Strategy+Design

Remember Y2K? Things were much simpler then. In the last 15-20 years we’ve been hit with a few major market shifts due to some amazing innovations in technology and communications. But the mother of all marketing tsunamis hit us in 2008: social media. In four years we have witnessed unprecedented change in a very short period of time.

In the B2C sector, where everything is instantaneous, that amount of change in such a small window has worked wonders for catering to our instant gratification consumer culture. But in the B2B sector, where things tend to move much slower, this massive rate of change has had a devastating effect (think tsunami) on how B2B companies go to market, generate demand, and nurture leads.

Yes, it’s true that B2B companies have their work cut out for them, considering the different dynamics inherent in B2B business; however, there is simple way to look at the issues facing B2B companies struggling to catch up in the wake of this social tsunami.

A Simple B2B Content Strategy Explained Visually

Eloqua regularly publishes insightful charts to illustrate various trends in customer behaviour. I cherry-picked three of these charts to provide a visual way of explaining a strategy for B2B companies to manage their marketing initiatives in this new age of social engagement.

1. Target Influencers with Useful Content

Content is the backbone for attracting influencers in your market. They can increase qualified traffic, which, in turn, grows your database with quality leads. But creating engaging content is scary for most B2B firms because many don’t have the internal resources or capabilities to do it right. Hence why there are so many B2B organizations going through the motions rather than generating anything remotely useful. It’s important in the early planning stages to create a content marketing strategy that not only delivers useful content to potential customers, but also represents your B2B brand as a market leader to key influencers. And the more dynamic your content, the higher your conversions.

2. Nurture Leads in Relevant Social Spaces

It’s shocking how poorly B2B companies use social media to generate demand. Facebook? Really? That’s like fishing for trout in the middle of the Pacific. Yes, Facebook generates four times more traffic than LinkedIn, but LinkedIn generates four times more demand than Facebook. I don’t know about you but the last time I checked, demand impacts the bottom line a lot more than traffic does.

3. Automate, Measure, and Monitor

Marketing gets a bad rap because traditionally marketing has been extremely difficult to measure and align with the bottom line. Thanks to the internet and the social media tsunami of 2008, online marketing is now known as inbound marketing. You can measure almost any online campaign, where as traditional offline direct marketing (push marketing) is hard to quantify. As you can see above, if you automate you marketing activities with measurable metrics, the marketing investment can finally be tracked and aligned to real ROI.

Your turn

There you have it: a simplified visual approach to dealing with marketing in today’s business-to-business environment. Assuming you already have the market insight, make sure you start with a sound content strategy that lays out your annual content creation calendar so you can attract potential customers and influencers. Then nurture those leads during the sales cycle within relevant social channels and follow up with them using email. Lastly, measure your efforts so you can justify your marketing investment. Marketing automation tools can help, especially if your company is at the enterprise level.

What’s your take? Would your B2B firm benefit from strategically generated content that proved useful for influencers in your market? Do you have any experience dealing with content generation challenges in your organization? Let us know below or on Twitter (@SterlingKlor).