6 Essential B2B Digital Marketing Strategies

In India, I think it’s unfortunate that even today, a lot of companies (especially the ones that have been around for decades) still consider the word “digital” a non necessity. Obviously, it is understood that if you are a small kiraane ki dukaan, you will not gain much from a website or digital marketing, but even if you are looking at expanding your consumer base locally, you need to focus upon B2B Digital marketing Strategies.

Keep aside your regular excuses of “I am already doing good business without digital marketing. And “I don’t even know where to begin”. It doesn’t matter how niche your products are or if your target audience “isn’t on Facebook”. There is a reason that national & international companies are pumping in lakhs and crores of money into digital marketing – because it works.

Sure, traditional marketing is one way of going about things, but don’t forget the fact that digital marketing is cheaper and it allows you to track the efficacy of your strategies in real time.

1.Your Website is your virtual identity – Don’t ever ignore it!

And that’s why you should spend good money on primping it and ensuring that user navigation through your website is very smooth. Most businesses don’t even bother with a website, and it’s kinda sad because today, not having a website is a huge disadvantage and you fail to leverage one of the most essential B2B Digital Marketing Strategies.

How are people supposed to look you up? Through telephone directory? Seriously? A lot of Indians use Google today to search for products they would have traditionally asked their friends or parents about. For example: if I’m searching for “Medical shops in Delhi” it will show all places in Delhi that have updated their websites to meet my requirement of “Medical shops in Delhi”.

Do you think it matters if you have the best medical shop in India? Just Because I can’t find it online, you’ve already lost who could have been a high paying and loyal long-term customer.

See how having a website works to your advantage? It also helps you share your success stories, help clients connect directly with you, share reviews and testimonials and what’s not. Your website is one of the best B2B Digital Marketing Strategies and is a 100% free 24×7 digital marketing & branding platform, and don’t let anybody tell you otherwise

2.Invest In Good Content

There’s content, and then there’s content. Confused? Yeah, I don’t blame you. A lot of businesses believe that simply posting text about themselves is good enough for their clients, and boy, they’re simply wrong.

Why?

Because content (and content marketing) is an art. It’s gotta be targeted to the correct people, through the correct channels and at the correct times. And please don’t be boring with your content. Case in point? That’s how a great B2B Digital Marketing strategy works like!

“I am sitting next to a yellow chair.”

“Oh, look at that gorgeous canary color chair I’m sitting beside – isn’t it lovely?”

Now which of those statements was more interesting to read? The second one, no doubt. So make sure your content is engaging, catchy and most important of all, relevant to your intended audience. That’s because clients respond best to content that is most relevant to their needs (and is not lengthy & boring to go through).  Your products and services come later. Pimp your content by making generous use of dynamic content (polls, blogs, videos. infographics) to keep your clients engaged. This B2B Digital Marketing Strategy really works!

3.Push With Mobile Marketing

A report by Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and consultancy firm KPMG states that the number of mobile Internet users in India will increase from the existing 159 million to 300 million+ by 2017. And it’s not just school & college students who are stuck to their mobiles; if you’re working in a business, you know how important it is that your mobile or tablet is right by your side whenever you’re on the move.

Seeing that an increasing number of people are using mobile to consume content, communicate and even buy stuff while on the move, why don’t you move in quickly and take the lion’s share of mobile marketing? And this B2B digital marketing strategy is not gonna be something expensive – you can easily get your company’s desktop website made responsive (i.e. it can easily be viewed through phones, tablets etc) at just a little extra cost.

This B2B Digital Marketing Strategy is just like hitting two birds with one stone.

4.Figure out where your audience is online.

I cannot begin to emphasize how important this is. Imagine if you’re emptying your marketing budget on Facebook, when your clients are most active on Instagram or Pinterest. All that money gone down the drain. Damn, huh?

So, what can you do?

Keep a tab on your clients as well as your competitors. This B2B digital marketing strategy will enable you to have a clearer picture of what’s going on in your industry & how people are responding to it. Pay attention to the tactics employed by industry leaders, & replicate those that give good results. Case in point? Their blogs and social media profiles.

You have to be smart enough to figure out who your audience is and what they respond best to. As already stated in point #2 – content has “gotta be targeted to the correct people, through the correct channels and at the correct times where they’re active.” This B2B Digital Marketing Strategy is good to go.

5.Connect your ideas with the world through Social media

I’ve already told you that “national and international companies are pumping lakhs and crores of money” into digital marketing, and more specifically, social media marketing. Gone are the days when Facebook, Twitter and YouTube were for “velle log”. Today, these three platforms are amongst the top B2B and B2C revenue earners, with Facebook itself expected to reach $14.27 billion by December this year.

Yes, that’s billion with a capital B.

Having profiles and being active on social media is an excellent B2B Digital Marketing Strategy to boost your company’s visibility online (and create a positive buzz around your brand for free). Remember – share content that’s relevant, engaging and targeted to the people you want to connect with.

6.Paid media: Hit the right spots

Content and social media marketing is long term B2B Digital Marketing strategies that take time to take off. If you are impatient (or aren’t looking for long term benefits and results) then opt for paid marketing instead. Pay for promoted tweets and Facebook updates so that you can cast an even wider audience net. And that too for as low as INR 100 per day!

For content marketing, there is a paid guest blogging or even featured posts (backlinking to your website) to reach more people, but with the same interests as your target audience. So for example, if you are selling key chains, you can have your post featured on blogs of companies that sell gifts, keys or even locks!

Then of course, there’s Google AdWords, one of the best B2B digital marketing strategies, allowing you to place a bid on the keywords that your audience are looking for. When people search for those keywords, your website immediately pops up on one of the top 3 paid results on the Google search page, and you will pay only when someone actually clicks on your link to visit your website. Cool, huh?

Yes, I completely understand how you might feel overwhelmed at being exposed to so many new things simultaneously, and honestly, it’s pretty natural to feel that way. Do understand that the only way these tips can work for your B2B marketing is to find the correct combination (by trial and error) of marketing strategies, and then stick to it. Maybe your audience responds well to photo updates, or maybe your audience loves reading your blogs more.

Analyzing and implementing those statistics is the key.

Seriously, though. The world’s moving forward and it’s not gonna look back. Get ahead of your competitors and make hay while the sun shines. Invest in digital marketing! And definitely now when you are well aware with B2B Digital Marketing Strategies.