It can be challenging to navigate the world of digital marketing, particularly for small or new B2B companies.
Unfortunately, many tend to start their strategy with what I call the execution phase, which should be one of the last steps in the process.
For example, you might set up online PPC ads with corresponding landing pages, hoping to generate leads. Alternatively, you could buy an email list and blast out emails, expecting leads to come pouring in.
There was a time when these shotgun approaches got results, which is why too many companies still cling to them. But, today, they’re inefficient and wasteful. A more measured and strategic approach is the way to go.
It’s time to step back and invest in a smarter marketing strategy.
After years of trial and error, as well as reading countless marketing blogs and books, I discovered a better way to help maximize B2B growth. In this blog post, I’m going to share my 3-phase process for creating a successful strategy.
But, before we dive into the details of my 3-phase process, let’s first explore why it’s not advisable to jump straight into the “execution” phase…
The Pitfalls of Starting with the Execution Phase
To be fair, I have achieved some impressive results early in my career by starting with the execution phase.
One of my first B2B marketing roles involved improving Google Ad search campaigns. I made improvements by targeting low-funnel search terms and eliminating wasted budget. As a result, I increased lead generation by 400% while tripling the conversion rate for PPC campaigns.
This was fantastic, but eventually, we reached diminishing returns because there were only so many active buyers using Google to research their next purchase.
To achieve long-term and sustainable growth, it’s essential to create demand for your products or services, rather than simply offering them. How do you achieve this?
It’s a bit different for every business, but my three-phase strategy should give you a good idea of what you need to do before you start investing in your next marketing channel.
Building B2B Demand: The Three-Pronged Approach
Are you tired of inconsistent results and wasted marketing budgets? My three-phase strategy can help establish sustainable growth for your B2B business. By understanding your target audience, creating effective campaigns, and executing targeted ads, you can slash your advertising budget in half and generate 10 times the leads with improved quality.
If you’re ready to maximize your growth potential and achieve similar results, keep reading to discover the exact steps I took and how you can implement them in your own B2B marketing strategy.
It all starts with a solid foundation in the form of first-party data.
Phase 1: Collect First-Party Data
To target your audience effectively, you must know who they are. Although identifying your target audience can be an entire blog post by itself, I suggest looking at your most profitable current customers and determining their industry and common job titles.
The next step is to create a list of prospects. I recommend an absolute minimum of 5,000.
You can obtain excellent lists from industry associations or by manual prospecting. Some list providers are reliable, but be extremely cautious when sending out mass email blasts, as this may lead to being flagged as spam.
At the very least, each prospect should have an email address or phone number. I prefer to have at least their name, email address, phone number, job title, and company name.
This will allow for better matching when targeting your prospects on third-party advertising platforms.
Phase 2: Create Content Funnels
Segmenting your target audience into tailor-made content funnels is the key to success.
Here’s how to get started:
- Identify different pain points your audience might be feeling that your product or service can solve
- Segment your target audience into tailor-made content funnels
- Building these content funnels before the “execution” phase to avoid wasting leads in the awareness phase and need nurturing
To do this though, you’ll need a marketing automation platform, If you’re just getting started, I don’t recommend investing in a giant complicated platform, but I also don’t recommend completely cheaping out with a free tool.
My personal favorite tool for beginners is ConvertKit for its user-friendly interface and robust features.
Following these steps will allow you to:
- Tailor your messaging and advertising to the pain points of your target audience
- Avoid wasting leads that are not yet ready to make a purchase
- Automate follow-up and have consistent messaging to all leads
- Allow your sales team to focus on personalized communication with warmer prospects
- Handle a steady flow of leads and achieve sustainable growth
Once you have your data and content funnels in order, it’s time to move on to the fun part. The execution phase!
Phase 3: Execute Your Marketing Campaigns
Once you have established your data and content funnels, it’s time to take the plunge and execute new campaigns using your newfound prospect data and content flows. But is it as simple as it sounds? Well, yes and no.
Executing quality ad campaigns and stellar creative is extremely important. This means you’ll need to be extremely careful about who you hire to handle this task. Only work with seasoned digital marketing professionals who have a proven track record of driving successful ad campaigns.
And, while marketing campaign strategy process is relatively straightforward, you need to keep iterating to continue to drive down costs and make your marketing engine as efficient as possible.
In other words, over time you’ll need to:
- Invest in additional prospects and widen your target audience to continue growing your business
- Create more segmented content funnel to get the best possible results
- Test different ad formats, platforms, messages, and tones to see what resonates with your audience.
By following these steps and continuously fine-tuning your approach, you can create a sustainable digital marketing strategy that yields outstanding results. Don’t let your competitors get ahead of you – start optimizing your campaigns today!