B2B CONTENT & DIGITAL
MARKETING BEST PRACTICES
Anant Das
Let’s Start With Some
General B2B Best Practices…
• Content Marketing is key
• A marketing department is not a content production team
• Develop a roster of in-house subject matter experts
• Good Content educates – focus on audience
• Educate on relevant topics rather than relevant products
• Start small
• Play to strengths
• Avoid the Sales Pitch
• Help the customer avoid problems and offer solutions
• Provide insight and information they need
• Do not just talk about your own product
Let’s Start With Some
General B2B Best Practices…
• Add a blog on your site for SEO benefit
• Repurpose blog content for white paper creation
• Try video
• Promote content via social media (does not have to be original)
• Leverage content for a newsletter
• Optimize titles for SEO
• The title of posts are doing double duty – needs to be relevant for search engines and
compelling for human readers
• Clearly define each stage in the sales process and ensure through inspection that
every sales member understands and is applying each stage in the same consistent
way
Let’s Understand the B2B
Customer Decision Journey
RFP = Request for Proposal Process
B2B CUSTOMER DECISION JOURNEY
• Utilize the Customer Decision Journey in 3 Main Ways
1. Find out what matters to your decision makers
• Not enough to identify the DMs
• Understand what matter to them most
in making their purchasing decisions
• You can learn this through customer
interviews
2. Channel resources and spend where
and when it matters
3. Foster partnerships between marketing and sales
It’s hard for companies to find credible information… so educate, don’t pitch and
utilize engaging content
INBOUND MARKETING
• Inbound Marketing developed
because Old-Outbound Marketing
became ineffective
• Simply throwing things at
potential customers is not always
effective since people are more in
control of the information they
receive
• Inbound Marketing costs 62% less
per lead than traditional
Outbound Marketing
INBOUND MARKETING
• How to Create Buyer’s Personas for B2B Inbound Marketing  link
• Inbound Marketing “Must Techniques”
• Give away a free guide that is directly related to your business
• Pick one or two keywords and optimize, optimize, optimize, optimize
• Build personal brand
• Ask and answer questions on social media
• Create an email pop-up
• This is controversial  read here, here, and here
• Increases leads but also can be annoying, so use pop-ups strategically
• Guest Blogs
STRUGGLE OF INBOUND-ONLY
Unbalanced inbound-only strategies that depend on an incredible amount of
in-house content creation to be successful is a struggle
While inbound is hugely important in your marketing strategy, different
campaigns and different aspects of a business require a
variety of techniques to be successful
Blend the latest (inbound) and the greatest (outbound)
aka be ALLBOUND
OUTBOUND MARKETING
STRATEGIES
• Draft Scripts
• Don’t come out as an advertisement or too sensationalistic
• Have a conversational tone
• Make sure everything reflects company tone and brand
• Be Mindful of Time
• No lunchtime calls
• Morning (8-9am) or late afternoon (4-5pm) could be effective
• Make it Personal, but don’t Take it Personal
• Do social media research as including personal details lends to credibility
• Don’t be afraid to think outside the box
• Hand-written letters can be effective
OUTBOUND MARKETING
STRATEGIES
• Offer Incentives  Prizes, raffles, promotions
• Don’t come across as sensationalistic or too cheesy
• Promote, promote, promote, promote
• Create a landing page
• Track results
• With emails, don’t focus on your
own needs, focus on the customer
• Bad Personalization      
OUTBOUND MARKETING
Outbound does NOT mean interruption, but means content driven, helpful, valuable,
focused on the buyer (not your company), personalized, relevant, and HUMAN
Old Outbound
• Buy lists of leads
• Cold call
• Quantity and Volume
• Success = Reps with Rolodexes
New Outbound
• Account-Based
• Understand and Teach
• Quality and buyer-centric
• Success = Data and process
“Content marketing is a marketing technique
of creating and distributing relevant and
valuable content to attract, acquire, and
engage a clearly defined and understood
target audience – with the objective of driving
profitable customer action”
Content Marketing Institute (CMI)
CONTENT MARKETING…
• Is the ability of a business to communicate effectively with existing and potential customers
in a meaningful way
• Helps drive trust in a brand
• Helps establish online presence
• Creates a connection
• Is important because buyer’s have limited time and are looking to consume as much
research as possible
• Relies on brand awareness, as brand awareness is critical in B2B
• Aids sales through engagement with customers and potential customers
• The most effective B2B
marketers among us
allocate 42% of their total
marketing budget, on
average, to content
marketing
• The most
sophisticated/mature
allocate 46%
• The average for all B2B
marketers is 28%
WHAT B2B CONTENT DELIVERS
GREAT LEADS?
B2B CONTENT MARKETING BEST
PRACTICES
• Know your audience
• Tailor content for your audience segments. Why?
• You can align your topics and messaging more closely with those of a smaller segment
of people
• You can learn more about the content preferences of specific buyer types
• You can speak to your industry expertise and company value propositions in a bunch of
different ways depending on what each segment is interested in
• Create assets for every stage of the buyer’s journey
• Don’t be afraid to experiment with formats and channels
• Never stop pushing yourself creatively
• Look for real meaning in performance data
WHAT CONTENT HAS THE MOST
CLOUT?
• See full infographic here
• Quality of assets, not quantity of assets
• A plurality of customers only need 2-5 collateral assets
• White Papers are more influential than emails on the purchasing decision
• Most popular assets to evaluate a tech purchase:
• Product brochures/ data sheets, email, white papers, competitive vendor wkshts
• Case studies/success stories, customer magazines/publications, implementation
scenarios, videos, webinars…
• Most influential assets for tech purchasers:
• Product brochures/data sheets, white papers, case studies/ success stories,
implementation scenarios, vendor worksheets, video, webinar, email…
CONTENT VARIES BY AGE?
The next three slides cover the
different content different age groups
(Baby Boomers, Gen X, and Millennials)
prefer at the top, middle, and bottom
of the funnel
Note: does not include lead-gen/ email-mining software
What tools and software are
available for you?
First figure out what you need help
with and then….
PAID ADVERTISING
WEBSITES
• Strong web presence is critical in B2B since you don’t have a brick and mortar store
• Websites add credibility
• 70% of buyers said a vendor’s website was the most influential channel in making a
purchase decision
ACCOUNT-BASED WEBSITE STEPS
• Audit your website content
• Don’t necessarily need more content, maybe just personalization of that content
• Measure and analyze what is currently working by looking at key audience
segments to identify engagement strategy
• Go beyond clicks and page views, understand engagement and conversion rates for
most important accounts
• Identify quick wins
• Sometimes changing a call to action or website headline is all you need to appeal to
certain segments
ACCOUNT-BASED WEBSITE STEPS
• Don’t try everything at once
• Consider creating project roadmap
• E.g. Phase 1 is personalize website copy and see which segments are performing the
best before moving to…
• Phase 2: personalization: e.g. Take a white paper, tweak the copy, swap something in like
relevant images and highlight industry leading customers
• Optimize, optimize, optimize, optimize
• Conduct A B tests to figure out what content resonates most with customers
B2B WEBSITE BEST PRACTICES
Specifics for how to achieve the below (better website experience) here
• Make your system status highly visible
• Match your system to the real world
• Allow user control and freedom
• Use consistency and standards
• Prevent errors
• Base everything on recognition instead of recall
• Encourage efficiency and flexibility of use
• Keep your design aesthetically minimalist
• Offer help and documentation
B2B WEBSITE BEST PRACTICES
10 necessary components to “cut through the clutter”
• Branding
• Customer centered site content map
• Use of rich media
• SEO, SEO, SEO
• Need for speed
• Mobile optimized or mobile friendly
• Get liked, linked, pinned, friended, yelped, vined, tweeted, google plussed, instagrammed,
you get the idea….
• Create a digital marketing plan
• Measure, analyze, project
• Don’t get complacent
B2B WEBSITE BEST PRACTICES
Essential Features
• Consider first impressions
• What do you see in your first 5 to 10 seconds? Does it make you want to delve deeper
• Build in honesty and integrity
• About Us, Our Missions, FAQs, etc. should be easy to find
• Should be easy to use
• Content should be updated frequently  Blog and media should be easy to find
• Design can be used as a differentiator 
• Build user experience driven landing pages
• Test, test, test, test, , and TEST!
