- \n
- Personalize your outreach so prospects feel like you’re speaking directly to them.<\/em><\/li>\n
- Use LinkedIn to connect, post, and promote where B2B audiences already hang out.<\/em><\/li>\n
- Keep your email campaigns short, relevant, and written like a real person.<\/em><\/li>\n
- Invest in content that educates, not just sells\u2014blogs, case studies, and videos matter.<\/em><\/li>\n
- Track everything so you know what\u2019s working and what\u2019s wasting your time.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
1. Have a Formal Marketing Plan<\/h2>\n
In a significant and encouraging shift from the data released in our B2B Marketing Mix Report<\/a>, more B2B teams are using formal plans to guide their branding and marketing. 66% of B2B marketers reported using a formal marketing plan this year, taking a more strategic and proactive approach to tactics, rather than a sporadic and reactive approach to the marketplace.<\/p>\n
There Are Differences<\/h3>\n
Once again, there are differences between a strategic marketing plan and a tactical marketing plan. A strategic marketing plan, which we\u2019re talking about here, combines market research with a situation analysis of your brand.<\/p>\n
One of the most common ways to get started is by using your marketing agency or internal committee to identify your top five to ten competitors and conduct a SWOT analysis for each.<\/p>\n
Always Cross-Reference<\/h3>\n
Cross-reference your competitors\u2019 SWOTs against your company\u2019s own analysis to uncover the whitespace\u2014areas where the market is severely lacking or strengths that only your company brings to the table.<\/p>\n
With this information, you can develop a brand strategy and messaging platform that intelligently markets the characteristics that make your brand different and better from the rest.<\/p>\n
![\"b2b](\"https:\/\/marketinginsidergroup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/b2b-marketing-tactics-800x800-1.png\")
<\/p>\nImage source\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n
2. Partner with a Marketing Agency<\/h2>\n
63% of B2B marketers report using a content marketing agency<\/a> to handle some or all of their marketing program.<\/p>\n
For small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that can\u2019t afford to build out an entire marketing department in-house, complete with strategic marketers, certified specialists and subscriptions to the various tools and platforms that make a marketing program run, an agency is often the way to go. Marketing agencies give SMBs access to top-tier marketing capabilities and capacity, while using their internal resources more effectively.<\/p>\n
\u201cBetween digital, inbound and traditional methods, there are an incredible number of moving parts, and the real art lies in not just understanding how each tool works best, but how each works best in cooperation with each other. And that requires an agency that has developed a particular kind of harmony in addition to individual expertise,\u201d commented one of the publishers of the report.<\/p>\n
3. Use Retainer vs. Project Contracts<\/h2>\n
The majority of outsourced marketing efforts are executed via retainers, according to the last year\u2019s B2B Marketing Mix Report.1 More and more companies are taking advantage of retainers, recognizing that the nature of most digital marketing programs is long-term and ongoing.<\/p>\n
Example: Building An SEO Program<\/h3>\n
Search engine optimization<\/a> (SEO), for example, aims to get your company found on Google by increasing its presence in unpaid search results. But ranking in the search results doesn\u2019t happen overnight.<\/p>\n
It requires ongoing technical work, such as website optimization, as well as local SEO, which is the process of using a company\u2019s geographical location to rank a business higher than its local competitors.<\/p>\n
Link building, keyword research, optimizing copy development and more are all part of a successful SEO program, and as you can tell, these tactics are not one and done; rather, they require ongoing maintenance, attention and analytics, which are best executed with a retainer agreement.<\/p>\n
Of course project work has its place for initiatives that have a concrete start and end, such as completing a brand strategy, creating a website or producing a marketing brochure. But when it comes to implementing a complete marketing program, including digital, retainer contracts are the way to go.<\/p>\n
4. Spend 10% of Revenue on Marketing<\/h2>\n
Senior leadership and marketers have differing opinions when it comes to the marketing organization\u2019s goals. The management team expects marketing to lower customer acquisition costs. Marketers, on the other hand, believe it is more important to focus on developing and executing strategies that will drive brand awareness and positioning.<\/p>\n
