Digital Best Practices for B2B Marketers in 2018
When it comes to digital marketing, there is so much advice online that it can be difficult to know what works best and, as any digital marketer will know, getting it right first time is essential for success. Some of the main issues to take on board is that you’ll need to respond in a positive manner to the following three key areas:
- Understand your target audience and develop personas for buyers in your target markets
- Focus on pipeline outcomes and ensure that two thirds of their leads are followed up by the Sales team.
- Adopt new marketing technology and implement it into your Marketing Automation Platform (MAP).
Today, we’re going to list some of the best practice used by some of the most effective digital marketers so that you can take advantage of their efficacy and include these activities into your own marketing strategies.
OPTIMISING THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
Customer journey mapping, combined with developing personas is an essential component when optimising the customer experience (CX). A massive 74% of the most effective B2B marketers personalise content for their target audiences. Highly-targeted personalised strategies will help you to cut through content overload and stand out against other marketing campaigns. This all hinges on developing a more comprehensive understanding of your customers so that your marketing activities and content can be uniquely tailored to appeal to them.
ALIGNING SALES AND MARKETING
Sales and Marketing Alignment best practice is defined as the effective planning, communication and collaboration between the Sales and Marketing teams, something that is often overlooked by B2B marketers . Segregated teams means limited communications resulting in shared lead data negatively affecting ROI and lead conversion.
The Sales team needs the correct lead data in order to convert leads into new customers and alignment of Sales and Marketing is essential for this to take place. This means that both teams should collaborate effectively and communicate regularly in order to achieve:
- Shared goals
- A mutually agreed lead definition
- A mutually agreed lead management process
- Mutually agreed service level agreements
Collaboration between Sales and Marketing means total transparency which begins with working out a mutually agreed definition of a Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) and shared KPI progress. An effective alignment with the Sales team enables marketers to track and convert leads in an effective manner.
B2B PLANNING AND DOCUMENTATION
This may seem like a no-brainer because all B2B marketers need to plan and document their strategies. However, determining a reliable method of action in order to repeat the success means repeatedly planning and documenting strategy effectively for a repeat performance of success. This results in less time spent on building strategies, leaving more time to focus on implementing campaigns effectively for a successful outcome. Documenting strategy involves having access to knowledge on ad hoc, reactive campaigns designed to respond to unpredictable market forces – studying how a similar scenario was dealt with and improving the processes for better results in future.
BUDGET, ROI AND MEASUREMENT
One of the biggest challenges for B2B marketers is measuring and demonstrating ROI. The most effective marketers measure sales lead follow up and campaign attribution. Quantifying campaign attribution and pipeline performance is an essential component of B2B marketing – strategizing, designing and implementing cut-through programmes, tracking end-to-end performance and measuring the revenue impact are vital for success.
B2B marketing has changed radically over the past few years and the most successful marketers have adapted to these changes in order to determine how to sell and go to market. Adopting new techniques and following current best practice is an essential element to demonstrate ROI in today’s digitally dominated marketplace.
If you want to adopt best practice for your business, why not get in touch now and one of our expert marketers will show you how to set your business on the sure path to success?
