We are in the digital age and this has changed the way we interact with each other or the way we live and work.
Digital life has also affected marketing and changed the way marketers communicate and sell be it to B2B or B2C audiences. Digital marketing needs to keep pace with the technology, for the latter needs to keep evolving.
Changes to any system are inevitable and as a marketer, you need to keep adapting to changes to achieve your audience’s expectations.
You’ll need to optimize your digital marketing strategy to ensure your business agility and reach the right crowd through the right channels.
However, before exploring the what, when which, and where of the Best Digital Marketing Strategy for B2B, let us first understand what is B2B digital marketing?
What Is B2B Digital Marketing?
There is more money in marketing than there is in the product or service you are providing. In other words, you’ll make money only when you know how to market your products or services to businesses.
Selling business to customer (B2C) is relatively easier than selling Business to Business (B2B). Besides, either requires a different process and approach.
The answer to what is B2B digital marketing may be simply explained as the process of one business marketing its products/services to another business.
This form of business marketing is required when one company needs another company’s output to maintain or improve the prior’s operations. A few examples of B2B marketing are:
- Ready-mix concrete producers that sell prepared concrete mix to builders thereby saving the latter’s time.
- A construction company marketing to get a contract for building a commercial building for a developer.
B2B marketing is still the same in the digital age in that, it’s still a business trying to market its products or services to another business.
However, the strategies involved in B2B marketing have gone digital including methods like social media marketing, email marketing, PPC advertising, and SEO.
B2B Digital Marketing Trends
In the changing times of the digital age, we are no longer sticking to doing business the way we used to. Evolving technology has changed the way we discover and consume information as the platforms for advertising have also changed.
Hence, the use of different B2B digital marketing trends has become a necessity to keep your business running successfully.
B2B marketing is getting more difficult. Therefore B2B marketers need to use impactful B2B marketing strategies to reach real customers.
Companies must realize that their digital footprint determines their shortlisting by vendors and the vendor decision is mostly driven by millennial customers.
As a B2B marketer, you will have to adapt your marketing strategy to survive and also keep it evolving to overcome competition. Here are some of the B2B digital marketing trends digital marketers need to be aware of in 2022.
1. Account-Based Marketing (ABM)
We are in an age of information abundance and marketers tend to cast a wide net to reach new customers.
However, the top trend in 2022 is to make use of Account-based marketing which uses the opposite principle. ABM strategy focuses on high-value customers and concentrates its efforts on them alone.
ABM is an excellent way to target, engage, and close deals with high-value accounts to achieve your B2B company goals.
2. LinkedIn + Other Social Channels
B2B marketing trends are still reigned by social media and platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok can convert high-value B2B buyers.
It is worth noting that not all B2B buyers are on LinkedIn and thus are reducing their reach. B2B businesses need to understand how vital the use of social media is for their business.
3. AI & Machine Learning
Marketing sales problems are expected to be fixed by AI (Artificial Intelligence) and machine learning technologies which in itself is expected to generate trillions of dollars in value. Thus, AI and machine learning are one of the top B2B marketing trends.
4. Video Advertising
In the backdrop of the Pandemic, there has been a rise in video ads, and this B2B digital marketing trend is not going away anytime soon.
Making use of videos tailored for your audience can be very beneficial for digital marketing strategy. Videos showing product use cases, products in action, or a quick on-demand demo influence the buying decision of B2B buyers.
5. Influencers
The new addition to B2B marketing world is the growing use of influencers. Social media influencers are still gaining followers and this digital marketing trend is here to stay.
B2B companies can make use of influencer marketing campaigns which will help them reach potential customers along with greater visibility and credibility.
Making use of social media influencers is highly effective for B2B marketing because prospective customers are more inclined to listen to someone they trust in comparison to a message being pushed by a brand.
6. Creative Content Marketing
The effectiveness of a marketing campaign is only potent if it is the customer first. In other words, B2B companies must evolve their creative marketing efforts by keeping customers at their core.
It is worth noting that creative content marketing is one of the top B2B marketing trends of 2022 since it helps B2B brands to stand out in the competition and engage the customers.
The aim is to have a customer-focused approach and one of the best ways to achieve this is by giving priority to user intent, experience, and writing content designed for a specific audience.