Senior leadership teams also expect marketers to demonstrate ROI of their marketing efforts, but this is extremely difficult as marketers feel they do not have the proper tools to do this. For other marketers, they feel senior management needs to focus more on customer insights rather than just on products and pricing.<\/p>\n
Marketing Spend<\/h3>\n
One of the most common questions marketing leaders get asked is, \u201cHow much should I be spending on marketing?\u201d<\/p>\n
Informed by hundreds of marketing executives, this report found that the magic number is 10% or more of a yearly budget.<\/p>\n
Up 5% from last year\u2019s report, the number of businesses allotting 10% or more of their company\u2019s budget on marketing reflects the priorities of leaders facing greater competition both online and off. Advanced and automated marketing tactics, personalization, interactive content and new user experience requirements all demand a greater portion of a business\u2019s budget to achieve.<\/p>\n
Beyond the spend that\u2019s allocated to marketing personnel and agency partnerships, the top three tactical areas where marketers invested that 10%, as identified by the report, include website development, digital marketing and trade shows and events.<\/p>\n
5. Consider Account-Based Marketing<\/h2>\n
Account-Based Marketing<\/a> (ABM) is the practice of tailoring sales and marketing strategies to a particular account that can make a big impact on ROI. ABM doesn\u2019t care about the thousands of followers you gained on Twitter. It\u2019s closing the deal that matters, which helps you build your bottom line faster and more efficiently.<\/p>\n
Account-Based Marketing<\/h3>\n
According to a study by SiriusDecisions, 42% of marketers claim<\/a> that they have been using ABM for at least 6 months. During the Sirius Decisions 2017 Summit in Las Vegas, Lynsay Russell of Medtronic discussed how ABM proved beneficial for their organization. In their ABM approach, the average deal size of accounts targeted via ABM methods was 35% larger than that of accounts not targeted via ABM methods.<\/p>\n
Account-based marketers don\u2019t concern themselves with lead quantity. Rather, they pursue quality. Narrow your focus and personalize your marketing efforts to target your best accounts that have higher chances of converting. Don\u2019t waste your resources on the smaller fish. Go for the big one.<\/p>\n
6. Ride the Rise of Mobile<\/h2>\n
More than half of the world\u2019s web traffic comes from mobile devices, so if you\u2019re not implementing a mobile-first strategy, then you\u2019re ignoring more than 50% of your potential leads.<\/p>\n
Mobile Users Aren\u2019t Going Anywhere<\/h3>\n
There are over 5 billion mobile users around the world that you can potentially reach with mobile marketing strategies. Now that mobile has become a primary channel for media consumption; businesses need to take advantage of the opportunities for new traffic and data collection.<\/p>\n
Ensure that your content is responsive on any mobile device. Since business owners and department heads are now using their mobile devices to research business solutions<\/a>, make your website accessible through any device and optimize it for the biggest screens down to the smallest gadgets.<\/p>\n
Invest in mobile apps so that you can personally reach out to your prospects and existing clients, as this will help accelerate sales<\/a> and client engagement. Make sure to allot resources for mobile app remarketing since research suggests that people tend to stop using apps after 30 days.<\/p>\n
![\"b2b](\"https:\/\/marketinginsidergroup.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/B2B-marketing-strategies-1024x760-1.png\")
<\/p>\nImage source\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n
7. Embrace Automation and Martech<\/h2>\n
A multitude of technologies and innovations are available to make the lives of marketers easier. Of course, these Martech tools<\/a> can also be used to enhance existing marketing campaigns.<\/p>\n
Marketing automation tools help you reach your prospects and personalize communications. If you\u2019re still doing it old-school, these repetitive, mundane tasks are probably costing your business more in the long-run.<\/p>\n
Review your approach to using marketing technologies. Audit the tools you currently use across your marketing categories. Scott Brinker<\/a>, author of \u201cHacking Marketing,\u201d outlines six marketing categories that you can use for your audit:<\/p>\n
Marketing Experiences: This refers to technologies that directly affect customer touchpoints across the marketing lifecycle, including advertising, email, social media, SEO, content marketing, A\/B testing, marketing apps, and other related tools.<\/p>\n
