The way your customers buy has evolved, is your business strategy still based on closing techniques from the 90’s and cold calling?
Today’s buyer first investigates, analyzes, evaluates and later makes a purchase decision. Even more than 50% of this decision process is built without your sales team. How is your company influencing this purchasing decision process?
- Do business with clients close in more than 3 months?
- Is it getting harder and harder for salespeople to get new customers?
- The purchase typically depends on a committee that evaluates and authorizes the purchase.
If you answered yes to any question, it is a sign that your business is immersed in the changes that have occurred in B2B sales in recent years:
- The project purchase decision is typically made in long cycles, of more than 3 months.
- The products have been “commoditized”. That is, there are several suppliers that represent a competitor or substitute for your product, so differentiating yourself is important.
- In the B2B purchasing processes, 5 to 10 people are involved in decision-making.
In response to these changes, your company must adapt through a B2B digital marketing strategy that is aligned with business objectives and commercial efforts.
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5 reasons why you should improve your B2B digital marketing strategy
90% of consumers are not decided on a particular brand before starting a search (Status Labs, 2018).
One of the main reasons why it is convenient to optimize the digital marketing strategy is that business to business clients are a more informed public, that is, they are clear about the type of product and service they need. In the face of hundreds of competitors, how can you be part of your list of options?
Keep in mind that you are going to review possibly 10 options, in addition to your company, and instead of going to each one personally, you will do your search from your computer or even a mobile device, so having a digital presence is vital.
Today, one of the ways to build trust in people is through multiple channels, organic positioning, social networks, emails, applications and more.
1. Adapt your company to new trends
Digital marketing is an area with multiple variants and in constant renewal, so adapting the strategy in line with digital trends is of the utmost importance to stay current. You don’t want to be left behind, while your main competitors advance.
Nowadays, it is not surprising that people go from the offline world to the online world in a matter of seconds, resulting in new habits that influence searches and purchase intention.
The products or services they seek, the websites they visit, the videos they view, and in general, the information they consume, not only express intention, they are also transforming the conventional marketing conversion funnel .
Hence, digital marketing is constantly evolving. Trends, technologies and tactics are never final, what works today may not work tomorrow.
Here are some of the digital marketing predictions for 2020, according to Google:
- Short videos: Have you heard or seen any Tik Tok videos? These days short videos are extremely engaging pieces of content for people.
- Voice assistants: It is becoming more and more common for people to use a voice assistant to carry out their daily activities, search for information, send emails, and more.
- Improve mobile experiences: Despite the fact that the conversion rate on mobile devices is lower compared to that of computers, the gap is expected to narrow.
- Data-driven marketing: Basing the strategy on predictive analytics, aims to achieve a better return on investment in digital efforts and more income.
- Personalization: No two shopping trips are the same, with the help of machine learning it is possible to know the customers’ journeys, and thereby add value at key moments.
Companies that seek to increase their competitiveness know that the best way to achieve this is by making use of digital technology to be in the same place as their customers. In many ways, a successful marketing strategy can mean growth or stagnation for a business.
2. Participate in your customers’ shopping journey
Adapt to the evolving relationship between sellers and consumers
Improving the presence and reputation in digital media is of the utmost importance. It is estimated that up to 90% of the research and decision made by customers to become buyers is done online.
If your company has a good presence and digital reputation, it will be one step ahead in the selection process.
What a B2B customer is looking for is a company with which they can feel identified and that has the ability to understand their needs. In addition to the services and products being predisposed to satisfy them.
How to participate in the consumer shopping journey?
- Inbound marketing . With the inbound methodology, customers are at the center of the strategy, in this sense, all teams align to attract, interact and delight your customers.
- In pouring in to update your website, landing pages and blogs to be able to do the same ideals match your buyer persons . As well as adding call to action or calls to action, which drive the next step.
- Create campaigns for SEO and SEM positioning in search engines. Orient new content towards these strategies and update existing ones to generate consistency. It is important for the algorithms to show your company at the moment that users carry out their search.
3. Attract new customers and perpetuate the buyback
Attracting new customers is the round goal of all digital marketing actions , the question is how to get them, right?
Not only is it getting your company to have the best digital presence, but also that the marketing and sales strategies are aligned, to offer a good experience during the recognition and consideration process, which will give the customer security to make the decision to buy from you. .
To attract and retain quality customers, your company has to excel in its customer service, during and after the sale.
It is of utmost importance that you are given a personalized treatment, quickly understand what needs you have and show you the ideal products / services for your vision.
In addition, it is important to have good transparency between the products and services you offer, in prices and their characteristics.
4. Generate more and better sales
In B2B companies, 60% of the purchase decision is made without a seller
All companies share the same goal, to generate more and better sales. This can be a long road, full of bumps and setbacks. Through improving the digital marketing strategy you can achieve it.
In this sense, effective marketing actions should be aimed at generating quality prospects , people with whom the sales team can invest their time effectively and efficiently.
If the digital marketing actions you have undertaken do not meet this objective, you will have to rethink the marketing objectives you are seeking to achieve. Increasing the likes in social networks of little works if you are not connecting with future clients.
5. Drive long-term growth
Aligning marketing with business goals will help your marketing team understand the intent, interactions, and signals that drive long-term growth.
Every digital marketing action should serve a bigger goal than creating paid campaigns, posting more on social media, creating a visually beautiful logo, and posting more blog articles. Therefore, it is important to optimize your media, both to respond to consumer needs and the lifetime value of your company.
The inbound marketing methodology is based on increasing organic positioning with valuable content and digital assets, by increasing sessions, more qualified prospects are obtained and, consequently, potential customers.
If you want to grow and do it more profitably, you should invest in a B2B marketing strategy that aims to generate business results.
Is your B2B digital marketing strategy driving the sustainable growth of your organization? This guide will provide you with the necessary knowledge to implement a marketing strategy, whether you implement it yourself or with the help of a work team.
