Author: Carlos Sequeira

Last modified: March 18, 2022

In this guide we will go over 10 effective ways to improve your B2B marketing efforts.

In addition, we will explore what to consider when developing your very own B2B marketing strategy.

As a freelance copywriter I find that there are several similarities between freelance copywriting and B2B.

Here are some of the things that freelance copywriting and B2B have in common.

• Identify the intended audience
• Find their pain points
• How your products or services solve their needs
• Where do you find your prospects
• How do your prospects prefer to be contacted
• Developing and nurturing relationships
• Continue to work for customer retention

I hope you find this guide practical.

And that you can use some of the marketing methods in your next B2B marketing campaign.

Let’s continue to explore ways to improve your B2B marketing…

1. To improve your B2B marketing efforts start by using content marketing

Moz defines content marketing as the practice of creating and marketing content for the purpose of driving traffic, increasing awareness, and/ or supporting a brand.

Content marketing focuses on educating the prospect over selling.

This form of marketing helps the customer acquire knowledge as well as build an awareness for your B2B business.

For instance, companies offer free relevant information to potential customers that are searching for information online.

When you provide relevant content to someone that is looking for information, it helps establish a relationship between both parties.

Content marketing is a priority for most B2B marketers. Hostingpill.com states that “91% of B2B respondents said they use content marketing.”

Additionally, another benefit of content marketing is that it gives you the chance to show your expertise in a particular field.

By writing a blog post or how-to guide you are showing your prospects and current customers your knowledge in your industry.

Content marketing helps your B2B business be better placed in your prospects mind when the prospect is looking to make a purchasing decision.

The more that your business is placed in front of your prospects the more likely they will do business with you at some point in time.

Content marketing can include but is not limited to…

• Social media posts
• Video or Webinar
• Podcasts
• Infographics
• Blog posts
• Guides or Articles

2. Inbound marketing

The objective of inbound marketing is to help prospects find your business.

In addition, inbound marketing focuses on visibility and increasing your brand awareness.

For instance, when someone wants to buy something most individuals start with an online search. Slideshare states, “93% of B2B purchase decisions start with an online search.”

By ranking at the top of the search engine results page (SERP) or being in the prospects feed in social media your chances of turning them into customers increases tremendously.

Why do you ask yourself? Because most individuals don’t bother to check the results in the second or third page in their search engine results.

Ranking at the top of the search engines and social media drives traffic to your website and provides your business with quality leads.

This form of marketing works because prospects can search for information at a time that is convenient for them.

Prospects can access information when they want and not feel hassled or pushed into buying.

Moreover, inbound marketing relies on organic leads—SEO, content marketing, and social media marketing are the tools used to reach prospects.

The goal is to attract and engage prospects and turn them into customers.

This form of marketing helps you find quality leads for less money than other forms of B2B marketing.

This economical marketing plan can be applied to businesses of any size.

Use inbound marketing when you want to…

• Increase your brand awareness
• Establish your brand authority
• Build your brand recognition
• Generate leads on a budget

To enhance your reading, I suggest this guide: What is Direct Response Copywriting? + Real-World Examples

3. Social media marketing

Social media marketing focuses on content that prospects find interesting and matches their buying persona.

In addition to producing content, social media can be used to move prospects down the sales funnel.

Social media can be used to drive traffic to your website, grow your customer base, and launch new products.

According to an article on Linkedin “84% of C-level and VP-level buyers use social media interaction to influence purchase decisions.”

Most individuals and businesses use social media on a regular basis.

It’s important to be where potential customers are found; in today’s world that’s social media.

Advertising on social media can be free or paid.

Paid advertising puts you directly in the feed of potential customers looking for interesting material to engage with.

As it is often said, word of mouth is the best form of advertisement.

In social media customers can share their experiences good or bad across the social network.

Forms of engagement in social media include social sharing, likes, and commenting on your posts.

The satisfied customer can comment and like your page.

This positive experience from a customer helps your brand’s awareness and helps raise your authority in the B2B world.

Keys to enhance your social media marketing…

• Post compelling content
• Engage with prospects or followers
• Measure your audiences responses
• Make adjustments to your social media strategy

Social media marketing can be a valuable tool in your B2B marketing efforts.

4. Search engine optimization

Search engine optimization (SEO) is used to increase awareness organically by placing your website at the top of the search engine results page.

SEO needs to be part of every business because search engines are the primary way individuals use the internet to conduct research.

When your SEO strategy is working effectively there is no need to pay for advertising.

SEO has the ability to drive steady traffic to your website month to month. More website visitors means more potential customers.

Search engines help millions of people everyday, they provide information and solutions to problems people are looking to solve.

Backlinko states “SEO tip for higher rankings is to create a website that people will love!” Moreover, keep in mind to always create content that will improve people’s lives.

When you create great content your chances of ranking higher increase.

5. Earned media, public relations and testimonials

Public relations and earned media are a form of communication between your B2B business and the general public.

Typical forms of communication include social media posts, television, radio or podcast mentions.

Print media consists of newspaper advertisements or editorials.

What differentiates earned media, public relations, and testimonials is that this type of communication cannot be bought.

Typically it’s free advertising for your business.

When someone hears or sees your business is doing a great job in the paper or online, they may seek you out to see what type of services your company has to offer.

In my opinion, the greatest form of communication a business can have is word of mouth.

