You have big goals for your business. And everywhere you turn, someone is there to tell you what you need to do to get there. Social media marketing, email marketing, content marketing, influencer marketing – buzzwords abound but what do they all mean? More importantly, how are you supposed to get to it all?
After all, you’re not yet the fully established business you aspire to be, and you don’t have a full roster of multi-disciplinary marketers on staff.
In this post, I’ll identify the essential B2B marketing tactics you should put in place – today and long term – in order to attract more leads and to resonate with them.
Consistently Produce Quality Content
You hear it everywhere you turn: Content marketing is the future of marketing. That’s because the right content:
- Demonstrates your expertise
- Builds trust and credibility
- Helps you rank on Google
- Grows your audience
- Answers the questions prospects need answered before they become customers
- Fuel your social media efforts
Of course, you can only hope to realize these benefits if you’re applying best practices in content marketing.
Down the Road
Consistently generate great content ideas and produce as much quality content as possible and dabble with different formats – from blog posts, to infographics, to videos. Each format has its advantage. For example, text-based blog posts arguably hold the best potential for securing top search result rankings. Infographics know how to present complex data in a way that is easy to digest. Plus, they’re still one of the most widely shared formats on social media. And 97% of marketers say video helps increase user understanding of their product or service.
Today
If you don’t have the resources to publish in every content format, concentrate on the formats that your audience prefers or on those that come easiest to you. And don’t try to maintain an over-ambitious publishing schedule on day 1. Consistency trumps frequency during your early days.
Get Social
It’s a wise idea to invest in search engine optimization (SEO) to build organic traffic to your site, but if it’s a new website, don’t expect immediate results. Until your rankings improve to the point where you’re on the first page of search results for highly searched terms, organic traffic may be limited. That’s just one reason why you should be working on building out your social following.
Down the Road
Eventually, you’ll have a well-versed team to make sure you aren’t just sharing content on many social networks, but also actively listening and engaging with your growing following.
Today
When you’re first starting out, you don’t need to be everywhere. Carefully hand-pick the networks that your ideal customers frequent and focus your energy there. Then, make sure to add a few powerful tools to manage your social media presence. Here’s a list of Twitter tools I’ve collated for those of you who don’t have the luxury of a dedicated social media team.
Reach Out
We’ve discussed how you need to start growing your organic traffic and your social following. Realistically, though, it will take you while to reach a critical mass of both. Here is is where reaching out to key influencers can really help you accelerate your progress.
Down The Road
In the future, you will want to maximize every opportunity to earn social shares and links to your site. In my recent post, uncover 20 Pro Tips for Boosting Referral Traffic, I walk you through some effective tactics for building quality links.
Today
While you may not have the time today to engage in full-scale link building and influencer outreach strategies, there are things you can do. Every time you produce a new piece of content, share it with three groups of people:
- Experts you have cited in your piece (they’ll often share your piece as a thank you)
- Influencers who have shared other posts on the same topics, since you know they’re likely to be interested in the subject matter
- High authority sites who have linked to similar posts
Download our FREE cheat sheet!
Find out how you can turn your website into a personalized and fully optimized growth machine that drives sustainable and predictable revenue.
Grow your Email List
Getting people to your site is a challenge onto itself, but when you’ve consistently implemented the above tactics for a while, you’ll be well on your way. Next, you have to figure out how to turn your visitors into subscribers. Why is that so important? Because once they’re subscribers, you can engage in a one-on-one conversation with them and start moving them closer to becoming customers.
Down The Road
Eventually, you’ll want to make email marketing a key part of your B2B marketing strategy. It all starts with learning how to turn your visitors into subscribers. Need some guidance? Check out this post.
Today
- Set yourself up with an email marketing service like MailChimp to manage your subscriptions and automatically send out new blog posts to subscribers
- Create an email sign-up form to invite people to subscribe to your newsletter.
- Create a valuable resource (such as a guide or checklists) to use as a lead magnet. Want some more ideas? Check out my post on 26 Tremendously Effective Lead Magnet Ideas.
- Create an opt-in page like this one for people to download your lead magnets.
- Drive traffic to your email signup page and your op-in page.
Tell your Origin Story
So far, we’ve talked about how you’re going to attract visitors and turned them into subscribers. Next, you’ll have figure out how to turn your subscribers and leads into what you really want – customers!
Down the Road
In order to convert more leads into customers, you’ll need to add some trust-builders to your arsenal – including big name clients and testimonials. For some helpful conversion optimization tips, make sure to check out my recent infographic on creating high-performance landing pages.
Today
If you’re just starting out, you may not have an abundance of testimonials and case studies to draw from. Don’t worry, there’s another powerful trust builder at your fingertips: tell your origin story. A compelling origin story, which details the events and values that led you to create your organization, is an amazing way to humanize your business and build trust. Want a truly memorable way to tell your story? Consider a whiteboard animation. The benefits of whiteboard videos are endless. If you need convincing, check out the eye-popping whiteboard animation statistics that resulted from a third-party study of our own videos.
Present Your Best Foot Forward
Last but not least, don’t forget, in our increasingly digital world, that face-to-face communication can be tremendously effective. If you have the opportunity to get in front of important audiences — whether they’re prospects, keynote attendees, or would-be investors — don’t squander it.
Down the Road
Eventually, you’ll want to create custom presentations for each context. The right deck for a sales presentation won’t necessarily be suitable for a keynote presentation, an investor meeting, a board briefing or a company-wide meeting.
Today
For today, create a really solid presentation. One that, yes, is beautifully designed. But more importantly, a presentation that is effectively structured and built to take your audience on an emotional journey. After all, emotions impact decision making, so use them to your advantage. And when you’re done, make the most out of your effort: Don’t forget all the ways you can repurpose your presentation.
Over to You
I hope this post has helped you identify the most important B2B Marketing tactics to execute today and in the future. Have I missed anything? I’d love to hear from you in the comments. Need a hand to implement some of these tactics? Exaltus can helps. Contact us today.
