As we begin 2023, here’s the second part of our look back at the ten Better B2B Marketing blogs – full of marketing hints and tips – we shared in 2022.

Let’s dive back in…

What is phygital marketing?

In July 2022, we looked at an emerging buzzword in marketing circles.

Most businesses appreciate that digital marketing is at the core of modern marketing. However, that perhaps underplays the effectiveness of more traditional marketing.

‘Phygital marketing’ is a relatively new term for blending virtual and physical experiences. It’s something which consumer (B2C) brands use a lot.

Within B2B marketing, one form of marketing is often used to support another. For example, digital engagement with a business through their website or social media may result in a physical mailer landing on your desk. A meeting with a sales representative could be followed up by an online proposal or other digital content.

Within B2B marketing, digital marketing can do much of the heavy lifting. Through email, social media, website and content marketing – including blogs, press releases, white papers and guides – you can steadily build brand awareness and demonstrate your expertise in what you deliver. Physical marketing can then swoop in to seal the deal…

Perhaps the most popular and powerful use of phygital marketing is direct marketing. Despite high engagement with digital content, a physical mailer can ensure potential customers stop, look and pay attention.

Like phygital marketing, account-based marketing – or ABM – has become another popular buzzword in B2B marketing.

Account-based marketing suggests you adopt a strategy that directs marketing efforts and resources towards engaging a very specific set of existing or potential clients.

It’s perhaps no surprise that account-based marketing is one of the areas where phygital marketing is most frequently and successfully used. As well as engaging with potential customers online, it gives companies the opportunity to target potential clients with mailers, experiences, events, samples and more.

The emergence of the ‘phygital’ buzzword simply highlights how much importance successful marketers are giving the right blend of digital and non-digital marketing.

Find out more by reading our phygital marketing blog here.

The 3 simple principles of an effective B2B website

In our 31^st blog in summer 2022, we highlighted that the most successful B2B websites follow a few simple traits:

1. Make your website about your customer, not you

The most successful B2B websites invite customers in by talking a little less about themselves and a little more about their visitor’s needs.

One of the easiest tactics is to use the word ‘you’ more frequently. In describing your products, services and years of experience, start telling visitors what they will experience – ‘You will get…’

2. Emphasize your customers’ outcomes

Direct website visitors towards the outcome they desire – not just the qualities or capabilities you wish to communicate!

Trying to force every visitor to contact you – or make an instantaneous purchase – may be self-defeating when what the visitor craves is a little more information and reassurance.

Talk in terms of solutions you offer so customers don’t have to translate your website themselves!

3. Help customers do what they are on your site to do

If you provide a product range, its likely your visitor will eventually be looking to buy – or establish a supply relationship so they can begin placing orders.

If you provide a service, it’s likely the visitor will want to understand the options, explore their needs and either initiate the service or make contact with you.

How easy is it to complete this? How easy is it to find support if visitors have questions? A successful website facilitates the specific tasks the customer has come to complete.

Discover more about the simple principles of an effective B2B website here.

The benefits of having a proper marketing strategy and plan

In September, we looked at the importance of having a formal, written marketing strategy and what it should include.

The advantages include:

• Writing things down makes them real. A written marketing strategy helps crystalise thoughts and provide a permanent record of the decisions that are made
• Business is best when everyone pulls in the same direction. A written marketing strategy is easy to share and easy to refer to
• Creating a written marketing strategy and plan is a good way to encourage everyone to give it due thought and attention. By following a tried and tested path, decisions tend to be better
• It’s a great opportunity to think back and consider your experiences. Not having given marketing sufficient time is one of the most common mistakes we see in B2B marketing
• It helps avoid mission creep. If made the right decision for the right reasons, sticking to your formal marketing strategy and plan should be the best guarantee of success
• Picking the correct types of marketing is critical and you need a healthy process to consider what to choose, what to lose and how to make your marketing methods work together for greater results
• A comprehensive marketing strategy and plan can help you think about how you’re going to present who you are and what you do. And remember, consistency is key
• If you don’t set goals, how will you know when you’ve been successful? A formal marketing strategy can help you identify the actions which lead to the desired outcomes.

Find out about all the advantages by reading our blog here.

The advantages of replacing Google Analytics with GA4

From July 2023, all new data collected by Google Analytics will be available through the new GA4 (Goggle Analytics 4) only.

In October 2022, we wrote about the advantages of GA4, including:

1. Combined analytics will let you simultaneously track your website and app in one
2. Event-based tracking means GA4 tracks everything, not just defined actions
3. Bounce-rate is less important as a new set of more detailed and nuanced metrics can report more comprehensively on users’ engagement
4. Automatic tracking means many aspects of common event tracking are now just a tick box
5. There are no limits to data volumes and Google’s BigQuery multi-cloud data warehouse is included.
6. GA4 no longer records IP addresses or stores cookies and you can limit other information held and ask them to delete everything
7. It uses a higher level of machine learning to look at trends to fill gaps in the data and give intelligent insights

Overall, GA4 is a significant improvement being easier to use, more intuitive and more flexible than the old Google Analytics.

Find out more about the advantages by reading our blog here.

How do you write an effective blog for content marketing?

Finally for 2022, we shared some hints and tips on how to create effective content.

Writing a blog or other article to help promote your company has become an essential element of B2B marketing and can achieve a number of objectives.

Content marketing – creating written, audio or visual content to share with others – is one of the most important elements of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation).

SEO is complex but one of the simplest and most effective tactics is to create regular new content for your website. If you have lots of text on the subject which people search, Google is more likely to show your website in search results.

Google doesn’t publish guidelines. However, it’s often said that articles with at least 1,000 words are much more likely to appear in search results.

If you artificially stuff your article with keywords, Google may see through your actions and even penalise your efforts. So, whilst keeping Google and your target search terms in mind, ensure your blog is easy to read and of genuine quality.

Blogs and content marketing articles can also help you engage with potential customers and demonstrate your industry knowledge.

Much of B2B marketing is about trust. Demonstrating your skills, knowledge and up-to-date thinking can really help. You need to speak their language and have a plan for how you will successfully share the content to reach them.

The attention span of busy professionals is short, so split your article into bite sized chunks with catchy subtitles.

There are a few tricks of the trade when choosing a title:

• Lists or numbers work well (e.g. ‘5 ways to improve your SEO’)
• Active words encourage engagement (e.g. ‘Discover the latest tips for SEO’)
• Humour, word play, puns and alliteration often work well
• Avoid being salesy (e.g. ‘Discover why our service is the best’) as it alerts the reader to the fact they’re being sold to
• For SEO, its best to include your primary target keyword or keywords

Read our blog on how to write an effective blog for content marketing here.