Testimonials are social proof that your business solved a need in another person’s life.

Most of us take our suggestions from family and friends.

When you see another human being speaking in a positive manner about a business, you become more willing to try the product or service they are offering.

Check out this article about public relations: How to Write a Press Release? | Press Release Copywriter

6. Referral programs

The purpose of referral programs are to drive sales and encourage others to recommend your products or services.

In return, the person making the suggestion receives a percentage of the sale.

In addition, referral programs work because people trust people more than they do ads.

If you’re an influencer with a large social media following referral programs can add to your bottom line.

How do you keep track of your online referral sales?

To track these sales a referral code can be used.

Referrals can be used to take a prospect to a website and have them sign-up to an email list or try a product or service.

Also, with social media referral links can be placed in posts and images to take the prospect to the business website and close the sale.

Using referral marketing can help expand your reach and find new customers in different marketing channels.

Referral marketing is beneficial for both parties involved, the influencer making the suggestion and the business with the product or service.

7. Industry events

Networking and relationship building is crucial in order to remain in business.

What’s a great way to meet with like minded individuals in your industry?

By having industry events. Events help you build relationships with other companies and people within your industry.

Vendors that attend these industry events get to showcase their products and services to companies in a similar field.

The goal of this showcase is to demonstrate how your product or service can help them resolve their problems.

Businesses realize the importance of remote work and virtual meetings and the positive impact it can have on their business.

The world is transitioning to a hybrid model, one where events are held in person and virtual.

The benefits of virtual events include time saving and lower costs.

Also, virtual events can be recorded for others to access when they desire.

It takes a strong team effort to produce an in person event.

On the other hand, virtual events are easier to produce because everything is done online.

With a few clicks you can set-up a virtual event and meet with industry professionals from all over the globe.

Virtual events are here to stay along with in person events.

8. Conversational marketing

Conversational marketing works just the way it sounds.

It’s marketing by interacting with prospects through a conversation.

Prospects can communicate with businesses via chatbot or live chat.

Chatbots and live chats are effective because they provide real-time information to prospects that are searching for answers.

An article on Whmcreative.com states “53% of buyers are more likely to buy from a business they can message (Facebook).”

Also, bots can be used to ask qualifying questions.

These would be the same questions that you would ask on forms or during sales calls.

Based on the prospects response, bots can make recommendations to fit the prospects needs.

Chatbots and live chats have the capability to produce and convert quality leads.

Conversations via live chat are easier on the prospect and makes them feel as if they are not being sold to.

Conversational marketing provides a better experience than filling out forms on websites.

If customers have questions, they can be pointed to guides or blogs that can provide more information about your B2B business.

Communicating by messaging is fast, easy, and convenient.

Conversational marketing builds genuine experiences with prospects in real-time.

9. Customer experience

Customer experience is how businesses engage with customers at every step in the buyer’s journey.

And it ranges from marketing to sales to customer service and beyond.

The customer’s satisfaction has to be high in order to retain a customer’s business.

The main difference between B2B and B2C is that B2B includes many stakeholders instead of just one stakeholder such as B2C.

In today’s fast paced society customers demand and expect a great experience.

The primary goal of customer experience is to reduce customer attrition, improve customer satisfaction, increase retention rates, and establish brand awareness.

When working on customer experiences B2B companies need to focus on making transactions as easy as possible, developing customer relationships, and retaining current customers.

Businesses need to constantly be evolving because customers’ expectations are often changing and as new technology gets developed there are always new ways to pursue new customers.

10. Omnichannel marketing

Omnichannel marketing is about making things easier for your customers and having a unified message across all your customer touchpoints.

It places the customers at the center, offering them an experience across all the networking channels they use.

The Omnisend blog states “marketers using three or more channels in any one campaign earned a 287% higher purchase rate than those using a single-channel campaign.”

Indeed, there is tremendous upside when you can provide a seamless experience across different devices and touchpoints.

The main goal of omnichannel marketing is for prospects to have a seamless and consistent experience across all channels.

Using the right software or enterprise resource planning (ERP) can help your B2B business simplify the process and gain insight into your customers’ data.

Information is analyzed from different sources to see which channels customers respond to the most and what type of content they prefer.

For instance, do prospects respond better to email marketing or social media marketing.

The data is analyzed and shared to see which posts caused the most engagement and led to closing the most sales.

When customers are reached across multiple channels it positions your B2B business in front when a customer needs to make a purchasing decision.

Omnichannel marketing channels include…

• Email marketing
• Digital advertising
• Social media
• Website
• Print ads
• Public relations
• Influencer and affiliate marketing
• Content Marketing and SEO
• SMS
• Online communication tools such as WhatsApp

Summary

In this guide we explored 10 B2B marketing efforts you can use to improve your business.

Here are some key things to keep in mind.

It’s important to identify the intended audience.

Find your customers’ pain points.

And demonstrate to them how your products or services can solve their problems.

Business is all about developing relationships and nurturing your potential customers.

Companies must always continue to work for customer retention.

The competition is just too fierce.

Some of the B2B marketing efforts that I use on an everyday basis include inbound marketing, search engine optimization (SEO) and customer experience.

I find these three marketing techniques work well for my copywriting business.

In conclusion, if you can implement some of these marketing efforts in your business, you can improve your B2B marketing.

Contact me for your next copywriting project. There is no commitment of course.