B2B WEBSITE BEST PRACTICES
Enhance your online presence by…
• Showcase educational content
• Highlight premium content to generate leads
• Make your site mobile friendly
• Optimize your site for search engine indexing
• Create clear calls-to-action
• Demonstrate your firm’s expertise
• Make your site easy to navigate
ABM WEBSITE BEST PRACTICES
Calls-to-Action
• An important part of the engagement process is to ask your customer to take an
action
• E.g. low involvement such as downloading a white paper
• E.g. high involvement such as requesting a sales meeting
• Offering customers choices for the actions they can take engages more qualified
visitors
Website is important because your communication strategy should be outgoing
communications that highlight new and different reasons for customers to come back
to your website and deliver qualified visitors time after time
B2B WEBSITE BEST PRACTICES
How to best increase online forms conversion rates…
• Pay attention to placement of things you want people to see on website
• Important things should be on the top of the visual hierarchy
• Make your offer known with clear calls to action
• Craft the perfect headline. How?
• MarketingProfs Infographic here
• Columbia University Detailed guide here
• Complicated forms kill conversions
• Measure your success
MOBILE WEBSITES
8 to 15 percent of B2B traffic is mobile
Therefore, websites should be optimized
for mobile views and have a responsive
view…
DESKTOP/LAPTOP VIEW OF A
RESPONSIVE WEBSITE
TABLET VIEW OF A RESPONSIVE
WEBSITE
MOBILE VIEW OF A RESPONSIVE
WEBSITE
HOW SLOW IS “SLOW LOADING”
WEBSITE & CREDIBILITY
Just having a website is not enough for company credibility
Customers want to see pages such as Contact Info and
“About Us”
They want to see your team members’ bios, photographs,
social profile links, and more
FORCING FORMS MAY NOT BE THE
BEST IDEA
Consider on your “Contact Us” page to also making email and other
non-form contacts easy to find
WHAT IS LACKING?
PRODUCT AND SALES LACK TOO!
WHAT REDUCES CREDIBILITY?
WHAT WASTES CUSTOMERS’ TIME?
WHAT IS JUST PLAIN ANNOYING?
WEBSITE CASE STUDY
How one company increased conversion rates by personalizing their website
• Step one: Developed buyer personas
• Make the site about serving them, not us
• Spent time developing buyer personas through research, interviews, surveys
• Personas updated on a weekly basis based on direct interaction with them
• Step two: Identifying our primary personas
• Figure which the primary ones are, this will help differentiate between ideal and non-
ideal personas
• Bucket some personas together
WEBSITE CASE STUDY
• Step Three: Mapping our content to our personas
• Map out all of our content so we could offer each persona the content they’d appreciate
most
• Time-consuming: every piece of content they had ever created was tagged to a persona
or marked with the persona it was far
• What specific buyer was in mind when this content was created? What specific part of the
buyer’s journey was this content created for?
• Content Mapping Worksheet here
• Step four: Developing a website concept
• Decide how to act on the new persona knowledge and tailored content? Answer for
them: create a digital experience for the personas that only serves up content they care
about
• They decided the best way to do this was to give visitors the power to choose their role
right on the homepage
IF THEY CHOOSE “MARKETING
LEADER” ROLE…
WEBSITE CASE STUDY
• Results: Met 3% conversion goal
• Takeaways:
• Put the needs of your visitors above all else
• Understand the scope of the project from the beginning
• Clearly map out every piece of the project
• Be agile in your approach
• Always look outward-in with your approach
• Listen to your buyers, understand your personas; what do they care about?
GOOGLE ANALYTICS
Top B2B GA Metrics
• Pages Per Session  Goal to be 2.00 or higher
• Average Session Duration  Goal 2:00 minutes or more
• Bounce Rate  Goal is lower than 60%
• Channels:
• Organic Search  Helps determine if your site is optimized for the keywords you want
and how your site is performing from an overall SEO standpoint
• Direct Traffic
• Referral Traffic
• Social Traffic
GOOGLE ANALYTICS
• Landing Pages  What visitors see first
• Top landing pages shed light on the content driving traffic to the site
• Use correct keywords
• All pages
• About Us page is important because it’s how you differentiate your firm from others
EMAIL
• Email is more effective for nurturing prospects than generating prospects
• Trial and error is important to judge trends and best practices
• Recommendations:
• 44% say Tuesday results in better open rates
• 53% say Friday is the worst day
• 53% have had the most success sending emails between 8am and 12pm
• Most effective content offers: Webinars, white papers, case studies, multimedia (e.g.
Videos, podcasts
EMAIL DATA AND BEST PRACTICES
• For every $1 spend, $44.25 is the average return on email marketing investment
(Experian)
• 77% of consumers prefer to receive permission-based marketing communications
through email (ExactTarget)
• 72% of B2B buyers are most likely to share useful content via email (Earnest Agency)
• Choose an Email-Service Provider and a person to over see it
• Define an Objective
• Build Lists, Get Specific (segmentation), and Get Automated
• RSS-to-Email is Your Friend
• Nurture you prospects
EMAIL BEST PRACTICES
• Nail the right tone
• Your tone should be much like it would be in a face-to-face meeting with your prospects
• Personalize it
• Know your audience
• The message should clearly articulate the purpose and value to the subscribers
• Offer something unique
• Timing is everything
• Respect audience’s time
• Coordinated, automated, and cross channel
EMAIL BEST PRACTICES
• Keep messaging on point
• Mobile email triage is real
• Make it easy for the mobile audience
• From & Subject lines are important
• Short and Sweet is the key
• Measure success
• Your main measurement analysis should not be used on opens and clicks but on how
many prospects are generated
• Test, test, and test
• Remarket with follow up campaigns and a more relevant strategy
Great Infographic with 10 awesome email best practices here
DIRECT MAIL
Offers sent by direct mail are seen as 24% more valuable and boosted ROI by 20%
• Understand it’s not a numbers game
• Focus your targets
• Be ready for the long haul
• Get ready to seal the deal with follow-ups
• Be relevant, creative, and timely
• Make it meaningful
• The direct mail must be relevant to their needs at the very moment they get them
DIRECT MAIL
• Mail is only one part of a multichannel strategy
• Mail has to be relevant
• Consider carefully where mail can fit in your multichannel strategy
• E.g. email teaser saying direct mail piece is coming their way
• Audience should be your first thought when crafting a direct mail campaign
• Understand what you can spend to get the ROI you need
• Go BIG in B2B Direct Mail
DIRECT MAIL EXAMPLE
“We sent two-day packages to executives in
advance of a big conference. The package was an
empty iPad box. We wrote in the direct mail to come
by our booth to pick up the iPad. Most executives
came by just to compliment us. It worked.”
