When a marketer is having a hard time getting the leads they want, it may be time to think about what they can do to improve. And even if you’re not going through a rough patch, it’s always a good idea to shake things up a bit, spice up your strategy and make it a little more interesting. After all, a new year has already begun.
To get you started, here are some of the things they can do:
Experiment with the variety of content being created
An increasing reliance of marketing on a single type of material is dangerous to the health of a brand. Remember that each customer has their own set of preferences. This is true even if they belong to the same target audience.
In an article published in Demand Gen Report, it was discussed that a person’s decision-making process is influenced by their experiences with the brand. But as mentioned before, customers have different tastes in content. The article then says that:
“By diversifying content, companies can enhance these experiences and reach new customers like never before… Content diversification is about expanding their messaging beyond their own platform to different channels.”
This can mean many things. It may be, for example, submitting articles to new online publishers. Or it might be setting up an ad campaign on a social networking site you haven’t visited yet. It can also be something completely different.
But one thing is true. New and fresh experiences will definitely bring in new leads.
Another thing they can do is:
Make some adjustments with the budget allocation
According to an article in the Chief Executive business magazine, one-third of B2B marketers will spend ten percent of their company’s budget on marketing.
This is a fact well known to many seasoned marketing professionals. The CEO then mentions that
“…the general rule of thumb in the industry is that start-ups (5 years or less) spend about 10% or more of their revenue on marketing, while more established companies should spend 5% or more.”
A common practice for young companies is to use ten percent or more of their revenue for marketing. For older companies that have already been established, they can allocate only five percent.
The trick now is figuring out how to allocate that budget. This is a very important aspect to take into account when making a digital marketing strategy.
Older companies are more concerned with maintaining (and hopefully improving) the status quo. They need to focus more on methods like search engine optimization and managing their social media.
Newer businesses will focus more on brand awareness and increasing an online presence. This means that they must use the budget to promote themselves through emails and paid ad campaigns. These are fast paths to visibility.
This is not to say that young companies should not worry about getting leads. Increasing brand awareness and lead generation go hand in hand. A common problem with many brands is that they manage to increase their exposure, but fail to drive conversions. But with a marketing expert at the helm, they can easily strike the necessary balance.
Content diversification and proper budget allocation are just a few of the many changes B2B marketers can make to get the leads they need. But if you want to make a breakthrough in your business, you have to start becoming a leader, not just a follower.
It’s never easy to generate and nurture leads in business-to-business marketing, or B2B marketing as most would call it. Every veteran sales team and lead generation marketing agency worth their salt knows this.