B2B Digital Marketing Channels
There are many B2B digital marketing channels with the best ROI. These channels are used are cost-effective, easy to measure, help in increasing brand awareness, earn quality leads and achieve desired results quickly.
Here are some of the best B2B digital marketing channels that you can use to grow your business further:
1. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
In the realm of digital marketing, your website needs to have a higher ranking on SERP. This may be achieved by the proper use of SEO which itself is made of several strategies. The usually used method is to produce original content and get it ranked for the desired keywords.
In other words, people search online using certain keywords. You take advantage of the situation by giving them original content regarding their search query.
This content is also complemented with the use of title tags, headlines, meta tags, and other parts of the copy to inform the search engine that you have what the user is searching for.
You also try to earn backlinks from reputable sites and with a combination of other steps try to get ranked in the search results.
2. PPC Advertising
Another popular B2B digital marketing channel is the use of Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising which is a form of online advertising model. It permits marketers to place their ads in a search engine by bidding over industry-relevant keywords.
The highest bidder’s ad gets placed over the organic search results of the search engine. Although on the expensive side, PPC has a fantastic ROI.
That is a user will first see your ad before the organic search result and hence follows the higher probability of clicking on your ad and reaching your website.
PPC ads are recommended for someone looking to boost website traffic quickly. The results are swift since traffic starts flowing in as soon as you start the ad campaign.
The additional advantage of PPC is that your presence remains highlighted in the search engine while you continue to work in the background to get your website a desired organic ranking.
3. Content Marketing
One of the best B2B marketing channels to gain new leads online is content marketing. This form of marketing involves original articles, blog posts, photos, videos, guides, ebooks, and infographics.
Customer-tailored content helps your prospects learn more about your company’s business, products, and services.
This helps in boosting conversion rate as well as brand credibility. Initially, this may seem like a slow process but it eventually delivers the results.
4. Website Design
Customers get the first impression of your brand through your website. Hence it is quintessential to create a lasting great impression.
Hence it is mandatory to have a good website design providing an excellent user experience. It needs to be quick to respond to queries and easy to navigate. A well-designed website has a low bounce rate which is a positive signal for search engines.
You May Also Like Core Web Vitals Optimization
5. Social Media
Almost all business makes use of social media, for it is a valuable marketing channel with constant growth. Therefore B2B companies also need to take advantage of this marketing channel.
This channel delivers results even with infrequent posting. Besides, being on social media makes you more accessible to your clients. It also keeps the latter in the loop with your business by getting informed of your latest offerings.
B2B Digital Marketing Strategy Examples
The best way to get your products and services to the right people is by digital marketing and it isis scalable.
Besides digital marketing is easy to keep track of, has a great ROI, and provides real-time data for quick and effective decision making.
There are several B2B digital marketing strategies and to better understand them, here are some B2B digital marketing strategy examples.
1. Use Customer Pain Points
Know thy customer before starting B2B marketing. Research what your customers need.
Simply offering some product or service does not attract customers. So first research the demand for your products or services and how unique are you from your competition. The difference and the demand will show o you the customer’s wants.
For example, you may find out flaws in the customer service of your competitors that are pestering the customers.
You can make use of this flaw and market your brand for your products complemented with flawless customer service.
2. Gain Reputation Through Reviews
Brands need good reputations like boats don’t need holes. Thus, an excellent example of B2B digital marketing strategy would be to leverage reviews, testimonials, and case studies from your customers.
In other words, getting a favorable rating or review from your existing customer increases the reputation of your brand.
This in turn gives you credibility in the eyes of prospects. Aside from that, your brand can also outrank your competition by the use of reviews online.
3. Customer Referral System
Although a time immemorial system, the referral marketing system seems to be one of the most underrated B2B marketing strategies.
Referrals are an easy source of new business for companies but can get side-lined due to the growing popularity of digital marketing.
However, it is well recommended to build a customer referral program alongside your B2B marketing process. The program can be in a paid or natural format. The system works best by soliciting referrals from happy customers.
For example, an android application development company can send out emails to their customers seeking their feedback on the services.
In case the customer gives positive feedback, the company can then solicit referrals by requesting the customer to spread the word within their network.
