"Strategy without tactics is a dream; tactics without strategy, it's a nightmare."
Sun Tzu's quote inspired this quote. It implies that there is a clear distinction between marketing strategy, and marketing tactics.
This suggests that you can't do one without the other and strategy must be first. It is the foundation.
However, marketing strategy can refer to two things: the "strategy," or position, by which your brand will be taken to market, and how your company will actually create a brand that will be taken to market.
This is the second definition. It describes what your marketing department should do to make the most of the marketing dollars, time and energy they have.
BOON: These 10 tips will help you optimize your b2b marketing strategy.
The Best B2B Marketing Strategies
A new report gathered data from hundreds of B2B marketers professionals to reveal the majority of B2B marketing departments across the country. This post will show you how B2B marketers plan, execute, and budget their marketing programs. You can make sure that your strategy is in line with your competitors or even ahead in 2022.
- Make a formal marketing plan
- Partner with a Marketing Agency
- Use Retainer vs. Project Contracts
- Spend 10% on Marketing
- Take into account Account-Based Marketing
- The Rise of Mobile
- Embrace Automation and Martech
- Visual Content
- Big Data can help you harness the power of big data
- Make More Relevant Content
- Go Multichannel
- Establish strategic marketing objectives
- Find a senior marketing advocate
- Develop and invest in Marketing ROI Metrics
- Develop relationships with IT and Finance
- Make sure your content addresses the customer journey
- Design a brand identity
- Establish and maintain ongoing partnerships with sales
- Learn Digital Marketing and Technology Skills
- Interactive Marketing Campaigns
- Concentrate on the Buyer
[Check out our weekly blog and annual b2b marketing strategy. ]
1. Make a formal marketing plan
A significant shift in the B2B marketing mix report shows that more B2B marketers are using formal plans to help guide their branding and marketing. 66% of B2B marketers used a formal marketing plan in the past year. This allows them to take a more proactive and strategic approach to their tactics than a reactive and sporadic approach to the market.
There are many differences between a tactical and strategic marketing plan. The strategic marketing plan, as we are referring to it, includes market research and a situation analysis.
Your marketing agency or an internal committee can help you identify your top five-10 competitors and then conduct a SWOT analysis. To find the whitespace, cross-reference the SWOTs of your competitors with your own analysis to discover areas where there are significant gaps in the market or strengths that only you can bring to the table.
This information will help you create a brand strategy that communicates the unique characteristics of your brand.
2. Partner with a Marketing Agency
63% of B2B marketers report using a content marketing agency to handle some or all of their marketing program.1 For small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs) that can't 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. SMBs have access to high-quality marketing capabilities and resources, as well as the ability to use their internal resources more efficiently through agency marketing.
"Between traditional, digital and inbound methods, there are an amazing number of moving parts. The real art lies not in understanding each tool's best use, but in how they work together. One of the report's publishers said that this requires an agency with a special kind of harmony and individual expertise.
3. Use Retainer vs. Project Contracts
According to the B2B Marketing Mix Report, the majority of outsourced marketing efforts are carried out via retainers. This is because digital marketing programs are long-term and continuous.
SEO (search engine optimization) is a technique that helps your company rank higher in search engines by increasing its visibility in unpaid results. Ranking in search results does not happen overnight.
It involves ongoing technical work such as website optimization as well as local SEO. This is the process of using a company’s geographic location to rank a local business higher than its competitors.
SEO programs are all about link building, keyword research and optimizing copy. However, this is only for projects that have a clear start and finish, such as creating a brand strategy or a website. Retainer contracts are best for implementing a comprehensive marketing program that includes digital.
4. Spend 10% on Marketing
Marketers and senior leadership have different opinions about the goals of the marketing organization. Marketing should be cost-effective to attract customers. This is the expectation of the management team. Marketers believe that it is more important for marketers to concentrate on creating and executing strategies that will increase brand awareness and positioning.
Senior leaders expect marketers to show ROI from their marketing efforts. However, this can be difficult for marketers who feel they don't have the right tools. Other marketers feel that senior management should be more focused on customer insight than on pricing and products.