Marketing Operations: Operations cover the tools and data for managing the \u201cback-office\u201d of marketing. This includes your data analytics, MRM, DAM, and agile marketing management technologies.<\/p>\n
Marketing Middleware: Marketing middleware helps integrate marketing platforms and systems with each other. This may include data management platform, data protection, API services, cloud connectors, tag management, and the like.<\/p>\n
Marketing Backbone Platforms: Review each of your backbone platforms separately, as each may be for a different purpose. Examples of these are tools for customer relationship management (CRM), content management systems (CMS), automation, and e-commerce tools.<\/p>\n
Infrastructure Services: Your marketing infrastructure includes cloud computing, big data management, databases, and software development tools.<\/p>\n
Internet Services: This doesn\u2019t just refer to your internet provider (but you need to check that, too). Make sure the internet platforms you\u2019re using such as Facebook, Google, Twitter, LinkedIn, or any other services that underlie the marketing environment are integrated seamlessly.<\/p>\n
8. Create Visual Content<\/h2>\n
Adding images and video to your content will help promote brand awareness and brand recall. According to multiple studies<\/a>, visual recall is stronger than audio or text. When people hear a piece of information, they tend to only remember 10% of it three days later. But when you add pictures to the same information, they can remember 65% of it after three days.<\/p>\n
Digital Marketing is Incredibly Useful<\/h3>\n
Additionally, 37% of marketers claim that visual marketing is their most important form of content because it greatly contributes to building trust and engagement with audiences.<\/p>\n
Use compelling images that are consistent with your brand across all platforms. Make your content easy on the eyes and use white space to your advantage. You don\u2019t want to overdo it and overwhelm your audience with needless distractions, so aim for visual quality over quantity.<\/p>\n
Create graphs and charts to illustrate data and statistics. Customize your images for added relevance and branding. Experiment with short and highly educational videos.<\/p>\n
9. Harness the Power of Big Data<\/h2>\n
Big data algorithms and advanced data analytics make it possible for marketers to deliver consistent omnichannel customer experiences across all platforms and channels. Indeed, big data is revolutionizing the way we do marketing.<\/p>\n
No Data = No Understanding<\/h3>\n
It increases the quality of your sales leads, improves customer experiences at every touchpoint, and helps managers make sound business decisions.<\/p>\n
Without the necessary data, you can\u2019t understand who your leads are and how to reach them with personalized communications. So, get on the big data bandwagon and optimize your campaigns!<\/p>\n
Go beyond your marketing campaign execution and use big data to help make customer relationships more successful. A data analytics expert or consultant can help you with this when the numbers become too overwhelming.<\/p>\n
Create a big data framework<\/a> that\u2019s aligned with your organizational and marketing goals. Segregate transactional and non-transactional data to determine which ones go under social analytics, performance management, decision science, and data exploration.<\/p>\n
In a nutshell, taking advantage of data means setting up systems to collect and analyze data at every possible point in your sales process. The more you know about your business and your audience, the better you\u2019ll be at creating the right marketing strategy.<\/p>\n
10. Go Multichannel<\/h2>\n
B2B buyers use a multitude of mediums to research and explore their purchase options with the web, specifically with social media leading the way. This highlights the need for our marketing messages to be accessible across an array of mediums, not just email.<\/p>\n
In order to determine a proper and profitable medium, it is imperative that organizations know how their buyers like to consume content and ensure their content is accessible via these channels. Too often organizations rely on social, web and email as the go-to channels and while these are often used; to just assume these are the only channels your buyers used to consume content is a dangerous proposition.<\/p>\n
Ensure you are utilizing the channels that your buyers are using and make your content available across all of them. Think multi-channel.<\/p>\n
11. Develop Strategic Marketing Objectives<\/h2>\n
Compared to higher revenue B2B companies (37%), lower revenue companies (57%) are more likely to view the marketing team as an extension of the sales organization, and not as a strategic asset to the company.<\/p>\n
For high performing B2B marketing organizations, they develop digital marketing objectives<\/a>, not sales plans, that inform their company\u2019s business strategy to help differentiate their brand in the marketplace.<\/p>\n
