5 Innovative Digital Marketing Strategies for B2Bs

Does your digital marketing strategy need a shot in the arm? Check out these five innovative digital marketing strategies for B2Bs.

19:58 07 July 2021

While the B2B digital marketing space has been around for a while, it gained more recognition when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. 

 

Businesses shifted online and started putting in place digital marketing tactics to gain leads and boost sales. With multiple B2B sellers using the same strategies, the space became noisy and the competition tougher. Marketers must come up with new strategies to help them meet their goals.

 

We'll share five innovative digital marketing strategies for B2Bs to consider. 

 

Review Management

B2B decision-makers conduct independent online searches before connecting with sales teams. Alongside your offerings, they also look up customer reviews for proof. Customer reviews speak to potential buyers on a personal level, encouraging them to go ahead or desist. If the comments are mostly negative and appear on platforms that receive tons of traffic, potential clients will most likely see them. 

 

Seeing as B2B sellers use online platforms to generate leads and sales, such negativity will tarnish your image and the business will suffer.

 

Here's how you can build and manage a stellar online reputation:

 

• Leverage social proof by publishing captivating testimonials and snippets of customer feedback on your website and social pages. Positive reviews entice online visitors and motivate them to consider your offerings. 
• Identify the social platforms your customers and prospects use, create profiles, and stay active. LinkedIn is popular among B2Bs, but don't shy away from Pinterest, if your clients use them.
• Create informative and relevant content that sets you apart as a thought-leader in your space. Identify your target audience's needs and pain points then craft content that shows how to solve those issues.
• Use social monitoring tools to track and analyze conversations about you. It will help you pick up negative comments and deal with them before they spiral out of control.
• Don’t ignore the less-than-flattering client reviews. Respond (politely) publicly and reach out to the customer privately to resolve the issue.

 

Host Virtual Events

Virtual events play a significant role in B2B marketing because of their cost-effectiveness and ability to reach a large or specific audience. 

 

Consider the following as you plan your events:

 

• Encourage your customer service, sales, and marketing teams to work together. They have different encounters with customers/prospects and can come up with useful topics that resonate with audiences.
• Assess your virtual infrastructure tools including the cameras, lighting, sound, and internet connection to ensure they deliver quality. 
• Conduct dry-runs to help the hosts feel comfortable in front of the cameras and to spot weaknesses like ambient noise, shadows, etc.
• Create promotional strategies for virtual events. Use landing pages, interesting hashtags, and talk about the events on social media.
• Keep the momentum going long after the event is over. You can repurpose the message for your content marketing strategies or curate personalized messages for the attendees. 

 

What virtual event software can you use?

• Social platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram are easy to run. Unfortunately, your audiences can only interact with you through the comments.
• Zoom and Google Meet provide better interaction abilities as participants can engage with you 1:1 and even chat.
• For marketers looking for advanced solutions, Adobe Connect, Goldcast, Airmeet, Hopin, Ballon, and Bevy fit the bill. 

 

These tools support interactions as the event goes on, track the event, carry out in-depth analytics or integrate with your CRM software. You can use many of them for surveys, selling tickets, or mixing live and pre-recorded videos.

 

Cold Calling

No one wants to receive a call from a stranger bombarding them with information. Worse yet, one who makes them feel like their entire business' success is pegged on what the person is selling. That's the cold calling strategy that died years ago.

 

The cold calling strategy we are talking about here is thought-based, sensitive to cold leads, and results-driven.

 

Here are tips to help you succeed in cold calling:

 

• Research the business: Research issues affecting their industry and their specific pain points - their customer reviews can help here. Check their present solutions, gaps, and critically analyze if your solutions are a better option.
• Research the contact person: Go beyond their name and job title, look up their hobbies, interests, and achievements. Find a natural way of mentioning this in your conversation.
• Understand your product inside out. Leads lose interest quickly when the caller cannot answer their questions effectively. 
• Avoid monopolizing the call. Allow your prospect to talk, as it will give you insights into who they are, their needs, and their problems. You can then present your solutions meaningfully.
• Practice cold calling with your colleagues. They can pose as prospects and create positive and negative scenarios to help you know how to tackle them in the real world.
• Rejection is unavoidable. The person may have a bad day or not be in a position to buy from you at the moment. If the prospect is friendly, ask them where your pitch fell short - it can help you tweak future calls.

 

Local Marketing

Local marketing targets B2Bs based in the same location or region as your own. It's a solid strategy for businesses that want to focus on bagging local clients.  Service providers, such as legal and accounting firms are examples of B2Bs that may benefit from using this strategy. This is because many businesses prefer dealing with companies that are physically easily accessible.

 

Here are ways to enhance your local marketing efforts:

• Optimize your website and social media platforms for local traffic. This may involve identifying long-tail keywords based on local SEO, for example, "Best law firm in _________" (your area).
• Update your title tags and meta descriptions to include your location. It may help improve click-through rates. 
• If your business has multiple locations, create individual landing pages showing actual physical location, directions, and contact information.
• List your company on online directories including Google My Business Listing and Yelp.
• Take part in local community events and post it on social media. It will help increase online and physical visibility in your area. 

 

Social Media Selling

Some B2B marketers consider social media labor-intensive as it requires well-thought content to keep audiences engaged. Yet others are leveraging this goldmine building awareness, earning qualified leads and revenue. Refusing to accept the impact social media has on B2Bs won't make it go away and you're missing out on incredible opportunities.

 

Should you join every platform there is?  No, but it helps to create profiles on the platforms your target audience uses. 

 

Some businesses use LinkedIn to share thought leadership content, Facebook for highlighting their involvement in the community, and Instagram for posting pictures of their products.

 

Here's how you can optimize platforms popular with B2Bs.

 

• LinkedIn: users on this platform want to grow their businesses and forge meaningful relationships. Engage in conversations with other users by sharing useful posts and pictures and liking, sharing, and commenting on other user's posts.
• Facebook: this platform is perfect for humanizing your brand. Mix text, images, video, and the live feature to interact with your target audience.
• Twitter: pin important tweets at the top of your feed and extend the life of important ones to ensure new visitors see them. GIFs and short videos can help capture prospects' attention.
• Instagram: like Facebook, this platform is great for showing off your company's culture, its human side, and for building rapport. Tell your stories here.