Marketing leaders are often asked the same question: "How much should we spend on marketing?" This report was compiled by hundreds of marketing executives and found that 10% to 10% of a yearly marketing budget is the magic number.
The report shows that businesses are spending 10% or more on marketing, an increase of 5% over last year. This is a reflection of the priorities of leaders who face greater competition online and offline. To achieve advanced and automated marketing strategies, personalization, interactive material, and new user experience requirements, a larger portion of a company's budget is required. The report identified that the top three strategic areas in which marketers spent that 10% were website development, digital marketing, and tradeshows, events. This is in addition to the marketing staff and agency partnerships.
5. Take into account Account-Based Marketing
Account-Based Marketing (ABM), is a method of tailoring marketing and sales strategies to one account. This can have a significant impact on ROI. ABM doesn’t care about how many followers you have on Twitter. It's the closing of the deal that is important, which will help you grow your bottom line faster.
SiriusDecisions found that 42% of marketers have used ABM for less than 6 months. Lynsay Russell from Medtronic spoke at the Sirius Decisions 2017 Summit. She discussed how ABM has been a benefit to their company. The average deal size for accounts targeted by ABM was 35% higher than accounts not targeted using ABM methods.
Account-based marketers aren't concerned with quantity of leads. They are more concerned with quality. You can narrow your focus and target the best accounts to convert. Don't waste resources on the small fish. The big one is worth it.
6. The Rise of Mobile
Mobile devices account for more than half the web traffic in the world. If you don't implement a mobile-first strategy you are ignoring more than half your potential leads.
Mobile marketing strategies can reach more than 5 billion people worldwide. Mobile has now become the primary media channel, so businesses must take advantage of this opportunity to collect new traffic and data.
Make sure your content is mobile-friendly. Business owners and department heads now use their mobile devices to search for business solutions. Make your website accessible from any device, and optimize it to fit the largest screens to the smallest.
Mobile apps can be used to reach prospects and clients. This will increase sales and client engagement. Research shows that users tend to give up on apps after just 30 days.
7. Embrace Automation and Martech
There are many technologies and innovations that can make marketers' lives easier. These Martech tools can be used to improve existing marketing campaigns.
Marketing automation tools allow you to reach prospects and personalize communications. These repetitive and mundane tasks can end up costing your company more long-term if you continue to do them the old-fashioned way.
Reexamine your approach to marketing technologies. Examine the tools that you use in your different marketing categories. Scott Brinker, the author of Hacking Marketing, lists six marketing categories you can use to conduct your audit.
Marketing Experiences This refers to technologies that directly impact customer touchpoints throughout the marketing lifecycle. It includes email, advertising, social media, SEO and content marketing.
Marketing Operations.Operations covers the tools and data needed to manage the "back-office", or marketing. This includes data analytics, MRM and DAM as well as agile marketing management technologies.
Marketing middleware:Marketing middleware allows you to integrate marketing systems and platforms with one another. This could include data protection, API services and cloud connectors. Tag management is also possible.
Marketing Backbone Portals:Review every backbone platform separately as they may have different purposes. These include tools for customer relationship management (CRM), CMS, automation, and ecommerce tools.
Services for Infrastructure: Your marketing infrastructure includes cloud computing and big data management, databases, as well as software development tools.
Internet Services This doesn't only refer to your internet service provider, but you should also check that. You should ensure that the internet platforms used by you, such as Facebook, Google and Twitter, LinkedIn, and any other services that are part of your marketing environment, are seamlessly integrated.
8. Visual Content
Brand recall and awareness can be increased by including images and videos to your content. Multiple studies have shown that visual recall is more effective than text or audio. People tend to forget 10% of the information they hear after hearing it. This is despite having only heard 10% of it before. However, if you add photos to the same information they will remember 65% after three days.
A third of marketers believe that visual marketing is the most important type of content, as it helps to build trust and engage with their audiences.
Make sure to use compelling images that reflect your brand on all platforms. Use white space to your advantage and make your content easy to read. Don't overwhelm your audience by unnecessary distractions.
