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The realm of B2B digital marketing is highly competitive, which means ad hoc approaches to digital marketing strategies won’t bear much fruit.

For any business looking to compete effectively in this space, developing evergreen digital strategies is the key to success.

These strategies require in-depth research, planning, creativity, and measurement. Internally, the strategies in terms of lead acquisition, website traffic and revenue generation must be measurable.

They should lead to better offers and stronger relationships for your prospects and customers.

The first meeting of most prospective customers with your company is digital. Here are five digital marketing strategies that will help make this encounter unforgettable.

If you want to develop effective digital marketing strategies that will keep you one step ahead, check out these five steps.

1. Segmentation of potential customers

Unless they’re serving a very specific industry, most B2B sellers have a wider audience, which makes segmentation fundamental. All other digital marketing strategies are linked to this first step.

When it comes to segmentation, you need to know your target audience, their motivations, differences, deal value and weaknesses.

This allows you to create meaningful messages that cater to your unique needs.

There are many segmentation techniques that digital marketers use, and we’re going to cover a few of them.

• Segmentation by type of organization: This type of segmentation is popular in small and medium-sized businesses. Potential customers are grouped by industry, location, number of employees and approximate sales.
• Segmentation according to needs and attitudes: This approach is based on subjective factors such as values ​​/ beliefs, business priorities, interests, pricing, vulnerabilities and decision criteria.
• Segmentation by behavior: You can segment prospects based on their purchases, buying habits, their social channels, or the content they have consumed.
• Segmentation according to (potential) profitability: some marketing teams rank prospects based on expected income from the conversion. This enables them to allocate resources appropriately.

2. Understand your buyer’s journey

Research shows that decision makers use online data to educate up to 80% of the buying process before engaging a seller.

The prospect can interact five to six times (or more) with your company’s website or social platform before taking this final step.

With every interaction, they look for answers to their immediate questions.

Mapping your prospect’s journey will help you determine the type of message (content) you are presenting to them at each stage.

Some of the content that is useful across the sales funnel from initial interaction to conversion includes:

• Consciousness phase: Interested parties are open to solutions to their problems. You’re looking for educational content like blog posts, social posts, infographics, checklists, e-books, videos, and podcasts.
• Consideration phase: the interested party tries out potential solutions. They compare offers from different providers. Share product / service comparison guides, case studies, white papers, expert guides, and product samples.
• Decision phase: The prospect has limited his options and is looking for important differentiators. The best content here is the one that tells them why they should choose you. It includes live demos or free trials, testimonials, product reviews, and case studies.
• Loyalty phase: the prospect is now a paying customer. They want to get the most out of their purchase. Share how-to videos, product-related articles, including product updates, surveys, and loyalty programs.

3. Get on social media

Since the B2B buying process is longer and more demanding, decision makers take the time to research and educate themselves.

Where do you look for this information? On various social channels, of course.

Social media platforms meet the challenges of the B2B marketing space with the following roles:

• Build brand awareness.
• Offer you a platform to inform customers and interested parties about your offers.
• Act as a nurturing instrument.
• Provide information on current industry trends.
• To give you useful insight into buyers’ problems while people talk about the problems they face on social media.
• Increase the traffic on your website.
• Provide valuable feedback on your products or services, including complaints and other observations.
• Support organizations in building new business relationships
• Reinforcement of promotions, new products / services, and other announcements.

These benefits are cool, but you can only enjoy them if your social platforms are visible to your target audience.

Here are ideas for improving visibility:

• Optimize your social profiles by filling them out completely. Make sure your physical and virtual contact information is standardized across all platforms. Use a few relevant keywords in your bio.
• Make sure that the social media icons on your website are in the places that are receiving the most traffic. This includes your home page, contact page, footer and on blogs.
• Embed social media posts in blog posts. This will create direct links to your social media page which will improve visibility.
• Get your employees to include your company’s social media icons in email signatures.
• Harness your employees’ connections by asking them to share your social posts.

4. Make cold calls

Cold calling always feels like stepping into an unfamiliar realm where your confidence and interpersonal sales skills are challenged.

However, this strategy is very effective for B2B marketing. It gives you the opportunity to reach potential leads who would otherwise slip through the cracks.

That doesn’t mean you should turn up the phone and call the top 50 companies on your list right away.

This strategy is not about the number of calls you make, it is about the quality of the calls. Let’s look at some of the characteristics that make a good cold calling strategy.

• Make sure your contact database is updated regularly to eliminate contacts who are not interested in your offers. A shrunken list of worthy leads is better than a long list of dead ends.
• Carry out a detailed research of your prospects in advance. Understand general and specific problem points they are facing and how your solutions can help solve them. You will come across as a knowledgeable person rather than an annoying telemarketer just interested in marketing their products.
• Never start a conversation with, “Did I call you at a bad time?” It will provoke a negative reaction. Say something like, “Hello _____, this is _____ from XYZ. We offer solutions that help businesses minimize _____ expenses while maximizing productivity and revenue. May I tell you more so you can see if it is of value to your business?
• Use a call guide to keep conversations natural rather than distracting them in the wrong direction. Your call guide should include open-ended questions, statistics and data, and variable outcomes of the conversation.
• Be a good listener and student. Write down what your prospect has to say about their problems and existing solutions. It will help you identify any gaps and see if you can fix them.
• No matter how well prepared you are, sometimes the answer is no. Rejection is part of the process, don’t take it personally. The prospect may not have a budget for what you are offering or they may be satisfied with their current solutions. Or they deal with internal problems.
• Use the rejection to your advantage. If possible, ask the interested party why they did not accept your offer. Your answers can tell you how to optimize your next call.

5. Collect and analyze data

Data collection involves collecting qualitative and quantitative information about potential customers through various data collection methods.

These survey methods include conducting surveys or measuring the number of visitors to your website and social platforms. You can also collect data from a reputable paid provider.

Analyzing this data has several benefits for both marketing and sales teams, including:

• Provides deeper insights into the personal, behavioral, and demographic dynamics of your leads.
• We help you understand what your customers think about your products or services. You can use the data to identify gaps and improve your offers.
• Testing the effectiveness of past and current marketing campaigns. This will help you strengthen the campaigns on the forms you want.
• Understand customer expectations regarding personalization, e.g. B. preferred product feature combinations or the factors that determine their decisions.
• Create frameworks that deliver better customer experiences and satisfaction.

There are several tools out there that you can use to measure and analyze data, including Google Analytics, MOZ, and Hootsuite.

It’s worth checking which one best suits your needs.

Once you know what works and what doesn’t, you can better tailor your digital marketing strategies for better returns.