Matt Heinz, Marketing Expert
GENERAL SOCIAL MEDIA
SOCIAL MEDIA GUIDES
•SalesFusion Downloadable book on Social
Media here
•Pardot Social Media guide here
• Slide 16 and 17 have great info on social media technologies and quick facts
GENERAL SOCIAL MEDIA BEST
PRACTICES
• Find your audience
• Don’t be vain
• Engage
• Analyze and audit
• Know who you are talking to
• Twitter
• Strengths: newsfeeds move quickly allowing you to post regularly
• Limitation: Messages must be under 140 characters
• Facebook:
• Features a mature audience of users as well as data for ad targeting
• Limitations: Favors personal communication
GENERAL SOCIAL MEDIA BEST
PRACTICES
• LinkedIn
• Strength: Business focused, pushing product-specific content is less likely to alienate
followers
• Limitations: not as established as a platform for content consumption as Facebook and
Twitter
• Weekends are a potential lost opportunity for business since less competition is
posting but the number of users remain the same. However, see the data and see
when your users are online
• Create a social media schedule
• 80% of leads generated through social media came from LinkedIn
• Using the word “please” increases engagement on Facebook by 71%
• Relate, relax, remain neutral, and report
GENERAL SOCIAL MEDIA BEST
PRACTICES
• Tweets with images get double the engagement than those without images
• Facebook posts that use question marks receive 23% higher engagement than posts
that don’t
• On twitters, asks like “reply”, “download”, and “RT” aka Call-to-action increase clicks
by 200% in promoted tweets
• Facebook posts under 250 characters get 60% more interactions
• Tweets with less than 100 characters get a 17% higher engagement rate than longer
tweets
• Choose 2-3 platforms that best encompass your target market
• Take advantage of paid promotional toolsm
MORE BEST PRACTICES
• Engage with customers on social media
• Use social media for content promotion
• Find content inspiration
• Showcase your partners
• Monitor your competitors
• Drive traffic to your website
• Increase brand awareness with paid social
• Improve the brand’s search engine ranking
• Invest in social video to produce more leads
EVEN MORE BEST PRACTICES
• Get your executives to buy in
• Throw money at the problem
• Create and share content
• Know the data! E.g. know the best time to register webinar viewers
• Monitor, refine, and optimize
• Use photos
• A continuum of social engagement is vital
• Multimedia and visual story telling is key
• Content MUST be mobile friendly
• No more than two posts every five hours
MORE BEST PRACTICES
• “At the same time, you need to highlight the branding part of your strategy. Social
media marketing is much more than posting a few updates on Facebook and
Google+ and sending out a few Tweets. It's a complete branding channel where you
express your company's distinct voice, create the community effect, and establish a
brand image that is consistent with your company's values.”
• Use social media as an engagement channel. When pitching a social media strategy
to your decision-makers, your proposed ROI should be based on engagement and
lead generation instead of direct sales.
• Data driven strategies by using software like Hootsuite are super important because
data is important
• Oktopost recommended for B2B-Enterprise level whereas Hootsuite and Buffer have more
strengths for B2C
BE HUMAN
Don’t be boring on social media, and be human, be a person, add
humor! B2b is still about selling human-to-human
“The secret of sharing: It’s not just one way; it goes both ways.
Someone is following you, and in return you need to try to give
them something. If you give them more than your competition,
your follower will start talking about you, and, like a fertilized
garden, your followers will grow.
So, for every instance you brag about business or a new record, it
better be inspirational and have a good photo attached to it—and
then for the next five posts only offer interesting things that aren’t
bragging”
-- Fredrik Eklund, The Sell: The Secrets of Selling Anything to Anyone
LINKEDIN
80% of B2B Social Media Leads are generated
from LinkedIn with more than 86% of
conversions among LinkedIn generated leads
coming from LinkedIn Discussion Groups
LINKEDIN BEST PRACTICES
• Use to get into a new account (search up the company, see if you know anyone
there who you can use as a referral)
• Follow your Customers’ companies and reach out to them time-to-time
• Have a completed profile
• Use close-up pictures that standout
• Grab your personal profile before anyone else
• Have a point person in your company with lots of connections
• Connect to your employees and teach everyone in your company the value of
LinkedIn
• Connect to your customers
• Connect to your prospects, right after the first contact attempt
LINKEDIN BEST PRACTICES
• Do a 3x analysis of your prospects
• Take 3 minutes before calling a prospect to find 3 things you have in common to talk to
them about. LinkedIn can tell you sports, alma maters, etc., Facebook can tell you hobbies,
etc.
• Join relevant groups
• Find and Join Local LinkedIn Groups
• Connect with your Wedding or Funeral List (people you’d invite to both) on
LinkedIn… great start for referrals
• Respond first to the email, and mention that you will be connecting with them by
email, and then do so
• When you go to tradeshows, connect with LinkedIn
• Follow your prospect companies
• Offer value to your LinkedIn connections
LINKEDIN BEST PRACTICES
• Connect a widget or your blog or just share your blog article posts
• Use tags to customize prospects, friends, etc.
• Use the 3 free backlinks in LinkedIn for SEO
• Freely give recommendations to co-workers, colleagues, former employees, etc.
• Ask for recommendations
• Ask for customer recommendations
• Ask for customer referrals
• Don’t send sales or marketing messages by LinkedIn aka don’t spam!
LINKEDIN TIPS
• Get your profile right
• Fix your personal profile and company page
• Create a content marketing plan
• Send new business inmails  Controversial practice with varying views in articles
• Create a target list from LinkedIn’s Data Analysis tool
• Create a simple, to-the-point InMail that reflects your business in an easily digestible
form
• Short and simple headline that captures the imagination and communicates key points
about your services
• Objective: gain a meeting, or skype call; NOT trying to get them to buy
• After they read inmail they will look at your profile** so be prepared
FACEBOOK
Ways B2B Companies are Using Facebook:
• Rewarding brand advocates
• Doing product marketing and promoting testimonials
• Promoting news
• Sharing non-text content (e.g. Videos)
• Showcasing experts
• Generating leads
FACEBOOK B2B BEST PRACTICES
• Use a like and lead gate
• Like other company pages
• Post once a day
• Promote lead generation content
• Share images
• Use Facebook Insights to analyze engagement
TWITTER
• Share control of the account
• Timing is everything
• Spread valuable information
• Encourage employees
• Optimize
• Hashtags  Participate in Hashtag streams when employees are at an industry event
• Use URL Shorteners
• Promote others
• Use the right tools
TWITTER BEST PRACTICES
• Gain more followers!
• Analyze competitors followers
• Encourage organic growth with follower buttons
• Upload mailing lists to see if partners/customers/prospects are on twitter
• Undertake bio searches
• Promoted tweets
• Keep tweets short at around 100 characters to allow for people to RT and add their
own comments
• Don’t just market yourself: 20% promo, 80% conversation
• Best time to tweet are afternoons
• B2B have more engagement Mon-Fri
TWITTER BEST PRACTICES
• @ at the beginning to tweet them, anywhere else just to mention
• Don’t use trending hashtags that have no relevance to you
• Engagement on visual content is higher due to the image
• Write KEY MESSAGE then LINK then Opinion/Afterthoughts
• Search if people are talking about your product and join in the conversation
• Don’t spend too much time thinking about the tweet, TWEET!
• Focus on your passion
• Sort your lists out
• Tweetdeck is a great resource
• Quality over quantity
• More Twitter tips here and here
YOUTUBE
YOUTUBE BEST PRACTICES
• YouTube is a tool
• Make Content not Ads
• E.g. DollarShaveClub
promo that went viral:
• Become the face of your
business
• Remember: everyone starts
at zero
• Leverage the one-channel
design
• Push people to your website
• Utilize paid views
YOUTUBE BEST PRACTICES
• Collaborate with other companies that have established YouTube accounts
• Leverage YouTube videos for SEO
• Call-To-Action!
• Make it easy to find and share
• Keep it relevant
• Advertise your videos
• Build a home for your brand
• Track, analyze, and optimize
• Speak to the person, not the business
• Communicate the bottom line
PODCASTS
Number of Listeners Are Increasing
PODCASTING BEST PRACTICES
• Plan podcast content
• Augment your audio with text (tags, descriptions, blog post/article)
• Don’t use listens to measure success
• Distribute, promote, embed
• Benchmark appropriately
• Master some audio tools
MARKETING RESEARCH
How to conduct market research using digital marketing
• Surveys
• Webinars as the new Focus Group
• Personal feedback via LinkddIn
OTHER TECH COMPANY MARKETING
• Lots of good data with graphs on what companies do here
• Which activities do you carry out to achieve product marketing goals?
• Top ones are creating marketing collaterals, sales enablement, defining positioning
• What digital channels?
• Top ones are website, then email, then webinars and social media
• Top media platforms?
• LinkedIn, Twitter, then a tie between Facebook and YouTube
OTHER TECH COMPANY MARKETING
Top 5 Content types in each phase of the product cycle?