To illustrate statistics and data, create graphs and charts. For more relevance and branding, customize your images. Try short, educational videos. Ensure you follow these Top 10 Visual Content Rules.
9. Big Data can help you harness the power of big data
Marketers can deliver consistent, omnichannel customer experiences across all channels and platforms using big data algorithms and advanced analytics thanks to data analytics and big data algorithms. Big data is changing the way we market. It improves the quality of your sales leads and customer experience at every touchpoint. Managers can also use it to make better business decisions.
Without the right data, it's impossible to understand your leads and reach them with personalized communications. Get on board the big data train and optimize your campaigns.
Big data can be used to improve customer relations and go beyond marketing campaign execution. If the numbers seem overwhelming, a data analyst consultant or expert can help.
A big data framework should be aligned with your marketing and organizational goals. To determine which data should be included under social analytics and performance management, data science and data exploration, segment transactional and not-transactional data.
To put it simply, data is about setting up systems that collect and analyze data at all points in your sales process. You will be able to create the best marketing strategy if you have a better understanding of your audience and business.
10. Make More Relevant Content
Yesterday, I was asked by a colleague what my thoughts were about instructing sales to insert the buying process early to "paint a vision".
Most of my conversations with vendors, whether digitally or in person, are focused on them: their products, services, and their unique value proposition. But what about the buyer? B2B companies must develop content that is less about what they want, and more about what the buyer wants.
Selling to the "decision maker" is a long gone tradition. Multiple buyers, with diverse perspectives and biases, are part of the process. It is important to talk to them all. This has a negative impact on the content creation process.
Marketing content should be educational and encourage dialogue about the unique challenges and issues of each buyer. This dialogue should extend to the sales conversation. It is the job of marketing to educate and empower sales to have this conversation.
Many organizations spend more and create more content. But, it is important to ask whether this is the right content. Marketers need to learn the roles involved in buying and then create content that is specific to their needs. Marketing will then see an increase in the quality of their content. Relevance is more important than quantity.
11. Go Multichannel
B2B buyers have many options to explore and research their purchase options. Particularly with social media, they use multiple mediums. This shows that marketing messages must be available across a variety of media, not just email.
It is crucial that organizations understand their customers' preferences and make sure their content is available via all channels in order to choose a profitable medium. Too many organizations depend on email, social media and web as their primary channels. While these channels are frequently used, it is dangerous to assume that these channels are all your buyers use to consume content. Make sure you're using the channels your buyers use and making your content accessible across them all. Multi-channel thinking is key.
12. Establish strategic marketing objectives
Higher revenue B2B companies (37%) tend to see the marketing department as an extension of their sales organization (57%). Lower revenue companies (57%) are more likely not to view them as strategic assets.
They create digital marketing objectives for high-performing B2B marketing agencies, not sales plans. These goals inform the company's business strategy and help to differentiate their brand in a competitive marketplace.
13. Find a senior marketing advocate
A majority of B2B marketers believe that a champion or senior advocate will be necessary to ensure marketing success in the next three years.
This person will represent marketing and customers' voice at the executive table. They will also collaborate with other organizations to help drive business strategy and sales through the use of marketing. Marketing will be a competitive advantage for the company and a revenue stream.
14. Marketing ROI Metrics: Develop and Invest
It is important to be able to measure and show that B2B marketing has a positive impact on the bottom line of the company and drives business growth. This will change perceptions about marketing as a cost center and competitive advantage. Nearly 60% of B2B marketers admit that they don't have the right measurement tools to prove their ROI.
These barriers can be removed by establishing ROI metrics and investing in marketing strategies and technologies to enable marketers to measure ROI.
15. Develop relationships with IT and Finance
B2B companies with higher revenue believe that building close relationships with other businesses, such IT and Finance, is essential to drive their marketing strategies, measure results, and manage marketing spending.
16. Make sure your content addresses the customer journey
High-performing marketing teams and marketers are distinguished from their peers by their deep understanding of their customers. This includes their most pressing issues and challenges, as well as their content needs and preferences.
