B2B Internet Marketing

 

Internet marketing has come a long way in a very short period of time. Today, marketing your business requires a well-thought-out strategic approach in order to stay ahead of your competition.

 

Applying a haphazard approach to your internet marketing efforts will yield few, if any, results. To prosper on the Web, you have to learn to more than just survive in the new digital marketplace.

 

In this piece, we present 10 truths about business-to-business Internet marketing, and various tactics and strategies, that you can use to ensure that you don’t fall victim to the statistics listed below.

 

 

Up To 90% Of B2B Buyers Don’t Respond To ‘Cold’ Outreach Internet Marketing

 

Some marketers send out hundreds of emails each and every day. Most of the emails that get sent are addressed to people that they barely knows or don’t know at all. This is what is known as cold outreach. While this strategy might have worked in the past, the high likelihood is that you will appear as spam. The statistics show exactly that; Far less than 10% of the people you send cold emails to are likely to respond.

 

This does not, however, mean that all hope is lost. There are various ways you can rev up your cold email response rates and turn your recipients into potential buyers.

 

Stay relevant to your audience and what they might be looking for. Mention an article you wrote, that they may have read, and speak to them as if you know them.

 

Ensure that your timing is appropriate and that your pitch fits the context. Be creative and use channels that you notice other businesses ignoring when marketing to your B2B prospects.

 

Personalization goes a long way and doesn’t have to be cliché. Make sure that you network with others in your industry. Most B2B buyers prefer peer recommendations.

 

 

75% Of Search Engine Users Never Go Past Page 1

 

Admit it, you don’t go much further that the first page. Most people don’t! Unfortunately, many business owners do not understand the digital world enough to know how SEO works. It’s important to realize that SEO is playing a vital role in businesses today as it continues to converge with content marketing, social media, and user experience.

 

With most (like 85%+) online experiences beginning with a search, it’s imperative that you familiarize yourself with SEO.

 

Make use of any-and-all opportunities online to increase the visibility of your brand and increase your click-through rate (CTR).

 

Search Engine Optimization is married to content, in a harmonious internet marketing marriage so, make sure that you focus on the keywords you are likely to be found with.

 

Making sure that your website is mobile responsive (optimized for smartphones and tablets, etc.) is a great way to improve your chances of being found, considering the dramatic increase in the use of mobile devices on the Web.

 

84% Of 25-34 Year-Olds Avoid Sites With Intrusive Advertising

 

Since things went digital, marketing is no longer a one-way broadcast messages to a passive audience. Today’s internet marketing is characterized by ‘inbound’ which, ensures that there is communication between the buyer and seller. These days buyers are much more in control of the way information reaches them.

 

The outbound marketing tactics of the not too distant past have become far less popular. This is why the individuals that many marketers are targeting, are turning away from websites that have pop-up and banner ads.

 

Use inbound marketing to help keep your business tuned-in to the needs of your prospects and customers. Steer clear of pop-up and banner ads that might cause your potential clients to bounce-out of  your website.

 

 

Up To 17 People Can Now Influence B2B Purchases

 

Traditional approaches to lead generation are quickly being replaced by newer, trendier tactics. Today, you have to give your audience the right content, and do it in a timely fashion, in order to generate sales. It’s essential that you make sure you are in good standing with your target audience because, they’ll be the ones who determine how your business sells, going forward.

 

Shocking but true: The number of people who can influence a buying decision increased from 2 to 11 between 2001 and 2012.

 

As an example, an enterprise tech purchase can take up to five months on average to complete, with a variety of decision influencers involved. It is up to you to make sure you keep the buying company, and all who are involved, interested at all times.

 

To be on the safe side, ensure that you target the decision makers and influencers with timely information. This will help your prospective buyers to arrive at their decision sooner-than-later.

 

 

57% Of The Buying Process Is Complete Before Contact Is Made

 

Traditional sales reps aren’t as vital in the sales process as they used to be. It’s a documented fact that up to 57% of the sales process happens without the intervention of a salesperson. As a career sales person, speaking personally, that’s hard to hear… After all, nothing happens until a sale gets made, right? Still true, you just have to think differently about how you arrive at that result.