• Introductory
• Product Videos
• Presentations
• In-person events
• Blogs
• Infographics
• Growth
• Product Videos
• Presentations
• Social Media
• In-person Events
• Case Studies
OTHER TECH COMPANY MARKETING
• Maturity
• Case Studies
• Presentations
• White Papers
• In-Person Events
• Blogs
• Decline
• Data Sheets
• Presentations
• Case Studies
• Product Manuals
• FAQ Documents
OTHER B2B COMPANIES
10 Examples of Exceptional B2B Content Marketing
1. InVision – blog focuses on the passion of their audience, rather than the product
they offer and focuses on rare content
2. Adobe’s 99U – preserves the line between sales and content
3. MYOB – understands their customers
4. Unbounce – expands beyond written content
5. Deloitte – develops specialized hubs
OTHER B2B COMPANIES
10 Examples of Exceptional B2B Content Marketing
6. First Round’s Magazines – Flexing their network
7. FireRock – understands the channel and uses geographical labeling
8. Wistia – embraces humor
9. GE Instagram – Gives their followers a nickname, doesn’t take themselves too
seriously
10. GoToMeeting (Citrix)’s Twitter – sharing content other than their own and
widening their focus but still keeping it relevant
All sources are available under “NOTES” in the downloaded PowerPoint

B2B Content and Digital Marketing Best Practices

  • 1.
    B2B CONTENT &DIGITAL MARKETING BEST PRACTICES Anant Das
  • 2.
    Let’s Start WithSome General B2B Best Practices… • Content Marketing is key • A marketing department is not a content production team • Develop a roster of in-house subject matter experts • Good Content educates – focus on audience • Educate on relevant topics rather than relevant products • Start small • Play to strengths • Avoid the Sales Pitch • Help the customer avoid problems and offer solutions • Provide insight and information they need • Do not just talk about your own product
  • 3.
    Let’s Start WithSome General B2B Best Practices… • Add a blog on your site for SEO benefit • Repurpose blog content for white paper creation • Try video • Promote content via social media (does not have to be original) • Leverage content for a newsletter • Optimize titles for SEO • The title of posts are doing double duty – needs to be relevant for search engines and compelling for human readers • Clearly define each stage in the sales process and ensure through inspection that every sales member understands and is applying each stage in the same consistent way
  • 4.
    Let’s Understand theB2B Customer Decision Journey RFP = Request for Proposal Process
  • 5.
    B2B CUSTOMER DECISIONJOURNEY • Utilize the Customer Decision Journey in 3 Main Ways 1. Find out what matters to your decision makers • Not enough to identify the DMs • Understand what matter to them most in making their purchasing decisions • You can learn this through customer interviews 2. Channel resources and spend where and when it matters 3. Foster partnerships between marketing and sales
  • 10.
    It’s hard forcompanies to find credible information… so educate, don’t pitch and utilize engaging content
  • 18.
    INBOUND MARKETING • InboundMarketing developed because Old-Outbound Marketing became ineffective • Simply throwing things at potential customers is not always effective since people are more in control of the information they receive • Inbound Marketing costs 62% less per lead than traditional Outbound Marketing
  • 20.
    INBOUND MARKETING • Howto Create Buyer’s Personas for B2B Inbound Marketing  link • Inbound Marketing “Must Techniques” • Give away a free guide that is directly related to your business • Pick one or two keywords and optimize, optimize, optimize, optimize • Build personal brand • Ask and answer questions on social media • Create an email pop-up • This is controversial  read here, here, and here • Increases leads but also can be annoying, so use pop-ups strategically • Guest Blogs
  • 21.
    STRUGGLE OF INBOUND-ONLY Unbalancedinbound-only strategies that depend on an incredible amount of in-house content creation to be successful is a struggle While inbound is hugely important in your marketing strategy, different campaigns and different aspects of a business require a variety of techniques to be successful Blend the latest (inbound) and the greatest (outbound) aka be ALLBOUND
  • 22.
    OUTBOUND MARKETING STRATEGIES • DraftScripts • Don’t come out as an advertisement or too sensationalistic • Have a conversational tone • Make sure everything reflects company tone and brand • Be Mindful of Time • No lunchtime calls • Morning (8-9am) or late afternoon (4-5pm) could be effective • Make it Personal, but don’t Take it Personal • Do social media research as including personal details lends to credibility • Don’t be afraid to think outside the box • Hand-written letters can be effective
  • 23.
    OUTBOUND MARKETING STRATEGIES • OfferIncentives  Prizes, raffles, promotions • Don’t come across as sensationalistic or too cheesy • Promote, promote, promote, promote • Create a landing page • Track results • With emails, don’t focus on your own needs, focus on the customer • Bad Personalization      
  • 24.
    OUTBOUND MARKETING Outbound doesNOT mean interruption, but means content driven, helpful, valuable, focused on the buyer (not your company), personalized, relevant, and HUMAN Old Outbound • Buy lists of leads • Cold call • Quantity and Volume • Success = Reps with Rolodexes New Outbound • Account-Based • Understand and Teach • Quality and buyer-centric • Success = Data and process
  • 25.
    “Content marketing isa marketing technique of creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action” Content Marketing Institute (CMI)
  • 26.
    CONTENT MARKETING… • Isthe ability of a business to communicate effectively with existing and potential customers in a meaningful way • Helps drive trust in a brand • Helps establish online presence • Creates a connection • Is important because buyer’s have limited time and are looking to consume as much research as possible • Relies on brand awareness, as brand awareness is critical in B2B • Aids sales through engagement with customers and potential customers
  • 28.
    • The mosteffective B2B marketers among us allocate 42% of their total marketing budget, on average, to content marketing • The most sophisticated/mature allocate 46% • The average for all B2B marketers is 28%
  • 34.
    WHAT B2B CONTENTDELIVERS GREAT LEADS?
  • 35.
    B2B CONTENT MARKETINGBEST PRACTICES • Know your audience • Tailor content for your audience segments. Why? • You can align your topics and messaging more closely with those of a smaller segment of people • You can learn more about the content preferences of specific buyer types • You can speak to your industry expertise and company value propositions in a bunch of different ways depending on what each segment is interested in • Create assets for every stage of the buyer’s journey • Don’t be afraid to experiment with formats and channels • Never stop pushing yourself creatively • Look for real meaning in performance data
  • 36.
    WHAT CONTENT HASTHE MOST CLOUT? • See full infographic here • Quality of assets, not quantity of assets • A plurality of customers only need 2-5 collateral assets • White Papers are more influential than emails on the purchasing decision • Most popular assets to evaluate a tech purchase: • Product brochures/ data sheets, email, white papers, competitive vendor wkshts • Case studies/success stories, customer magazines/publications, implementation scenarios, videos, webinars… • Most influential assets for tech purchasers: • Product brochures/data sheets, white papers, case studies/ success stories, implementation scenarios, vendor worksheets, video, webinar, email…
  • 37.
    CONTENT VARIES BYAGE? The next three slides cover the different content different age groups (Baby Boomers, Gen X, and Millennials) prefer at the top, middle, and bottom of the funnel
  • 41.
    Note: does notinclude lead-gen/ email-mining software What tools and software are available for you? First figure out what you need help with and then….
  • 44.
  • 45.
    WEBSITES • Strong webpresence is critical in B2B since you don’t have a brick and mortar store • Websites add credibility • 70% of buyers said a vendor’s website was the most influential channel in making a purchase decision
  • 46.
    ACCOUNT-BASED WEBSITE STEPS •Audit your website content • Don’t necessarily need more content, maybe just personalization of that content • Measure and analyze what is currently working by looking at key audience segments to identify engagement strategy • Go beyond clicks and page views, understand engagement and conversion rates for most important accounts • Identify quick wins • Sometimes changing a call to action or website headline is all you need to appeal to certain segments
  • 47.
    ACCOUNT-BASED WEBSITE STEPS •Don’t try everything at once • Consider creating project roadmap • E.g. Phase 1 is personalize website copy and see which segments are performing the best before moving to… • Phase 2: personalization: e.g. Take a white paper, tweak the copy, swap something in like relevant images and highlight industry leading customers • Optimize, optimize, optimize, optimize • Conduct A B tests to figure out what content resonates most with customers
  • 48.
    B2B WEBSITE BESTPRACTICES Specifics for how to achieve the below (better website experience) here • Make your system status highly visible • Match your system to the real world • Allow user control and freedom • Use consistency and standards • Prevent errors • Base everything on recognition instead of recall • Encourage efficiency and flexibility of use • Keep your design aesthetically minimalist • Offer help and documentation
  • 49.
