Digital marketing strategy b2b

1. Define your goals.

When you're first getting started with digital marketing, it's critical you start by identifying and defining your goals, since you'll craft your strategy differently depending on those goals. For instance, if your goal is to increase brand awareness, you might want to pay more attention to reaching new audiences via social media.

Alternatively, perhaps you want to increase sales on a specific product — if that's the case, it's more important you focus on SEO and optimizing content to get potential buyers on your website in the first place. Additionally, if sales is your goal, you might test out PPC campaigns to drive traffic through paid ads.

Whatever the case, it's easiest to shape a digital marketing strategy after you've determined your company's biggest goals.

2. Identify your target audience.

We've mentioned this before, but one of the biggest benefits of digital marketing is the opportunity to target specific audiences – however, you can't take advantage of that benefit if you haven't first identified your target audience.

Of course, it's important to note, your target audience might vary depending on the channel or goal(s) you have for a specific product or campaign.

For instance, perhaps you've noticed most of your Instagram audience is younger and prefers funny memes and quick videos — but your LinkedIn audience tends to be older professionals who are looking for more tactical advice. You'll want to vary your content to appeal to these different target audiences.

If you're starting from scratch, feel free to take a look at How to Find Your Target Audience.

3. Establish a budget for each digital channel.

As with anything, the budget you determine really depends on what elements of digital marketing you're looking to add to your strategy.

If you're focusing on inbound techniques like SEO, social media, and content creation for a preexisting website, the good news is you don't need very much budget at all. With inbound marketing, the main focus is on creating high quality content that your audience will want to consume, which unless you're planning to outsource the work, the only investment you'll need is your time.

You can get started by hosting a website and creating content using HubSpot's CMS. For those on a tight budget, you can get started using WordPress hosted on WP Engine, using a simple them from StudioPress, and building your site without code using the Elementor Website Builder for WordPress.

With outbound techniques like online advertising and purchasing email lists, there is undoubtedly some expense. What it costs comes down to what kind of visibility you want to receive as a result of the advertising.

For example, to implement PPC using Google AdWords, you'll bid against other companies in your industry to appear at the top of Google's search results for keywords associated with your business. Depending on the competitiveness of the keyword, this can be reasonably affordable, or extremely expensive, which is why it's a good idea to focus building your organic reach, too.

4. Strike a good balance between paid and free digital strategies.

An digital marketing strategy likely needs both paid and free aspects to truly be effective.

For instance, if you spend time building comprehensive buyer personas to identify the needs of your audience, and you focus on creating quality online content to attract and convert them, then you're likely to see strong results within the first six months despite minimal ad spend.

However, if paid advertising is part of your digital strategy, then the results might come even quicker.

Ultimately, it's recommended to focus on building your organic (or 'free') reach using content, SEO, and social media for more long-term, sustainable success.

When in doubt, try both, and iterate on your process as you learn which channels — paid or free – perform best for your brand.

5. Create engaging content.

Once you know your audience and you have a budget, it's time to start creating content for the various channels you're going to use. This content can be social media posts, blog posts, PPC ads, sponsored content, email marketing newsletters, and more.

Of course, any content you create should be interesting and engaging to your audience because the point of marketing content is to increase brand awareness and improve lead generation.

6. Optimize your digital assets for mobile.

Another key component of digital marketing is mobile marketing. In fact, smartphone usage as a whole accounts for 69% of time spent consuming digital media in the U.S., while desktop-based digital media consumption makes up less than half — and the U.S. still isn't mobile's biggest fan compared to other countries.

This means it's essential to optimize your digital ads, web pages, social media images, and other digital assets for mobile devices. If your company has a mobile app that enables users to engage with your brand or shop your products, your app falls under the digital marketing umbrella, too.

Those engaging with your company online via mobile devices need to have the same positive experience as they would on desktop. This means implementing a mobile-friendly or responsive website design to make browsing user-friendly for those on mobile devices. It might also mean reducing the length of your lead generation forms to create a hassle-free experience for people downloading your content on-the-go. As for your social media images, it's important to always have a mobile user in mind when creating them, as image dimensions are smaller on mobile devices and text can be cut-off.

