Right now there’s no more prime real estate for video marketing than YouTube.

The writing is on the wall and video is poised to take over cyberspace completely. Right now there’s no more prime real estate for video marketing than YouTube. This isn’t merely a clip-sharing social-media site, it’s the number two search engine in the entire world after Google. It goes without saying, then, that if you want an effective digital marketing strategy for your B2B business, it should include YouTube. Below we look at some of the most effective strategies B2B companies can implement to maximize their YouTube initiatives.

Create engaging vlogs and post regularly

If you’re a B2B that’s up to date on your content marketing strategies, that means you publish a company blog regularly. In 2019 you should absolutely be supplementing these blogs with vlogs. In these videos, you should build…

An account-based twist to your experiential planning

In the B2B marketer’s toolkit, events are pretty much stitched into the fabric. For as long as there have been buyers and sellers in a market there have been events that bring the two together with varying degrees of structure in the middle. It’s not all been plain sailing though. Over the past twenty years, it’s had a rocky ride. Digital developments have meant that investment in experiential were put under pressure. The tide is turning though: Bizzabo found that 63% of marketers plan on investing more in live events in the future both in budget and number of events. In my experience, one of the main drivers of this increased focus is ABM. Creative ABMers the world over are turning to tried and tested techniques like events and giving them an extreme account-based makeover (without the Hollywood tears). [si_guide_block id="118739" title="Download our Premium Resource…

It’s never been easier for B2B businesses to identify and target their ideal customers online.

"I have a great product or service but I just can’t seem to be able to find buyers." I hear this a lot. It's one of the most frustrating things for a passionate business owner or manager with a solution that can solve a genuine problem for people. For anyone who says "my product/service is for anyone that wants it", this may be true; but it won’t help you with your marketing strategy. [si_guide_block id="18795" title="Download our Individual Member Resource – Customer persona guide and template" description="This template will be useful for both agency and client-side marketers to help them create compelling customer personas for their marketing plans."/] Think about a sliding scale. At one end you have people who don’t, and probably never will have an interest in your solution. At the other end, you have the person who recognizes…

How to apply our RACE Planning Framework and SOSTAC® to a B2B digital marketing plan

We pride ourselves in giving you content that you can apply directly to your company – whether you’re a burgeoning start-up trying to make your mark in a competitive market or an industry-leader taking your next step to global expansion. Our digital marketing plans are used by members from around the world in a wide variety of industries, which is why we’ve created a new batch of example marketing plans. These example plans will show you how our RACE planning framework can apply to specific industries and help you to set attainable targets for your marketing activities. They combine two recognized methods of structuring digital marketing plans used throughout the Digital Strategy Toolkit – Smart Insights’ RACE Digital Marketing Planning™ and PR Smith’s SOSTAC®. Our first digital marketing plan example is for the B2B packaging industry!

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Statistics exploding the myths that mobile marketing is less important in B2B sectors

We have documented the ongoing growth of mobile adoption in our mobile statistics compilation. Yet most of our stats are based on consumer surveys and panels. It's rare for B2B specific data to be shown. Given this lack of insight, most businesses will turn to their analytics to assess the importance of visitors from smartphones. Looking at our own analytics, for Smart Insights it seems that mobile visits are relatively unimportant, with smartphones currently accounting for 19% of visitors, with an increase of around 8% increase year-on-year. Yet, one-fifth of all visits IS significant, especially since as you see with B2C organizations, our conversion rates are lower on smartphones, so lead generation is challenging on mobile.

The Boston Consulting Group research on mobile use in B2B

Given the lack of research on B2B mobile adoption, it was interesting to see this report looking…

How to boost business results by recognizing cognitive biases

In the 1970’s two young psychologists named Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky pioneered a new field of study, which eventually became known as behavioural psychology. They were interested in understanding whether humans were rational, economic decision-makers or fallible creatures, vulnerable to mistakes and errors as a result of ‘cognitive load’. Their research suggested that our brains use two ‘systems’ for making decisions: In the words of Daniel Kahneman, system one ‘runs the show’ but is powered by a range of heuristics, or rules of thumb, which lead to biases and behavioural quirks. There are now nearly 200 recognized cognitive biases that can affect how we make decisions in a multitude of different ways. Some are fairly well known (e.g. anchoring) whilst others are slightly more obscure (e.g. the false consensus…

How do you know who isn't converting and how can you make the most of the data to bring them back to your site?

Have you ever looked at your website analytics in real-time and watched as people entered the site? To your excitement, some of them filled out a form and converted into a lead. I have, and it’s awesome seeing the 5-6% of people that make it through your website funnel pop out the other end. 

But what about the 94-95% of people who don’t convert? Most likely you’ve got a remarketing campaign setup, which is bringing some of them back. But is there anything else you can do?

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Facebook vs. Instagram: The better platform for your business

Beginner marketers consider launching a social media campaign. Experienced marketers launch a social media campaign on Facebook. Smart marketers study all social media platforms and launch successful integrated social media campaigns on the platforms that are best for their business. Let’s be honest, social media marketing is a versatile, cost-effective and powerful tool to use for marketers and small business owners alike. It helps to reach the target audience, boosts sales, increases brand recognition, enhances conversion rates, boosts traffic to your website and even, improves search engine rankings. No wonder, then, that more and more businesses decide to include social media in their marketing strategies. In fact, according to Statista, investments in social media advertising are forecast to grow from 32 billion dollars in 2017 to approx. 48 billion dollars in…

Exporting is nothing new, but overseas markets continue to present opportunities for companies to grow

Advances in technology, internet communications and travel, mean we understand cultures and countries better than ever; making trading outside of your domestic market one of the most accessible strategic options available to businesses today. Let’s face it: twenty-first century business opportunities are global. If you have a domestic market, you could have markets everywhere. After all, it’s much easier (and less costly) to sell your existing specialism to new audiences, rather than creating new products and services. Yet, finding the right customers in new markets, and selecting the right key accounts in which to invest resources, can be tricky if you don’t have a strategy and a plan to engage them. You can’t ‘wing it’ when it comes to international marketing - or any form of marketing for that…

Agile digital marketing: It's time to consider how focusing on agility can reenergize your marketing efforts.

As a marketer, you are probably familiar with the traditional waterfall process. This is where your team creates monthly, quarterly, and yearly plans comprised of a series of initiatives to launch throughout the year. While it is straightforward, this approach still makes it difficult to foresee the market pulse from 12 or even six months out. As a result, this lack of predictability can derail workflows.

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True, the waterfall process has certain advantages, such as the ability to meticulously plan details, establish timelines, and delegate duties, but as a marketing professional, you should also consider using an agile approach. With agile digital marketing, your team works…