The Big Secret to a Successful B2B Marketing Plan (Hint: It’s One Word)

You would think that, after doing it for so long, businesses would understand how to sell to other businesses. But still, there are more companies without effective marketing strategies than with. With rapidly advancing technology that helps with everything from online targeting to automated marketing, businesses that don’t already know how to successfully market to other businesses are falling behind. WAY behind. And yet, for some reason, businesses think it is okay to talk to other businesses as if they are robots. You know those are people on the other end of the keyboard, right?

 Most of the time B2B marketing doesn’t go far enough to convince your audience that they absolutely. positively. can. not. go. on. without you. You want to be the bandage for their cut, the cough drop for their grandparent, the chevre for their baguette. You get the point. Whatever the problem is that brought them to your site, you can fix it. As soon as you understand that your audience is there because of their problems with no regard for your products, the better. According to Forrester, 90% of the process is done before a prospect ever engages a sales person, meaning the substantial and crucial element to your B2B marketing is nestled away in what you are saying without actually saying it. So what really drives success in B2B marketing? Content.

 Having a well-defined content strategy plan is the backbone for successful B2B marketing. People prefer doing business with those they believe are experts in their category, so by becoming an industry thought leader and generating impactful and relevant content on your site, you will not only drive traffic within your industry, but you will increase your leads as well. Just “good” content isn’t good enough anymore. You need this-is-the-best-thing-I’ve-ever-read-I-wish-it-could-be-my-bedroom-wallpaper content. Content that is targeted, relevant, and valuable. And you get that by first having a B2B marketing strategy plan.

  Remember these three important tips before beginning your B2B marketing strategy plan:
1. Having useful and relevant content with ranked keywords will give you the search rankings you want.
2. You need have content to share; otherwise there will be no reason for people to come hang out at your site.
3. Your content is just a way for you to offer your Call to Actions. Using inbound and outbound media will drive response rates once you have the content to offer.