7 Reasons Why B2B Companies Need Digital Marketing
16 Mar 2024 | 8 min readDo you ever look at those massive billboards in the middle of cities or along main roads and wonder why theyโre blank or carrying messages like โCall 07xxx xxx xx to advertise your business here!โ?
When was the last time you flicked through a magazine or newspaper and made a buying decision based on one of the adverts in there?
And how do the companies that pay for that expensive space measure the success of that piece of marketing? Good question. They canโt, really.
Not to โdo downโ traditional forms of marketing, but here are 7 very good reasons why all B2B and B2C companies should be focusing their attention and budgets on digital marketing.
We Live Our Lives Online
How often have you heard a relative of a certain vintage bemoan the fact that very few people buy newspapers and sit down to read them cover-to-cover anymore?
The reason that we donโt sit down to read newspapers or even watch the news on TV at appointed times anymore is that we have a 24-hour news culture driven by digital.
In fact, digital feeds us everything. Nearly all the information we receive.
Weโre constantly being fed marketing messages via laser-targeted advertising based on our behaviours and buying habits; and being given product or service recommendations by social media connections that weโll probably never meet in real life.
According to a recent study conducted with 2,000 UK adults (donโt even get us started on teenagers and their phones!), people are averaging 59 hours A WEEK(!!) online, which โamounts to 128 days a year, or 22 years over an adult lifetimeโ.
Compare that to how long you spent reading a newspaper or printed corporate literature last week.
Are you still wondering why businesses with a 21st century mindset are doing pretty much all their marketing online and investing so much in digital marketing?!
A Smartphone Culture
Are you reading this on your phone? Wouldnโt surprise us one bit if you were.
Before a couple of years ago, the majority of online browsing was done on desktop computers and tablets.
But, according to Statista, a survey conducted in the USA in February 2021 found that around 50% of respondents admitted to spending five to six hours on their phone on a day. A further 22% said they spend between three and four hours on their phones a day.
A great deal of that time will be spent scouring the internet, shopping online and engaging with people and brands on social media.
Hey, weโre not saying itโs healthy. And yet if you think that the world is going to revert to โthe old waysโ and that people are going to be throwing away their phones, youโve got another coming.
If anything, usage is going to keep rising until it hits a peak and then plateaus at a more sensible level.
People know that theyโre living a good proportion of their lives online โ and theyโre ok with it.
They can get information when they want it, how they want it, whenever they want it. Looking for (or being presented with) products or B2B services online is incredibly convenient and increasingly enjoyable.
So, if youโre not investing in ways to create digital interactions with your potential customers, youโre going to be missing out BIG TIME.
Look at All That Lovely Data
With the level of data and analytics readily available (and willingly given out when people tick boxes to receive marketing information or accept all cookies), you can zero in on exactly the kind of customers you want.
And hit them with messaging or offers that they actually want and find useful.
Wondering why that Facebook ad is recommending a certain type of business software to you?
Itโs because youโve been searching for similar products or services and have indicated – whether you realise it or not – that youโre interested in seeing recommendations from relevant suppliers.
Find it uncanny that highly relevant and seemingly personalized digital banner ads pop up on websites youโve been browning on your phone?
Thatโs because youโve been targeted based on your online behaviours.
Some people may think itโs a bit 1984ish.
But others find it incredibly useful and convenient to be presented with targeted activations rather than having to go to the trouble of finding products or services themselves.
And the more convenient and attractive these activities are, the more likely prospects are to make a purchasing decision.
Get your data and buyer personas right, and youโll be on the road to hitting exactly the right people with exactly the right messages at exactly the right times.
Traditional Marketing is Like Whistling in the Wind
Say you were to conduct a leafleting campaign.
That would mean investing in a designer, a copywriter and a printer. And then a means of distribution โ either a professional company or people to put them through letterboxes or hand them out in town.
All sounds quite expensive already.
OK, some people might say that you occasionally need to โspeculate to accumulate.
Ah, but do you really?
You certainly do with printed materials, because you donโt know how many people are just going to throw your leaflets in the bin without having read them.