12. Identify a Senior Marketing Advocate<\/h2>\n
Nearly two-thirds of all B2B marketers think a senior advocate or champion will be needed to help marketing succeed in the next 3-5 years.<\/p>\n
This person will not only represent the marketing and customer\u2019s voice at the executive table, but will also work to influence and collaborate with other organizations to drive business strategy and sales through marketing, establishing marketing as a competitive advantage and revenue stream for the organization.<\/p>\n
13. Develop and Invest in Marketing ROI Metrics<\/h2>\n
The ability to measure results and demonstrate that B2B marketing contributes to the company\u2019s bottom line and enables business growth will help change the perception of marketing as a competitive advantage rather than cost center for organizations.<\/p>\n
But nearly 60% of B2B marketers say they do not have the appropriate measurement tools they need to effectively prove their ROI.<\/p>\n
The top strategy for removing these barriers is to develop ROI metrics<\/a> and invest in marketing strategies and technologies that will enable marketers to measure and demonstrate ROI.<\/p>\n
14. Build Relationships with IT and Finance<\/h2>\n
Higher revenue B2B companies believe cultivating close relationships with other organizations within the business, such as IT and Finance, is absolutely needed to successfully drive their marketing strategies, measure performance and manage marketing spend.<\/p>\n
15. Create Content that Addresses Your Customer Journey<\/h2>\n
What differentiates high performing marketing organizations and marketers from their average peers is that they develop a deep understanding of their customers, including their biggest pain points and challenges, content needs and preferences<\/a>, just to name a few.<\/p>\n
Interestingly, many B2B companies don\u2019t have buyer personas<\/a> in place today, but do plan to build them in coming year to help boost the effectiveness of their demand gen efforts. A Demand Gen Report study found that only 27% of respondents said personas were aligned to their messaging and 30% noted that there will need to be some fine-tuning of their efforts.<\/p>\n
Often, mistargeted or irrelevant content and messaging contributes to campaign failure. Detailed buyer personas offer a fantastic opportunity for marketers to ensure content is relevant for its intended audience, on the channels they prefer.<\/p>\n
Using the customer insights gathered, successful B2B marketers develop specific marketing strategies for each buyer persona and create as well as curate content that is relevant and valuable to consumers at each stage of the customer journey, to effectively connect, engage and convert them.<\/p>\n
16. Create a Brand Identity and Personality via Content<\/h2>\n
The B2B companies that achieve higher revenue focus their marketing efforts on developing and driving a consistent brand identity at every online and offline touchpoint, creating a seamless, positive experience across all parts of the organization a customer touches and interacts with.<\/p>\n
This requires marketers to develop a strong brand positioning against their competition, track and identify segments for better targeting, and communicate their insights to sales teams so they can adjust and improve their strategies accordingly.<\/p>\n
Very important question: Does your company have a clearly defined tone of voice, or does it vary from person to person in your PR or content marketing teams?<\/p>\n
You Must Be Consistent<\/h3>\n
Consistency is critical<\/a> in any company\u2019s communications, so you if you don\u2019t have a tone of voice established, it should be a new priority that all employees can weigh in on. To get started, you can:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Think about how you communicate successfully with existing clients<\/li>\n
- Identify what type of tone you want to express to clients in the future<\/li>\n
- Take a look at the competition and see how they\u2019re communicating.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Checking out your competitors is key here. You\u2019ll likely want to communicate with your audience in a similar fashion, but you need to do it in a distinct way, which is where having a unique tone of voice comes in. It\u2019s one of the most effective ways you can differentiate yourself.<\/p>\n
Create a Distinct Tone<\/h3>\n
The value of creating a distinct tone for your brand also extends to how you engage with your audience on social media. Also look to B2C brands to get a feel for how they interact with their audiences on social media platforms like Twitter. The digital divide between B2C and B2B is disappearing with every passing day.<\/p>\n