    B2B WEBSITE BESTPRACTICES 10 necessary components to “cut through the clutter” • Branding • Customer centered site content map • Use of rich media • SEO, SEO, SEO • Need for speed • Mobile optimized or mobile friendly • Get liked, linked, pinned, friended, yelped, vined, tweeted, google plussed, instagrammed, you get the idea…. • Create a digital marketing plan • Measure, analyze, project • Don’t get complacent
  • 50.
    B2B WEBSITE BESTPRACTICES Essential Features • Consider first impressions • What do you see in your first 5 to 10 seconds? Does it make you want to delve deeper • Build in honesty and integrity • About Us, Our Missions, FAQs, etc. should be easy to find • Should be easy to use • Content should be updated frequently  Blog and media should be easy to find • Design can be used as a differentiator  • Build user experience driven landing pages • Test, test, test, test, , and TEST!
  • 51.
    B2B WEBSITE BESTPRACTICES Enhance your online presence by… • Showcase educational content • Highlight premium content to generate leads • Make your site mobile friendly • Optimize your site for search engine indexing • Create clear calls-to-action • Demonstrate your firm’s expertise • Make your site easy to navigate
  • 52.
    ABM WEBSITE BESTPRACTICES Calls-to-Action • An important part of the engagement process is to ask your customer to take an action • E.g. low involvement such as downloading a white paper • E.g. high involvement such as requesting a sales meeting • Offering customers choices for the actions they can take engages more qualified visitors Website is important because your communication strategy should be outgoing communications that highlight new and different reasons for customers to come back to your website and deliver qualified visitors time after time
  • 53.
    B2B WEBSITE BESTPRACTICES How to best increase online forms conversion rates… • Pay attention to placement of things you want people to see on website • Important things should be on the top of the visual hierarchy • Make your offer known with clear calls to action • Craft the perfect headline. How? • MarketingProfs Infographic here • Columbia University Detailed guide here • Complicated forms kill conversions • Measure your success
  • 54.
    MOBILE WEBSITES 8 to15 percent of B2B traffic is mobile Therefore, websites should be optimized for mobile views and have a responsive view…
  • 55.
    DESKTOP/LAPTOP VIEW OFA RESPONSIVE WEBSITE
  • 56.
    TABLET VIEW OFA RESPONSIVE WEBSITE
  • 57.
    MOBILE VIEW OFA RESPONSIVE WEBSITE
  • 58.
    HOW SLOW IS“SLOW LOADING”
  • 59.
    WEBSITE & CREDIBILITY Justhaving a website is not enough for company credibility Customers want to see pages such as Contact Info and “About Us” They want to see your team members’ bios, photographs, social profile links, and more
  • 61.
    FORCING FORMS MAYNOT BE THE BEST IDEA Consider on your “Contact Us” page to also making email and other non-form contacts easy to find
  • 62.
  • 63.
  • 65.
  • 66.
  • 67.
    WHAT IS JUSTPLAIN ANNOYING?
  • 68.
    WEBSITE CASE STUDY Howone company increased conversion rates by personalizing their website • Step one: Developed buyer personas • Make the site about serving them, not us • Spent time developing buyer personas through research, interviews, surveys • Personas updated on a weekly basis based on direct interaction with them • Step two: Identifying our primary personas • Figure which the primary ones are, this will help differentiate between ideal and non- ideal personas • Bucket some personas together
  • 69.
    WEBSITE CASE STUDY •Step Three: Mapping our content to our personas • Map out all of our content so we could offer each persona the content they’d appreciate most • Time-consuming: every piece of content they had ever created was tagged to a persona or marked with the persona it was far • What specific buyer was in mind when this content was created? What specific part of the buyer’s journey was this content created for? • Content Mapping Worksheet here • Step four: Developing a website concept • Decide how to act on the new persona knowledge and tailored content? Answer for them: create a digital experience for the personas that only serves up content they care about • They decided the best way to do this was to give visitors the power to choose their role right on the homepage
  • 71.
    IF THEY CHOOSE“MARKETING LEADER” ROLE…
  • 72.
    WEBSITE CASE STUDY •Results: Met 3% conversion goal • Takeaways: • Put the needs of your visitors above all else • Understand the scope of the project from the beginning • Clearly map out every piece of the project • Be agile in your approach • Always look outward-in with your approach • Listen to your buyers, understand your personas; what do they care about?
  • 73.
    GOOGLE ANALYTICS Top B2BGA Metrics • Pages Per Session  Goal to be 2.00 or higher • Average Session Duration  Goal 2:00 minutes or more • Bounce Rate  Goal is lower than 60% • Channels: • Organic Search  Helps determine if your site is optimized for the keywords you want and how your site is performing from an overall SEO standpoint • Direct Traffic • Referral Traffic • Social Traffic
  • 74.
    GOOGLE ANALYTICS • LandingPages  What visitors see first • Top landing pages shed light on the content driving traffic to the site • Use correct keywords • All pages • About Us page is important because it’s how you differentiate your firm from others
  • 75.
    EMAIL • Email ismore effective for nurturing prospects than generating prospects • Trial and error is important to judge trends and best practices • Recommendations: • 44% say Tuesday results in better open rates • 53% say Friday is the worst day • 53% have had the most success sending emails between 8am and 12pm • Most effective content offers: Webinars, white papers, case studies, multimedia (e.g. Videos, podcasts
  • 76.
    EMAIL DATA ANDBEST PRACTICES • For every $1 spend, $44.25 is the average return on email marketing investment (Experian) • 77% of consumers prefer to receive permission-based marketing communications through email (ExactTarget) • 72% of B2B buyers are most likely to share useful content via email (Earnest Agency) • Choose an Email-Service Provider and a person to over see it • Define an Objective • Build Lists, Get Specific (segmentation), and Get Automated • RSS-to-Email is Your Friend • Nurture you prospects
  • 77.
    EMAIL BEST PRACTICES •Nail the right tone • Your tone should be much like it would be in a face-to-face meeting with your prospects • Personalize it • Know your audience • The message should clearly articulate the purpose and value to the subscribers • Offer something unique • Timing is everything • Respect audience’s time • Coordinated, automated, and cross channel
  • 78.
    EMAIL BEST PRACTICES •Keep messaging on point • Mobile email triage is real • Make it easy for the mobile audience • From & Subject lines are important • Short and Sweet is the key • Measure success • Your main measurement analysis should not be used on opens and clicks but on how many prospects are generated • Test, test, and test • Remarket with follow up campaigns and a more relevant strategy Great Infographic with 10 awesome email best practices here
  • 79.
    DIRECT MAIL Offers sentby direct mail are seen as 24% more valuable and boosted ROI by 20% • Understand it’s not a numbers game • Focus your targets • Be ready for the long haul • Get ready to seal the deal with follow-ups • Be relevant, creative, and timely • Make it meaningful • The direct mail must be relevant to their needs at the very moment they get them
  • 80.
    DIRECT MAIL • Mailis only one part of a multichannel strategy • Mail has to be relevant • Consider carefully where mail can fit in your multichannel strategy • E.g. email teaser saying direct mail piece is coming their way • Audience should be your first thought when crafting a direct mail campaign • Understand what you can spend to get the ROI you need • Go BIG in B2B Direct Mail
  • 81.
    DIRECT MAIL EXAMPLE “Wesent two-day packages to executives in advance of a big conference. The package was an empty iPad box. We wrote in the direct mail to come by our booth to pick up the iPad. Most executives came by just to compliment us. It worked.” Matt Heinz, Marketing Expert
  • 82.
  • 87.
    SOCIAL MEDIA GUIDES •SalesFusionDownloadable book on Social Media here •Pardot Social Media guide here • Slide 16 and 17 have great info on social media technologies and quick facts
  • 88.
    GENERAL SOCIAL MEDIABEST PRACTICES • Find your audience • Don’t be vain • Engage • Analyze and audit • Know who you are talking to • Twitter • Strengths: newsfeeds move quickly allowing you to post regularly • Limitation: Messages must be under 140 characters • Facebook: • Features a mature audience of users as well as data for ad targeting • Limitations: Favors personal communication
  • 89.
