The evolution of technology has allowed for businesses to grow and thrive in ever-changing, and new ways that they have never been able to before. It has allowed businesses to move online or has prompted brand new, and unique businesses to develop that was, a decade ago, unheard of. Entrepreneurs can, for the first time, see their brainchildren come to life from their home.
One of the biggest emergencies in this digital age is the birth and rapid growth of eCommerce, an online portal for purchases and shopping. The second emergence is the development of B2B e-commerce businesses, where products and services are supplied from one business to another. Statistics show that this is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world. It is estimated that by 2021, e-Commerce transactions will be worth well over $1.2 trillion.
Brands globally are looking more and more to digital services to meet their needs and requirements. So, if you are an online business, and looking to provide those much-needed services to your client, you will need to know how to reach out to them digitally. This is not as complicated as it sounds, and we have put together our top ideas that will ensure that you reach out to the right people and convert them to sales.
Content That Counts
Let’s start where it matters most. Content at the moment is one of the most important elements in any marketing strategy. Content is the biggest driver of digital marketing, and if you don’t have a content strategy in place, you better get it out today! Let’s look at the numbers. Studies have shown that in 2018, only 39% of digital marketers had a content strategy in place. But by 2019, that jumped over 30%, with more seeing the need for engaging content to be posted.
So, what kind of content are we talking about? The first is naturally the content that is produced for your site. Not only do you have to ensure that you have concise and educational content on your homepage, as well as product pages for your customers to be engaged, but it is vital for Google too! Google crawls your site to pick up keywords and ranks you in the search according to what you have on your site. You need to make sure that your content is good enough to get you listed in the top three of the search of the industry!
The next thing to look at is the content on your blog. Blogs are vital to reach out to your client base, engage them and keep them informed and educated at all times. Not only will you establish yourself as a brand that is trustworthy and informative, but your clients will keep coming back to read the next interesting article that you put up, increasing the chance of a sale!
Placing Your Brand Where They Can See You
The next step is to get your brand out there. All of this content that you are producing and popping onto your blog can be shared via social media as well as in weekly newsletters as email marketing. This not only increases your reach and visibility to new clients but allows your existing clients to be tempted to come back and make more purchases with you. It is all about loyalty.
Now you want to look at is specific campaigns and ads. These are usually campaigns that have a bit of money put behind them to increase their reach. The first to look at is on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. Here, you can create unique ads, select your audience and choose your budget. These ads will appear in your selected audience feeds, which makes it easier for you to target exactly who you want to see the ad.
Paid ads also work across multiple platforms. You can select that your ad appears on other relevant sites as well as across channels like Youtube. Make sure you do your research as you want the right customer to be seeing your ad on the right platform.
Continuous Management and Monitoring
This is a key part of digital marketing management. Getting your strategy right is all about putting something out and testing to see whether it is successful or not. There are numerous ways to test and monitor the success of the campaign.
Google Analytics is the best tool to monitor the traffic to your site. Let’s give you an example. You have posted a great blog on your site. You then place this blog in the weekly newsletter which is sent to your database. You also share it on all of your social media platforms and share it with a few other sites that market in your industry. Now you need to track how much traffic that article brings in, where it came from, and where it went to. GA does all of that for you. From there, you can see what works and what doesn’t and whether you want to post something similar again to get those high traffic volumes and great conversion rates!
There are obviously a number of other tools to measure your success rates. Your mailing provider (Mailchimp for example) provides detailed reports on the open rates on emails. It shows how many click-throughs took place, how many weren’t opened, how many unsubscribes you got and why they chose to click the button.
Customer Relations and Management
Being in the B2B industry can be tricky, but in many other ways, it can make your job a lot easier if you are in marketing. In many cases, especially if you are a start-up, your clients will be a set portfolio of regular clients that you have on your books. You are also more likely to have a particular profile for your client base.
This makes it easier to connect, engage and communicate directly with your client. The best way to ensure that your client is kept surprised, delighted and loyal to your brand is by reaching out to them at all times. Firstly, make yourself and your staff available to your client at all times. Live chat and support lines are integral in maintaining good relationships with those who are paying for your products. Then, reach out. Find out what they like about your services, what they don’t like, what they would change and what they want to be added. The minute you start listening to your client is when you are going to set yourself apart from your competition! Surveys and questionnaires are a great way of doing this! Remember, the more you communicate, the more you will know what your client really wants.
Wrapping Up
The key to a successful business, whether online or off is to continuously surprise and delight your customers. Ensure that your customer not only gets what they pay for but even what they don’t know what they want. Keep up to date with industry trends. Watch what others are doing, not only in your industry but others too. Make sure you keep testing. Test! Test! Test! Something will always work and something won’t. Adapt your strategies when things are not working, and improve at all times when they are. Marketing, especially digital marketing is a continuously changing beast. You will never be able to perfect it, you will simply keep adapting with it!
