B2B marketing strategy
Why do you need a marketing strategy?
Once you have set your business and marketing objectives and know what you want to achieve and who you need to market to, it is time to develop a marketing strategy.
For the majority of our clients, the initial reason they want to work with us is to generate leads, to drive and support the growth of their business. This can involve reaching a broader audience in similar sectors and markets or targeting new ones. Some of our clients want to expand their distribution networks and onboard new partners or resellers, others see further opportunity to cross-sell products and services to wider teams in existing customer organisations. Wherever the opportunity for growth exists, we can help.
Other reasons for working with a B2B marketing agency may include the need for a business to improve the perception of its brand, to further educate existing audiences or to attract and retain the best talent.
Lead generation strategies for industrial companies
We help businesses like yours identify market opportunities, target key customers and drive interest and demand for your products and services.
We start with insight into the challenges facing your customers, develop compelling messages and create content that can be used effectively across all relevant marketing and sales channels. Key to this approach is the adoption of inbound marketing and account-based marketing strategies, often using the HubSpot platform to enable us to engage and nurture your prospects.
We deliver measurable value to our clients by generating marketing enquiries, and leads, that convert to sales.
Our approach
Inbound marketing
Inbound marketing developed as a result of customers preferring to do their own research, rather than being pitched to. Engagement with your brand is therefore initiated by your target audience.
The key to successful inbound marketing is to cast your net wide, generate awareness, provide solutions to the needs of your customers and be visible and relevant when they are ready to buy.
Positioning you as an authority encourages your audience to contact you when the right time to purchase arises. This is driven by their need and within their timeframes. Through integrated marketing campaigns we can identify and provide you with a breakdown of where your enquiries have come from.
Measurement for inbound marketing
- SEO and form fills – one of the best ways to measure and track engagement and gain enquiries – with access to your website enquiries are easy to track and improve.
- Organic social media – engagement can be analysed and customer journey tracked if links are included.
- Paid social – you can see which companies have engaged with your social ad, by region or country and measure click through rates.
- PPC – will give good visibility on search engines and traffic to your website can be tracked and analysed.
- 3rd party sponsorships – social interactions, shares, likes and connections are available via third-party analytics and referrals to your website can be tracked.
- Trade events – measurement includes on-stand engagement, referrals to your website from the exhibitor profile on the event site, referrals from event media coverage, social interactions, shares, likes, connections.
- Blogging – easy to track with access to web analytics.
- Print trade media – great for brand awareness with a targeted audience but difficult to measure engagement.
- Online trade media – can be tracked as a referral to your website if a link or URL is published.
Account based marketing
ABM focuses on defining your ideal customer profile then, identifying, pursuing and nurturing high-value prospects. Sales and marketing teams need to work closely together to identify your big fish and align all activity through to conversion.
In contrast to inbound marketing where your net is cast wide, ABM is about homing in on your prospects – understanding them in detail so that we can really personalise your messaging, content and marketing communication campaigns.
During the customer profiling stage we will find out how your prospects like to receive information, what they are seeking answers to and who they are already engaging with. This helps determine the best content type and topics and how to reach your prospects.
Effectively, we are fishing with a rod and very specific bait, in a smaller pool to attract a bigger fish. To manage a successful ABM campaign, you will need some form of CRM and automated marketing. We use HubSpot ourselves and this is one option, but we can also work with other systems if you already have one.
Measurement for ABM
- Content downloads
- Event stand visits or webinar attendance
- Enquiries from your target contacts via phone or email
- RFPs from the companies on your hit list
- Referrals from partners of the companies on your prospect list
- Web form fills.
