8 Tips for B2B Digital Marketing

In a recent white paper, Accenture released an interview survey of 1,380 C-level decision makers in the B2B industry around the world.

The report points out that how to efficiently acquire customers, replicate and promote products and solutions, and manage delivery and payment collection are the three most troublesome issues for most companies.

This is also the pain of domestic enterprises. It is difficult to acquire customers, difficult to accept customers, difficult to renew customers... The B2B track that investors are optimistic about is actually full of thorns.

Under tremendous pressure, digital marketing is placed with high hopes and is even expected to drive business growth.

At one time, almost all B2B companies were recruiting digital marketing talents and increasing their investment in Martech (marketing technology).

The role of the marketing department has also expanded from simply brand communications to obtaining leads and accurately operating users.

But after a period of experimentation, we discovered that:

• It is difficult to connect internal and external data;
• There are too few business opportunities that SDRs follow up on to support the team;
• Sales is indifferent to the leads that marketing has worked so hard to find...

For companies that have just started their digital marketing journey, how can they avoid detours? Here are 8 suggestions for your reference:

1. The underlying logic of marketing has not changed

For those companies that originally organize events and write tweets and whose marketing departments do not have a strong sense of value, they must not imagine that installing a set of Martech tools can immediately "drive growth" and "overtake on the curve."

The basic skills still need to be improved first.

In the past, people had no contact with customers, did not understand the market, did not understand the business, and did not understand sales. Digital as a tool or means would not help those who did not understand to understand.

Marketing expertise has not changed in the digital age, for example:

• Industry insights and market dynamics analysis
• Customer segmentation and precision marketing strategies
• New product GTM overall planning
• …

In addition, marketers need to understand the entire business logic from market insight-product promotion-customer acquisition-lead opportunity conversion-customer operation , and clearly realize that the changes brought about by digitalization ultimately require managing the entire journey of customer experience .

If business owners or marketers’ understanding of digital marketing is still limited to digital media advertising, search engine optimization (SEO/SEM), and telephone (email) marketing, then it is time to catch up.

2. Activate data instead of accumulating junk data

Many companies spend money on marketing activities, collect customer lists and send them to relevant sales after the meeting, but never contact them again, or even do not organize and archive them, leaving the data dormant. Gradually a vicious circle was formed:

On the one hand, they continue to spend money to acquire customers, while on the other hand, they ignore past data and potential customers behind the data.

Instead of pursuing big data, it is better to first awaken the company's existing small data, sort and analyze it, and then conduct precise interactive communication based on previously defined categories.

For example, for decision makers who have participated in the event but do not have specific purchasing needs, you can keep in "constant contact" by regularly sharing quality content (product information, customer cases, etc.) via email or WeChat Moments without disturbing them.

If the influencer is just interested, invite them to a free trial, follow up with feedback, and “interact frequently.”

The clearer the customer segmentation, the more efficient the marketing will be.

The B2B procurement process is relatively long, the number of purchases is high, and the factors affecting decision-making are complex, so long-term and frequent communication is essential.

3. Introduce different Martech tools according to market maturity

Enterprises should assess what stage they are in based on their own team capabilities (maturity) and then gradually select MarTech tools.

Phase 1.0: Start with the digitization of marketing activities.

We are still collecting business cards, asking customers to manually fill out sign-in and feedback forms, and distributing paper materials. This is still a long way from digital marketing. Whether using mini programs, WeChat, or simple form tools, it is progress.

Then start archiving and sorting the scattered customer contact information to form a basic data pool. Then start to consciously collect demands from people with purchasing intentions and hand them over to sales for follow-up.

Any company can do this step, the key is to take action immediately.

Phase 2.0 : Match contacts and companies, clean and remove duplicates, and then conduct preliminary summary analysis. If the amount of data is not large and the complexity is not high, precise marketing can be carried out according to customer categories.

At this stage, if the amount of data is not large, it can be managed using Excel. The key is to provide targeted interactive communication with different categories of customers.

Phase 3.0: As the amount of data increases and the fields become more complex, data management and AI analysis software are gradually introduced, as well as more in-depth applications in automated marketing, and the operational management of the entire customer experience process is truly started.

4. Achieving a closed data loop both internally and externally

Now that we have the data and have entered the advanced stage, we need to let the data flow internally and externally.

