Though it’s perhaps a misconception that ‘all modern marketing is digital marketing’, it is true to say digital marketing is one of the most powerful tools for B2B companies.

However, it can feel fragmented, complex and difficult to deliver results.

The issue often lies not with digital marketing but how it is applied – especially if the people doing so are relying on tactics better suited to business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing.

So, as a leading B2B digital marketing agency, here’s some hints and tips on how to make digital marketing work for B2B:

1. Accept the reality of the B2B buying process

The golden rule of B2B marketing is to accept that the buying process differs to that of B2C marketing.

In general terms, B2B buyers:

• Research thoroughly and independently before contacting a supplier
• Involve multiple stakeholders in the decision-making process
• Need reassurance and proof of performance, not hype or spurious claims
• Are risk-averse and comparison-driven, making a rational choice
• Value reliability above most other considerations (even price)

As such, effective B2B digital marketing must educate, reassure and build trust.  Pushing for instantaneous sales rarely delivers the best results!

2. Build a digital strategy, not a collection of channels

As you’d expect from an agency called ‘Full Mix’, our trusted experience is that businesses need a mixture of marketing to get the best results!

This is especially true online, where potential customers can be exposed to your brand in many ways.

Rather than considering the impact of each channel in isolation, it’s best to consider how they fit together, for example:

• PPC and digital ads lead clicks to your website
• SEO relies heavily on content marketing
• SEO and PPC can unintentionally compete
• Social media shares content
• Content and paid media leads people to your website

Each channel should support the same buyer journey with a consistent look, feel and messaging. A successful B2B digital marketing strategy thus aligns:

• Channels and content
• Target industries and roles
• Messaging and positioning
• Measurement and optimisation

3. Focus on quality over volume

Another hangover from B2C is using digital marketing to try to attract every conceivable B2B customer. The result is a high number of leads – but a very low conversion rate!

Given the relatively low volume of customers, higher competition and longer buying cycles in most B2B sectors, it’s essential to focus on quality.

To improve leads, you can use your B2B digital marketing to:

• Target specific industries and roles
• Create content for genuine stages of the buying process
• Use forms or questions to filter enquiries
• Prioritise content which is of value to those in the middle or bottom of the sales funnel

4. Use content to move customers along the buying process

Content has fast become the backbone of successful B2B marketing. It creates visibility and trust by offering potential customers information which they value.

It can also be tailored to differing stages of the buying process – from creating initial awareness, to providing detailed sales proposals.

An effective B2B content strategy can be used to help guide potential customers along the AIDA process – Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action.

For example, content can include:

• Problem-solving blogs
• Buyer’s guides
• Industry-specific case studies
• Comparison and ‘How it works’ pages
• FAQs addressing issues like pricing or onboarding

Each piece of content can answer a specific buyer question and guide them to the next stage.

5. Make SEO a long-term source of growth

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is highly effective in B2B digital marketing as buyers increasingly search online for products, services and solutions.

However, it is a complex area and it takes time and persistence to see an improvement in how your company appears in search results. Though the results can be transformative, it’s a long-term objective, not a quick fix.

To be most effective, it is best to target high-intent keywords. Rather than broad terms which relate to what you do (e.g. ‘marketing’), SEO should focus on keywords more likely to be used by someone closer to making a decision (e.g. ‘digital marketing agency for manufacturing’)

There are a number of ways this can be achieved, including:

• Creating focused service and industry pages
• Publishing regular, in-depth content on the areas you target
• Use internal links throughout your website (and digital marketing) to show the canonical importance of key pages

6. Use PPC, paid media and digital ads strategically

Budgets for paid search, paid media and other types of digital advertising are always finite – so you need to focus your resources on the most productive outcomes.

Best practices include:

• Targeting long-tail search terms which relate to buying intentions
• Use LinkedIn to target a highly specific type of user
• Focusing paid media on sharing mid- and bottom-funnel content
• Using retargeting to serve ads to past visitors to your website

Often in B2B digital marketing, there can be an over reliance on PPC to target immediate sales. With complex or costly products and services, the likelihood of a click resulting in an immediate enquiry or sale may be low!

However, PPC can also be a valuable tool in creating awareness of what you do and introducing potential customers to the first stage of the buying process.

8. Measure what matters

One of the advantages of digital marketing is that it can provide a huge number of statistics on performance and user behaviour.

However, this is also one of its disadvantages! Many digital campaigns suffer when concern over too many variables leads to rash decision-making. Changes are frequent and results are poor.

The key is to select statistics which not only report success but drive it – and then seek to improve them.

For example, there is little point trying to send more visitors to a web page if it routinely fails to convert them. There is equally little point in focusing on improving page conversion alone if the volume of people reaching it is low. Look at the bigger picture and apply your time and resources wisely.

Maximise the results from your B2B digital marketing

Most B2B marketing has a digital element and is increasingly key for any UK business seeking to provide its products or services to other companies or professionals.

At Full Mix Marketing, we’re a full service B2B marketing agency, specialising in delivering the full mix of strategic, digital and creative marketing for companies in sectors including manufacturing, engineering, technology, logistics, construction and business services.

We deliver joined-up digital marketing for our clients which ensures every element works together to create the very best results from their resources.

If you’d like to explore expert support for your digital marketing, we’d like to help. More information can be found here