An effective business-to-business (B2B) marketing strategy encompasses not just one or two marketing channels, but a wide variety: reaching prospective clients wherever they exist.
Whether you’re new to B2B marketing or not, as technology advances it’s worth taking a moment to refresh your understanding of the various marketing channels in B2B available to you.
Contents
- B2B marketing and the customer journey
- The 3 core digital B2B marketing channels
- Traditional, analogue B2B marketing channels
- Outsourcing B2B marketing to a small bespoke agency
- Recap: The most cost-effective B2B marketing channels for your business
B2B marketing and the customer journey
B2B marketing utilises many of the same channels as B2C (business-to-consumer) marketing, but with one crucial difference: the target audience. For B2B marketing to be effective, the way each channel is used must be tailored to reflect the interests of a business, versus an individual consumer.
For example, whilst emotion is a driving factor in an individual’s decision-making process, it rarely is for a business. Instead, ROI (return on investment) plays a far bigger role.
Key to both offline and digital B2B marketing is considering where on your target customer’s journey each channel can be most effectively employed. There are three main phases to the B2B customer journey:
- Awareness: A prospective client/customer becomes aware of an issue pertaining to their business and seeks accurate, useful information on the matter.
- Consideration: Armed with knowledge about the issue, the prospective client/customer seeks a solution to it.
- Decision: Having narrowed their options down to a shortlist of B2B solutions providers, the prospective client/customer chooses which to work with.
When choosing the B2B marketing channels to use in your strategy, it’s important to consider how best you can guide prospects through this funnel: from building brand awareness to informing their decision.
The 3 core digital B2B marketing channels
According to recent studies into the effectiveness of various B2B channels, 60% of marketers quote the following as their highest quality sources of leads: SEO, PPC, and content marketing.
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) covers an extensive list of things you can to do improve your chances of featuring high-up on the SERPs (search engine results pages) of engines like Google. As search engine algorithms grow more complex, SEO best practices continue to evolve. Get to know the basics of SEO for B2B marketing, and ensure that your site is visible (and attractive!) to prospects at each stage of the customer journey.
When to use SEO: SEO will always be a crucial element in the B2B marketer’s toolbox, and should be used as standard throughout your marketing strategy, especially when targeting prospects at the “brand awareness” stage.
Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising
PPC (pay-per-click) advertising makes a strong companion to quality SEO. It defines a process by which B2B marketers bid on industry-specific keywords and search terms. If they win the auction, their webpage is displayed toward the top of the search engine results page for that particular search, driving high-quality leads toward their site.
For example, as a digital marketing agency offering PPC management, the ‘busy bees’ here at WebHummel might bid on the long-tail keyword “PPC services for small businesses in England”.
When to use PPC: Often one of the most effective B2B marketing channels for small businesses that want results fast, PPC advertising is best for targeting specific gaps in the market, especially for prospects further down the funnel: toward the “decision” phase of the customer journey.
Content marketing
In our increasingly digital world, the notion of “content” has become critical to achieving engagement. “Content” can mean a lot of different things, but essentially boils down to any consumable digital asset which individuals can read, watch, or listen to, and that entertains or informs them.
Content marketing differs from traditional advertising in that it’s used to make prospects aware of a brand without actively selling to them. The goal of quality content in B2B digital marketing is to add genuine value to your prospects’ experiences, and as a result, build both their general awareness of your brand and your reputation as an authority in your industry.
Blogs
A blog is a fantastic entry point for anyone new to B2B marketing. Cheap to run and easy to set up, you can combine quality blog writing with SEO to answer questions your prospects are asking. Over time, you’ll develop an audience which trusts the information you provide, and can convert this loyalty into customer sales.
When to use blogging: Best for broadly increasing brand awareness in your industry, as well as for catching prospects at the “consideration” stage of the customer journey.
Email newsletters
Emails can be content, too. Email newsletters use leads generated by website visits, conferences, networking and events to both maintain and nurture brand awareness. As you’ll well know, professionals spend a great deal of time navigating their inboxes. The goal of the B2B marketer is to craft an email newsletter which grabs a prospect’s attention, delivers real value, and drives greater engagement with your company.
When to use email newsletters: Email marketing builds on the contact information of those already aware of your company and its products/services. Use it to nurture and steer prospects from brand awareness toward “consideration” and “decision”.
Podcasts
One of the 2020s’ most popular forms of content, podcasts are more than just entertainment. Some of the most successful B2B companies host their own podcasts, having identified a gap in the infotainment market.
