PDF The Complete Guide to B2B Marketing

The Complete Guide to B2B Marketing

How to optimize your campaigns and drive more revenue.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION..........................................................3

Be a better B2B marketer.

Get a glimpse into the challenges of modern B2B marketing -- plus a first look at the best practices, tips, and advice this e-book provides.

CHAPTER ONE.............................................................4

Be better at lead generation.

Learn how to generate high-quality leads with marketing automation features like landing pages, forms, and progressive profiling.

CHAPTER two............................................................13

Be better at lead qualification.

Be able to distinguish between lead scoring and lead grading, and learn why you need both.

CHAPTER THREE......................................................22

Be better at lead nurturing.

Depending on your level of experience, this chapter can help you lay the groundwork for successful nurturing campaigns or help you improve the processes you already have in place.

CHAPTER four...........................................................32

Be better at email marketing.

Learn how to build a successful email program from start to finish, and optimize your messages for the inbox.

CHAPTER five.............................................................43

Be better at content marketing.

Learn to create and implement an effective strategy that promotes and tracks B2B marketing content.

CHAPTER six................................................................55

Be better at webinars and events.

Make the most of your B2B marketing events investment.

CHAPTER SEVEN.........................................................64

Be better at social media.

Optimize your social media accounts by planning a social content strategy, building a following, and setting (and reaching) goals.

CHAPTER EIGHT...........................................................72

Be better at ROI reporting.

Get a quick overview of closed-loop reporting and a list of valuable ROI metrics to track.

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INTRODUCTION

Be a better B2B marketer.

In early 2015, Salesforce conducted a survey of more than 2,100 global marketers to better understand the current state of B2B marketing. The results proved that B2B marketers are as time-strapped as ever, and consistently grapple with three main challenges: new business development, lead quality, and lead generation.

But that's not all that B2B marketers have on their plates. The emphasis on a more cohesive, personalized selling process is growing, leading many marketers to increase their investments in technologies that can help them create 1:1 buying experiences. Marketers now own more of the lead-to-revenue cycle than ever and are responsible for engaging with buyers throughout the entire customer lifecycle.

In an increasingly digital and data-driven world, this means more than well-timed emails and the occasional clever Tweet. Marketers need to think bigger -- and this e-book can help.

The following chapters will guide B2B marketers through the eight main pillars of digital marketing, with checklists and worksheets provided at the end of each chapter.

intro

Whether you're building a B2B marketing strategy from the ground up or you're working to perfect the strategy you already have in place, you'll find valuable insights on how to:

? build effective and measurable lead generation campaigns

? qualify and assign leads to sales -- at the right time ? increase the value of your database using targeted

nurturing programs ? create engaging emails that resonate with your target

audience ? develop a content strategy that supports your overall

business goals ? build a webinar and event marketing strategy from

the ground up ? engage with your target audiences over social media

in an authentic way ? report on the success of your marketing initiatives

Start your journey to becoming an even better B2B marketer. Let's dive in!

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CHAPTER ONE

Be better at lead generation.

B2B marketers are facing an ever-increasing demand for more high-quality leads. In fact, according to B2B Technology Marketing Community, marketers' lead generation budgets have increased 50% since 2013, demonstrating the growing number of resources that marketers are investing in lead generation initiatives.

In the B2C world, lead generation typically starts and ends in the same place: the purchase. On the other hand, B2B marketers with long, complex sales cycles look at conversion as getting a visitor to fill out a form in exchange for something of value, such as a white paper, a product demo, or a free consultation. The purchase may be months -- or even years -- away. Landing pages with hosted forms are often the de facto method for these conversions, which is why optimization is so crucial to the sales and marketing process.

According to a 2015 study by Regalix, 84% of marketing executives indicate that lead generation is the number one benefit of a marketing automation tool. The first chapter of our guide takes a look at

one

how marketing automation features like landing pages, forms, and progressive profiling can help marketers boost the effectiveness of their lead generation programs.

Creating Effective Landing Pages

Landing pages are a key ingredient in lead generation, but building the perfect landing page isn't always easy. It requires a great deal of testing and analyzing -- combined with eye-catching visuals and persuasive copy -- to build a landing page that will not only decrease bounce rates, but will also increase conversions and the amount of time visitors spend interacting with you.

Historically, landing pages were primarily used for basic data collection, but today their usage has evolved. Now, landing pages can be used as launch pads to drive visitors deeper into your site, directing them to more valuable content. With tools like marketing automation at your disposal, you can create landing pages, forms, copy, and calls-to-action that are optimized for that purpose: to keep your visitors engaged on your site, even after they've already converted.

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So where do you begin?

Start with your value proposition. Your buyers are faced with information overload and endless options, so their time is both limited and valuable. To break through the clutter and hold their attention, your offer needs to be both compelling and persuasive. Use strong calls-to-action and benefit-focused language to convey value, and be sure to keep the focus on your buyers, not on you.

To get more information about crafting the perfect call-to-action, see the checklist at the end of this chapter.

Create points of engagement. Engagement on a landing page is a function of a few core items: sightlines (where users look on the page), copy, calls-to-action, and images.

68% of B2B businesses use landing pages to garner new sales leads for future conversion.

- MarketingSherpa

SIGHTLINES AND COPY It's important to keep the following facts in mind when designing your landing page for optimum engagement:

? Text is almost always scanned, and not read entirely.

? Greater focus is given to words in the top and left side of the page.

? Text is scanned in what's called an f-pattern.

According to Nielsen Norman Group, before a visitor leaves, they'll read -- at most -- 28% of the words on a page.

If you need more than a couple of short paragraphs of text on your landing page, make sure the first words in those paragraphs give a clear indication of what they're about. If you can divide the content into sections, do so! Make sure you write concise headings to help scanning eyes find the information they're searching for.

calls-to-action and Images Placing your offer behind a form is an essential part of generating leads, but it helps to include some value up front. Experiment with calls-to-action and gated versus ungated content. Try gating your main offer behind a form while still sharing an unprotected piece of content for free, like an infographic, video, or calculator.

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