The virus that must-not-be-named has officially become a full-blown nightmare. As the virus continues to spread, businesses continue to suffer. Business-to-Business or B2B companies are no exception; sales have slowed down as work remains closed.
However, there is still some good news; experts believe that businesses will find a way to keep operational because no one wants to go hungry. Therefore, most companies are trying to find safe solutions to remain functional, and Digital platforms have emerged as a viable solution.
Given the shift towards digital platforms, B2B businesses must develop or update their digital marketing strategy. We have compiled a few top tips and tactics with relevant examples for your inspiration.
These are:
- Account Based Marketing For the Win
ABM is what Pete Campbell and Don Draper do in Mad Men; Campbell brings in clients that are sizeable and are interested in making a purchase, whereas Draper closes them off by an explosive marketing pitch tailor-made for them.
When marketing and sales combine their skills to target clients that are most likely to purchase your products, you have got a winning strategy at hand. This is what ABM does; it is a B2B marketing strategy in which marketing teams work closely with sales teams to identify key prospects and to tailor their marketing strategy for those clients.
Instead of mass marketing, ABM is micro marketing in which the marketing message of a company is made for the clients who are most likely to convert.
The results? Research shows that marketing companies that use ABM are 75% more successful in converting leads to sales as compared to marketing companies that do not use ABM.
- Embrace the Digital Revolution – Build an Online Presence
Simple, stylish, and responsive websites are your most powerful marketing tools in 2020. Pandemic or no pandemic, a strong online brand presence is the need of the day. A website is like the shopping window of your store; a well-designed website not only attracts traffic, it leads to higher sales.
Keep the following in mind when making your website:
- Simple is better: you may be tempted to add a variety of colors and features on your website, but don’t! A simple and clean website design is easy to comprehend, accessible and prompts sales.
- Quality of content: when you design your website, think like a consumer. Which information would they want first? Which question would they ask? And so forth. The content on your website should be valuable to the consumer; it should be clear and meaningful.
- Responsive: More than 70% of consumers will access your website from their smartphone. Therefore, make sure your website has a mobile-friendly version and that it is optimized for mobile.
- Easy and Clear Navigation: Follow a navigational structure that’s easy to use. Everything must be organized clearly into categories and sub-categories.
- Add links to your social media handles.
- Add Chatbots.
Along with websites, there are several digital marketing trends you can utilize to build a robust online presence. Invest wisely and reap the rewards!
- Customer is Still your King
Deliver a superior customer experience to keep your customers coming back. During a pandemic, you should focus on your existing customers instead of trying to woo new ones. Focus on delivering a valuable service to your consumer so they will have an even deeper bond with you once the pandemic is over.
The values you can provide during the pandemic are:
- Digital-first business operations: assure your consumers that you can do business with them digitally, every step of the way. Facilitate online meetings, schedule driver-less or curb-side deliveries, provide automated tracking information, and integrate e-commerce for online transactions.
- Offer Speed and Convenience: Businesses are worried about delays and increasing lag-time; facilitate your clients as much as you can. Make same-day deliveries and go out of your way to make sure your client has the service they need from you.
- Knowledge, Honesty, and Transparency: Uncertainty is the biggest challenge of a crisis; customers are in limbo as they don’t know when they will get supplies so they can begin their work. A B2B business can stand out by offering clients knowledgeable advice, giving accurate and honest information (even if its bad news), and keeping clients in the loop as much as possible.
Example: More and more businesses offering in-person meetings to engage with the consumer personally and take care of any challenges they are facing. Some companies are offering their clients to pay in installments to ease the financial burden and keep their business running.
- Content is Queen?
Content converts should be the tagline of this decade, but be wary of content for the sake of content.
Generate content that is valuable to your consumer. Think in terms of:
- Guides
- Step-by-Step Instructions
- eBooks
- Webinars
- Newsletters
- Useful Blog Posts
- Case Studies
A well-devised content strategy has four benefits:
- Lead Generation and Brand Awareness: Content such as blog posts, social media content, and in-person events attract the right kind of traffic to your website.
- Keeping leads Interested: clients may visit multiple websites in a day, but they will stick with the ones that offer valuable information to keep them interested. EBook, guides, webinars, and manuals hook the client.
- Nurture Leads: If your potential consumer is still undecided, newsletters, case studies, and in-person events keep working on them by offering undeniable value.
- Convert Leads: Finally, CTAs and promotional content encourage the lead to convert into sales.
Example: the world’s biggest B2B e-commerce site Alibaba has developed a dedicated page answering FAQs related to shipping and order placement during COVID – 19.
- Use Video Marketing
TikTok, Facebook Live, Instagram TV, and YouTube have increased the popularity of videos. People engage more and more with video content each day, and this gives marketers a chance to optimize videos for promotion.
Use videos in the following way:
- To provide detailed and in-depth information about your product or service.
- To provide useful information like operations during COVID – 19
- To give demos and tutorials
- To engage users through live stream tutorials and QA sessions
- To answer consumer queries in real-time
- BTS videos to engage clients
- To promote your product/brand through creative videos
Example: Sandwich videos, the marketing company responsible for marketing Slack, produced a case study video by the name ‘so yeah, we tried slack…’ the video was considered a success because:
- It was funny and engaging
- It highlighted how to use Slack (a new service at the time). It would have been hard to show how slack worked through the text, the video did it easily in a fun way.
- It highlighted the benefits of Slack, letting potential consumers envision the benefits they will receive if they used Slack.
Conclusion
Digital Marketing is the key to business survival during the Coronavirus pandemic. B2B marketers need to focus on building a robust online presence, using account based management, utilizing optimized content and video marketing, and delivering superior customer experience to survive during the pandemic.
It is difficult, but not impossible.
Do you have any other tips for B2B marketers? Share with our readers in the comment section below.