And who are you giving them to? A distribution company might be able to give you a vague idea based on outdated and often inaccurate demographics, but nothing more. So, your expensive materials could be going into the hands of people that will never give a momentโs thought to your products or services, let alone buy or recommend them.
Even if you hand your leaflets or other printed marketing materials out at a very specific trade conference, the likelihood is that your hard work will go in the trash along with all the other bumph from competitors.
Whatโs your Return On Investment (ROI) looking like?
How can you possibly know, unless everyone that makes enquiries tells you that they found out about your company because of your leafleting company?
Again, this isnโt to knock traditional marketing. We all love a bit of print. But is it really worth it when there are much more effective, far-reaching, flexible and measurable options out there?
Digital Marketing is Laser-Targeted
Digital marketing allows companies to laser-target prospects for minimal cost.
You can be incredibly precise with your lead generation by spending a little money on:
- great and highly sustainable content marketing
- sustainable and affordable SEO campaigns
- building a loyal and engaged social media following
- social media ads
- digital pop-up or banner ads
- building a great and completely engaged email marketing audience
Prospects can be specifically targeted according to:
- their location
- their interests
- the things they search for on Google, Bing or elsewhere
- their online behaviours
- income or spending budgets
- how old they are
- what they like and donโt like
- and so many other rich data insights.
These activations will appear to exactly the right prospects at the right times, and prompt them into taking an action, like clicking through to a transactional page or a bespoke landing page on your website.
In short, targeted digital activities give great returns on investment and increase the likelihood of conversions
Content Marketing is Measurable
If youโve worked in traditional PR, youโll know that the value of each piece of coverage acquired is based upon a risible and much-maligned calculation that the PR industry canโt quite rid itself of.
Weโve touched on the haphazard and difficult-to-quantify nature of newspaper and magazine advertising.
And weโve seen that billboard advertising – one of the very most aspirational marketing channels of the 20th century – has well-and-truly lost its lustre.
You even see TV commercials pleading with companies to advertise on TV. Why? Because no brand thatโs ever been burnt by it (or which doesnโt have enormous budgets to throw around) wants to commit to a very expensive means of promotion that canโt be properly measured or evaluated.
And how many radio stations that rely on advertising money are falling by the wayside? Again, radio advertising represents a considerable risk that can barely be measured โ and which, more often than not, doesnโt offer good enough returns.
Itโs not just that people are absorbing less and less traditional media.
Itโs that digital marketing activities (and we include targeted advertising through streaming services like Netflix here) are completely measurable and quantifiable.
That means that you can always see how well your campaigns are doing โ and can tweak them accordingly in real-time to generate better results.
Did a certain activity work out well last time? No? Well, letโs see why not, and make an informed choice about what to do next time.
In brief, the completely measurable nature of digital marketing allows you to:
- plan campaigns based on exact audience or prospect data
- measure the success of those campaigns with complete clarity
- delve deep into exact, granular results
- make improvements or change tactics based on what you learn during evaluation
Cost-Effective and Sustainable Digital Marketing
At Chetaru, weโre completely committed to sustainable and cost-effective digital marketing strategies that return great long-term results.
Some digital agencies are about flash in the pan activities like viral videos, attracting clickbait or stirring up controversy through social media. Good for them.
But, to paraphrase Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys, โthatโs not usโ.
Thatโs not to say that weโre totally straitlaced squares. Far from it. We love to bring out the fun and passion in our clientsโ campaigns. But we also want to be certain that everything we do for our clients works and returns great value in business terms.
We will:
- quietly go about our business and put you at or very near the top of the Google rankings for terms through sensible and well-planned SEO and content campaignsย
- expertly design and code future-proof websites that will consistently generate and convert leads
- promote your business to the right people on the right channels at the right times
- craft incredible digital assets that will blow your prospects away
- support you with all your digital marketing needs
- make your business visible and discoverable to potential leads across the whole digital landscape
- Give you the tools to build your business and personal brand
Ultimately, we will be your long-term expert digital marketing partner. An extension of you. Your committed and constantly evolving digital marketing department. And we will do all this at a margin of the cost of an in-house team.
Just set us a budget, and weโll not only stick to it, but deliver a service and results that will knock your socks off!
Drop us your requirements today.