There are lots of ways you can optimize your digital marketing assets for mobile users, and when implementing any digital marketing strategy, it's hugely important to consider how the experience will translate on mobile devices. By ensuring this is always front-of-mind, you'll be creating digital experiences that work for your audience, and consequently achieve the results you're hoping for.

7. Conduct keyword research.

Digital marketing is all about reaching targeted audiences through personalized content — all of which can't happen without effective keyword research.

Conducting keyword research is critical for optimizing your website and content for SEO and ensuring people can find your business through search engines. Additionally, social media keyword research can be helpful for marketing your products or services on various social channels, as well.

Even if you don't have a full-time SEO strategist, you'll still want to conduct keyword research. Try creating a list of high-performing keywords that relate to your products or services, and consider long-tail variations for added opportunities.

8. Iterate based off the analytics you measure.

Finally, to create an effective digital marketing strategy for the long-term, it's vital your team learn how to pivot based off analytics.

For instance, perhaps after a couple of months you find your audience isn't as interested in your content on Instagram anymore — but they love what you're creating on Twitter. Sure, this might be an opportunity to re-examine your Instagram strategy as a whole, but it might also be a sign that your audience prefers a different channel to consume branded content.

Alternatively, perhaps you find an older web page isn't getting the traffic it used to. You might consider updating the page or getting rid of it entirely to ensure visitors are finding the freshest, most relevant content for their needs.

Digital marketing provides businesses with incredibly flexible opportunities for continuous growth — but it's up to you to take advantage of them.

I'm ready to try digital marketing. Now what?

If you're already doing digital marketing, it's likely that you're at least reaching some segments of your audience online. No doubt you can think of some areas of your strategy that could use a little improvement, though.

That's why we created Why Digital Marketing? The Essential Guide to Marketing Your Brand Online — a step-by-step guide to help you build a digital marketing strategy that's truly effective, whether you're a complete beginner or have a little more experience. You can download it for free here.

6 of the Best Digital Marketing Strategies for B2B Business

The digital age has changed the way B2B communication is handled. That includes how you can successfully market your products. With technology constantly evolving, digital marketing requires a more 'fluid' approach.

You have to be ready to adapt to changes in order to meet the expectations of your audience. There are certain digital marketing strategies every company should incorporate into their digital marketing plans.

The influence of technology over how businesses run is not new. It has always been that way. However, what differs today is the speed at which technology is changing.

With the ever-evolving development of new technology, it is essential to make sure you are communicating with customers in the way they expect.

Here are 6 successful strategies you will need to adapt to if you wish to reach today’s clients.

1. Website

A website is not a revelation by any means. Websites for business are a given. However, changing trends means you have to change your set-it-and-forget-it attitude for your site. Websites today are practically living, breathing entities and need nurturing. You have to make sure it is showcasing your expertise while providing solutions to potential clients. 

Your company website should be an industry resource that engages clients and provides them with an informative and entertaining experience. That allows them to get the info they need easily. It should also provide you with a tool that collects data including sales leads.

A B2B website must:

• Be suited to your target audience
• Be mobile responsive
• Have calls-to-action to get pricing, schedule a demo, request a white paper, and so on
• Showcase up-to-date testimonials
• Feature all your social media pages
• Have usable industry information
• Be assessed and updated on a regular basis

B2B research tends to be a long process with little emotion involved. Your website will make the discovery process easier by outlining how you can resolve pain points better than the competition.

2. SEO and Content

Without SEO, it is impossible to get new visitors to your site. Without visitors, you cannot grow your business. SEO helps search engines find you and raises you higher in the rankings. SEO is complicated, and it is in your best interests to either hire someone to assist in improving your SEO or work with a company that can do it for you. They can provide and apply the most effective keyword phrases to help search engines find your site.

