Inbound marketing, in simple terms, is about generating business by having customers find you, as opposed to you reaching out to them (outbound).
In this article, we’re going to dive into the basics of building an inbound marketing system as a B2B organization. We use the word system because that is how you should think about your inbound marketing strategy – as a holistic, process-based engine that you continually build, test, and optimize. Done correctly, inbound marketing can become a long-term lead generation machine for your business, resulting in a consistent flow of qualified leads and revenue growth.
Setting the Foundation for Your Inbound Marketing Engine
Understand Your Buyer and Their Needs
Most companies (hopefully) already have some idea of who their ideal customers are. But often, this isn’t formalized – it’s in people’s heads.
Building your inbound marketing system should begin with formalizing your ideal buyer(s). A common method for doing this is through the use of buyer personas. Buyer personas are profiles of the people you are targeting and key information points about those people, including attributes like job title/role, seniority, goals, frustrations/pain points, motivations, and other demographic information that defines who they are and what makes them tick.
A buyer persona takes this information and formalizes it into a fictional profile that allows you to humanize and better understand your customer. Most B2B organizations will have multiple buyer personas.
Set Goals
It’s important that you set goals when building your B2B inbound marketing engine. This allows you to align what you’re building with specific outputs that you want to achieve. Goals should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). If you’re just starting out, you’ll have to draw a line in the sand as you will lack past data. That said, you can draw from other information that might be available to you, such as your sales win rates, average sales cycle length, and more to help benchmark.
Find Out How Customers Are Searching for Solutions Like Yours
An important step in setting up your B2B inbound marketing process is to understand how customers are searching for the solutions you’re offering. To do this, you need to do keyword research. Keyword research means looking at the services/solutions you provide and finding what words/phrases people are typing into Google and other search engines to find them. This allows you to identify these terms, see how much search volume they get, and start to target these terms on your website and in content so that you can attract the right visitors to your website. Start with your core services/products and use a keyword research tool to find keyword suggestions.
Tip: It’s always a good idea to talk to your sales team and see what kinds of questions your customers are asking them.
Make Sure Your Website Is Optimized for Search Engines (SEO)
Optimizing your website to help you rank better when people search for services like yours – referred to as on-page optimization – is an important step in driving the right visitors to your website.
Keyword research will help you determine which terms you need to be adding to website title tags, content, image tags, etc. on your existing pages. It will also help you determine which new pages on your website you should be building.
Many B2B organizations are missing opportunities to drive the right web traffic simply because their websites don’t have the basic components of good SEO, or they don’t even have pages built for key services or products that they offer. Remember, people aren’t visiting websites by accident. They’re looking for something specific when they search, and you want to be well-positioned for them to find you.
Check out our tips on how to optimize your website here.
Create a Lead Collection System
On a basic level, you need a way to collect lead information from your website visitors. The most common method for doing this is with forms. In your forms, you should include fields that allow you to gather information important to your business – name, company, email address, etc. – but don’t ask for too much as it creates too much friction. It’s also a good idea to provide an option for people to subscribe to your newsletter so you can communicate with them moving forward.
What happens to the people who are filling out your forms? If you’re just starting out with lead collection and your sales team is small, you can opt to have emails sent to a particular team member when somebody fills out a form. It’s worth noting, however, that this isn’t scalable.
Building a lead management strategy will help you automate processes moving forward so that leads are assigned to the right person, or earlier stage leads that aren’t quite ready to talk to your sales team are segmented correctly and put into nurture campaigns. One way to begin this process is by implementing free lead collection tools like Hubspot Forms or Mailchimp Signup Forms.
Set Up Your Data Analytics Framework
One area where many B2B inbound marketing systems fall short is collecting and measuring the right data. Setting up analytics is critical because it will allow you to determine what is working and what isn’t, and make data-backed decisions to continually make improvements.
While there are many different tools to track performance, Google Analytics is a great starting point. Implementing it will allow you to track important metrics on your website, such as traffic, acquisition channels (where your visitors are coming from), conversion rates, and much more. There are also many customization and report options available to help you set and track goals, deep dive into particular segments of traffic, and more.
Once you have your analytics framework properly implemented, you can begin collecting information, tracking the performance of your efforts, and using learnings to make improvements.
Incorporating Cutting-Edge Strategies
As we look ahead to the future of B2B inbound marketing, it’s crucial to embrace cutting-edge strategies that reflect the digital shift and address evolving consumer behaviors.
Here are some key strategies to consider integrating into your inbound marketing approach:
- Artificial Intelligence and Personalization: Using AI-powered tools to analyze customer data and deliver personalized experiences, enhancing engagement and conversion rates.
- Video Content: Embrace video content to effectively convey complex solutions and engage prospects across various platforms.
- Voice Search Optimization: Optimize your content for voice search to improve visibility and accessibility in an increasingly voice-activated digital landscape.
- Leveraging LinkedIn: Using LinkedIn’s advanced targeting features to reach and engage your ideal B2B audience with tailored content and messaging.
- Sustainability and Ethical Marketing: Integrate sustainable practices and ethical considerations into your marketing strategy to build trust and loyalty with socially conscious buyers.
- Data-Driven Decisions: Using data analytics to gain insights into customer behavior, refine your marketing strategies, and maximize ROI.
Conclusion: A Future-Focused Approach
Adapting and innovating your B2B inbound marketing strategies is essential for success. By integrating cutting-edge strategies, leveraging data-driven insights, and focusing on delivering exceptional customer experiences, businesses can stay ahead of the curve and achieve their marketing objectives.
As you embark on your journey to build a B2B inbound marketing system, remember to continuously evaluate and optimize your approach to remain competitive and drive sustainable growth.
Just starting out and need help setting up your inbound marketing system?