Best Digital Marketing Strategy for B2B
Digital marketing has been growing markedly over the years. The phenomenon can be witnessed by the increase in the money companies invest in B2B digital advertising.
This is because, through online advertising, B2B advertisers can reach their target audience at their homes despite the pandemic.
However, online advertising is not the sole breadwinner for there are many other B2B digital marketing ideas that you can use. Here are some of the Best Digital Marketing Strategies for B2B.
1. Target Millennials
The majority of the global workforce is expected to be millennials by 2025. Many companies will have millennials taking direct or indirect decisions concerning product or service purchases. This means B2B marketing strategies will need to cater to millennial preferences.
B2B websites will have to increase their response speed, improve mobile experience, use cause marketing, and increase social media engagement.
2. Use the B2C Approach
The spread of digital marketing has blurred the distinction between B2B and B2C marketing. This may be also attributed to the growing percentage of millennials as B2B buyer population. Thus there’s a preference for B2c experience from B2B buyers.
Digital space is competitive by nature and therefore, it is necessary to stand tall and apart from the noise. Hence a B2C approach is needed to grab the attention of millennials by their reference. This will involve the use of easy access, personalization, and emotional marketing.
3. Support a Longer Buying Cycle
It s a generally accepted fact that B2B marketing has a longer buying cycle. However, in the backdrop of the pandemic, the buying cycle got even longer for B2B businesses.
Pandemic tightened budgets and this has forced B2B buyers to conduct more research regarding the product and service to ensure a positive ROI.
So B2B websites must develop content that supports the buyer’s research instead of disrupting it. Apart from that, the content language and data must promote a message of positive ROI.
4. Make Ads Emotional
Typically, a lot of articles online insist that B2C marketing is emotion-based while B2B marketing is based on rationale.
However, science claims that all decisions have an emotional basis. This means, that despite the extensive time spent by committees deliberating on decisions, the result can mostly be emotional since the committee itself is made of humans.
Thus, B2B businesses can make use of emotion in their marketing campaigns and influence the decision-makers. It is worth noting that the use of emotion needs to be subtle.
5. Provide Personalized Experience Through Dynamic Content
Many buyers tend to give preference to content that connects directly to their company. Having said that, yes it would not be possible to cater your website for every specific company. However, a personal experience can be provided by making use of dynamic content on your website.
Some of the ways to use dynamic content are by creating a popup that asks for information based on which the user is redirected to a pre-determined tailored path of sales.
For example asking the user size of their team with the options, large team (10+ members) or Smaller team (1-10 members). You can also provide geolocation-based discounts.
You May Also Like Static Website Vs Dynamic Website
6. Use Video Marketing
Video content is a very potent form of B2B digital advertising. The advantage of video content is that it helps customers visualize the process of buying.
Besides, currently, it has become a norm for B2B buyers to watch videos for researching a company’s services and products.
Video content is both, entertaining and educating. Hence there has been a steady growth of expenditure by companies on video advertising.
This form of advertising is expected to grow further and therefore it is well-advised for companies to use video advertising in their B2B digital marketing strategy.
7. Email Marketing
Digital marketing has grown by leaps and bounds but it doesn’t mean email marketing has gone out of town. It may seem odd, but email marketing is neither dead nor gone.
In the earlier days, emails were boring and long, but today’s emails are engaging trustworthy, and transparent. Its effectiveness persists and email marketing is still a profitable channel for revenue generation.
Personalization is the watchword and emails too have become personalized. Millennials love a personalized experience and personalized emails increase revenue.
This is the fact that Zomato found out and made excellent use of. Their marketing strategy involved email marketing by sending numerous emails to engage the audience.
The email themselves had less content and tons of graphics which easily achieved complete audience engagement. Thus B2B companies too can follow such an example to make use of email marketing to achieve greater success.
Conclusion
In conclusion, modern technology has compelled B2B marketing to modernize and reap the benefits of digital marketing.
However, it is necessary to learn and understand the various tactics, trends, and their implications.
So if you are wishing to become a forerunner in this competitive world of B2B digital marketing then OneCity can help you achieve the results you seek. Contact us today and ensure your digital success.
