Key Solutions That Form the Foundation of Successful B2B Marketing Programs

In B2B marketing campaigns, there are several established ways to reach potential customers in order to generate opportunities and build lasting — and lucrative — relationships. They vary widely based on the company, the goal, the product, the target audience, etc. etc.

Though one size does not fit all in marketing tactics, there are some solutions that have been proven to be the successful foundation of most programs. Essential initiatives that help companies implement better audience engagement, achieve higher-quality results, and develop deeper customer relationships.

Here are five of the solutions that are the foundation of successful B2B marketing programs.

1. Marketing Strategy

The heart of everything you do and the road map you follow as you venture into the world chasing opportunities. It’s the big picture that encompasses every step you must take to reach your short and long-term goals for marketing and sales.

Without integrated B2B marketing strategies, being successful is a shot in the dark. Not developing a strategy is one of the primary reasons marketing fails. And if it fails, so does your sales team — and your company.

2. Lead Management

Lead generation is the practice of developing opportunities by accumulating names of potential customers through a series of marketing campaigns. But accumulating leads is only the first step. At that point, they need to be evaluated and scored through a coordinated lead management program.

The marketing- and sales-quality leads are turned over to the sales team to follow up. The lower level leads may still offer potential. So you must nurture them by sending marketing information at the right times to guide them through the funnel until they become a paying customer.

And the work doesn’t end there. Now that you have a customer, don’t lose them. Convincing them to purchase again or upsell to upgraded products is just as important as finding new customers.

3. Content Syndication

Content marketing is the creation of relevant content to attract and engage your target audience with strategic messages tailored just for them. It isn’t a blatant product pitch. Instead, the message contains useful information to help prospects solve problems.

Content syndication is exposing your message to more of your target audience by distributing it across digital and traditional networks. This includes posting videos, articles, guest blogs, infographics, and other forms on different sites and social media platforms.

The farther you spread the word, the more people will see it and click back to your website or contact you directly. This helps increase high-quality opportunities and build brand awareness.

4. Demand Generation

The marketing/sales funnel is the process of turning leads into customers. It varies per company, but it’s usually composed of these levels: Awareness, Interest, Consideration, Intent, Evaluation, and Purchase.

Demand generation is a strategically-planned operation designed to constantly drive a demand for your products through every step of the funnel from the top (Awareness) to the bottom (Purchase). To work effectively, it’s critical that B2B marketers become invested in every phase of the buyer’s journey.

To do this, they must work closely with sales teams to coordinate and make sure potential customers get all the information they need when they need it. The most successful marketing and sales teams create one unified demand generation process, rather than working separately.

5. Account-Based Marketing

Account-based marketing is a hyper-focused, high-performance strategy that identifies key individual prospects or customer accounts rather than targeting larger groups. Using data-driven research, companies identify and prioritize prospects who will not only benefit the most from the companies’ products, they are also more likely to start a long-lasting business relationship.

The key is to treat prospects as a market of one. Research them. Get to know them. Then create content calculated to engage their specific needs with very personalized messages.

Like with full-funnel demand generation, it’s important that marketing and sales align themselves to realize the benefits of account-based marketing. They must work as a single entity to engage prospects. Then analyze key metrics and share the data with each other to evaluate their results before launching their next campaigns.

Take the Initiative and build your foundation

When it comes to marketing, these five solutions get results. They help establish a strong digital presence, engage focused audiences, expand customer bases, build brand awareness, and increase revenue dramatically.

How do we know these solutions work? Because we’ve been using then to help our clients for years.

Guided by each company’s objectives and supported with data and analytics, we bring creativity, visibility, engagement, and conversion to help them reach their goals.

And we can do the same for your company.

Our marketing team specializes in data-driven solutions that help clients connect with customers on a deeper level and amass high-quality opportunities through our network of global contacts.