MarketStar Blog | Marketing (9)

In the current marketplace, B2B transactions are characteristically different from B2C or consumer transactions since decisions require collaboration and coordination between various entities to reach the final stage of the transaction. Unsurprisingly all B2B dealings are ongoing processes that involve a certain time-lapse between researching the product and placing the order.  

Snap decisions are unheard of in such a scenario! It, therefore, goes without saying that search engines play a dominant role in B2B purchases whereby they are extensively used during the research phase (early and mid) of the transaction. 

Being mostly the domain of B2C businesses thus far, B2B marketers have recently caught on with the idea of making use of Search Engine Marketing (SEM) for increasing online visibility of their products and, subsequently, augmenting sales. Since the research done in B2B marketing is far more intensive than traditional research during product purchase, SEO and SEM become key players in the research. 

Virality is a measure of the quality of content output and also the ultimate reward for a content marketer, if attained. Every marketer is striving to attain that perfect mix of message, context and medium to make sure that their prospects hit the “share” button and spread their content with their peer-group.  

Programmatic advertising is still a relatively new discipline, and brands remain unsure about the best approach to follow. The eventual goal for programmatic advertising is to serve ads to targeted consumers in a more efficient and timely manner. However, the complexity lies in the fact that there is considerable variation in the automated platforms aiding the campaign execution, as well as in the way in which the results are measured and quantified. Companies should therefore first decide on the metrics they will be using for tracking their ROI of the programmatic spend. 

Various companies have approached their digital marketing needs with programmatic marketing. We will be discussing five instances where these brands have disrupted their respective industries with a programmatic advertising approach. 

Did you know that B2B marketers who use Twitter generate twice as many leads as those that do not? (Source: InsideView) Or that 55% of B2B survey respondents search for information on social media (Source: Mediabistro)? Your customers are tweeting their frustrations, liking pages of brands they would like to be associated with on Facebook, viewing videos of similar solutions on YouTube, posting queries on forums to make decisions. Not monitoring and indulging in these discussions means losing out on crucial information about valuable prospects and alienating your potential customers.

Content is an essential tool for marketers. Digital marketing, especially, revolves around the creation of tons of content. But most of the content that you put out there has a particular shelf life and could begin to look a little stale or outdated in a year or two. So how exactly is a content marketer meant to overcome this challenge? 

Marketers today are well aware of the power of video. Tablet and cellphone use has dramatically increased, and according to a study by Econsultancy, engagement with mobile video is three times higher than video on a desktop. 

Welcome to the next generation of digital business, where predictive marketing powered by artificial intelligence and advanced analytics is revolutionizing the way we connect with customers. As a B2B marketer, you know that the traditional methods of marketing are no longer sufficient. Today’s customers are more informed and discerning, and their buying journey is more complex than ever. So, how do you stay ahead of the curve? The answer lies in predictive marketing. 

Emailers have been a favorite tool of marketers. But in recent years, with inboxes getting clogged by more and more promotional mailers, they may be losing their effectiveness. In fact, with fewer respondents checking their work and personal email than last year (down 17% and 25% per week respectively) and 35% of personal emails going unopened by consumers, as shown in a study done by Adobe amongst European consumers, the need to supplement emailers with other marketing tools has never been more important. 

As myriad reports and surveys suggest, the future of marketing is going to be shaped by new digital tools like Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI). So it’s time we started discussing how and where marketers could use these tools to help better market their products. 

With the Google Hummingbird update, one thing that is evident is that good quality content which enriches and supplements a customer’s decision-making process is the key to ranking high in search engine rankings and resulting in high search traffic. Importance of link-building, keyword stuffing has diminished profusely but having said that keyword research is still crucial since customers find and engage with brands using search engines. 

The key is to have a search strategy which targets buyers at different stages of the purchase cycle. Having a uniform search strategy for all your customers regardless of their place in the purchase funnel is like designing the same shoe regardless of a customer’s shoe size. With personalization and targeting becoming a necessity for customer acquisition and retention, search marketers must ensure that their organic search strategy facilitates the advancement of the customer’s purchase journey. 

The first step is to conduct keyword research and target different keywords for different stages of the purchase funnel. The first step is to conduct appropriate keyword research and find keywords with a good monthly search volume but relatively low competition. This can be done using tools such as Google Keyword Planner Tool or the wordtracker keyword tool.