Each company has a clearly distinct tone of voice and is unique in its own way. Then, think about how you want to interact with your audience on social media. Do you want the tone to match the rest of your communications, or do you want it to vary slightly because your audience on social may be different from your email subscribers or blog visitors?<\/p>\n
17. Align and Build Ongoing Partnerships with Sales<\/h2>\n
Silos between sales and marketing organizations continues to be one of the biggest barriers to marketing success. And over half of all B2B marketers surveyed in a joint study by ANA and GfK believe better alignment between sales and marketing<\/a> will help advance marketing\u2019s contribution and ability to demonstrate their ROI.<\/p>\n
The research found that the top three marketing objectives for B2B marketers are to generate sales and leads, improve brand awareness, and increase customer loyalty and retention, and it is crucial for marketing to partner and collaborate with sales in order to achieve these goals more effectively and drive business growth together.<\/p>\n
18. Acquire Digital Marketing and Technology Competencies<\/h2>\n
The wide adoption of digital and mobile by consumers will continue to accelerate, and B2B marketers believe this would require developing digital marketing and technology skillsets that most marketers currently do not have.<\/p>\n
Only 7% of B2B marketers surveyed believe they have an effective process in place to capture data on customer behaviors, attitudes and engagement that can inform and optimize existing marketing strategies and tactics.<\/p>\n
19. Create Interactive Marketing Campaigns<\/h2>\n
Over the past few years, marketing campaigns featuring interactive content<\/a> have continued to increase in popularity. Why? Because anyone can write a blog post, and reading blog post after blog post can get, well, boring, and new types of content are always exciting.<\/p>\n
Interactive Content is Highly Engaging!<\/h3>\n
Interactive content can be many different things\u2014from quizzes, polls, and surveys to interactive infographics, whitepapers, and others. The goal of interactive content is simple: you want to get your audience engaged in the learning experience as opposed to simply reading an article or watching a video.<\/p>\n
People\u2014yes, even B2B professionals\u2014like to participate in things. And interactive content provides a great opportunity for your audience to do exactly that. Content like quizzes, polls, and surveys also provides a unique benefit\u2014it allows you to capture data from leads and learn more about your audience and what\u2019s important to them.<\/p>\n
This data can then be used to inform future content marketing endeavors or guest blog posts\u2014further allowing you to establish yourself as an industry expert and thought leader.<\/p>\n
20. Focus on the Buyer<\/h2>\n
The buying process is becoming longer in the majority of cases, not shorter. This only underscores the need for B2B marketing organizations to move away from tactical one-and-done campaigns, to a strategic approach that maps content to this buying process and engages, nurtures and converts the buyer throughout their buying process.<\/p>\n
What does this mean?<\/p>\n
They Know What\u2019s Next<\/h3>\n
It means that our B2B demand generation programs always have a sense of \u201cwhat\u2019s next\u201d in terms of content. It means that marketers should not be promoting an asset, but seeking a conversation. This requires a buyer-centric strategy and without this in place, there is no way marketers will be successful in connecting through this ever-growing buying process.<\/p>\n
For B2B marketers, the complexity and world in which we operate in a day-to-day basis will only continue to shift, change and grow with increasingly complexity. A tactical approach of spending, creating and pushing more of anything, is not the answer. There must be real transformation that enables us to get to know and engage our buyers at a deeper level and ultimately, meet them where they are in their process. It\u2019s all about the buyer, so go figure!<\/p>\n
21. Partner with B2B Influencers<\/h2>\n
The thing with B2B marketing is that it\u2019s not really a bright and shiny object. It\u2019s not as cool, fun or exciting as let\u2019s say, working with Kim Kardashian or Jared Leto. Don\u2019t expect to see any viral TikTok videos about data centers or enterprise software anytime soon.<\/p>\n
The Power of Influence<\/h3>\n
But one thing that B2B brands can capitalize on is influence. And understanding influence has a much longer shelf life of value than a viral TikTok video.<\/p>\n
Influence is more than just a noun or verb. Influence has the power to separate brand leaders from those who follow, especially when it is applied and becomes ground zero for all marketing.<\/p>\n