You also want to look at other marketing tactics to improve SEO. Creating a blog on your website is a must as this not only helps improve SEO but also helps to set you up as a thought leader in your industry. Your expertise provides a world of knowledge to your own clients while helping you to draw new clients to your site. Keep in mind that the B2B cycle tends to drag on. If you can lure clients back to your site with strong content, you are more likely to forge trust, which can, in turn, lead them to the end of the conversion funnel.

You can also consider looking for outside engagement and guest article opportunities that can link back to your blog and websites. This technique works to increase awareness of your own content and is an effective digital marketing strategy.

Video is also a huge component of content with many opportunities to engage and even educate your audience. People react positively to video because it puts a face to your brand. Other types of content can include infographics, e-books, white papers, and case studies. 

3. Integration

To get the most bang for your marketing buck, integrating your online and offline marketing efforts is a must. You can tie the two together seamlessly with a focus on superior customer service.

Ensuring there is always a way to reach you provides the offline support people still crave. You can send people to your website, social media, and landing pages through print ads, radio, and television.

As well, landing pages are an excellent resource for measuring the success of offline promotions. 

4. Social Media

It might be tempting to avoid using social media as part of your B2B digital marketing strategy. It is labor intensive and requires thought to ensure you are keeping visitors engaged. However, social media isn't going away, and new platforms such as Instagram are becoming more popular than the old standby Facebook. 

For B2B, Instagram reigns supreme, but Facebook continues to offer value. One of the easiest ways to use social media is to leverage your blog content. Posts directing them to useful content provides relevant information while also assisting with your SEO efforts. You can also cross-promote across all your social media platforms.

Good use of social media can include engaging visuals and helpful info such as:

• Industry tips
• Industry news
• Pain point solutions
• Updates to your products/services
• Happy client stories
• Links to case studies and white papers on your website
• Video testimonials
• Links to instructional videos made by your company

An excellent example of Instagram posts is WeWork. Their creative approach keeps followers engaged while never straying from their brand. Everything they do encourages sharing and creates a business culture that is inspiring for potential clients.

The one thing to avoid on social media is overt sales pitches. You want to inform and engage, and therefore spike curiosity and lead people to your services. 

5. PPC Campaigns

If your budget allows, consider including a pay-per-click campaign in your digital marketing efforts.

The beauty of SEO and content is that it is relatively inexpensive, or even free if you have the talent to do it yourself. However, if you are not currently seeing the results you want, PPC campaigns are an excellent option, with easy budgeting to suit your needs. With PPC, you pay for ad clicks.

Some platforms will also charge you for engagement or impressions or offer you the choice of how you wish to pay. They provide excellent segmentation to reach your exact target and can be the number one tool to drive lead generations and raise brand awareness. 

6. Redefining Targets

The beauty of digital marketing is that it has improved reach exponentially. The ability to define target demographics with great precision means you can invest in campaigns that are far more effective.

These campaigns are available through Google searches, but can also be applied through social media platforms. You can even refine your targets mid-campaign in most cases.

Combining this with easy access to results-based analytics, you can continue to fine-tune your campaigns to see the best results and with the least amount of investment for failed initiatives. Free tools such as Google Analytics help you understand how effective your marketing is and how it is affecting your targets.

Final Thoughts

The easiest way to begin your strategy is to list all the digital assets you own including websites, blogs, and social media pages. If you have access to analytics look for successful assets that helped generate leads or close sales. If you haven't followed up with this type of research, look at the assets that received the most visits, clicks, or shares. That will provide insight into what has been working well for you.

Next, determine where you might build on your assets such as more social media pages or trying out a PPC campaign. Consider your budget and decide where you wish to invest money and refer to your analytics to see where you are most likely to see the best ROI.

Once you've determined the digital marketing tactics that your company needs to use, create a content calendar, so you have a plan in place. This plan should include:

• Title/Topic
• Where it will be posted
• When it will be published
• Crossover opportunities for links
• PPC ads
• Content provider

It is never too late for your business to start using digital marketing tactics. These strategies will provide you with an easy way to incorporate digital marketing into your plan.

Download a Pay-Per-Click Campaign Toolkit from the Membership library to help plan your PPC marketing campaigns.