    GENERAL SOCIAL MEDIABEST PRACTICES • LinkedIn • Strength: Business focused, pushing product-specific content is less likely to alienate followers • Limitations: not as established as a platform for content consumption as Facebook and Twitter • Weekends are a potential lost opportunity for business since less competition is posting but the number of users remain the same. However, see the data and see when your users are online • Create a social media schedule • 80% of leads generated through social media came from LinkedIn • Using the word “please” increases engagement on Facebook by 71% • Relate, relax, remain neutral, and report
  • 90.
    GENERAL SOCIAL MEDIABEST PRACTICES • Tweets with images get double the engagement than those without images • Facebook posts that use question marks receive 23% higher engagement than posts that don’t • On twitters, asks like “reply”, “download”, and “RT” aka Call-to-action increase clicks by 200% in promoted tweets • Facebook posts under 250 characters get 60% more interactions • Tweets with less than 100 characters get a 17% higher engagement rate than longer tweets • Choose 2-3 platforms that best encompass your target market • Take advantage of paid promotional toolsm
  • 91.
    MORE BEST PRACTICES •Engage with customers on social media • Use social media for content promotion • Find content inspiration • Showcase your partners • Monitor your competitors • Drive traffic to your website • Increase brand awareness with paid social • Improve the brand’s search engine ranking • Invest in social video to produce more leads
  • 92.
    EVEN MORE BESTPRACTICES • Get your executives to buy in • Throw money at the problem • Create and share content • Know the data! E.g. know the best time to register webinar viewers • Monitor, refine, and optimize • Use photos • A continuum of social engagement is vital • Multimedia and visual story telling is key • Content MUST be mobile friendly • No more than two posts every five hours
  • 93.
    MORE BEST PRACTICES •“At the same time, you need to highlight the branding part of your strategy. Social media marketing is much more than posting a few updates on Facebook and Google+ and sending out a few Tweets. It's a complete branding channel where you express your company's distinct voice, create the community effect, and establish a brand image that is consistent with your company's values.” • Use social media as an engagement channel. When pitching a social media strategy to your decision-makers, your proposed ROI should be based on engagement and lead generation instead of direct sales. • Data driven strategies by using software like Hootsuite are super important because data is important • Oktopost recommended for B2B-Enterprise level whereas Hootsuite and Buffer have more strengths for B2C
  • 94.
    BE HUMAN Don’t beboring on social media, and be human, be a person, add humor! B2b is still about selling human-to-human
  • 95.
    “The secret ofsharing: It’s not just one way; it goes both ways. Someone is following you, and in return you need to try to give them something. If you give them more than your competition, your follower will start talking about you, and, like a fertilized garden, your followers will grow. So, for every instance you brag about business or a new record, it better be inspirational and have a good photo attached to it—and then for the next five posts only offer interesting things that aren’t bragging” -- Fredrik Eklund, The Sell: The Secrets of Selling Anything to Anyone
  • 96.
    LINKEDIN 80% of B2BSocial Media Leads are generated from LinkedIn with more than 86% of conversions among LinkedIn generated leads coming from LinkedIn Discussion Groups
  • 98.
    LINKEDIN BEST PRACTICES •Use to get into a new account (search up the company, see if you know anyone there who you can use as a referral) • Follow your Customers’ companies and reach out to them time-to-time • Have a completed profile • Use close-up pictures that standout • Grab your personal profile before anyone else • Have a point person in your company with lots of connections • Connect to your employees and teach everyone in your company the value of LinkedIn • Connect to your customers • Connect to your prospects, right after the first contact attempt
  • 99.
    LINKEDIN BEST PRACTICES •Do a 3x analysis of your prospects • Take 3 minutes before calling a prospect to find 3 things you have in common to talk to them about. LinkedIn can tell you sports, alma maters, etc., Facebook can tell you hobbies, etc. • Join relevant groups • Find and Join Local LinkedIn Groups • Connect with your Wedding or Funeral List (people you’d invite to both) on LinkedIn… great start for referrals • Respond first to the email, and mention that you will be connecting with them by email, and then do so • When you go to tradeshows, connect with LinkedIn • Follow your prospect companies • Offer value to your LinkedIn connections
  • 100.
    LINKEDIN BEST PRACTICES •Connect a widget or your blog or just share your blog article posts • Use tags to customize prospects, friends, etc. • Use the 3 free backlinks in LinkedIn for SEO • Freely give recommendations to co-workers, colleagues, former employees, etc. • Ask for recommendations • Ask for customer recommendations • Ask for customer referrals • Don’t send sales or marketing messages by LinkedIn aka don’t spam!
  • 101.
    LINKEDIN TIPS • Getyour profile right • Fix your personal profile and company page • Create a content marketing plan • Send new business inmails  Controversial practice with varying views in articles • Create a target list from LinkedIn’s Data Analysis tool • Create a simple, to-the-point InMail that reflects your business in an easily digestible form • Short and simple headline that captures the imagination and communicates key points about your services • Objective: gain a meeting, or skype call; NOT trying to get them to buy • After they read inmail they will look at your profile** so be prepared
  • 102.
    FACEBOOK Ways B2B Companiesare Using Facebook: • Rewarding brand advocates • Doing product marketing and promoting testimonials • Promoting news • Sharing non-text content (e.g. Videos) • Showcasing experts • Generating leads
  • 103.
    FACEBOOK B2B BESTPRACTICES • Use a like and lead gate • Like other company pages • Post once a day • Promote lead generation content • Share images • Use Facebook Insights to analyze engagement
  • 104.
    TWITTER • Share controlof the account • Timing is everything • Spread valuable information • Encourage employees • Optimize • Hashtags  Participate in Hashtag streams when employees are at an industry event • Use URL Shorteners • Promote others • Use the right tools
  • 105.
    TWITTER BEST PRACTICES •Gain more followers! • Analyze competitors followers • Encourage organic growth with follower buttons • Upload mailing lists to see if partners/customers/prospects are on twitter • Undertake bio searches • Promoted tweets • Keep tweets short at around 100 characters to allow for people to RT and add their own comments • Don’t just market yourself: 20% promo, 80% conversation • Best time to tweet are afternoons • B2B have more engagement Mon-Fri
  • 106.
    TWITTER BEST PRACTICES •@ at the beginning to tweet them, anywhere else just to mention • Don’t use trending hashtags that have no relevance to you • Engagement on visual content is higher due to the image • Write KEY MESSAGE then LINK then Opinion/Afterthoughts • Search if people are talking about your product and join in the conversation • Don’t spend too much time thinking about the tweet, TWEET! • Focus on your passion • Sort your lists out • Tweetdeck is a great resource • Quality over quantity • More Twitter tips here and here
  • 107.
  • 108.
    YOUTUBE BEST PRACTICES •YouTube is a tool • Make Content not Ads • E.g. DollarShaveClub promo that went viral: • Become the face of your business • Remember: everyone starts at zero • Leverage the one-channel design • Push people to your website • Utilize paid views
  • 109.
    YOUTUBE BEST PRACTICES •Collaborate with other companies that have established YouTube accounts • Leverage YouTube videos for SEO • Call-To-Action! • Make it easy to find and share • Keep it relevant • Advertise your videos • Build a home for your brand • Track, analyze, and optimize • Speak to the person, not the business • Communicate the bottom line
  • 110.
  • 113.
    PODCASTING BEST PRACTICES •Plan podcast content • Augment your audio with text (tags, descriptions, blog post/article) • Don’t use listens to measure success • Distribute, promote, embed • Benchmark appropriately • Master some audio tools
  • 114.
    MARKETING RESEARCH How toconduct market research using digital marketing • Surveys • Webinars as the new Focus Group • Personal feedback via LinkddIn
  • 115.
    OTHER TECH COMPANYMARKETING • Lots of good data with graphs on what companies do here • Which activities do you carry out to achieve product marketing goals? • Top ones are creating marketing collaterals, sales enablement, defining positioning • What digital channels? • Top ones are website, then email, then webinars and social media • Top media platforms? • LinkedIn, Twitter, then a tie between Facebook and YouTube
  • 116.