External: After reaching out to customers through different channels, interested new customers are directed to the official website, and then leave personal information on the landing page, or directly call, add corporate WeChat, etc., to start interactive communication.

The touchpoints will provide feedback on the quality of the content and continuously improve the quality of the content. This information will be deposited into the database as the basis for optimizing content and touchpoints. Thus forming a closed loop.

Internal: Which salesperson should the business opportunity be assigned to? How should the subsequent feedback loop be operated? All rules must be agreed upon in advance. Even customers who fail to convert will be returned to the data pool after feedback.

A common problem is that sales teams don’t give feedback.

It is recommended that the two departments sit down and carefully analyze where the problem lies. Is the quality of the clues low? Or is there something wrong with the process of promoting business opportunities? Or maybe there are not enough sales staff...

Only when multiple departments achieve collaboration can a truly closed loop be formed, bringing about growth in the future.

5. Organizational structure, incentives and assessments also need to change

Digitalization makes marketing effectiveness measurable . Marketers are responsible for more business opportunity indicators and also need to be assessed and incentivized during the assessment and evaluation.

First, there are annual, quarterly and monthly indicators for the number of new customers (NNN, net new name account), market confirmed business opportunities (MQL, marketing qualified leads), sales converted from business opportunities, and finally evaluation of ROI, etc.

Each marketing campaign also needs to set specific goals, such as the number of customers reached before the campaign, the number of invited customers, the actual attendance rate, interaction and feedback data, MQLSQL, order amount, etc.

Optimize the structure and processes of the marketing department with a goal-driven approach, and encourage marketers to gradually improve their capabilities.

6. The soul of digital marketing is still content and creativity

Digital is a tool to make content flow more smoothly and reach customers who truly have needs more quickly.

Digitization makes it easier to identify high-quality content.

The more information and content customers can see, the more companies need to think about how to solve problems, meet needs, and bring surprises...

Content templates may improve efficiency in terms of layout and aesthetics, but cookie-cutter designs are soulless.

You know, only good ideas and content that hits the pain points can truly impress customers.

B2B products and solutions are inherently complex, and no content marketing tool can help solve product selling points, value extraction, case writing, and other tasks that should be completed by internal personnel.

7. Growth is never achieved overnight in any era

It is almost impossible to expect digital marketing to bring growth in the short term, and you must keep trying.

There must be a roadmap that suits the company's actual situation, which could be as short as three years, or as long as five years or even longer. The goals should be continuously broken down, and feedback should be followed up in a timely manner to optimize content and marketing methods.

It is recommended to advance step by step. If you just rush into implementation without doing a good top-level design in the early stage, the effect will definitely be poor.

In this process, the biggest challenge is not technology, but the evolution of awareness, processes and organizational structure.

8. Promote digitalization in light of local conditions

Traditional offline marketing and digitalization are not mutually exclusive . Digitalization is arming and optimizing traditional marketing methods. The two are not contradictory but promote each other.

Enterprises should also choose the appropriate method based on their own business realities. If the traditional marketing model is still effective, then stick with it for a while longer and supplement it with digitalization.

For example, a listed IoT company I have worked with has been participating in water industry exhibitions every year, which has been very effective. It can continue this format, but use digital technology to make communication more efficient in terms of check-in, interaction, and feedback at the exhibition.

Companies that target large customers based on lists need to be more cautious about digital marketing, focus on content, and the marketing department should not be too eager to contact customers.

However, if traditional marketing methods are difficult to bring about growth, then embrace digital marketing as early as possible.

Finally, let’s talk about the current hot issue of digital security.

I think the regulation will only get stricter and the public awareness will get stronger. Illegally obtaining contact information, making unauthorized outbound calls or adding strangers to WeChat has never been effective, and there will be no chance of that happening in the future.

Users are the Big Boss; they decide what they want to see, hear, and understand .

Through digital technology, companies can communicate with their customers more closely, more accurately and more efficiently. Continued growth depends on customers' comprehensive recognition of our products, services and brands.

Marketers still need to understand the real needs of customers, be more precise and authentic in content, and be professional and sincere in communication. This is the foundation, and it is a principle that cannot be changed no matter how fast technology develops.

Author: Hanni

Source: Time Notebook