Marketing priorities for B2B companies: Lead nurturing & social media?
Posted by: Shannon Anderson, Project Manager
MarketingSherpa recently surveyed some of the largest B2B marketers about their top priorities in 2009 as well as the difficulty associated with executing each tactic. Shown below is the chart they provided. The size of the circle indicates the percentage of companies already implementing that specific tactic.
What are top priorities for marketers at the biggest B2B organizations in 2009?
With the crunch of the economy bearing down on B2B companies, retention marketing and identifying new audiences are proving to be top priorities. As you probably already know, it is easier (and cheaper) to keep your current customers and grow their programs than it is to retain new customers. However, with the customer base shrinking, and with current customers cutting back, marketers have to uncover new audiences in order to expand their businesses.
A highly effective way of retaining current customers and building up their programs is to implement a lead nurturing campaign in which you personalize the marketing message depending on what stage of the buying cycle each customer is in. Continue pushing media through placements that have been proven to bring in qualified leads; however, don’t get stuck in an online media buying rut. Reaching new audiences may require that you identify new marketing tactics.
When looking for fresh audiences, think about more innovative media tactics such as Web expos and podcasts. You can capture the attention of those early adopters who look for exciting ways of engagement.
As indicated in the chart above, social media marketing is seen as the greatest challenge to B2B marketers. While few companies are currently investing in social media development, it’s good to keep in mind that social media generally has no media costs associated with it, and it is a great way to gain visibility for your company where conversations are already occurring around your industry. Participating in these conversations helps position you as an expert on the topic while keeping your company top-of-mind when budgets are low. Customers will remember you come time for budget renewal or increases.
For more information on how B2Bs can use social media, see the blog post How B2B companies can dive into social media.
Thanks for the interesting post, Shannon. My name is Dean Westervelt and I work for a social media analysis / market research company called Collective Intellect (disclaimer).
Integrating social media marketing approaches, as you point out, is indeed a primary challenge for B2B marketers. However, engaging customers and prospective customers appropriately drives value to the bottom line, primarily through effective lead generation. Understanding what your customers and prospects say about you, your brand, or your products is an important first step on the road to expanding your marketing strategy beyond digital to social media. As Forrester pointed out recently (http://snurl.com/baact), “[B2B] Vendors remain hamstrung by outdated notions of what their customers want and what can and should be done online.” Word-of-mouth, particularly working off a personal recommendation, remains an important driver of B2B sales. Effective, honest, and transparent communication through the right channels - highlighting the value of your products or services - results in a positive and sustainable (not viral) level of “buzz” justifies B2B social media marketing.
Thanks for the post.
Dean