The advantages of inbound marketing for B2B businesses are many considering that it is based on the customer’s decision and buying journey.
B2B marketing often involves complex considerations and making big decisions. Using a marketing method that is based on helping the customer move forward in the buying process is a powerful strategy.
A Modern Marketing Method For B2B Companies
Buyers, product managers, and business leaders who work in B2B companies like to have control over the purchasing decisions that they make.
They want to gather the necessary information that makes them feel confident about their decision. They like to have the convenience of finding the answers to their questions and problems through:
- the search engine
- their networks on LinkedIn
- conducting research on websites
Buyers are looking for well-formulated and easily accessible answers to their questions, packaged in a helpful manner. This applies to all industries, so your potential customers are no exception.
Gone are the days of using product presentations, sales pitches, and boring PowerPoint slides. Today, it is the buyer who has more options in choosing their preferred partner. In this article, you can read more about the development: ” Why B2B companies change strategies“.
The inbound method begins with supporting your customers in their buying process instead of informing them about your products or services.
Your efforts must be adapted to suit the buyers. Since the core of the strategy is based on helping and not “selling”, it is a method that is liked by both buyers and sellers.
Why Is Social Media An Important Part Of Inbound Marketing
There was a time when search engines were relatively simple and nascent. Now it’s quite mature and sophisticated. And with social media, the possibilities online are unlimited.
Those who work with B2B marketing have noticed tremendous opportunities with LinkedIn. We now have a better chance of finding the right suppliers based on the recommendations of others from our network or industry.
Having content that others can link to, refer to and talk about is therefore incredibly important. The decision of whether your company is the right or wrong choice for a customer depends on what others say and it’s no longer in your hands.
What you can do is provide the right knowledge, information, and guidance online when it is needed. Being visible on social media is not enough. You need to have a certain level of presence on the platform for it to have any effect. And here as well, it is important to start with your customers.
What content should your company share on the platform to help customers, build trust and strengthen your position in the market? Read more about it here: Social media for B2B marketing campaigns.
Benefits Of Inbound Marketing At Lower Costs
Fairs, advertisements, brochures, and product sheets can be expensive. And even if they fulfill their purpose, the advantages of inbound marketing come at a lower cost.
People are also expecting the information to be available digitally, whenever they want, and in their preferred format. If you make it difficult for them, they will choose your competitors.
Moreover, with the global pandemic, physical meetings are not always the preferred option. This makes meeting and helping your potential customers online even more important.
It is about adapting the content so that it’s helpful to the audience instead of talking about your company, products, or services. Therefore, whether your marketing budget is small or if you just want to save money, the inbound method outweighs the benefits of outbound marketing.
It can feel like taking a big step forward when you are starting with inbound marketing. Additionally, it takes some time before you can see the results.
Before at least 3 months have passed, it is not reasonable to expect great results even if you start to see a certain trend. After 6 months, you would be so far with your inbound efforts that the results become visible to prove that the method works.
When you see what the efforts can lead to, you will appreciate the power of the investment. The time you spend can be justified and will help you in your future work.
The effect of inbound marketing lasts longer than advertisements or promotions in trade shows. It has a custom message that is based on the solutions for your customers’ problems rather than a generic message to suit everyone.
Online Tools For B2B Marketing Techniques
Today there are many effective tools available at a reasonable price. You do not have to buy an expensive system right away.
Getting started with inbound marketing principles does not require a large investment if you do not have that budget for it. It’s about doing the right things for the right people.
In short, focus on good content that attracts visitors. Make sure you guide them all the way and convert them into leads.
B2B Marketing With Higher ROI
Considering the low cost and the results that come with inbound marketing, you get a higher ROI. When your B2B company starts working according to the inbound method, you will notice that you prioritize things differently.
You may realize that what you previously put a lot of effort into does not provide enough returns in the long run even though it felt important to do.
Inbound marketing, on the other hand, helps you prioritize things that make the biggest difference to your traffic, your conversion, and your customers. Feel free to examine what you spend money on today.
Here are some examples of questions to ask yourself:
- Does it matter what is on your company brochure?
- How many people read it, and who reads it?
- Do people read the brochure when they are ready to buy or have they already come a long way in their buying journey?
- How many prospects do you lose along the way?
- Should you spend a few extra hours reviewing what your company’s blog posts look like?
- When in the process is each channel used?
- What impact does each channel have on your business?
- What is the budget allocation like?
- Is the budget reasonable in relation to the outcome?
If you want to read more about how to calculate your ROI on your inbound marketing, you can check out this article: How to calculate ROI of marketing?
Importance Of Inbound Marketing – A Boon To B2B Companies
One of the main Inbound marketing advantages is being able to promote your services and products effectively.
Instead of spending expensive resources on selling to prospects who are not interested, your inbound strategy works on attracting those who are ready to buy.
By attracting those who are curious about your offer or who want your help to solve a problem, you ensure that you have a continuous influx of potential customers who are ready to buy.
Running campaigns based on inbound marketing strategies is also good for learning everything about your visitors:
- how your visitors navigate through your content
- what items do they click on
- what type of content do they like
You can track and analyze every part of their decision-making process and improve it. The result is that your website effectively supports your buyer’s decision journey. The visitor goes from not knowing anything about your company to becoming an ambassador.
In this article, you can learn more about how to create the perfect website for inbound marketing: How to improve customer experience on the website.
You will understand how your visitors behave and what makes them contact your company. You will know what they are interested in and what helps them with their work.
In other words, you learn to make your customers’ everyday lives easier, which is a skill that is considered invaluable for any B2B company.