When you think of Business to Business or B2B Marketing, are you picturing those same old stock photos on boring corporate websites?
Why do we box ourselves in like this? It’s time to get a little creative. Be human. Connect with people about real things.
Social Media and B2B Marketing
I was meeting with a client the other day discussing their overall marketing strategies. We got on the topic of social media and I mentioned our efforts with Pinterest. She looked at me like I was nuts… “Pinterest for B2B?”
Of course! Why not? We add images to our blog posts (many of which are hand drawn by our own Dave Porter). Plus, there’s no shortage of great infographics, charts, graphs, illustrations and videos from other sources we can share with our clients and potential clients.
But, let’s not kid ourselves. We’re not on here collecting images for our health? We use these channels ultimately to get Google’s attention. Yup, Google crawls social media and refers traffic.
Why wouldn’t we take advantage of another way to attract Google’s spiders and bots?
Let’s look at the bigger picture for a minute. For the longest time, when I found myself in a discussion about social media and B2B, the only name uttered was LinkedIn. Why? Because it’s a “professional” social network. So?
Don’t these same “professionals” spend their time on other channels like Twitter, Facebook, and Google+? Of course they do. People, not businesses, buy products and services. People give referrals. Why not have a presence, and be useful, in the channels where they spend their time?
Mobile and B2B Marketing
It’s a similar conversation when it comes to Mobile and B2B. I hear things like games, contests, and SMS (text messaging). These things are all great! They work and I recommend them all the time. But that’s not the end of the mobile marketing story.
One of the partners here always talks about the time savers and the times wasters when it comes to mobile. Think about it. You either need something or you are bored to tears and want a distraction.
Games and contests mainly fail into the time waster category. But, what about your clients who need something? Mobile is another way to be a resource for them. Try adding some time saver mobile solutions.
I’m not talking about an app, although sometimes that would be an option. I am talking about things like responsive design, mobile microsites or mobile marketing integration (example, adding QR Codes to print pieces).
Marketing is about understanding your audience and then delivering an appropriate and effective message to them… where they are. Well, they are on mobile.
Give them what they need on this channel in a way that takes advantage of everything that channel has to offer.
Business Blogging
We’ve been writing about business blogging for quite a while now. It makes sense. Use your website to post information that:
- Boosts your rankings through the use of keyword rich content
- Provides your audience (clients) with the resource rich information they need (makes you their expert)
Win win, right? Yet, so many businesses undervalue a blog’s impact. They either think they have nothing to say (hogwash!) or can’t spare the time to generate content (poppycock!).
Businesses looking to make a purchase will do more research today than ever before. They want to make sure you know your stuff. Blogs provide an easy way to showcase this knowledge and expertise.
And for those who think blogging is a waste of time… you must not need any new business. Congrats! I am super happy for you. I’m sorry you had to get through this entire post to hear me say this.
Seriously, business blogging brings qualified traffic to your website. One of my favorite HubSpot bloggers sums this up nicely…
In short, business blogging is a low-cost way to create opportunities to get your website found by the people that you want to find it, so you can generate new leads and customers for your business.
– Corey Eridon
Sorry for the rant, but it’s time for businesses to wake up and smell the internet. This stuff works. No further proof is needed, just do it!