Many B2B companies do not have buyer personas, but they plan to create them in the next year to increase their demand generation efforts. According to a Demand Gen Report survey, only 27% said that personas aligned with their messaging. 30% also noted that they will need to refine their efforts.
Campaign failure is often caused by mistargeted messaging and content. Marketers have a great opportunity to create buyer personas that are specific and relevant to their intended audience.
B2B marketers who are successful use customer insight to develop marketing strategies specific to each buyer persona. They also create and curate content that is relevant to the consumer at every stage of their customer journey to connect, engage, and convert them.
17. Use Content to create a brand identity and personality
B2B companies with higher revenues focus their marketing efforts to create and drive a consistent brand identity at all touchpoints online and offline. This ensures a positive customer experience in every part of the company that a customer interacts with.
Marketers must create a strong brand position against their competitors, track and identify segments for better targeting and communicate their findings to sales teams to adjust and improve their strategies.
Important question: Does your company have an established tone of voice or does it change from one person to the next in your PR and content marketing departments? In any company's communications, consistency is crucial. If you don't have a defined tone of voice, it should be a priority for all employees. You can start by:
- Consider how you can communicate with your clients effectively
- Decide what tone you wish to project to your clients in the future
- Look at the competition to see how they communicate.
It is important to compare your competitors. While you will likely communicate in the same way with your audience, it is important to do so in a different manner. This is where a unique voice can help. This is one of the best ways to differentiate yourself.
It is important to set a distinctive tone for your brand. This applies also to your engagement with your customers on social media. To get an idea of how B2C brands interact with their audience on social media platforms such as Twitter, you can also look at B2C brands. With each passing day, the digital divide between B2C brands and B2B is shrinking.
Every company has its own voice and unique style. Next, consider how you want to interact on social media with your audience. You can choose to keep the tone consistent with your other communications or to change it slightly to suit your audience, who may be different than your blog visitors or email subscribers.
18. Establish and maintain ongoing partnerships with sales
Marketing success is still hindered by silos between sales and marketing. A joint survey by ANA/GfK found that more than half of B2B marketers believe that better alignment between sales-marketing will improve marketing's contribution to the company and help them demonstrate their ROI.
According to the research, B2B marketers' top three objectives are to increase sales and leads, brand awareness, customer loyalty, retention, and brand awareness. It is essential for marketing to collaborate with sales to help achieve these goals and to drive business growth.
19. Learn Digital Marketing and Technology Skills
B2B marketers expect that digital marketing and technology skills will be required to increase consumer adoption of mobile and digital technologies.
Only 7% believe that their B2B marketers have a process to collect data about customer behavior, attitudes, and engagement. This information can be used to optimize and inform existing marketing strategies.
20. Interactive Marketing Campaigns
Interactive content has been a popular marketing strategy in recent years. Why? You can write a blog post. But, it can get boring. New types of content can be exciting.
Interactive content can include anything from polls and surveys, to whitepapers and interactive infographics. Interactive content has one goal: to engage your audience in learning experiences, not just reading articles or watching videos.
People, yes even professionals in B2B, love to take part in activities. Interactive content offers a unique opportunity for your audience. Interactive content like polls, quizzes and surveys has a unique advantage. It allows you to collect data from leads and learn about your audience. These data can be used to inform future content marketing efforts or guest blog posts, further establishing you as an industry expert.
21. Concentrate on the Buyer
In the majority of cases, the buying process is getting longer and not shorter. This is a reminder that B2B marketing agencies need to shift away from tactical campaigns and adopt a strategic approach. They must map content to the buying process and engage, nurture, and convert buyers throughout the buying process.
What does this all mean? This means that B2B demand generation programs should always be able to anticipate what's next in terms of content. This means marketers shouldn't be selling an asset but rather seeking to have a conversation. Marketers must have a buyer-centric strategy in order to connect with buyers in this ever-growing buying environment.
B2B marketers will continue to face increasing complexity as the world and environment in which they operate day-to-day will change, shift, and grow in complexity. It is not possible to spend, create, and push more of any product or service with a tactical approach. Real transformation is required to engage and get to know our buyers on a deeper level. It all comes down to the buyer.
