How does social media compare to other channels for B2B Marketing?
Social media marketing might initially appear to be the sole preserve of the business-to-consumer (B2C) marketer. But according to this research into B2B Social media marketing by Omobono, not only can business-to-business (B2B) marketers benefit from social media, but it could be their most effective marketing channel of all.
In a survey of 115 marketing specialists in B2B roles, Omobono found that 79% rated social media as the most effective marketing channel, with 38% noting that if they had extra budget for next year, they would spend it on social media.
'The overall results show just how far B2B marketing has shifted away from broadcast media (owned or paid for) and towards social engagement,' notes Fran Brosan, Chair and Co-Founder of Omobono:
'Social media now comes out as the most powerfully effective…
A VIP web experience for your VIP prospects
It’s the first sign of light after what could be months of hard slog on your ABM (account-based marketing) campaign. You generate your first lead from one of the accounts on your ABM target list. Hooray! High fives all round for sure.
After reflecting on how to build an ABM list for success, how to figure out which companies are coming to your website, and how to get ABM accounts to your website - we’ve now landed here. How to get individual named companies to convert to your website.
This is in the middle of the ABM process, and a key part of what’s often called the flipped funnel approach: AKA land and expand.
This is all about landing that first lead within an organization that you can then use a variety of engagement methods between sales and marketing to transition through the…
10 CEOs share sales and marketing alignment tips through Account-Based Marketing
Sales and marketing alignment is one of the secrets to the success of any business. According to a recent study published by Celsius International, companies with sales and marketing teams that are aligned with each other have a 67% success rate in closing sales. Additionally, having an aligned sales and marketing team can help your business generate revenue 32% times faster than those that don't have an alignment.
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Despite the fact that companies recognize the need for sales and marketing alignment, the reality is that a lot of B2B companies struggle with this. In fact, 90% of B2B marketers admitted that aligning with the company's sales team…
How B2B marketers can deliver compelling content journeys to keep a buyer's attention
Did you know 775,000,000 customers visited an IKEA store last year?
How can we take the success of IKEA and their journey through home decor and meatballs and apply this to B2B content marketing? Easy - think about everything IKEA do right and apply it in your own unique way!
For instance, consider these key approaches to B2B content marketing from IKEA's layout:
Package related assets together
Let prospects preview content before filling in a form
Provide a one-way logical pathway (this allows more time, and money, spent on your product/service)
Ikea's floor arrows direct you in your shopping journey, B2B marketers need to consider the sequencing flow and whether content (products) are aligned with the buying journey.
And, as a modern marketer, you rely on content to fuel your funnel and generate qualified demand. But what if you could turn…
Chart of the Day: B2B consumers value a much more personal service than B2C consumers
Across the web, you will find hundreds of thousands of articles describing the difference between B2B and B2C marketing and the differing needs of their respective customers. But it can be hard to know which set of data and recommendations to act upon.
This is where a report produced by Marketo, the marketing automation company, comes in useful. They surveyed 2000 consumers globally and found that B2B consumers value brands or vendors that have a deep understanding of their needs, actually care and offer a personalized service much more than B2C consumers.
This makes sense when you consider that B2C consumers have become used to and prefer purchasing via ecommerce stores, which don't deliver a personal 1-to-1 service. Where as B2B sales are all about the relationship between the vendor's sales reps and the client.
…
Understanding how GA 'UTM' values can give you more insight into your social media marketing
There are some key questions every marketer should ask of any social media initiative... Is anyone actually listening? How are they interacting and what are the business outcomes? To answer the last question on how social media links back to leads and sales on a business website, Google Analytics and using UTM values for campaign tracking are a vital, but often missing ingredient which we explain in the new CommuniGator social media measurement whitepaper.
This form of media has now become an integral part of our lives and continues to evolve. A few years ago the emphasis was on B2B companies being active and creating pages on sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter… now the conversation has swung and is moving towards the idea that every marketing campaign must be social.…
Do you have a holistic testing strategy?
Testing is the best way to find out what makes your customers tick, but if you market across multiple digital channels, you must come up with a testing protocol for each channel: email, web, social media, retargeting, SMS etc.
Or do you?
And even though you already know that email is the hub of your digital marketing programme because you can use email addresses to identify and communicate with your customers across all your marketing channels, most email marketers are not performing the basics and testing their emails as stated in latest report from GetResponse “Email Marketing & Beyond: Global Industry Benchmarks 2017”.
What if I could show you that…
Testing via email can drive your multichannel testing programme and deliver insights across your entire customer database, thereby not only saving you time and money in driving traffic but…
Chart of the Day: Annual churn hits 23% in the high-tech industry
Email marketing is a vital channel for B2B marketers. Providing a high ROI when compared to other marketing channels. Which drives us, marketers, to spend many hours creating engaging content for our target personas. After all this effort when you're ready to hit the send, are you sure that your data is accurate?
A recent study by Salesforce found that the rate at which B2B marketers were able to grow their email lists looks relatively healthy. In the High Tech and Retail sectors, the growth is as high as 21%. On the face of it, most marketers would take a 21% growth rate each year.
Average Annual Growth by Vertical and Department
But this is only one side of the story. The report also looks at…
Offline information sources remain important, supplemented by new online sources
High-value B2B purchase decisions are typically complex, involving multiple decision makers. They often involve interactions with sales staff to check the fit between product and service and what the client is looking for. Higher in the funnel, when purchasers are comparing the features of suppliers they will use multiple sources.
This research from Global Web Index across a large sample of B2B buyers show the range of information sources that are used. These include both traditional sources such as sales presentations and direct mailing which remain important and newer techniques. For example, communities created by the business or independent communities are surprisingly important. Company pages are on social media are also used are slightly more important that trade ads today.
The chart doesn't clarify 'relevant industry website', we can assume this includes both supplier sites and specialist industry news sites. 'News story' is…
Chart of the day: B2B customers favor quality product information over the number of products to chose from.
B2B customers need to purchase all sorts of products. Whether they're looking to restock the stationary cupboard or bring in a new suite of marketing tools, they need to be sure that you will be making the right choice for everybody involved.
This is where research from Forester & B2BecNews comes in useful for the businesses trying to sell their products and services. B2B buyers do have similar needs to your average e-commerce consumers placing significant emphasis on how easy the website is to use, fast delivery and the usual low prices. Most importantly the results of the survey show that B2B buyers place having access to credible product details above anything else.
This is good news for marketers who are responsible for the information on their websites…
