing is key in assisting your new clients’ onboarding and navigating your services with ease. It will contribute to your success in:

• Greater service/product utilizing rates
• Gaining positive customer feedback

Customer service and retention

Marketing in both of these phases can help get through your current customer base with new services and products. Positive brand communication and promotion after purchase make the customer feel validated in their choice.

Indications that this phase is working are:

• Increased rate in sales per customer
• Improved customer retention rate

How B2B digital marketing strategies perform on different digital platforms

Before planning and taking your next step in your B2B digital marketing campaign, consider the factors below. Every platform operates differently and is home to different types of audiences, so keep this in mind while moving forward.

1.    Social media and PPC

Using social media and pay-per-click services like Google Ads is often the go-to B2B strategy for many businesses. However, it works differently for all business scenarios. If you’re a start-up, it’s better to be mindful of your social media advertising and choose the targeted audience, mainly executives and other businesses relevant to your field. So you can make the most out of it without falling into the ‘it costs more and does less’ category.

2.    Video marketing

Customer engagement is a significant factor in increasing conversion rates for both B2B and B2C marketing. But the difference here is that video marketing in B2B often aims to engage its audience by educating them about its services. Video marketing is more effective than any other visual appeal you can bring to your customers.

Use a variety of platforms to reach your audience, including social media, websites, and video streaming sites like YouTube. Use your videos to provide information and help guide your audience down the conversion funnel.

3.    PR/ Content marketing

Although content marketing is currently an integral part of any digital marketing strategy, PR is often overlooked by many B2B marketers. The use of PR and content marketing together will extend your business reach by miles.

Look for ways to integrate your brand story and persona into ongoing conversations in your niche and use content to drive those conversations forward.

Email marketing is also proven to be effective in engaging businesses to leverage your services before they look elsewhere.

 

Creating the Perfect B2B Digital Marketing Strategy

As marketers, it is way more interesting to learn practical ways to accelerate lead generation than to rely on theories and definitions. Therefore, the following three suggestions will help you practically construct a B2B marketing campaign that is inferior to none!

1)   Identify your unique selling points.

To successfully execute a B2B campaign, you must have an overarching vision. When I we generally say “vision,” we don’t just mean brand awareness or generating leads. It means a clear grasp of all things that define you as a brand. This includes unique selling points.

You must identify the elements that set you apart, and these elements really do have to be unique. It is much harder for you to compel a business into investing in you, and therefore what you offer them truly must be one of a kind.

If you have a good understanding of your business, it will be easier to use marketing tools to generate leads, identify target audiences, improve your search engine ranking, and create online marketing content.

2)   Get to know your prospects.

You need to know almost everything about your prospects! From the hierarchy of their companies to their pain points and preferences – you need to take everything into account before you market your products or services to them.

One way you can do this by creating a buyer persona. Yes, the semi-fictional characters they taught us about in business schools are actually one of the key elements in a B2B business marketing campaign.

You can get to know your buyer through a customer-facing or sales team or even marketing automation tools such as Google Analytics. The point is, that the more detailed your findings are, the better you can define and engage your audience.

3)   Align your needs with the customer’s by crafting the right message.

There are two key things you can do to better understand your brand and your customers: 1) learn your brand’s unique selling points, and 2) research your target market. Knowing these things will help you create a stronger.

Once you attune yourself to the requirements of the parties, you must brainstorm a message that calls out to the customer and at the same time doesn’t neglect your values.

A huge chunk of crafting the right message is dependent on picking the right creative. Your terminology, landing pages, visuals, formatting, the content of your blog posts, email marketing – every possible thing will be one in accordance with the mutual interests between you and your customer!

 

5 successful B2B digital marketing advertising strategies

Everything mentioned prior in this article are the definitive steps to ensure your B2B marketing is a big success. Develop a clear marketing strategy that takes into account your target audience, objectives, and budget.

1. Retention marketing
2. Interactive content
3. Email marketing
4. Video marketing
5. Nostalgia/ reinvention marketing

Although a B2B campaign is a vastly complex matter, the three tips mentioned above are a great place to start with a digital marketing strategy for B2B companies.

We can help you expand your marketing strategy by crafting the perfect digital marketing plans for your company! Call us today.

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Why Digital Marketing Is Important for B2B Business

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How To Get More B2B Leads In 6 Steps