 

Strive to have an influence on your prospects from the first step in the buying process. Provide them with any-and-all information about your product or services, that they are likely to need in their decision making process.  Use resources pages on your website to lead them through the steps they will take in evaluating your products or services and your company. In a manner of speaking, this is the essence of internet marketing!

 

 

Email Lists Deteriorate At A Rate of 22.5% Each Year

 

This statistic shows just how many contacts you may be losing every year. The loss may be the result of contacts changing their email address as they change where they work, people abandoning older email platforms like AOL,  and most likely of all, people opting out of your email campaigns.

 

This shows just how much you need to keep refreshing your contact list. Use the embedded spreadsheet below to determine (exactly) the rate at which your email list will deteriorate over time.

 

Refreshing your email list can be done by generating new leads and opt-ins from your website or blog for example.

 

Make use of inbound marketing strategies as they are one of the leading sources of sales leads today. Having a blog and establishing yourself on social media is a great way to stay fresh and relevant in the eyes of your prospects and customers. It’s also a great way to get them to give you their email address.

 

 

93% of SMBs Prefer Content Marketing For Lead Generation

 

Traditional marketing obviously has its perks but, when it comes to generating leads, traditional marketing strategies take a back seat. So, just how exactly should you generate high-quality leads? Content Marketing, of course!

 

Content marketing is key to lead generation for B2B Small Businesses. Content marketing is the means-by-which you can build a relationship with potential clients online, especially if your product or service has a long(er) sales cycle. Here’s another great thing about content marketing, It’s up to 62% less expensive than traditional forms of outbound marketing!

 

For content marketing to work, you need to make sure that you create efficient and effective landing pages on your website. You should also seriously consider starting and committing to a company blog where your future customers can go to get all of the information they need.

 

Employing a content marketing strategy makes doing the more traditional sales and marketing work like, telemarketing, face-to-face meetings, attending conferences and trade shows, that much more effective because, your prospects are already familiar with you! Let that sink in a minute…

 

 

Average CTR For Display Ads Can Be As Low As 0.06%

 

Click Through Rate (CTR) is the percentage of times website visitors ‘click’ on a particular ad. Most website visitors are not big fans of pop-up and banner ads. Typically, when they encounter one, they will bounce out of your website and head straight for your competitor’s website. Ramp up your display ads so that they do not appear spammy and annoying to your potential client.

 

Do this by ensuring that your display ads are contextual and not random. Let your advertisements appear helpful to your audience. This means that you will have to bid on advertising space that’s relevant to your business and in turn reduces the chances of your website visitors (future clients) blocking your ads and engaging in the banner-blind behavior.

 

 

76% Of B2B Buyers Search 2+ Channels For Research

 

With less reliance on sales people in the purchasing process, prospects conduct thorough research themselves before choosing to buy a product. A good percentage of your prospects will also search for and read reviews and recommendations from other customers of yours, before making their decision to buy your product or service. So, what does this mean for you and your business?

 

A good way to help turn your prospects into customers is to cross-market your business across as many different channels as you can. Frequency builds familiarity meaning, the more places your prospects see you and your company represented, the better. When you do this, it makes it easy for your future customers to get the information they need about you and your products and services from a variety of (their) trusted sources.

 

 

Content Marketing Will Be A $300 Billion Industry By 2019

 

Content marketing is growing like crazy! It can be an especially effective internet marketing tool, if the content you are producing is tailored in just the right way. To make the best of content marketing always make sure that you stay relevant to the needs of your target customers.

 

Global spend on content marketing will grow more than 3X in the 10 years from 2009 – 2019!

 

In Conclusion

 

B2B internet marketing has changed quite a bit over the last few years. Today, it takes more than a keen eye and gut instinct to determine the needs of prospective customers. To get them to buy, you must use the above strategies to reach out to them in meaningful and memorable ways.

 

 

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