It’s the year 2020, and you need to remain innovative with your marketing strategies to maintain an edge.
A majority of B2B marketers will agree that their main challenge still remains in generating leads and traffic.
Marketing is not as simple as it sounds – it requires you to adopt fresh perspectives and keep trying out new things to catch the interest of your target audience.
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Effective B2B Marketing Strategies to Help You Remain at the Top of Your Game
1. Adopt Account-Based Marketing Techniques
This is a tactical strategy where you need to stop focusing on closing leads, rather focus on targeting a unique set of accounts such as a group of senior buyers at a specific company.
Account-based marketing is a B2B concept that delivers better results as marketers create customized content and campaigns for a target group of audience members. It is a trend that aims at closer alignment between sales and marketing, and ultimately drives higher business revenues.
2. Promote Live Chat and Conversational Selling
Marketers often view live chat as a means to resolve problems and provide support. However, it can also be used as a potent tool to sell products effectively as a medium to provide speedy customer service. In fact, 38% of customers are more likely to buy from a company if it offers live chat support.
It is not surprising that customers love live chat so much – it gives them an opportunity to indulge in meaningful conversations and get to know more about your product or service.
Conversational selling through live chat is a dynamic technique that can push up B2B sales, as it encourages clients to buy without any pushy marketing techniques. So, companies need to make sure to adopt the live chat trend in 2020.
3. Encourage Word-of-Mouth Marketing
One of the most hyped and lasting B2B marketing trends is word-of-mouth marketing – it is behind all buying decisions. Buyers are far more likely to purchase a product if it has a positive recommendation from friends, family members or colleagues.
However, it is time to go beyond the traditional word-of-mouth marketing techniques. Companies can provide their valued customers with a referral incentive or provide them an email template to refer their product to someone. This serves as a good motivation to nudge your customers into action, and will ensure that your word-of-mouth marketing program brings in plenty of new customers.
4. Deliver High-Value Content
Content is king in the current digital era. Content marketing is one of the most effective B2B marketing strategies. It has the power to close three times more leads than traditional outbound marketing, and costs 62% less.
It is important for marketers to choose their content carefully. It should be interesting, relevant and unique so that it captures reader interest. In general, long-form content is a better way to engage audiences than short-form content. It is important for marketers to focus on delivering high-value content that pitch your sales efforts directly, and increase your marketing revenue.
5. Invest In Email Marketing
Though many people feel that the concept of email marketing has passed over, the fact remains that it is still a very potent tool. If done right, email marketing can deliver very good results. One of the key factors to keep in mind is to segment your email lists so that you can focus your campaign on the nature of the target audience.
B2B marketers can segment their email lists based on many factors such as age, gender, income level, past purchases and preferences. Segmented email marketing campaigns enjoy higher open rates, better lead conversions, and lower unsubscribe clicks. Hence, it’s a smart idea too get back to basics, and focus on your traditional email marketing campaigns.
6. Develop Thought Leadership
It is important for marketers to think beyond their domain, and aim at gaining authority through thought leadership. B2B marketers need to remain innovative, and be willing to take risks so that they can increase bottom line results.
B2B marketers need to practice thought leadership, as that can give them a better chance to influence leads and change the way they think. It can help them connect better with customers, and convince them to try out a product or service. Thought leadership is a real game changer in the field of B2B marketing, and it’s definitely time for leaders to try out this revolutionary tactic!
7. Promote Influencer Marketing
If you want to expand your business reach, and impact a wider target audience, try to leverage the power of influencer marketing. Influencers act as external brand ambassadors that promote your organization by providing quality content.
Influencer marketing works well for B2B professionals as it builds trust in customers, and helps them relate to your brand. Your influencers are the best people to paint a positive picture, and push clients to try out your products or services. So make sure not to overlook influencer marketing, as it can enhance your brand reputation and increase your customer base dramatically!
8. Employee Advocacy
If there is one aspect that can really transform your B2B marketing efforts, it is employee advocacy. You need to activate your workforce so that they serve as your best advocates. Encourage employees to constantly share relevant content that gives positive information about your organization, and tells your audience members a unique story.
Your employees have the power to influence buyers and can amplify all your marketing campaigns. So make sure to create a formal employee advocacy program, and give incentives to your employees so that they reach out to wider audiences and increase lead conversions.
9. Increase Marketing Automation
Most of the business activities performed by employees can be easily automated if you use the right tools and technologies. B2B marketers can gain tremendous benefits by using automated solutions to perform repetitive tasks such as social media posting and email marketing. It saves time, money and energy, thus resulting in higher productivity.
The market is flooded with various marketing automation software – it’s the best time to assess your business requirements and choose the best one for your organization. It will definitely increase personalization, lead management, and overall revenues.
10. Consider Paid Media
In the current digital era, it’s a good idea to invest in paid media channels to gain higher viewership and engage customers better. People trust popular paid meida channels such as GoogleAds, Youtube and Instagram and they can help companies convert their leads effectively. This is because your customers believe in these huge brands, and they can be powerfully used for new customer acquisition.
Another great aspect about paid media channels is that they promote retargeting clients – this helps in increasing the number of successful lead conversions, and engages a wider range of customers.
11. Increase Event Marketing
It’s 2020, and events can be a great way to build face-to-face connections with your client base. Companies can hold seminars, conferences, training sessions, and thought leadership workshops to provide value to their business stakeholders. Events also help B2B marketers forge strong relationships with their clients, and get to know them better in an informal setting. Hence, do not ignore event marketing as it can have a powerful impact on your brand reputation and customer engagement.
Make sure to stay on top of these buzzing trends in 2020, and gain a competitive edge. Think smart, think fast – B2B marketing is rising exponentially everyday, so innovate with this useful trends to stay ahead of your rivals!
Chanchal Soni is a Growth Hacker and CRO Specialist at Appitsimple. She has experience in digital marketing, social media, content strategy, and marketing communications. Lover of huskies, the ocean & Boston sports.
