12 B2B Inbound Marketing Tactics Every Marketer Should Know

Editor's Note: Take a look at our featured best practice, Predictable and Scalable Sales Process for B2B Business (131-slide PowerPoint presentation). Problem Statement - For B2B Sales Predictable and Scalable Sales Process for Businesses is the single most difficult task to carry out especially when selling B2B Software's and Services such as Consulting etc. Many Businesses with great software or consulting products are unable to scale up [read more]

* * * *

Inbound marketing is a B2B strategy that focuses on providing information to the customer rather than waiting for them to come to you. While it is the most effective way for B2B marketers to generate high-quality leads, this type of marketing requires a lot of work and time before it starts to produce results.

B2B inbound marketing tactics are designed to attract decision-makers and influencers at businesses with high-value potentials. However, the B2B inbound marketing landscape is constantly evolving, and marketers need to keep up. Therefore, B2B marketing tactics are no longer confined to email campaigns or social media posts. There are now several innovative ways that B2B marketers can use content as a way to generate leads. An excellent example is Pitcher’s sales enablement platform. This software provides sales reps with the tools they need to successfully engage with their prospects. Additionally, it complements marketing automation and closes the feedback loop between the sales and marketing departments.

If you’re a B2B marketer, there’s a good chance that you know how to do B2B inbound marketing. But if not, it’s time to learn!

In this blog post, we will discuss 12 B2B inbound marketing tactics every marketer should know so they can get started with more affordable strategies that have been proven successful!

1. Defining Your Business Goals, Thoroughly Researching Your Industry and Customers

Before you begin any inbound marketing campaign, it’s important to define your business goals and target audience. Browsing through your company website, blog, and social media pages will give you a good idea of what content is already being produced. Once you’ve gathered this information, use it to develop buyer personas that represent your ideal customer.

After you have defined your business goals and target audience, the next step is researching your industry and customers. This includes studying current trends and developments within the industry, as well as identifying the needs and wants of your target market. The goal is to produce content that resonates with them on a deeper level.

If you’re having trouble getting started with defining business goals or researching your industry/customers, consider using inbound marketing services from an established provider.

2. Create a Semi-fictional Buyer Persona

The B-I Triangle is a marketing model that represents the relationship between your business, audience, and content. In order for inbound marketing to be effective, you need all three of these components working together as one unit.

In B-I Triangle terms, buyer personas are fictitious representations of potential customers who have wanted and needs similar to those satisfied by the products or services offered by your company. They can also include individuals with problems that could potentially be solved by what you’re offering. A semi-fictional representation is best because it will allow you to develop thoughtfully created content while keeping personal information about actual buyers anonymous if they choose not to reveal themselves online.

3. Enhance Your Lead Nurturing Efforts

With B2B marketing in mind, you need to be producing content that will attract the attention of your audience and help you build trust with them. Once they feel like they know who you are as a business, other people within their company may start taking an interest too.

Lead nurturing is an important marketing component because it helps move potential customers through the buying process. This includes identifying what specific needs each buyer persona has, mapping out how your products or services can solve any problems identified by these individuals, and creating engaging content that builds relationships between buyers and companies while sharing accurate information about solutions available for purchase. Lead nurture maps should include different stages of the buying cycle, so marketers know where leads stand at all times, allowing them to focus on the next best content to produce.

4. Use Content Blogging for Inbound Marketing

Blogging is one of the best B2B inbound marketing components to focus on because it’s a great way to draw in readers and build trust. This includes targeting your buyer personas, creating relevant content that solves problems within their industry or profession, and distributing posts through social media channels.

In addition to blogging, consider using other forms of content such as infographics, videos, eBooks, and whitepapers. This will help keep your audience engaged while you continue to produce blog posts on a regular basis.

5. Guest Blogging Is Also Very Helpful for Inbound Marketing

Guest blogging is a great way to get your company’s name in front of new audiences while providing valuable content. When approaching other bloggers to publish a post on their website, make sure the blog is relevant to your target market and that you can provide high-quality content that will be of interest to their readers.