4 Examples of Successful B2B Digital Marketing Strategies

A strong brand is a powerful tool to achieve your business goals. Your customers' emotional connections to your company's mission, story or values can become an effective sales driver. One powerful way to initiate and strengthen this connection with clients is through digital communication channels such as social media, online article publishing and video.

Here at BrandExtract, we believe in the power of digital marketing and work hard to implement strategies and techniques that enhance our clients’ digital brand experience. Take a look at a few of our favorite and most successful digital marketing projects and programs—including real client examples in video, pay-per-click advertising, social media, public relations and content distribution.

B2B Digital Marketing Strategy #1: Video

Company: C&I Engineering

Experts: Greg Giles, Director, Creative and Leslie Rainwater, Brand Strategist

Scenario

C&I Engineering provides a host of process design and safety solutions to its customers. Due to the complex nature of these solutions, however, the company was having a difficult time conveying its message to prospective clients. We needed to help explain C&I’s services to potential customers and employees alike in a concise way, without oversimplifying their impact. 

Goal

C&I serves and hires engineers, so our goal was to help customers understand how this big-thinking brand engages with highly technical, complex problems. We wanted to let people know that C&I looks at problems holistically in order to provide big picture solutions that work across the board, versus focusing solely on a very specific symptom.

What We Did

“We recognized,” Rainwater comments, “that we needed to communicate this concept of the ‘big picture’ solution. Based on our research, we knew this was the right message for C&I, so we explored how to establish this story with their customers.” With this goal in mind, we made the decision to implement videos into the business’s marketing plan. We needed something that showed personality and told people that "we love what we do." The video started with a straightforward idea of what people expect engineers to be but quickly breaks the mold, transitioning into a story about the company’s culture, community and aspirations. It features a big idea divided into multiple small steps in the path—symbolic of the “big picture engineering” message that C&I wants to portray.

Why It Worked

Videos are a smart, concise way to tell a brand story and explore the benefits of what a company can offer in a way that makes sense to both potential consumers and employees. “Video is not the cost-prohibitive beast that it once was, which makes it easier to produce. The beautiful thing about C&I’s video is that it is so true to the brand,” says Giles. “It is an accurate reflection of the company—a group of engineers trying to break out of a stereotypical mode.” Copy could have achieved similar results, but videos often tell stories in a deeper and more engaging way—especially when they attempt something more than just a "talking-head" interview.

Tips to Remember

There is a common misperception that a great amount of digital strategies only work for B2C (Business-to-Consumer), and not B2B (Business-to-Business) companies. Video can be a highly effective and profitable marketing tool for any company when it accurately conveys the message you’re trying to tell. Focus on extrapolating the story behind the brand and humanizing your company to make it more relatable or even inspiring. Whether your business focuses on B2B or B2C, implementing video into your digital strategy is an excellent way to simplify your mission in a way that's clear and doesn’t undersell your goals. 

B2B Digital Marketing Strategy #2: Social Media Advertising/Pay-Per-Click

Company: Chemstations

Experts: Greg Weir, Partner, VP Digital Marketing/Analytics and Elizabeth Tindall, Brand Strategist 

Scenario

We were an early adopter when LinkedIn introduced pay-per-click advertising, and we found it to be a good fit for one of our clients, Chemstations, a software company geared towards engineers. We wanted to experiment with LinkedIn advertising for them, because of its specific segmentation options that allowed us to target executives who make purchasing decisions for Chemstations' type of product. 

Goal

We wanted to drive leads and promote a specific product, in addition to increasing free trial downloads and active product interest.

What We Did

“We created an ad that would run on LinkedIn newsfeeds, making sure to implement CPC (cost-per-click) rather than CPM, which is impression-centric,” Tindall explains. “We felt that, for this specific campaign, CPC would drive more actionable results because it tracks high-value interactions.” We selected a target audience that would be most likely to click on a Chemstations ad — Chief Technology or Operations Officers and others who would ultimately make software purchasing decisions for their companies. When building the Chemstations LinkedIn advertisements, we also made sure to use creative elements that draw viewers in and encourage them to click. We found that implementing pictures of Chemstations employees was an effective approach. 

