7 B2B Marketing Tips and Tricks that Work

A 2015 press release from Bain & Company stated an interesting piece of truth. Almost 90 percent of sales and marketing executives don’t feel adequately prepared to sell to today’s digital-savvy buyers. Fortunately, this post offers a few B2B marketing tips and tricks so you can skyrocket your revenue. 

B2B Marketing is Getting Tougher

It’s no secret: B2B marketing today is starkly different than what it was two decades ago. The average buyer has been evolving. They worship at the altar of technology. Small wonder every cold-pitching marketing expert these days promises to transform your digital marketing strategy. 

Unsurprisingly, many old B2B marketing tips and tricks are no longer as potent as they once were. Every B2B marketer should know what’s happening in their industry. They must continually tweak their overall marketing strategy to accommodate new events as they occur. 

Let’s jump right in and see how you can invigorate your B2B marketing strategy. 

1. Experiment Continually 

What works this year likely didn’t work ten years ago. And what works currently won’t work a decade down the road. That’s why you must tinker on an ongoing basis with B2B marketing. You must keep testing and implementing new ideas while abandoning those that no longer work. 

Embrace and practice Kaizen — that rational principle of continuous improvement. Emulate Toyota. Stop saying, “Why fix it if it’s working?” 

Experimentation is possibly the most intelligent path to market dominance over the long term. It is research, and research often discovers new knowledge and insights. It should help you to develop a firm grasp of what your target customers need or want. You’ll create a body of unique, industry-relevant knowledge. And accurate understanding can tremendously bump up your competitiveness. 

But experimenting with new ideas can cost a boatload of money. Fortunately, you have platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. With these platforms, you can run insanely affordable campaigns to test your ideas. For example, you can run a well-thought-out Facebook poll and analyze the statistics you gather. What else can you do? 

2. Follow Your Customers

Now, that sounds blatantly obvious. But businesses aren’t always following their customers. Failure to “hang out” with your fans will eventually emasculate your marketing strategy. 

Everyone out there relentlessly pursues your potential customers. They’re engaging them 24/7/365, and you’re falling further and further behind if you’re not doing the same. 

Here’s what to do: join relevant forums, social media groups, and other communities. Once there, stay active. Offer helpful advice. Answer questions. Make thoughtful product recommendations — be sure you don’t come across as a shameless spammer. 

Can’t find a relevant community or forum? No worries — launch yours. And make it a place where every member of your tribe feels valued and entirely at ease. 

3. Crank Out Content that Supercharges Your Thought Leadership

According to Hubspot.com, B2B buyers crave marketing content that packs tons of expert insights. Fully 96 percent of buyers love content containing insights from distinguished thought leaders in their industry. 

So, here’s the thing. You must morph into a respected voice in your industry if you want buyers to listen to you. 

But no one becomes a guru overnight. Building expertise takes lots of learning, dedication, and time. What should I do, you ask. Start converting the knowledge in your head into thought-provoking content. Create compelling whitepapers, blog posts, services pages, product descriptions, and case studies. Give prospective buyers a reason to listen to you or to value your recommendations. 

4. Infuse Variety into Your B2B Marketing Content

Videos, blog posts, high-resolution images, and infographics are all decent ways of communicating your story. But what content type is best? Each form can help your business immensely if executed right. 

You can use videos for marketing that transformation piece of technology you recently invented. But you may also want to prop such content with written content. Similarly, whitepapers and case studies are super effective with buyers. But wouldn’t you want to throw in a couple of explainer videos plus images? 

Find that sweet spot where pretty much every piece of content you pump out draws traction like a magnet. It’s best to drive your B2B marketing strategy with a smorgasbord of different content types. Almost always, varied content types work better than just one content type.

6. Build Better Customer Experiences

An avalanche of options bombards customers daily these days. You sure need great products offered at attractive prices. But your competitors know that, and they’re probably offering noticeably better deals. 

So, how will you outsell them? It’s simple (though not necessarily easy): provide incredibly better customer experiences. Many companies, including Amazon and Apple, are going all out to offer customers incredibly pleasant experiences. You, too, should start doing that if you’ve not started already. 

PWC says that B2B buyers value excellent customer experiences more than ever before. Nearly 90 percent of these customers are easily paying over 10 percent more for luxury items. But they’re only handing the money over to companies with excellent customer experiences. 

You want to stay one jump ahead of your competitors. So, offer thoughtfully designed, personalized customer experiences. Make your customers feel special. It’s the only way to foster brand loyalty. 

7. Revitalize Your Social Listening Skills

You engage your fans on social media. That’s great. But how hard are you listening? Indeed, there’s value in comments, likes, and shares? Or are they just vanity metrics for you? What do customer complaints reveal about your overall customer experience or product quality? And what’s your tribe saying about your competitors? 

See, it’s critical to start listening harder than you ever have. View every social engagement as an opportunity to examine your products, processes, prices, and policies more closely. 

What’s Next? 

You’ve learned 7 B2B marketing tips and tricks that can help you boost your sales. But nothing will happen until you act. Start experimenting with different ideas. Engage your fans more. Listen a bit more closely online so you can easily spot the insights others miss. 

Also, invest in diverse content types that showcase your expertise. Clinch thought leadership in your industry. Finally, remember: it’s all about building better customer experiences.