Stemming from ground zero is B2B influencer marketing and programs like this can be managed in many ways. One of the most important steps in building an influencer program is research and analytics. Influencers just don\u2019t appear overnight or wake up one morning with millions of followers. And even if they did, it wouldn\u2019t mean that they\u2019d be crowned an influencer.<\/p>\n
Influencer marketing might not be for you and your brand at the current moment, but influential voices will always matter. And that spans across multiple marketing channels and campaigns.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s some stats:<\/p>\n
- \n
- The influencer marketing industry reached almost $20B last year.<\/li>\n
- 82% of people trust social networks to guide purchasing decisions. [Source: DMI]<\/li>\n
- 86% of women use social media for purchase advice.<\/li>\n
- The return on social media marketing investments have surpassed those of print marketing, and that\u2019s not changing any time soon.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
22. Master the Art of \u201cTrendjacking\u201d<\/h2>\n
Many B2C companies are experts at jumping onto the latest trend or pop culture reference to get more attention to their marketing campaigns. Just look at the number of companies that produced campaigns themed around the hugely popular series, Game of Thrones<\/a>. Ikea, Johnny Walker, and KFC all jumped on the GoT bandwagon, along with dozens of smaller brands.<\/p>\n
It can be a little more difficult for B2B companies to use this tactic without coming over as cheesy and like they\u2019re trying to hard, but it can be a very effective marketing tactic when done well.<\/p>\n
One great example of successful B2B trendjacking is premium stock photography and video site Shutterstock. The company created their own promotional video<\/a> for the ill-fated Fyre Festival using their own stock clips.<\/p>\n
Not only did this video manage to attract a huge amount of attention due to the social media buzz and controversy around the festival, but it was also an incredibly effective way for the brand to showcase how stock footage can be used to create an impressive promotional video on a small budget. In just one day.<\/p>\n
You don\u2019t have to put a lot of time and resources into building a whole campaign around this tactic, either.<\/p>\n
23. Encourage Customer Advocacy<\/h2>\n
The formula is proven and it\u2019s simple. It\u2019s easier and cheaper to keep current customers happy than to acquire new ones. This is such a good marketing lesson yet so many brands don\u2019t prioritize their current customer relationships. They are too focused on customer acquisition.<\/p>\n
Building customer advocacy programs seem to be a thing of the past. But here\u2019s the thing, it wasn\u2019t always that way.\u00a0 In the early days of social media, building customer communities was common practice for all brands that had a Facebook page and Twitter account.<\/p>\n
It was easier back then because the networks were much smaller back then, and organic reach on social media was 100%. Those were the good old days.<\/p>\n
A Mindset and a Program<\/h3>\n
Customer advocacy<\/a> needs to be both a mindset and a program. If it\u2019s a mindset, then the whole company will build programs, campaigns, products and services, process, and general business practices with a customer-first mentality.<\/p>\n
For example, if you infer from the customer journey map that responses to emails and requests for calls pop up 1-2 weeks after a purchase decision, you can begin anticipating your customers\u2019 needs by giving them exactly what they want. But you\u2019ll be beating them to the punch line.<\/p>\n
Customer advocacy becomes a part of the cultural DNA. This will make building a customer advocacy program much easier to launch, manage and scale.<\/p>\n
The key to building a program rests on the \u201call too familiar\u201d people, process and technology. From this perspective, people represent the marketing teams responsible for managing the program.<\/p>\n
Process is more about the mechanics of the program. It\u2019s building a process on how the program will work, how it will be integrated into other marketing initiatives, how it will be measured and the overall strategic plan.<\/p>\n
Technology is the tool or set of tools that will be used to manage the customer community and there are many available on the market.<\/p>\n
24. Use the Power of Storytelling and Emotions<\/h2>\n
B2C marketing tends to be rather emotionless and cold. This is because most B2B marketers follow the theory that B2B decision-makers buy with their head and not their heart.<\/p>\n
