8 Marketing Tips For Aspiring B2B Marketers

By Maren Hogan:

Engage with your readers

What does your audience want? Engagement, engagement, engagement. We’re seeing this more and more, especially in social media. In fact, 64% of marketers said that increasing audience engagement was crucial for their social media marketing strategy. And, how you engage matters. Don’t just throw content out – do your research and see what works. For example, Tweets with 1-2 hashtags get 21% higher engagement than those with none. Hashtags work. Use them.

–Stevie Howard, Content Strategist at Red Branch Media

64% of marketers said that increasing audience engagement was crucial for their social media strategy. @Stevie_RBM Share on X

Answer questions proactively and use long-tail search

To reach B2B leads, you have to start on Google, because 71% of B2B researchers will begin their research with a generic search, according to HubSpot. Unless you’ve invested in paid ads and third-party directory sites (Capterra, Software Advice, etc), it’s going to be difficult to break onto the first page of the SERP (search engine results page). It’s important to know when ranking for high-volume, primary keywords is realistic and when it’s a pipe dream.

However, just because you can’t rank for the primary keyword doesn’t mean you can’t rank for its long-tail variant. These long-tail variations of your primary keyword may not generate as much search volume, but they usually carry more qualified searchers looking to convert.

–Kylie Ora Lobell, Directive

Just because you can’t rank for the primary keyword you can still rank for its long-tail variant: @kylieoralobell @DirectiveAgency Share on X

Make email ethical again

This might seem obvious, but if you’ve ever been the victim of an email barrage you can’t opt out of, you know there are still some shady marketers out there. The CAN-SPAM Act, passed in 2003, has some pretty clear guidelines on what you can and cannot send in your email marketing campaigns. Essentially, the guidelines say:

• Don’t lie to recipients
• Tell them who you are
• Let them opt out of receiving your messages
• You’re responsible for following the law even if you hire an email marketing agency

Seems pretty straightforward, right?

–Kendra Tallman, Email Marketing Strategist, Red Branch Media

The CAN-SPAM Act has some pretty clear guidelines on what you can and cannot send in your email campaigns. @kendra_rbm Share on X

Find out the channels that work…and those that don’t

While, as a B2B marketer, your focus is likely on driving bottom-of-the funnel ”qualified” leads that are worthy of sales team follow-up, it’s also important for you to know what channels and content are driving prospects higher in the funnel. With a complex sales cycle, it can take six to eight touch points to generate a viable sales-ready lead.

Multi-Channel Funnel reports in Google Analytics are a great place to start to understand user behavior across various touch points in the funnel.

–Jessica Cameron, columnist at SearchEngineLand

With a complex sales cycle, it can take six to eight touch points to generate a viable sales-ready lead @JessCameron @sengineland Share on X

Put a little fear in their hearts

Scarcity and urgency signify a limitation in the amount of some good or service. This limited availability can make people believe the product is valuable, which often triggers us to take action.

A study completed by Mailjet concluded that Britons are 39% more likely to engage with a brand if they push a message that aims to alleviate FOMO.

This happens frequently with travel booking companies. For instance, if you visit booking.com, you’ll notice there is typically a notification claiming there are only a few rooms left. You’ll also see a notification displaying how many people have booked in the last 24 hours. This creates a sense of urgency to book now before someone else beats you to it.

—Kaleb Vik, Email Marketing Strategist at Red Branch Media

Britons are 39% more likely to engage with a brand if they push a message that aims to alleviate FOMO. @kalebvik Share on X

Reuse content and promote it

While content and social media work really well together, if your content is on landing pages or a blog, most of your web traffic is likely to be coming via search (paid or organic), so integrating your strategies should be a key consideration.

For one of our B2B clients, 80% of their web traffic now comes from blog posts that are older than 3 months and, in a given month, 10-18% of the visitors to their landing pages via the blog sign up for more information (via a download or webinar). Of course, paid search marketing can be expensive, but even so, 58% of B2B marketers say they use SEM, in spite of the costs.

–Luke Brynley-Jones, Founder of Our Social Times

58% of B2B marketers say they use SEM. @lbrynleyjones @oursocialtimes Share on X

Speed things up with templates

Imagine a world where well designed printable documents could be created by each of your content creators and your design department could focus on big picture projects like infographics, videos and, ya know, BIG PICTURES. If it’s copy heavy, there’s a good chance that designers are doing a lot of dragging and dropping anyways.

The Red Branch design team, decided to make this a reality by creating Google templates so our fellow departments can just plug-n-play. Google Drive is a young program and the templates are even younger, but it can still be quite the timesaver.

We have a bunch of templates for you to look through to offer a few examples to get started with. Not to mention that Google itself offers a fair amount templates of their own.

–Bach Mai, Design Associate at Red Branch Media

Creating a stable of Google Templates can make creating gorgeous printables and white papers a breeze! @RedBachMedia Share on X

Be a useful resource

Note that you’re not just addressing the intersection of your company’s solution and customers’ needs. If your only helpful advice is, “Buy our product, here’s how it solves your problem,” you’re not really serving the audience.

B2B marketers frequently hear, “This content doesn’t address our product’s features, so it’s not relevant.” But anything that helps your potential buyer do his or her job better is acutely relevant. Helpful content builds brand recognition, establishes trust, and leads to loyalty when it’s time to make a purchase.

—Joshua Nite, Top Rank Marketing Blog

If your only helpful advice is, “Buy our product, here’s how it solves your problem,” you’re not serving the audience. @NiteWrites @Toprank Share on X