Jumpstart B2B Communications
The term marketing has come to mean many things to many people. For CEOs it might be holistic, positive brand representation within your ideal market. Members of the sales teams see it as a lead generation tool to gin up business (and commissions, usually). Some see pretty ads and social media posts. And, of course, public relations is the oft-neglected middle child.
Marketers have been tasked with moving more leads around the communications cycle (commonly referred to as the marketing funnel, which I believe is a poor description – why let customers fall out when you can keep looping them back in?) to alleviate time constraints on the sales team. If you can leverage behavioral data to better qualify leads, it allows the sales team to focus their attention on those most likely to convert. So, they’re working more closely with sales – hopefully. What’s most important?
All of it.
A comprehensive communications strategy pulls all the right levers harmoniously for both long- and short-term growth of a business.
Content Marketing = Owned Media
Content marketing is every piece of content your company publishes on the outlets you 100% control. This includes items like your website copy, corporate blog, white papers, case studies, testimonials and social media. Here are 10 steps to jumpstart your content marketing strategy.
Advertising = Paid Media
Advertising includes the ads you place in media outlets that target a particular audience you want to reach. For my clients, who are the business partners that serve credit unions and occasionally community banks, it’s typically B2B publications that reach credit union executives. Each of these have their pluses and minuses, which you can see in the pricing and the quality of your results.
SIDEBAR: Do not pressure publications to write nice things about your company because you bought ads. The value of what you bought is contained in those ads, which run alongside quality content that attracts the right audience based on the outlets’ expertise and knowledge of the industry. You devalue your own advertising – and all the other advertisers’ ads – when you try this, not to mention tick off publishers, editors and reporters whom you want to cover your news. Build a positive relationship instead of making an end-run to bully them into submission. Rant over.
Public Relations = Earned Media
Some doubt the value of PR in the 21st century when you can produce your own news through content, but here’s why it’s still important:
1. Validating your expertise by an independent, third party
2. Reaching a different audience
3. Search engine optimization
Despite what most Americans say they believe, like voting our members of Congress back in again and again despite their overall lousy approval rating, they do give a certain level of deference to the news media.
Creating a Comprehensive Communications Strategy
Putting it all together is the secret to getting 1) noticed and 2) remembered. Now, running the same ad over and over and over again would be boring, but presenting the same information in a variety of ways and mediums creates long-term memory retention for your target audience and a kick-ass communications strategy.
Existing brand awareness, budget and internal resources will guide the sophistication and cadence of your communications, but most important will be consistency. Can you keep your brand and experts in the eye of your target audience enough to build brand awareness and trust? If not, contact Sarah today for a free consultation for your company.
Start with your owned media, I mean it’s free, right? Here’s what you need to consider:
How many useful blogs can your subject matter experts – it doesn’t have to be just your marketing team – crank out a month? I suggest a minimum of one piece of 800+ words per month to get your intended message across and boost search engine optimization. That helps with your brand and expertise building…
As visitors to your site read those blogs, is there an additional nugget of value you can provide them that would get them to trade their email address for this information? Include a Call to Action on the page to download (feel free to make your CTA sexier than that and still on brand) a relevant, in-depth research report, infographic, case study, check list, etc. And after they do that…
Add them to your newsletter and email marketing lists (in compliance, of course). Set up automations so when they download the first piece, you offer them additional assistance with a second downloadable or educational (not product-led) webinar that may be of interest to them, and maybe ask for that first call. For those who download that, ask again for a call to connect to answer any questions they have.
BTW, the newsletter will include any blogs, press releases, and other relevant announcements, like new client signings or employee spotlights. See this is where marketing and PR intertwine.
Same for social media. Should you leverage social media, and if so, which outlets? I and my clients have found success with LinkedIn to spread our message in the B2B marketplace, and even drive leads. Content here will more visual (branded images, infographics, live events, etc.) and likely brief posts of a couple of sentences, however, its new newsletter feature can be a great distribution tool for your blog content and other information, like…
Press releases. How often will you realistically be creating what can objectively be considered news? Schedule in at least a quarterly press release to distribute to the relevant media outlets, post to your website, include in your newsletter and social media. You get the idea.
Contribute thought leadership articles to media outlets. Newsroom resources have been decimated, so they’ll appreciate a unique, well-reasoned contributed article. Aim for at least two to four a year. This makes your company appear much bigger than you are.
Finally, if you have time and money left in your budget, consider supplementing your content marketing and PR with ads or sponsored events through third parties. It’s another excellent tool in the toolbox when you understand how to use them, whether for brand awareness, engagement or lead generation.
One of the highest ROI tactics you can do with a tight marketing budget is to commission a research report. If you have the data in-house or can fund original research, great, but if your budget can’t take that big a hit, you can still leverage others’ research. You can gate the research for lead generation; pick and pull it apart for blogs, press releases, case studies (think about gating these for additional lead gen) and social media posts. Don’t be afraid to repurpose content, because as much as it may hurt our egos, not everyone reads every piece of content we produce. It’s a simple way to stay on message, build a reputation as experts in your field and look smart for your execs by getting incredible value for a whole lot less money.
Still can’t determine the right strategies and tactics for solving the B2B communications cycle equation? Talk with Sarah and learn more about how Cooke Consulting Solutions can help get you there.