To reach Canadian customers today, B2B organizations need to approach marketing in a different way.
Older strategies like advertising on print media are just not producing results like they used to. This is because more Canadians are searching for information on what they need on the Internet. Whether the information is about a company, product, service, price or another thing, most people are Googling the information.
As consumers opt to use the Internet for research, Canadian businesses are also shifting their marketing strategies to inbound marketing. According to the 2013 Inbound Marketing Study in Canada, 79.5 percent of B2B businesses use inbound as part of their marketing strategy. Just 20.5 percent of B2B organizations are not using inbound marketing in their current campaigns. However, more than half of these businesses plan to include inbound in their future marketing.
There are two major reasons why B2B companies are adopting inbound marketing. These reasons are related to cost and quality of leads.
i) Inbound marketing generates more qualified leads than outbound marketing
ii) Generating leads from inbound marketing is 62 percent cheaper than using traditional marketing methods like cold calls, print media, etc.
Inbound marketing gives you more control on the kind of message your target market will see about your brand or offer. By defining and segmenting your market, you can reach prospects with content that resonates well with them, nurture and warm them up for future sales.
It is easy to measure the return on investment (ROI) of any inbound marketing campaign. After implementing a campaign, you can analyze it based on the outcome to determine whether you are getting value for your money. If something is amiss, you can tweak your marketing strategies in time to ensure you realize your target results.
Generate High Quality Leads with Content Marketing
Many employees in the country use the Internet on a daily basis. According to the latest StatsCan’s statistics, 83% of Canadians from 16 years and up use the Internet to search for information and to buy. Your target market also falls in this statistic. Therefore, it is important to position your company to be found by prospects searching for your solutions online.
One of the bestways of reaching qualified prospects is through your company blog. A blog is a useful lead generation avenue that can also help to enhance and position your business as an industry leader. People buy from the leaders in their industries, and you want to be the leader.
Your blog is a good place to showcase your products or services and let customers know about your business. Moreover, it is the best place to provide value to your target market. When prospects are searching online, they are most likely looking for solutions to their problems. Use your blog to provide the solution.
You want to provide value before you ask for sale. Therefore, create educative, informative and entertaining content that will resonate well with and add value to your prospects. The reason for this is that people buy from brands that they trust. And you can build trust by providing free valuable information to your prospects.
Here are some ideas on creating valuable content:
- Provide tips, advice, secrets, steps, etc. on doing something that your audience is struggling with, and that is related to your solution.
- Provide case studies on how other customers are using your solution to better their businesses, increase productivity or improve their lives.
- Interview thought leaders in your industry that your prospects will resonate well with.
- Provide free valuable content like eBooks, software, whitepapers, video series, etc. that prospects will appreciate having.
- Post thought-provoking articles on the state of things in your industry and give directions on any prevailing contentious issues.
One of the important things most B2B organizations seem to forget is their customers’ needs. Most businesses concentrate on showing how awesome their brand or solution is without really thinking whether they are communicating effectively to their target market.
Remember, prospects are out checking your company or product because they are asking, “What’s in for me?” or “How can I benefit from this company?” So, if you are not addressing the benefits that customers will get by engaging with you, you are shooting yourself on the foot.
Generate Quality Leads Online
After creating awesome content that is shareable, you have to get it out to your audience. Get the content in the major online outlets where your audience hangs out. You can promote your content on social media, email, related industry blogs, mobile and other avenues.
The good news with targeted promotion is that the audience is already interested in the content. How do you know this? They may have engaged with you in the past on your social network profiles, opted into your email list or searched on Google to find your content. Use this opportunity to get the prospects into your email list for future nurturing and selling.
Inbound marketing is becoming a core marketing front for Canadian B2B companies. The strengths and benefits of inbound marketing make it a clear winner against traditional marketing techniques.