“Ads featuring human photography usually draw in the most clicks,” advises Weir. “Especially if the faces give the illusion of looking at the viewer. In addition to optimizing ad creative, landing pages need to deliver on the key information that you’re promoting, should people click through to it.” When viewers clicked on the ad, they were immediately taken to a landing page for the Chemstations product so that they could quickly discover more information to support a purchasing decision.  

Why It Worked

Social media is a strong strategic venue for many businesses, mainly because it provides access to such a wide range of potential customers and influencers. We capitalized on LinkedIn at a time when it was not as crowded as other social sites, and we created ads that were targeted to capture executives in order to sell Chemstations’ product.

Tips to Remember

Compelling ads are ultimately what is going to make your target market take interest and click, so be sure to create something that really speaks to and exemplifies your target audience’s interests. Equally important is a landing page that delivers on the information your audience will likely be looking for. These campaigns require freshening monthly, as the shelf-life of the ads is only about three to four weeks. Your audience sees the ad over and over again, so it grows old quickly. Allow flexibility to pilot changes.

B2B Digital Marketing Strategy #3: Public Relations and Content Distribution

Company: HWCG, L.L.C. 

Experts: Ashley Horne, Brand Manager and Caitlin Devereaux, Content Marketing Specialist

Scenario 

After the Deepwater Horizon tragedy, offshore operators came together to form HWCG, an emergency well containment consortium dedicated to maintaining a deepwater response system. Because HWCG's core solution can bring to mind disaster, the organization was hesitant to participate in media conversations out of fear that the discussion could quickly turn negative. They desired, however, for other companies in their industry and the public to have an accurate understanding and appreciation for what they do, rather than overlooking their response solution or referring to outdated or misleading information. 

Goal

After a period of dormant communications, HWCG began to lose its share in industry conversations to other organizations. They wanted to increase media visibility and position themselves as the clear solution to blowouts within the industry. Additionally, HWCG sought to advocate for safe and responsible drilling practices and correct misinformation and inaccurate perceptions held by the general public and industry media.

What We Did

“We wanted there to be significance in saying, 'we’re members of HWCG,'” Devereaux adds. “The company wanted to express its value and encourage member participation.” To achieve this goal, we aided the company in its emergence into industry and mainstream  media conversations, creating a presence for it rather than maintaining silence. We also created a strategic media outreach plan to help drive the ready-to-respond message and developed content to reinforce HWCG as industry advocates. HWCG is a member-based organization, so we established visibility not only for the consortium as a whole, but also for members who would recognize the worth of being a member.

Why It Worked 

“Our audience in this particular industry is very present and active,” Horne explains, “and the high levels of interaction made content distribution an excellent candidate for HWCG’s digital strategy.” As part of our public relations and content distribution program, we employed a cross-channel approach that involved digital media such as newsletters, a new website and featured articles in online news publications. Our proactive approach involved regularly contributing to discussions that were in the press. We recognized the power of awareness—what content is available in the industry, and what can we do to create something new and informative? HWCG’s industry is highly regulated, but the information that the press associated with it was either inaccurate or outdated. Publishing fresh, accurate content on various digital platforms is a way for HWCG to educate all audience groups on their mission and ongoing initiatives.

Tips to Remember 

PR is often overlooked among digital teams, but it's an effective communication tool that transcends platforms by putting your brand in touch with your audience, wherever they are. Always look for ways to fit your brand’s story into existing conversations as a key aspect of this digital strategy. Finding publications that discuss these topics and responding to them is also important, because it puts you directly in the sight of your audience and allows them to become more aware of your brand. Instead of feeling defeated by inaccurate information, be proactive about letting people know about new developments that are available. Many B2B companies approach media conversations thinking that they can completely control them, but a more realistic goal is to guide the information. Establishing your presence across different channels makes it more likely that you will be the one guiding leaders in the conversation.

