The sudden economic slowdown triggered by the COVID-19 shutdown has created chaos on businesses, both large and small. Due to the social restrictions and business interruptions caused by the pandemic, some companies are a rollback on marketing, while others are being more graceful and refocusing their approach to compete during these difficult times.
Smart B2B companies know that the last thing you should do in a challenging economy is drawing back your marketing. Instead, you need to learn how to do more with less – making sure every marketing dollar is running for you.
How can your B2B company succeed in these tough times? By marketing intelligent. Here are some tips to achieve success in your business
Consider marketing as an investment, Not an overhead
If you think of marketing only as an investment, you’re probably doing it wrong. Marketing is an investment that should produce a quantifiable return in the form of qualified leads and economic sales. Just as you would carefully review the return on investment (ROI) for stocks and funds in your solitude portfolio, you should carefully evaluate the ROI for all of the investments in your company’s marketing portfolio, including online and offline marketing affairs.
So, what type of ROI should your marketing build? Well, your marketing should produce a quantifiable return in four ways. First, your marketing should help you attract expectations or new customers. The key to success is focusing your marketing efforts to ensure you are before the right people at the right time.
Attracting new customers is where most companies pay out the majority of their marketing dollars and time. This is miserable because it is much easier (and less costly) to sell to existing customers. After all, you have already earned their trust and you have acceptability.
Measure Marketing ROI
ROI needs to be the basic ingredient in marketing as it is in finance, sales, R&D, or any other strategic role in your company. Unfortunately, very few marketers know how to functionally measure marketing ROI. If you’re not measuring marketing ROI, it’s time to start – and it’s not as difficult as you think. The following concepts will help you get started:
Implement a web analytics system, such as Google Analytics, to measure how well your website and online marketing are functioning toward achieving your business goals. This online report set will show you which online marketing affairs are generating the most traffic, what products and content they are engaging with, and what ‘calls to action’ are generating the most leads and sales. Setup campaign tracking for each of your online marketing affairs (e.g., search ads, email marketing, social media posts, etc.) to track leads and sales generated by each marketing activity.
Support a call conversion tracking system, such as CallRail, to help you see how effectively your online marketing campaigns lead to phone calls from your website. When someone enters your website after clicking one of your ads, website call conversion tracking can help you find and measure calls from your site. This system can also be supported to measure call conversions generated from offline activities, like mailed flyers, postcards, and print advertising.
Cut Marginal Marketing Investments
Now that you know what’s functioning and what’s not, it’s time to cut. Cut marginal investments that are not giving a solid return. Save this money or select to invest these funds into activities that are giving stellar returns. To deal with the effects of the pandemic, many of your regards are pulling funding away from traditional marketing activities, like magazine advertising, trade shows, and direct mail. At the same time, they are rising investments in online marketing activities such as websites, search engine marketing, email marketing, and social media marketing because more customers are doing business online.
Turn Your Website into a Lead Generation Machine
The most successful companies consider their website to be their most robust marketing tool. Your website is the most general face of your company. More people will look in on your website than will ever visit your location. So do everything to transform your website into a lead generation machine.
Fascinate New Customers from Search Engines
If you are not concentrating on search engine marketing, your company is likely invisible online. Search engine marketing is extremely prime because, according to research, over 80% of customers begin at a search engine like Google when researching products and services online.
Simply defined, search engine marketing helps ensure your company’s website is presented at the top of the search results when people are searching for your products and skills. Customers who find your website through search engines are actively looking for information on your products and will be encouraged to take action when they land on your website. In addition, with the pay-for-performance model of search pay-per-click advertising, you only pay when a qualified customer clicks on your ad and visits your website.
Adore Your Existing Customers
Last, but certainly not least, reinforced your relationships with your existing customers. We all know it is far easier to marketing to existing customers than to try and win new ones. So, make sure you do everything you can to exhibit to your current customers that you are a valued partner that understands their needs during this tough time.