Marketing Insider Group published the post 21 B2B Marketing Strategies that Will Deliver Success in 2023.
Frequently Asked Questions
What role does marketing play in business strategy planning?
Marketing is an essential part to any business strategy. Without marketing, no one would know what your company offers. Without sales, marketing would not be possible. Therefore, marketing is crucial to any business strategy.
However, marketing is not something everyone appreciates. Marketing is not just about spending money on advertising campaigns. Marketing is more than just advertising. Marketing can be described as everything you do that communicates your company's identity or position in the market.
Ask yourself these questions when you think about your company: What image am i trying to portray? How will my customers view me? How should I present myself to the world?
If you don’t answer these questions you haven’t thought of marketing yet.
Which are the four types marketing?
Marketing can be broken down into four distinct categories: Direct Mail Marketing, Traditional Advertising and Public Relations. Each category has its own objectives and should be used only for their intended purpose. This will allow you to combine them and reach your goals.
What are three examples of internet marketing strategies?
Internet Marketing refers to all online activities that promote products or services. Internet marketing encompasses email marketing, social networking, search engine optimization, pay-per click advertising (PPC), website design, and pay-per view.
These terms don't necessarily mean that you have to spend money in order to make money. There are many other ways to earn income that don't require you to spend any money. But, the higher your return, the more you will invest in each option.
Email marketing is perhaps the most well-known form of online marketing. This involves sending emails to potential customers informing them about your company and the latest offers.
Another popular method to advertise is through social media marketing. Users can share information with their friends and family on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn. Businesses also have the opportunity to reach out to their customers and raise awareness about their products and services through these sites.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO), is a technique that improves the visibility of websites in major search engines. Webmasters can increase their site's traffic by improving the quality and quantity relevant backlinks.
Website design is the art of creating a website that is attractive and functional. A website designer creates the layout and style of a website. Website designers also ensure accessibility standards are met and that technical specifications are adhered to.
Advertising via Pay Per Click (PPC), where advertisers bid for keywords relevant to their products. Advertisers earn a commission when someone clicks their ad. PPC ads usually appear at the top or bottom of search results pages.
What are the 4 functions of marketing?
Marketing is the art of creating demand for products and services.
It gives information about the company's offerings and its values and how they affect customers' lives.
Marketing also stimulates interest in an offering, builds awareness of the offering, and ultimately drives action (or purchase) in response to an invitation to act.
These are the four functions of marketing:
- In order to create demand, you must build relationships with potential buyers in order to convince them that there is value buying your product or services.
- Stimulating Interest- This involves increasing consumer awareness about your service or product.
- Building Awareness – This is the process of making sure that your customers are aware of your product or service, and why they may want to purchase it.
- Driving Action – This means ensuring that consumers make purchases after becoming aware of your product or services.
What is eCommerce marketing?
Ecommerce marketing is online shopping. It is the act or selling products over the internet. This can include buying products from companies and then selling them online. If you're an individual seller, this would also include selling on eBay. A business may be set up where you make a profit by selling goods. You want to make money online selling your products.
These are more details about eCommerce marketing
Creating a successful eCommerce site involves finding out what type of products you want to sell. First, determine whether you are going to sell one item (a book), or several items (such as DVDs and books).
Once you have a clear idea of what you are offering, it is time to look for a supplier. A supplier is a company which makes or sells the product that you are looking to sell. For example, if you wanted to start selling greeting cards, you'd need to find a supplier that made and sold greeting cards.
After you've found a supplier, you'll need to create a website to display the products and allow buyers to purchase them. You can either use templates provided by suppliers or you have to create your own template. Once you have a website, you will need to market it. This includes posting content on forums and blogs, advertising on sites like Google Adwords and sending emails to the relevant contacts.
When it comes to marketing your eCommerce company, there are many channels. These include email and search engines as well as social networks and mobile apps.
- Email marketing is a smart choice for most companies. It's cost effective, easy to use, and delivers great results. But, it takes a lot of time and effort to generate quality leads.