Similar to blogs, podcast episodes as a marketing channel for B2B should address common questions and complex issues in your field, providing the listener with authoritative answers in a digestible, enjoyable, informative manner. Done well, the listener comes to trust your brand as a leading voice in the industry, and may then engage with your services as a result.
When to use podcasts: To cast a wide net with the goal of increasing international brand awareness and increasing the reputation of your B2B business.
Social media content
Content created for social media can span just about everything, from short- and long-form videos on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, to pictures, memes, temporary ‘Stories’, infographics and more. Social media is so ubiquitous in the modern era that it behoves anyone working in B2B marketing to open accounts across a spectrum of platforms.
Nevertheless, the most important social channel for B2B marketing remains LinkedIn. According to a study conducted by the social media giant, not only does the average LinkedIn user have a buying power twice that of the average online audience, but this buying power is also complimented by a conversion rate three times that of competing platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
When to use social media content: Social media content marketing can be tailored to target prospects at any stage of the customer journey, from building awareness of your brand to clinching their custom when they come to making that all-important final decision.
Traditional, analogue B2B marketing channels
Whilst we strongly believe that your B2B marketing strategy should include all 3 core digital channels – SEO, PPC, and content marketing – traditional channels should not be neglected. Depending on the goals of your campaigns, and the nature of your company, a mix of the following offline B2B marketing channels should also be included.
Networking
B2B marketing is all about nurturing the trust of other professionals in your industry, and despite advancements in digital technology, there remain few better ways to gain quality leads than through face-to-face networking.
Events like tradeshows and conferences remain important gathering points for professionals looking to do business with each other, and are therefore great starting points for B2B marketers looking to explore this channel. Equally, don’t forget that socialising with others in your coworking space also counts as networking!
When to use networking: Prospective business customers attending events like tradeshows are likely already past the “awareness” stage, and looking to acquire options for their “consideration”. Networking is an effective marketing channel in B2B for generating small, highly-curated lists of top-quality leads.
Events marketing
Hosting events is the offline counterpart to digital content marketing. From seminars on unique issues in your industry, to charity fundraisers and tradeshows, events marketing delivers valuable experience to prospects in return for their awareness of your brand.
When to use events marketing: To raise brand awareness and establish your B2B business as a serious player in your industry.
Word of mouth (WOM)
Word of mouth marketing isn’t necessarily a B2B marketing channel you can control, but its importance cannot be understated. The value we place on the opinions of our friends, families and colleagues continues to underpin a great many of our business decisions.
When to use word of mouth: Cultivating the awareness and consideration of prospects isn’t always enough to secure their final decision. By optimising your existing customer experience, you can increase the chances of positive word of mouth marketing.
Local advertising
Advertising through local avenues such as billboards, newspaper ads, and noticeboards might not make much difference to the multinational company; but for small B2B businesses with bricks-and-mortar offices, local advertising is still a viable way to attract the attention of local prospects.
When to use local advertising: If the products and services you provide to other businesses are geographically tied. For example, if you are a catering company offering events catering to businesses in your area, or you supply building materials to local and national contractor firms.
Direct & field marketing
Contrary to mass market advertising, direct marketing is the process of selling to a specific prospect by tailoring the package of products or services you offer to their needs.
Field marketing is one particularly popular form of direct marketing, which involves sending salespeople into the “field” to engage your prospects face-to-face. For example, as a distillery producing vodka for supermarkets to sell, your field marketing sales agents would take samples of your product to buyers to prove their quality.
When to use direct and field marketing: To engage with prospects who have reached the “decision” stage of the customer journey, and are ready to buy from either you or your competitors.
Outsourcing B2B marketing to a small bespoke agency
There’s a lot of variables to consider when selecting the best B2B marketing channels for your business, and not everyone has the resources to give marketing strategies the time they require to be effective.
WebHummel is a small digital marketing agency offering bespoke B2B marketing services – from PPC management, and SEO as a qualified Google Partner, to custom content marketing and website design.
Visit the beefound.agency ‘hive’ today to learn how outsourcing your B2B marketing needs to a dedicated agency could help you achieve your marketing goals within your budget.
Recap: The most cost-effective B2B marketing channels for your business
The most effective B2B marketing channels for your business differ, depending on the services/products you offer and where on the customer journey your prospects are. Nevertheless, no comprehensive B2B marketing strategy is complete without the triumvirate of quality SEO, careful PPC advertising, and value-adding content marketing