    OTHER TECH COMPANYMARKETING Top 5 Content types in each phase of the product cycle? • Introductory • Product Videos • Presentations • In-person events • Blogs • Infographics • Growth • Product Videos • Presentations • Social Media • In-person Events • Case Studies
  • 117.
    OTHER TECH COMPANYMARKETING • Maturity • Case Studies • Presentations • White Papers • In-Person Events • Blogs • Decline • Data Sheets • Presentations • Case Studies • Product Manuals • FAQ Documents
  • 118.
    OTHER B2B COMPANIES 10Examples of Exceptional B2B Content Marketing 1. InVision – blog focuses on the passion of their audience, rather than the product they offer and focuses on rare content 2. Adobe’s 99U – preserves the line between sales and content 3. MYOB – understands their customers 4. Unbounce – expands beyond written content 5. Deloitte – develops specialized hubs
  • 119.
    OTHER B2B COMPANIES 10Examples of Exceptional B2B Content Marketing 6. First Round’s Magazines – Flexing their network 7. FireRock – understands the channel and uses geographical labeling 8. Wistia – embraces humor 9. GE Instagram – Gives their followers a nickname, doesn’t take themselves too seriously 10. GoToMeeting (Citrix)’s Twitter – sharing content other than their own and widening their focus but still keeping it relevant
  • 120.
    All sources areavailable under “NOTES” in the downloaded PowerPoint

Editor's Notes

  • #3 Sources: http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2016/29840/content-marketing-production-creative-solutions-few-b2b-marketers-know-how-to-deploy https://www.onlinemarketinginstitute.org/blog/2013/07/content-marketing-best-practices-btob/
  • #4 Sources: https://www.onlinemarketinginstitute.org/blog/2013/07/content-marketing-best-practices-btob/ http://www.inflexion-point.com/Blog/bid/69716/20-Best-Practices-all-B2B-Sales-Marketing-Organisations-Should-Adopt
  • #5 Source: https://www.mckinseyonmarketingandsales.com/sites/default/files/pdf/The-B2B-customer-decision-journey_0.pdf
  • #6 Sources: https://www.mckinseyonmarketingandsales.com/sites/default/files/pdf/The-B2B-customer-decision-journey_0.pdf http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/do-you-really-understand-how-your-business-customers-buy
  • #7 Sources: http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/do-you-really-understand-how-your-business-customers-buy
  • #8 Sources: http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/do-you-really-understand-how-your-business-customers-buy
  • #9 Sources: http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/do-you-really-understand-how-your-business-customers-buy
  • #10 Sources: http://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/marketing-and-sales/our-insights/do-you-really-understand-how-your-business-customers-buy
  • #11 Sources: “IDGE Customer Engagement White Paper” 2016
  • #12 Sources: “IDGE Customer Engagement White Paper” 2016
  • #13 Sources: http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2014/26695/the-best-content-types-for-each-stage-of-the-b2b-sales-cycle-infographic
  • #14 Sources: http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2014/26695/the-best-content-types-for-each-stage-of-the-b2b-sales-cycle-infographic
  • #15 Sources: http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2014/26695/the-best-content-types-for-each-stage-of-the-b2b-sales-cycle-infographic
  • #16 Sources: http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2014/26695/the-best-content-types-for-each-stage-of-the-b2b-sales-cycle-infographic
  • #17 Sources: http://buzzsumo.com/blog/be-inspired-the-best-b2b-content-of-2015/undefined
  • #18 Sources: http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2015/27121/b2b-content-on-social-media-top-networks-and-tactics
  • #19 Sources: http://mashable.com/2011/10/30/inbound-outbound-marketing/#dhY6FrOWcPqt
  • #20 Source: http://mashable.com/2011/10/30/inbound-outbound-marketing/#dhY6FrOWcPqt
  • #21 Sources: http://marketingland.com/6-inbound-marketing-techniques-every-startup-should-use-114306
  • #22 Sources: http://www.dmnews.com/marketing-automation/five-minutes-with-andy-macmillan-ceo-of-act-on-software/article/498073/
  • #23 Source: http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2013/11994/outbound-marketing-strategies-are-still-effective
  • #24 Sources: http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2013/11994/outbound-marketing-strategies-are-still-effective http://www.slideshare.net/engagio/secret-sauce-for-outbound-marketing-and-account-based-everything?qid=cb36c5e7-ca2f-4874-931d-760aea516b84&v=&b=&from_search=1
  • #25 Sources: http://www.slideshare.net/engagio/secret-sauce-for-outbound-marketing-and-account-based-everything?qid=cb36c5e7-ca2f-4874-931d-760aea516b84&v=&b=&from_search=1
  • #26 Source: http://www.business2community.com/content-marketing/content-marketing-important-b2b-marketers-part-1-0935772#OSByMcB10UJDxJVP.97
  • #27 Sources: http://www.business2community.com/content-marketing/content-marketing-important-b2b-marketers-part-1-0935772#OSByMcB10UJDxJVP.97 https://www.dmn3.com/dmn3-blog/b2b-marketing-the-importance-of-content
  • #28 Source: http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2015/09/b2b-content-marketing-research/
  • #29 Source: http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2015/09/b2b-content-marketing-research/
  • #30 Source: http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2015/09/b2b-content-marketing-research/
  • #31 Source: http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2015/27807/b2b-content-marketing-top-tactics-goals-and-tools
  • #32 Source: http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2015/27807/b2b-content-marketing-top-tactics-goals-and-tools
  • #33 Source: http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2016/29380/content-and-social-tactics-that-generate-leads-for-b2b-marketers
  • #34 Source: http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2015/09/b2b-content-marketing-research/
  • #35 Source: http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2015/28147/which-b2b-content-types-deliver-great-leads
  • #36 Source: https://www.ceros.com/blog/6-b2b-content-marketing-best-practices/
  • #37 Source: http://i.marketingprofs.com/assets/images/daily-data-point/b2bcontent-LG-eccolomedia-190115.jpg
  • #38 Source: http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2016/29977/influencing-b2b-tech-buyers-content-preferences-by-age-and-funnel-stage
  • #39 Source: http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2016/29977/influencing-b2b-tech-buyers-content-preferences-by-age-and-funnel-stage
  • #40 Source: http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2016/29977/influencing-b2b-tech-buyers-content-preferences-by-age-and-funnel-stage
  • #41 Source: http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2016/29977/influencing-b2b-tech-buyers-content-preferences-by-age-and-funnel-stage
  • #42 Source: http://www.curata.com/blog/content-marketing-tools-ultimate-list/
  • #43 Source: http://www.curata.com/blog/content-marketing-tools-ultimate-list/
  • #44 Source: http://www.curata.com/blog/content-marketing-tools-ultimate-list/
  • #45 Source: http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2015/09/b2b-content-marketing-research/
  • #46 Sources: http://paraduxmedia.com/the-importance-of-a-website-b2b-american-energy-web-design/ https://www.demandbase.com/video/5-steps-to-account-based-website-personalization/
  • #47 Source: https://www.demandbase.com/video/5-steps-to-account-based-website-personalization/
  • #48 Source: https://www.demandbase.com/video/5-steps-to-account-based-website-personalization/
  • #49 Source: http://conversionxl.com/10-best-practices-for-better-b2b-website-experience/
  • #50 Source: http://ecommerceconsulting.com/2014/02/b2b_website_best_practices_top_10_musts_to_cut_through_the_clutter.html
  • #51 Source: http://www.smartinsights.com/b2b-digital-marketing/b2b-website-design/eight-essential-features-of-effective-b2b-websites/
  • #52 Sources: http://www.hingemarketing.com/blog/story/7-b2b-website-best-practices-to-enhance-your-online-presence
  • #53 Sources: http://www.dmnews.com/dataanalytics/account-based-marketing-how-it-can-help-your-company-improve-demand-awareness-and-profitability/article/98038/
