Don’t Get Caught in the Weeds: Strategize Your B2B Marketing Plan

Fishing, for many like myself, is a hobby I’m passionate about. Early morning sunrises on the lake, the perfect harmony of pole, lure, and clear waters, and the perfect catch to brag about to my cousins; there’s nothing I like more. But what happens when my boat gets caught up in weeds? It slows my progress down and makes it difficult to reach my day’s goal of reeling in lunch.

That makes me think of how our clients get bogged down in the weeds when they’re trying to attain their marketing goals. They get caught up in the day-to-day needs of the business, and it’s difficult to maintain focus on the ultimate goal they’re working toward. That’s why they need a strategy - a plan to identify where you’re going, and why, and can show you when you’ve hit the target.

Get out of the weeds quickly and utilize an effective B2B marketing strategy to meet your goals.   

What is a B2B marketing strategy?

A strategy is the cornerstone of your marketing plan. It tells you how you’re going to get from point A to point B by establishing who you’re targeting, what their needs are, where they’ll be searching for your product and brand, and what your organization needs to do to effectively reach them. It’s the foundational element to your marketing team reaching its goals. And, it acts as a map to ensure that you don’t get lost in the weeds of day-to-day marketing needs.

How do I know if it’s working?

Quite simply, you know it’s working when it’s meeting your business goals.

Many organizations start “marketing” without a plan. They focus on the artwork, the logo, the branding, setting up a website or social media accounts, without a strategy in place to use those tools. Then, they’re frustrated that they’re not seeing results. The real question here is:

What did you expect?

I don’t mean that sarcastically (okay, maybe a little). What I mean is, it’s impossible to hit a goal you never set. So let’s start there.

First, Set Business Goals.

What is it that you want your marketing strategy to do? Do you want to let people know that you exist? Do you want them to visit your website? Do you want them to tell their peers and colleagues about you? Do you want current clients to recommend your product? Do you want to generate leads and sales?

Your first step is to establish one goal - just one - that you want to be your ultimate goal.

Most brands we work with don’t have unlimited budgets for marketing (if you do, kudos to you!), so you must select just one overall goal. The B2B companies we work with typically choose to focus on lead generation to grow qualified leads and sales. We’ll use that goal as our example today.

Once that goal is set, you can evaluate your current marketing tactics and their return on investment.

Next, Measure ROI of Current Tactics.

Measuring ROI of marketing methods is so important for B2B companies to do, and it's something that 42% prioritize (HubSpot, 2016). After all, if you don’t know what the return on your current marketing tactics is, related to your defined marketing strategy goals, how are you expected to do better?

1. Start by establishing your first benchmark metrics - where you are right now.
2. List out every marketing tactic you’re currently using.
3. Then, list out every lead that can be attributed directly to each tactic.
4. If you’re not absolutely sure, then it doesn’t count toward that tactic.

This is where it gets tricky. Many tactics you may be using today can’t be measured directly toward something like lead generation. Things like billboards, TV, radio, even web banner advertisements, cannot be measured for effectiveness in lead generation because they’re not built that way. They’re great as outbound tactics - but not so much as inbound (and I’ll talk more about that in a bit). They're like fishing with a hole in your net - you can gather visitors in, but you don't have a strategy in place to keep them on your site, so they swim right out. If your goal is branding, or getting visitors to your site, outbound tactics may be considered effective. But if they’re not meeting your goals, these tactics should be released back to the wild.

So, what to do instead?

Finally, Consider New Tactics.

Here are some marketing methods you may not have considered for B2B, but data backs these up for your marketing strategy (if you’re focused on getting the right prospects to your site):

Inbound Marketing

Inbound marketing uses education-focused tactics to guide potential customers through the buyer's journey: from researching their problem, to identifying possible solutions, to making a decision about a provider. Inbound is a strategy in and of itself, but the focus is on the customer and their needs. If you answer their needs, they’ll become leads - and that’s your overall business goal for marketing.

Companies are 3x as likely to see higher ROI on inbound marketing campaigns than on outbound, regardless of company size or total marketing spend (Hubspot, 2015).

Research from Gartner professes that properly executed inbound tactics are 10 times more effective for lead conversion compared to outbound methods.

With a strategy of inbound at the core of your B2B organization, any marketing tactic can be transformed to be more “inboundy.” These tactics can get you out of the weeds and enable you to focus on your business goals. However, here are some tactics that are specific to an inbound marketing team’s strategy:

Content Marketing

Blogs and web pages addressing specific needs are a great start, especially if they’re optimized for users on search engines. B2B marketers that use blogs receive 67% more leads than those that do not. And, companies who blog receive 97% more links to their website - an important part of a complete SEO strategy, according to Hubspot.

Next, set up your website with a host of premium content such as ebooks, white papers, and other high-value pieces that can live behind some forms. This is called “gated.” In exchange for these premium pieces, visitors will give you their contact info, converting them to leads, while giving them content that valuable to them. A win-win!

Lead nurturing

79% of marketing leads never convert into sales, according to Hubspot. Lack of lead nurturing is the common cause of this poor performance. According to a Marketo benchmark study, on average, 50% of leads are not yet ready to buy when they initially come into your pipeline. Nurturing leads via targeted emails are a great way to keep them engaged with your company without being pushy, and waiting until they’re ready to buy before a salesperson reaches out with a personal message.

Video

If you haven’t considered video in your B2B marketing strategy, it’s time. Seventy percent of B2B buyers and researchers are watching videos throughout their path to purchase (+52% in two years) according to a study by thinkwithgoogle. Video is rapidly growing as a content format, and it’s important for B2B organizations to adopt this content format to showcase products, value propositions, and information about your business. Engagement is high, and prospects find it useful to gather information for their decision.

Social Media

From a marketing perspective, social media is incredibly useful for distributing and amplifying the content you’re producing. It gives you a way to communicate with - both to hear, and be heard by - your audience. It’s also a great forum on which to establish your thought leadership strategically - by answering questions, offering advice, and sharing meaningful industry research.

TrackMaven released a B2B industry report on social media use and engagement for various social media platforms. Here were some takeaways:

• Overall, B2B industries showed an engagement ratio - followers to interactions - of 15.88 on Pinterest, with the financial services industry at a 69.92 ratio (far above any other industry). That’s huge! Utilize Pinterest in your B2B marketing strategy. It’s visual, it’s informative to your buyers, and engagement is high. Keep testing to see if it’s working for you, as well.
• Similar to Pinterest, B2B companies experience a very high engagement ratio on Instagram - the highest engagement of any of the platforms in the report (which, notably, did not include YouTube). The machinery industry stood out with a high ratio of 25, and engineering with a ratio of 44. Engage Instagram users by sharing short snippet videos, small infographic bursts, and high-quality photography of your product or solution.
• LinkedIn continues to be preferred by most B2B companies, but has a lower engagement ratio than expected. However, companies have more followers on this site than any other, so keep publishing content here to amplify your content marketing efforts.

What it comes down to is this: once you’ve identified your business goal for your marketing strategy, it’s time to look at your current methods through the lense of that goal. If the methods don’t fit, or you’re not getting the results you’re looking for, consider new tactics. Specifically, consider implementing inbound marketing as an educational, beneficial marketing strategy for your clients, while enabling you to better measure its results.