Numbers. Numbers. Numbers.
If there is something that keeps sales and marketing teams, top executives, and business owners awake at night, it’s how to boost sales.
The B2B space is competitive enough without having to think about Covid-19 aftershocks and other crises. Let’s not even mention the scrutiny marketing budgets face to ensure every dollar maximizes ROI.
Fortunately, the digital space has opened up a cost-effective platform for brands to showcase their expertise and capability to larger audiences.
If you’re looking for ways to leverage digital marketing to boost your company’s sales, we have lined up five top strategies for your consideration.
Email marketing
Email is both cost-effective and efficient at reaching wide demographics.
While the goal of an email marketing strategy is to drive sales, it helps to first build relationships and credibility with audiences. The more readers find usefulness in your content, the higher their perception of you.
Every email sent out-whether by your team or outsourced to professionals-should have a clear goal geared towards building trust even as it drives sales.
You’ll want to employ catchy, value-driven subject lines, quality images, concise text, and strong CTAs to drive engagement. You also need to track your emails to identify and separate those that generate sales from the ones that don’t.
Here are top email marketing uses that may help boost sales.
- Sharing product launches. It’s tempting to send a mass email to all your subscribers, but a wiser option would be to gauge the customer segment that may benefit more from this launch and target them.
- Re-engagement emails. An email that reminds users who left items in their cart to complete their purchase can move them into action. Use catchy headlines, descriptions of the product, and a link to the sales page to quicken the action.
- Announcing sales or discounts. Running a promo? Emails containing discount codes or descriptions of the products/services on sale can excite and compel customers to buy. Make the process easier by facilitating online purchases and sharing the link to the sales section.
- Sharing tips and tricks. Sharing tips and tricks to help customers navigate business challenges helps improve your value in their eyes. With many buyers not deriving full value from their purchases, how-to videos that help them maximize ROI are welcome.
Improving Customer Service
Are your solutions and pricing similar to those of the competition?
Providing superior customer experiences may be the one thing that differentiates you from them. And just so you know how serious this is, studies showed that customer experience would surpass both pricing and products by end of 2020.
The sooner you board this ship, the quicker you’ll start differentiating your brand from the rest.
How do you do it?
- Lean on your data. Use internal data to understand needs, intent, trends, and consumer displeasure. Consider previous interactions, social mentions, and buying behavior to improve operations, make personalized recommendations, and anticipate growing needs.
- Listen to your customers. Walk in customers’ shoes to gain perspectives on the aspects of your business that you haven’t considered previously. You’ll learn areas (internal processes etc) that need improvement and ways you can add value.
- Make room for ideas. From problem-solving to new product development, create an environment where all team members can share ideas. Consider promoting internal initiatives where employees are rewarded for coming up with successful ideas.
- Make interdepartmental data sharing seamless. Invest in systems that “talk to each other” to ensure prospect and customer data is updated for all teams. This all-around view helps teams understand the client to provide the best solutions possible. For customers, they won’t need to re-explain their needs to different representatives (annoying).
Cold Calling
In a study by RAIN Group, 27 percent of B2B vendors interviewed said that their cold calling efforts were extremely successful.
These very results are possible for any business that’s willing to put in the effort.
Cold calling has long evolved from barging into people’s lives with offerings they don’t need.
It’s now a data-informed strategy where sales teams rely on marketing intelligence to anticipate consumer needs and structure solutions that fit them.
Even with the intelligence, these teams go back and measure ROI to ensure they are meeting their monthly, quarterly, and annual goals.
Best industry practices include.
- Understanding pain points and drivers. Low-level contacts appreciate features and technical aspects, finance look for cost-effectiveness while the C suite wants to know your solution’s contribution to their bottom line.
- Outlining your offerings as solutions. Bells and whistles are fine, but most people want utility. Clearly outline the problems you can solve and the value you can add to work lives.
- Competitor knowledge is necessary. Your prospect has probably been called by competitors or is using their products/services. A healthy knowledge of what your competitors offer (strengths and weaknesses) will help you address any questions raised.
- Give the prospect space to ask questions. Entertaining prospects’ questions can be distressing, but a prospect who is asking questions is one who’s probably interested in your solutions. It can also help you uncover needs. So, take them in your stride and answer as precisely as you can.
Optimize Content Marketing
Blog posts, ebooks, videos, podcasts, case studies, and market research are all content formats that B2B sellers employ to attract visitors and convert them.
But for a strategy that’s both cost-effective and supportive of long-term business objectives, very few companies know how to implement it properly.
Unlike their B2C counterparts, B2B audiences focus on value. Decision-makers, in particular, are looking for content that addresses their questions and can prove ROI.
Here are top content formats that can help you boost sales.
- Publish industry studies. These are perfect for establishing authority and credibility. They attract independent visitors and backlinks from other websites referencing your work. The enhanced visibility lets potential customers know of your existence and offerings.
- Send out weekly newsletters. Value-backed newsletters generate leads and nurture existing ones. You stay top of mind and when the leads are ready to buy, they will consider your brand.
- Create complete guides. Legit complete guides cover the topic in question from top to bottom, right from fundamentals to techniques, terminologies, strategies, examples, and FAQs. Since they cover every angle, they serve as a “one-stop” shop for that topic.
- Invest in video content. From how-to videos to demos, FAQ videos, and customer testimonials, videos are a fun and easy format for sharing information with customers. You can even repurpose old but relevant content into high-quality videos.
Leverage Search Intent
B2Bs continuously scour the internet for solutions to their problems. Their search queries are actions of both interest and intent.
Leveraging search intent involves understanding what potential customers actually want when they type in queries and being there to provide solutions.
This understanding allows you to develop content that brings relevant searchers to your site, improving rankings, page views, and conversions.
You can do this by.
- Knowing the intent you’re targeting. What does your target audience look for? Information? A certain product/service? To make purchases? Identify the keyword phrases they use and align your copy with them.
- Analyze SERP results. Look at the pages that dominate SERP for the intent keywords your audience use. How do these web pages use the keywords? What structure do they follow? Do they have a specific tone?
- Analyze how search engines view your website. What traffic do they bring your way?. Do these visitors align with the intent you’re pursuing? Compare your analysis of the other websites with your own to identify areas that need tweaking.
- Create your content. Structure content to respond to user intent which means including the proper intent keyword phrases. You can borrow a leaf from the dominant pages and see if it helps your visibility and rankings.