  • #54 Source: http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2016/29687/best-practices-for-increasing-your-online-forms-conversion-rate
  • #55 Source: http://searchengineland.com/the-importance-of-responsive-web-design-for-b2b-sites-179358
  • #56 Source: http://searchengineland.com/the-importance-of-responsive-web-design-for-b2b-sites-179358
  • #57 Source: http://searchengineland.com/the-importance-of-responsive-web-design-for-b2b-sites-179358
  • #58 Source: http://searchengineland.com/the-importance-of-responsive-web-design-for-b2b-sites-179358
  • #59 Source: http://www.komarketingassociates.com/files/b2b-web-usability-report-2015.pdf
  • #60 Source: http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2014/04/potential-b2b-buyers-website-content-trust/
  • #61 Source: http://www.komarketingassociates.com/files/b2b-web-usability-report-2015.pdf
  • #62 Source: http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2014/04/potential-b2b-buyers-website-content-trust/
  • #63 Source: http://www.komarketingassociates.com/files/b2b-web-usability-report-2015.pdf
  • #64 Source: http://www.komarketingassociates.com/files/b2b-web-usability-report-2015.pdf
  • #65 Source: http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2015/27454/what-b2b-buyers-value-most-on-vendor-websites
  • #66 Source: http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2014/04/potential-b2b-buyers-website-content-trust/
  • #67 Source: http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2014/04/potential-b2b-buyers-website-content-trust/
  • #68 Source: Source: http://www.komarketingassociates.com/files/b2b-web-usability-report-2015.pdf
  • #69 Source: http://blog.hubspot.com/customers/increase-conversion-by-personalizing-website
  • #70 Source: http://blog.hubspot.com/customers/increase-conversion-by-personalizing-website
  • #71 Source: http://blog.hubspot.com/customers/increase-conversion-by-personalizing-website
  • #72 Source: http://blog.hubspot.com/customers/increase-conversion-by-personalizing-website
  • #73 Source: http://blog.hubspot.com/customers/increase-conversion-by-personalizing-website
  • #74 Source: http://www.hingemarketing.com/blog/story/top-b2b-website-metrics-to-monitor-using-google-analytics
  • #75 Source: http://www.hingemarketing.com/blog/story/top-b2b-website-metrics-to-monitor-using-google-analytics
  • #76 Source: http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2012/8524/b2b-email-marketing-best-practices-and-trends
  • #77 Source: https://vtldesign.com/inbound-marketing/email-marketing/b2b-email-marketing-guide/
  • #78 Sources: https://blogs.adobe.com/digitalmarketing/email/6-best-practices-for-b2b-email-marketing/ http://www.b2bemailmarketing.com/2008/03/10-b2b-email-ma.html
  • #79 Sources: https://blogs.adobe.com/digitalmarketing/email/6-best-practices-for-b2b-email-marketing/ http://www.b2bemailmarketing.com/2008/03/10-b2b-email-ma.html
  • #80 Sources: http://www.slideshare.net/Engagio/secret-sauce-for-outbound-marketing-and-account-based-everything?qid=cb36c5e7-ca2f-4874-931d-760aea516b84&v=&b=&from_search=1 http://advantagedirect365.com/2016/02/4-practices-for-successful-b2b-direct-mail/ http://www.chiefmarketer.com/in-b2b-direct-mail-be-relevant-creative-and-timely/
  • #81 Source: http://www.chiefmarketer.com/in-b2b-direct-mail-be-relevant-creative-and-timely/
  • #82 Source: http://blog.topohq.com/account-based-marketing-11-tactics-to-drive-your-abm-process/
  • #83 Source: http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2015/09/b2b-content-marketing-research/
  • #84 Source: http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2015/09/b2b-content-marketing-research/
  • #85 Source: http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2015/27718/the-most-effective-social-networks-for-marketing-a-business-in-2015
  • #86 Source: http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2016/29380/content-and-social-tactics-that-generate-leads-for-b2b-marketers
  • #87 Source: http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2015/27121/b2b-content-on-social-media-top-networks-and-tactics
  • #89 Sources: http://www.shiftcomm.com/blog/best-practices-b2b-social-media/ http://www.pardot.com/blog/introducing-b2b-social-media-guide-best-practices/
  • #90 Source: http://www.pardot.com/blog/introducing-b2b-social-media-guide-best-practices/
  • #91 Sources: http://www.pardot.com/blog/introducing-b2b-social-media-guide-best-practices/ http://www.fathomdelivers.com/blog/b2b-tech/best-practices-b2b-social-media-success/
  • #92 Source: http://www.fathomdelivers.com/blog/b2b-tech/best-practices-b2b-social-media-success/
  • #93 Sources: http://www.fathomdelivers.com/blog/b2b-tech/best-practices-b2b-social-media-success/ Pages 144, 145, and 158 of “The Sell: The Secrets of Selling Anything to Anyone” by Fredrik Eklund with Bruce Littlefield http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2015/28217/four-powerful-tips-for-a-highly-effective-b2b-social-media-strategy
  • #94 Source: http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2015/28217/four-powerful-tips-for-a-highly-effective-b2b-social-media-strategy
  • #95 Source: http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2015/28217/four-powerful-tips-for-a-highly-effective-b2b-social-media-strategy
  • #96 Page 139 of “The Sell: The Secrets of Selling Anything to Anyone” by Fredrik Eklund with Bruce Littlefield
  • #97 Source: http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2015/28217/four-powerful-tips-for-a-highly-effective-b2b-social-media-strategy
  • #98 Source: http://www.marketingprofs.com/articles/2015/28217/four-powerful-tips-for-a-highly-effective-b2b-social-media-strategy
  • #99 Source: http://www.kenkrogue.com/social-networking/31-linkedin-tips-how-to-use-linkedin-best-practices/
  • #100 Source: http://www.kenkrogue.com/social-networking/31-linkedin-tips-how-to-use-linkedin-best-practices/
  • #101 Source: http://www.kenkrogue.com/social-networking/31-linkedin-tips-how-to-use-linkedin-best-practices/
  • #102 Source: https://econsultancy.com/blog/65160-five-simple-tips-for-improving-your-linkedin-b2b-marketing
  • #103 Source: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/25498/6-Ways-B2B-Companies-Are-Using-Facebook.aspx#sm.0015vz1lx5kxcov11bq2ky9s29ly1
  • #104 Source: http://socialmediab2b.com/2011/10/b2b-facebook-marketing-2/
  • #105 Sources: http://blog.marketo.com/2011/04/9-twitter-tips-for-b2b-marketing-success.html
  • #106 Sources: http://www.publitek.com/news/best-practice-for-twitter-a-b2b-perspective/ http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/twitter-best-practices-2014/500990
  • #107 Sources: http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/twitter-best-practices-2014/500990 http://smallbiztrends.com/2009/08/tips-b2b-twitter-following.html
  • #108 Source: https://blog.udemy.com/youtube-for-business/
  • #109 Source: https://blog.udemy.com/youtube-for-business/
  • #110 Sources: https://blog.udemy.com/youtube-for-business/ http://www.kunocreative.com/blog/bid/86775/Best-Practices-for-Leveraging-YouTube-in-B2B-Marketing
  • #111 Source: http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2016/30071/the-podcast-audience-in-2016-demographic-and-listening-trends
  • #112 Source: http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2016/30071/the-podcast-audience-in-2016-demographic-and-listening-trends
  • #113 Source: http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2016/30071/the-podcast-audience-in-2016-demographic-and-listening-trends
  • #114 Source: http://www.cision.com/us/2015/04/7-podcasting-best-practices/
  • #115 Source: http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/3-ways-conduct-b2b-market-research-using-digital-marketing
  • #116 Source: http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2015/27524/how-b2b-tech-companies-market-products
  • #117 Source: http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2015/27524/how-b2b-tech-companies-market-products
  • #118 Source: http://www.marketingprofs.com/charts/2015/27524/how-b2b-tech-companies-market-products
  • #119 Source: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33505/10-B2B-Companies-That-Create-Exceptional-Content.aspx
  • #120 Source: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33505/10-B2B-Companies-That-Create-Exceptional-Content.aspx
  • #121 Anant Das: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anantdas