Member Article

B2B Companies Can Count On These 3 Marketing Channels To Earn Solid Returns In 2023

Today’s economic climate raises many concerns for B2B companies.

B2B buyers are worried about increasing prices, interest rate hikes, and impending personal financial hardship, in the face of broader global economic crises.

With the pool of potential buyers decreasing, many marketing teams are understandably cautious about spending at this time.

While B2C marketers can feel the impact of a downturn more quickly, B2B sales cycles can extend beyond 6 months, or even a year.

This makes it difficult to identify fluctuations in the near term.

For B2B companies, marketing must remain a priority.

During an economic downturn, marketing is almost always perceived as an unnecessary cost, and is often sacrificed to save money.

However, in the long run, a short-sighted budget cut can harm business health by reducing visibility among a company’s target audience and slowing the sales pipeline.

The best way to minimise company spend is to target the most effective B2B marketing channels for the audience they serve and the budget they have.

Here are the channels the direct marketing experts at More Than Words Marketing suggest clients focus on for 2023:

1. Email Marketing

Not every site visitor is ready to make a purchase.

In fact, at a given time, only 5% of any target market is ready to buy.

Using email campaigns, businesses can target prospects with quality content, and specific products and solutions to meet their specific needs.

Through purchasing highly-targeted lists of potential customers, or segmenting existing customer databases, businesses are able to develop buyer profiles and map the customer journey to help identify these factors, create relationships with potential clients and increase customer loyalty.

2. LinkedIn

The social platform Linkedin released its internal performance statistics earlier this year.

Previously, the social channel had not shared these publicly, meaning businesses had no way to assess its effectiveness.

Despite this, LinkedIn is performing well, based on the new data. It’s likely partly because many big advertisers have jumped ship from Twitter and are looking elsewhere for advertising space.

The platform offers the ability to find other businesses within a specific industry or niche, filtered by job title, and offers a more personal touch for professionals looking to connect.

Consequently, it is an excellent B2B marketing tool.

LinkedIn works better than any other social media platform in conjunction with email marketing to nurture leads.

3. Direct Mail

As digital marketing costs rise, direct mail becomes a more appealing marketing channel for B2B brands.

Direct mail generates 37% more responses than email, and when combined with digital marketing channels, success increases by 28-45%.

Direct mail can be personalised based on previous interactions with these prospects to increase response rates. As soon as potential customers have awareness of a business, direct mail can be used strategically, to convert them into leads.

Bonus: Telemarketing

Telemarketing remains a proven sales and lead generation marketing tactic for over half of B2B marketers.

While it used to only refer to sales calls, salespeople today use calls to engage potential or existing clients in a more interactive process.

Calls allow a B2B company to connect more with customers than is possible with different marketing channels, and offer a form of customer service that many customers prefer over digital channels.

In addition to nurturing leads and prospects, telemarketing can help businesses build high-quality databases, making other marketing efforts more precise and valuable.

Consequently, telemarketing will not only remain relevant in the future, but will continue to be a vital part of any B2B marketing strategy.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by More Than Words Marketing .