- Search engine optimization (SEO) is a technique used to improve the ranking of a webpage for specific keywords. Link building is a common method to improve pages' rankings in search engines.
- Promoting businesses is becoming more important through social networking sites such LinkedIn and Facebook. These sites are used by many people every day to connect with their family and friends. By posting interesting articles, you can reach thousands more customers.
- E-commerce marketers can also use mobile apps to their advantage. People love using their smartphones and tablets to shop. An app allows customers to be reached wherever they may be.
eCommerce has been a growing business. There are many avenues to promote your small business. You can reap the benefits from eCommerce marketing if you make wise decisions.
How does search engine optimization work?
Search Engine Marketing (SEM), one of the most important components of digital marketing, is essential. SEM can include paid-per-click ads, sponsored links and display ads, as well as paid inclusion, search engine optimization, social media marketing (SEO), video marketing, mobile advertising, and more.
Social Media Marketing is a great way to promote your business online. It's an excellent tool for spreading brand awareness and generating leads and sales. Here are five ways to use social media marketing to boost your business.
- Make a Facebook fan page – This will allow you to interact directly on Facebook with your customers. You can also upload images, videos, or other files.
- Twitter Promote Your Business – Twitter offers a great way to share information and connect people. Use hashtags to increase visibility.
- Post videos on YouTube – Many people love to watch them. If they like what is shown, they may click to visit you website.
- Host Live Events. Organizing live events allows potential clients to meet face-toface. They will be able to ask questions about the products and services you offer.
- Respond to Customer Reviews. Positive reviews can build trust with clients and encourage repeat sales. React quickly to negative comments.
Statistics
- Companies that use personalization are seeing revenue increases ranging from 6-10%. (blog.hubspot.com)
- This allows us to deliver CPCs that are 80% less than average and CTRs 4-5 times higher than average. (marketinginsidergroup.com)
- From 2020 to 2022, eMarketer predicts that digital marketing will grow by 36% and take up 54% of marketing budgets! (marketinginsidergroup.com)
- Meanwhile, a PartnerPath poll found that co-marketed ads help 68% of consumers arrive at a buying decision before even speaking to a salesperson. (influencermarketinghub.com)
- Many experts recommend you share 20% of your promotional content and 80% of other valuable content you find. (marketinginsidergroup.com)
External Links
moz.com
- SEO Learning Center – Moz
- [Case Studies] How Moz ranked #1 for a high-volume Keyword in 3 Months or Less
hubspot.com
youtube.com
statista.com
How To
It's important to ensure your audience is able to understand the content you are creating for online marketing. If your audience doesn't care about your product or service, why would they care about your blog posts?
Your website should be focused on fashion accessories. Not general web design tips.
As a way to market your business, you can use social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Businesses can use social media platforms to communicate with customers and share information.
Social media sites also provide a great opportunity to connect with existing and potential clients.
Create content that engages users and encourages them to share content with their friends. Shared content can reach more people and increase traffic to your site.
Regular updates are a great way to keep your content updated. It is better to post daily or weekly than once a month.
Because readers expect new content, a lot of engagement is given to posted content.
You can include links in your content that link back to your homepage. This makes it easy for visitors to locate additional resources on the site.
Make sure your content is mobile-friendly. Mobile devices now outnumber desktop computers. Recent surveys show that more than 50% of internet users access websites using their smartphones.
To ensure that your content is well-viewed on smaller screens, test it on different smartphone and tablet browsers. In conclusion, the mobile-first approach should be a no-brainer for any website owner or developer.
It's about more than just aesthetics. Mobile sites convert more than desktop websites. Not only are they easier to navigate, but they also tend to load faster because of the smaller size of the site.
Content that is valuable to your audience.
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By: Mark Schmukler
Title: 21 B2B Marketing Strategies That Will Deliver Success In 2023
Sourced From: marketinginsidergroup.com/strategy/trending-b2b-marketing-strategies-tactics/
Published Date: Wed, 12 Oct 2022 09:05:24 +0000