B2B Digital Strategy is Hard… 5 Strategies to Consider
By: Michael Moschella
Tags: B2B, Content Marketing, Social Media, LinkedIn, Marketing

It is now accepted doctrine that new consumer products live or die based on effective digital strategy — e-commerce, paid online marketing, social media, online reviews, and more. Major brands have been steadily increasing online budgets as internet consumption overtakes television. Google, Facebook, and other major online B2C avenues have responded by increasing the ease of sophisticated consumer targeting.

But what about B2B?

Communities of executives, investors, HR managers, marketing directors, and other top B2B buyers are online just like regular consumers. Yet many enterprise sales-dependent organizations struggle to adapt the digital engagement process — despite the obvious potential rewards.

At DKC, we’ve spent significant effort navigating these waters for tech startups seeking VC approval, health care companies that value doctor and hospital administrator engagement, nonprofits dependent on foundation decision makers, and many more. With $83 billion being spent on B2B digital marketing, the following five insider tips matter more than ever…

1. Hire for sales experience

Simply put, the model of most consumer-oriented digital strategy firms is to win your business and then put low-salary recent grads in charge of placing ads, monitoring results, and reporting. While recent grads definitely know what consumers find cool, they usually have no idea how business development professionals work. Whenever we have a B2B digital strategy client, we’ll always put someone in charge who has made an enterprise sales deal. Understanding the difference between the B2C vs. the B2B sales cycle means you’re more likely to get ad content, timing, and placement right.

2. Question the targeting

The data work required to target and engage a B2B audience can be orders of magnitude more complex than B2C. Bio keywords, online influence levels, past conversations, and much deeper understanding of network effects… these all pose problems for many digital marketers without the right data capabilities. Here’s a good rule of thumb: don’t hire a firm without data scientists and robust API connections, or you’ll be spending a lot of money on broadly targeted audiences that won’t ever make a deal.

3. Positive press is your best content

In the B2B environment, buyers are a lot more savvy. Their career is on the line, not just their paycheck that week. As a result, they’re far more immune to standard marketing tactics. But news drives internal conversation, especially industry press. The result: time and time again we find the best paid content creative is simply a good article that is smartly amplified on social media. Of course, many digital strategy firms run the other direction at the thought of pitching a reporter. So, make sure the press and digital teams are working in concert.

4. Really get LinkedIn

This is directly related to points #1, 2, and 3: you need a team that really understands LinkedIn. CEO.com has made it clear that executives vastly prefer LinkedIn to other social networks — and most execs have big networks. This social network’s bio-based and industry-based targeting make it a lynchpin of any B2B digital strategy. BUT its content delivery system is unique, groups on LinkedIn function differently, and its cost structure can be very foreign to consultants accustomed to just placing display ads.

Fortune 500 CEO social media usage, via http://www.ceo.com/social-ceo-report-2015-report/

5. Complete the funnel

At the end of the day, B2B audiences rarely just click-and-pay. Digital strategy means (a) starting a conversation that must be nurtured and (b) buttressing that ongoing conversation. Sometimes the sales cycle is years. This means paid online content only really works if done in concert with smart email strategy, good analytics, events, and other creative community building tactics.

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