The key to any marketing campaign, especially with B2B models, is a well-thought-out strategy. A strategy helps to ensure that you’re working towards a concrete goal in the most effective way possible, helping to avoid any redundant use of resources.
The first thing you do with any B2B marketing campaign will be to formulate that strategy, going through every element of your campaign before getting started.
Let’s go through the different steps of formulating an effective B2B marketing campaign. We’d also like to extend a thank you to the team at Headley Media for their expert insights in helping to put this article together.
Define your goals
First, you want to define your goals. Are you trying to enact a rebrand? Are you trying to get more clients? Are you trying to change the way that existing clients see you, to come through the other end of a crisis?
The rest of your campaign will depend on this goal, as each aim will necessitate a different route to get there. Once you’ve identified the key goal of your campaign (it can of course encompass multiple goals,) you’re ready for the next step.
Identify your target audience
The next stage is to identify your target audience. While this is obviously the case for new businesses, it should also be something that existing, successful businesses consider. Just because you have an existing audience and client base, doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t do market research.
Your old research could be outdated, as demographics and buyer intentions have shifted, both of which could result in you spending unnecessary resources on marketing efforts. Make sure that you conduct thorough market research to pinpoint your audience, and then go from there.
Choose your channels
Depending on your niche and target audience, you’ll find that different channels are more or less appropriate. Don’t just go off of old knowledge though – look at the latest data on your niche and decide which channels are best to gain traction on.
It could have been that while social media sites like Facebook and Instagram were entirely inappropriate for your niche a few years ago, they’re now the most effective places to disseminate content.
Which media channels you use will also change the kinds of content that you can share; for example, websites and blogs support detailed written reports, while social media sites such as Instagram better support graphics and videos.
Learn from the competition
You can potentially cut a lot of unnecessary corners by looking at the successes and failures of your competitors. Look at companies that are leading the way in your niche, see what they’re doing well in their marketing campaigns, and then do it better yourself.
They might have published case studies or insights into the industry that you can learn from, or you could just look at the kinds of content they post that gets the highest level of interaction from their clients. At the end of the day, you want to retain your own brand image, so be careful about replicating any of the competitors’ techniques too closely.