While this is true to a point, it\u2019s critical to remember that you\u2019re still selling to a human, not a robot. As Forbes council member Joyce Salano<\/a> puts it: \u201cIn reality, nobody is actually marketing to businesses \u2014 they are marketing to people. And people want content that is helpful and won\u2019t put them to sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, it\u2019s still important to get across why buying your product or service makes good business sense. But, there\u2019s no reason why you can\u2019t follow the lead of successful B2C marketers and employ some storytelling tactics<\/a> to make your messages more compelling and memorable.<\/p>\n
25. Turn Your Employees into Brand Storytellers<\/h2>\n
People trust people. It\u2019s a significant part of our human nature. And that means that B2B buyers trust their peers, colleagues, influencers and \u201cpeople like themselves\u201d when seeking purchase recommendations.<\/p>\n
Trust is the reason why people read Yelp reviews before booking a restaurant reservation or lookup the Amazon reviews before purchasing a pair of headphones.<\/p>\n
Over the last decade, hundreds of studies and research reports have validated this point. So, when this trust paradigm is applied to B2B marketing<\/a>, the opportunity to influence purchase behavior becomes real \u2013 very real.<\/p>\n
This is one reason why building an employee advocacy program<\/a> is a smart and strategic thing to do, especially for enterprise B2B and tech companies. And while many of these companies do have existing employee programs, there is a lack of innovation when it comes to deployment. They launched the program, checked the box and moved on.<\/p>\n
I like to call this Employee Activation<\/a> because like customer advocacy programs, you need to find ways to get your staff to want to write and share.<\/p>\n
26. Experiment, Be Creative, and Don\u2019t Take Yourself Too Seriously<\/h2>\n
B2B marketing has a bad reputation. Marketing materials targeted at businesses are not exactly known for their innovative and exciting ideas. If you think about the first words that pop into your head when you think about B2B marketing, they\u2019re probably \u201ccorporate,\u201d \u201cdull,\u201d \u201cold school,\u201d and so on.<\/p>\n
And, this isn\u2019t working anymore. Research shows<\/a> that B2B marketers are lagging behind their B2C peers in several areas, including technology use, analytics, and innovation.<\/p>\n
Dull and Dry is OUT<\/h3>\n
Stop following the unwritten rule that B2B marketing has to be dull and dry. It\u2019s true that B2B buyers must be more logical and less emotional than B2C buyers, but they\u2019re still human<\/a> \u00ad\u2013 you can still appeal to their desire for humor and to be entertained.<\/p>\n
B2B marketers have additional challenges, of course. B2B products tend to be much more complex and at a higher price point. B2B buying cycles are also much longer than B2C and involve many different stakeholders, compared to B2C purchases, which are often instantaneous and involve one person only.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not simple or easy to overcome these challenges, but they don\u2019t mean that your B2B marketing has to be safe, dull, and lacking personality, either. B2B marketers can follow the lead of B2C marketers to inject a little fun and innovation into their marketing strategy and put the spark back into their marketing.<\/p>\n
You Don\u2019t Need a Template<\/h3>\n
The fact is that many B2B marketers have got themselves into a rut and fallen into the trap of thinking that marketing messages targeted at businesses need to follow a formulaic template. A lot of corporate marketing materials look the same \u00ad \u2013 a color pallet of blue, white, and grey, with some standard stock photography of people in suits.<\/p>\n
The world\u2019s most successful brands don\u2019t conform to the norms and are innovative with their marketing. There\u2019s no reason why you can\u2019t experiment, just because you\u2019re marketing to a company rather than an individual.<\/p>\n
Use Color<\/h3>\n
Try using a bold color palette. Ditch the dull stock photos, and use some fun abstract images or illustrations. Be creative. Don\u2019t be afraid to inject a bit of humor into your copy.<\/p>\n
Many B2B brands are afraid of deviating from the corporate norm for fear that they won\u2019t be taken seriously, but having the confidence to experiment and do something different and unexpected can make your business get noticed in a crowded market place.<\/p>\n
To see how effective this approach can be, just take a look at the Euphoria campaign by Slack<\/a> \u2013 rainbows and pink unicorns \u00ad\u2013 not exactly your standard corporate imagery!<\/p>\n
But, the campaign did its job at getting noticed and was a huge success. Instead of touting stats about productivity and efficiency in the usual dull and boring way, Slack created a campaign that was both educational and memorable.<\/p>\n
- Use LinkedIn to connect, post, and promote where B2B audiences already hang out.<\/em><\/li>\n