B2B Digital Marketing Strategy #4: Social Media

Company: BrandExtract

Experts: Laura Puente, Director, Marketing Communications, Chris Wilks, Digital Content Strategist, and Caitlin Devereaux, Content Marketing Specialist 

Scenario 

While we consider ourselves a successful branding agency, we realized several years ago that we weren’t engaging clients and potential leads in a way that would support more natural, long-term relationships. Social media can be an excellent way to engage your employees, recruits, prospective clients, partners and the industry as a whole, partly because it is an opt-in marketing approach. If people follow you, it means that you are an active part of the conversation and it gives you more leverage in terms of engagement and conversations.  

Goal 

We wanted to show that we are active, engaged and driving conversation around our company’s key messages and also wanted to expand our network among recruits, potential customers and industry influencers.

What We Did 

Our target audience exists on social media, but each platform corresponds to different personas within that larger group. As a result, each platform, from Twitter to Facebook to LinkedIn, has to have a different strategy in order to engage with each persona. We broke it down, channel by channel, discussed content to share on each, and set goals.

“We created a process map with expectations for each point of engagement,” explains Puente, “and communicated it with our agency partners, giving them guidelines to supplement our regular posts with their content.”

We began to track everything monthly via Google Analytics and each platform’s analytics tools, making sure to implement monthly meetings to measure success, brainstorm, and adjust the strategy as needed. We continue to work with our agency’s partners, like CEO Bo Bothe and Chairman Jonathan Fisher, to post content on their individual social networks to create a greater level of interaction with the brand. Now, our audience is powerfully engaged on social media. Interacting with them is a positive experience, because it allows us to build direct relationships with our target audience.

Why It Worked 

“Facebook has been good to us for internal engagement,” Devereaux advises, “and it helps you connect with your employees and share your culture.” Other social media venues, like LinkedIn, are great sources for recruiting and generating leads. If there is a big publicity need, social media is a great way to support that and maintain interactions through pitches and conversations.

For us, the most beneficial ways to use social media are:

• If there’s an existing conversation about us and our company
• When we're investing in producing quality content and then using social media to strategically post and promote it to the right people
• Providing value on the platform itself by answering questions, connecting people, and being a general team player and available resource, and
• When we want to listen to keep a pulse on the conversation that our audience engages with.

Tips to Remember

“B2B professionals can be quick to say, 'my audience is not on social media,' or to announce its risks with their compliance department,” Wilks points out. “But it’s important to note that your audience is on social media, often having conversations about you and about your industry, whether you’re there or not. It’s best for you to get out into the social media world and address your audience head-on, using to your advantage what people might be saying about your company on different social platforms. It’s easier for you to correct someone or direct the conversation in a more accurate way if you have a presence.”

Final Takeaways

Digital strategies are an extremely important component of any company’s overall marketing plan, regardless of your industry. When properly implemented, each strategy can produce influential results, and new ones are discovered every day that continue to shift and mold the business world. These strategies add to your basic marketing plan by implementing a new way of reaching your audience in their element and attracting them to your company. To learn more about how to properly implement digital strategies in a marketing plan to impact your company and bottom line, contact a brand strategist today.

7 Steps for creating a B2B Digital Marketing Plan

Don't get left behind with your Digital Marketing Strategy, follow these 7 Steps to Brilliant B2B Marketing!

Many Business-to-business (B2B) companies are already successfully getting great results using digital marketing tactics like SEO, PPC, landing page creation, social media and email marketing linked to a CRM marketing automation system or a simple email autoresponse system.

But often, B2B organizations are not getting the most from today's marketing since they don't have a planned approach based on an integrated inbound marketing plan. To create an infographic showing the latest research on how companies are using inbound marketing, we've researched how B2B companies are using digital marketing. The results across different studies show that while many companies are delivering brilliant results,  many could do more.

Our updated infographic shows a planned approach based on our B2B digital marketing planning workbook.

We originally published this infographic back in 2012 when a longer guide was available, but we hope you still find the infographic useful; we've included advice on key issues to think through at each relevant step for all involved in inbound and content marketing.