Challenges and Opportunities for Digital Marketing Evolution in B2B Businesses
This is the digital age. Consumers are readily turning to digital sources to evaluate companies and to form opinions about products and services. Many organizations understand the significance of this and why there is a need for digital marketing to capitalize on this customer practice. However, too many firms are misguided in how to develop these digital marketing strategies. Consider the issues below and how the opportunity is there to remedy these faults. By accomplishing this, organizations can greatly improve their businesses while their competition is still struggling.
Lack of understanding
The preeminent goal for any business is for increased sales. The top priorities of digital marketers are thought leadership, customer relationships and brand awareness. In the United States in particular, digital marketers put thought leadership before the customer.
While these priorities are not completely opposing views, there can certainly be a conflict of intent in how they accomplish the aim of sales growth. During one survey, 74% of social media marketing specialists admitted that they feel that they are being asked to tackle business objectives beyond the conventional scope of their profession.
This recognition that marketers have a key role to play in meeting wider objectives puts them, arguably, at the heart of the business. But business leaders must understand how the sales process must be reconsidered in order to draw the best out of these initiatives. The introduction of digital marketing to business should follow the simple sales process of:
• Find - Digital marketing specialists place easily seen material for prospective customers to interact with.
• Engage - The material should draw a response, prompting prospective customers to share, like, or comment on
• Trust - By continuously providing content associated with the brand that prospective customers find informative and/or entertaining, this breeds a sense of confidence and faith in what the brand represents.
• Buy - Prospective customers become paying customers.
Lack of integration
In many instances, businesses are treating digital marketing as a separate bureau within their organization. Rather than integrating digital marketing into conventional sales and marketing departments, these effects are isolated to their own sphere. Not only do these practices in effect limit the effectiveness of the digital marketing efforts, but business leadership still maintains unrealistic expectations from these digital marketers. Social media marketing specialists are supposed to magically produces results and massive jumps in sales.
Business executives must take it upon themselves to tie digital marketing actions into the larger business goals. Digital marketing must be blended into the everyday sales process. This will result in timelier messaging and the production of relevant content and engagement to feed the demands of prospective customers. Ultimately this will fast track the objective of initial sales and customer retention.
In light of the challenges and opportunities businesses face, B2B marketers should review and reassess their digital marketing results. Businesses should identify priority channels to improve as well as which channels are ineffective- thereby eliminating these distractions from their marketing efforts. By accomplishing this digital marketing evaluation, businesses can become more flexible, maximizing the opportunities that will best help them to reach their goals.
