The pace of change in sales and marketing, like the rest of life, continues to accelerate. The B2B sales cycle used to involve a lot of, well, salespeople. That’s no longer the case in many situations, and younger generations – Millennials and Gen Z make up roughly two-thirds of B2B buyers – prefer to learn from your website, not your people.

“Lack of understanding about Millennial and Gen Z buying behaviors can adversely affect providers’ ability to reach, engage, and ultimately win these buyers over,” explains Amy Hayes, Forrester’s vice president and research director.

New trends in SEO continue to unfold. As zero-click searches surge, the days of Googling a product or service and heading to a website may fall by the wayside. Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) has emerged as a new frontier, so now more than ever, answering your potential customers’ questions clearly and efficiently will provide the key to your B2B success.

With all this change, one thing has stayed the same: If you’re not mapping your customer’s journey, you’re lost.

The B2B sales cycle can take years. While digital marketing remains essential, relationships, events, and other factors may weigh heavily. For continued success in the B2B space, you may need to add a new skill: customer cartologist.

Why Map the Customer Journey?

Mapping a B2B customer journey does more than refresh your understanding of customer touchpoints. It helps by showing you where friction exists. Once you know where the friction is, you can work to remove it wherever possible to drive increased conversion rates. Without quality B2B customer journey mapping, you’ll miss out on accurate data-driven optimization opportunities.

A Bad Map Leaves You Lost

Everyone has experienced it – you’re somewhere new, you need to get to your destination ASAP, and the map won’t load or your phone dies. You feel disoriented, which leads to desperate decisions, and often causes you to waste time turning one way, then backtracking after realizing you took the wrong turn.

The same truth applies to B2B marketing. With so many possible touchpoints, pretending your customer journey goes smoothly from A to B will have you focusing on the wrong problems and false solutions. Since B2B marketing often requires expensive initial outlays, a bad map wastes a significant amount of money.

The Buyer’s Journey vs. the Customer Journey

Bought a product recently? