Your organization may already be investing in B2B digital marketing, but are you getting a decent return on investment? Companies must understand how to generate consistent sales using the marketing dollars spent. Throwing more money at your next B2B campaign can only take your organization so far. Thankfully, there are eight simple things your organization can do when investing in B2B online marketing to reach your target customers and close deals.

 

1. Embrace new technology for your next marketing campaign

Is your marketing collateral boring? Are you reaching the right audience? Do you understand what customers are looking for? When marketing B2B organizations, consider:

• Targeting mobile devices like smartphones and tablets
• Meeting customers where they are online (or offline)
• Creating visualizations and infographics to convey statistics

You shouldn’t adopt every new trend, but consider what will work for your company. Companies have seen proven results using technology like live-streaming and videos. You need to start adding visuals to your sales process.

 

2. Use PPC to nab B2B buyers

As you build B2B digital marketing strategies, you realize that businesses use social channels as much as consumers do.

Pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns provide useful data for B2B sales teams to analyze conversion success by looking at data provided by social media companies. There are many options for how to run a successful social media PPC campaign, but here are a few examples to try:

• Invitations to innovative industry webinars
• Short video product announcements
• Presentations regarding why a product/service is valuable to a business

Investing in PPC marketing through an Instagram or LinkedIn profile produces higher conversion rates. If you don’t have a presence on a platform, you can buy social PPC ads without one, but we don’t recommend it. Potential customers want the social proof provided by a genuine, active profile. Consumers will skip by if you’re not making at least a minimum effort.

 

3. Maximize ad retargeting

One thing that many B2B marketers neglect to do is retarget advertisements. Retargeting gives your organization a simple way to stay top of mind with users who have shown interest in your product.

You can also use retargeting to test and tweak your messaging to see what marketing B2B ads work best. In the digital marketing B2B world, making simple changes to the text, removing background music or changing statistics takes only a few minutes.

B2B marketers can be proactive right from the start by creating multiple campaign versions. You can start this process by tweaking your messaging to market to specific industries and audiences.

 

4. Upgrade your lead and target account lists

Without a good number of leads, your B2B sales numbers may drop. Luckily many services can help you boost leads so you can talk to the right companies.

Consider using an online lead generation service to boost your potential client pool. When you use a service like this, they can provide you with a list of relevant leads that your sales reps have the opportunity to convert. Your sales team will love the excess leads they can cold call to convert to standing agreements.

As an alternative, consider using a Sales Development Platform (SDP) to help you build a strong target list of accounts that look and act like your best customers. It’s a great way to identify prospects with a high propensity to buy from you—before they’ve heard of you (or your competitors).

 

5. Launch an affiliate marketing program

Affiliate marketing is a great way to build your B2B pipeline, but it can be tricky for companies to understand. When selling to businesses, you need to carefully select the partners or affiliates you work with. Working with a trusted voice can provide opportunities and leads that often convert to sales and referrals. Affiliate marketing is worth including as another sales channel in your overall strategy, especially since you only pay on conversion.

 

6. Pay for extra promotion on social media

Social media channels, such as Facebook and Instagram, offer an advertisement boosting option for a small fee. Boosting displays your marketing advertisements to a wider variety of users. You can—and should—customize the audience that will see your content. You can often do this by drilling into several detailed characteristics such as the ad viewer’s age, education and work.

The small fee increases your audience and increases B2B leads. Digital advertisements should tell business leaders exactly why your product or service will enhance their bottom line.

 

7. Impress through technology

Brands tend to try to keep up with one another on technology. One way to impress customers is to use technology to help show off your product.

Forget sending printed packets of material in advance. Instead, send a link to an introduction video or short webinar. Buyers want a personalized experience. Using tools like Loom can help you make a great first impression and create something that potential customers will find valuable.

Asynchronous communication is more convenient and forward-thinking, especially when considering the future of B2B marketing and sales.

 

8. Automate email marketing campaigns

Automation is essential when you are a B2B marketer or salesperson. According to a recent survey by HubSpot, 76% of companies use automation in their business.

A simple email autoresponder indicating receipt of an email and an ETA for response is better than an announcement on a webpage stating that there is a delay in email responses.

If 20 email inquiries come in after releasing a B2B digital marketing campaign and there is no brand acknowledgment, it leaves a bad taste in your buyers’ mouths. Make optimizing your automation software a priority.

This software will provide deeper insights into your B2B emails, so you know if people are:

• Opening them
• Clicking on your call to action
• Resonating with short or long messages

Experiment with different styles, subject lines and send times to determine the best practices for your particular audience.

 

Closing thoughts

Invite businesses to engage with you through your digital channels—and provide timely responses to inquiries. Reach out to companies within your sector with digital campaigns rather than lengthy written reports. These measures will entice more brands to inquire about your brand’s product or service, leading to more direct B2B sales.

B2B digital marketing is as crucial as mobile and content marketing in your overall strategy. Disregarding one area leaves the door open for other B2B sales teams to swoop in and lock down contracts before you can.