Guest blogging is a marketing tactic that should be approached with caution, though. While many B-to-B companies have been successful in using guest blogging to distribute content and increase their brand exposure, there are some unethical forms of this marketing approach that can harm your company’s reputation if they’re revealed online.

6. Use the Power of Premium Content

Premium B-to-B content should be developed with your buyer personas in mind. This means that you’ll need to research their industry, understand the problems they are experiencing or goals they hope to accomplish and create marketing solutions that can help them meet these objectives. This includes:

• Use ebook as content: eBooks can be used to target buyers at all stages of the buying cycle, from those who are just starting to learn about a problem they need to solve to those who are ready to make a purchase. They can also be helpful in building trust with potential customers by providing accurate information about solutions available for purchase.
• Use infographic/pdf: Infographics and PDFs are a great way to share complex information in an easy-to-digest format. This type of content is perfect for those who are looking for solutions but may not have the time to read a long, detailed article.
• Use case study: Case studies can be used to show how your company’s products or services have helped other businesses achieve their goals. They are perfect for those who are considering a purchase and want to see real-world examples of how your solutions have worked in the past.

7. Email Marketing

Email marketing should be a key component of any B-to-B inbound marketing strategy. This includes developing email content that is relevant to your buyer personas, segmenting lists so that you’re only sending content to those who will find it useful, and using trigger emails to reach buyers at all stages of the buying cycle.

8. Use Customer Reviews to Gain Brand Trust

Customer reviews and testimonials are a great way to show prospects that your products and services are valuable. B2B buyers often look for third-party validation before making a purchase, so having positive customer reviews on your website can help increase the chances of closing a sale.

Make sure you’re collecting customer testimonials in a way that is easy to share on your website and social media channels. You can also use customer quotes in your marketing content to help back up your claims.

9. Create Interactive and Visual Materials

While B-to-B buyers use a variety of content sources to explore solutions, many are also looking for interactive materials that allow them to test drive your products or services before making a purchase. Make sure you’re providing these types of resources so prospects can easily learn more about what your company is offering and determine if it’s the right solution for their needs. This includes videos, demos, infographics, and interactive guides.

10. Growth-Driven Design (GDD) Strategy for Your B2B Business

A GDD strategy is perfect for B-to-B businesses that are looking to continually improve their website’s performance. It involves using data collected from web analytics and marketing automation tools to make small changes to your website on a regular basis instead of making large, expensive updates every few years.

11. SEO Plays an Important Role for B2B Business

Just because B-to-B buyers are looking for solutions to business challenges doesn’t mean they aren’t also interested in personalization and convenience. This means that your SEO strategy should still focus on delivering the most relevant content to buyers, regardless of what stage of the buying cycle they’re in.

Make sure you’re using long-tail keywords, which are more relevant to B2B buyers, and updating your website regularly so that search engines can find it.

12. Tools like Google Analytics Help You to Understand the Customer

Google Analytics is a top tool B-to-B marketers should utilize for their inbound marketing efforts. This useful analytics platform provides insights into how visitors are interacting with your website, which can help you determine the content that’s most popular and improve overall site performance.

Make sure to create custom reports so that you’re collecting data only on the metrics that matter to your business and use the data you collect to create targeted marketing campaigns.

Conclusion

Inbound marketing is a great way to connect with B2B buyers and build long-term relationships. By using the tactics above, you’ll be well on your way to reaching this audience and generating more leads and sales.

Do You Want to Implement Business Best Practices?

You can download in-depth presentations on B2B and 100s of management topics from the FlevyPro Library. FlevyPro is trusted and utilized by 1000s of management consultants and corporate executives.

For even more best practices available on Flevy, have a look at our top 100 lists:

• Top 100 in Strategy & Transformation
• Top 100 in Digital Transformation
• Top 100 in Operational Excellence
• Top 100 in Organization & Change
• Top 100 Management Consulting Frameworks

These best practices are of the same as those leveraged by top-tier management consulting firms, like McKinsey, BCG, Bain, and Accenture. Improve the growth and efficiency of your organization by utilizing these best practice frameworks, templates, and tools. Most were developed by seasoned executives and consultants with over 20+ years of experience.