Maximize Your Strategy in All 3 Pillars to Get the Most Out of Your Efforts
Though B2B digital marketing methods can vary greatly depending on the industry, there are three foundational pillars which you must prioritize in order to create the base of an effective and long-lasting inbound marketing strategy.
You can think of these as three legs of a stool; each leg must hold weight in order to build a successful marketing program. Let’s take a look at the three legs of a B2B inbound marketing stool.
1. Your Website
Your website is most likely where you first established your online presence, and it is the most comprehensive look at your organization. Your website is often the first interaction people have with you online, so it should be well-designed to guide customers through the sales funnel and provide greater detail into your organization’s unique selling proposition.
Any consideration of a successful B2B marketing strategy must start with mastery of this leg of the stool.
If you’re building a new website, first consider your customer’s journey and what you would like their ideal website experience to be. Build your site always with your user in mind, ensuring that navigation is intuitive and all the desired information is readily available. Complement your website content with bold imagery that emphasizes your brand, and include engaging CTAs throughout the site to keep your customer moving along the sales funnel.
If you are using the services of a marketing agency, be an active participant in the build to ensure the final product reflects your brand and supports your marketing goals. Finding a marketing agency with experience in your niche can be the difference between creating an average, indistinguishable site, and creating a custom website that converts your unique customer base.
A digital marketing agency is also a great partner to have if you are re-imagining an existing website. Their experience will help you reorganize the site’s elements and navigation and improve any areas that need strengthening or updating, to optimize user experience.
Whether you are building it on your own, hiring a marketing manager, or partnering with an agency, creating an effective website that is full of useful information will give you a strong foundation to develop a robust and compelling inbound marketing strategy.
2. Content Marketing
An attractive, mobile-responsive website is just the beginning of effective B2B inbound marketing. A dedicated content marketing program is the second, more proactive, leg of the stool.
Content marketing is central to inbound strategy- sharing helpful, valuable content to provide insightful information, while bringing visitors to your website organically. Once on your site, you can utilize additional methods to convert the lead.
B2B content marketing not only increases traffic and engagement, it can also impact SEO. Consistent and on-topic posts will increase your site’s standing in search results, helping you get found by people who are searching online in your field or industry.
Your content marketing program can also serve as the basis of a robust social media marketing program. As you continue to produce valuable content and distribute it through social media, you will develop your organization’s voice and enhance its profile as an authority in your field.
3. Digital Advertising
Your content marketing program will always benefit from a paid boost. Paid digital advertising is the third leg of the B2B marketing stool because it enhances the reach of both your content marketing and website.
The first step to effective digital advertising is thoughtful keyword research. What words and phrases do you want your website to be associated with, so that when someone searches online for those terms, your site appears at the top of the results?
Once you’ve determined the keywords you are after, it’s time to budget your ad spend. Pay-per-click advertising is based on a competitive bidding system that pits you against other organizations interested in the same keywords. Be mindful not to overspend, but also be ready to spend enough to implement a keyword campaign that gets results.
Advertising is worth the investment if you can see results from your digital advertising strategy. Learning from the data provided by Google Ads to make educated decisions and tweaks to your advertising strategy is key to creating an advertising program that delivers results and maximizes ROI. Google Ads are worth the investment if you put in the work to create a strong plan; on average, businesses will make $2 for every $1 spent on Google Ads, according to Google’s Economic Impact Report.
It takes some practice to optimize, but when you find your sweet spot, you’ll have a digital advertising program that is the perfect complement to your content marketing campaign and website.
No one leg of this B2B marketing stool can stand without the other two. All three are needed to gain traction with your online goals and convert complex B2B leads.
Thanks for stopping by,
Laura
Editor’s note: This blog was originally published in July 2017 and has been edited and updated in December 2021.
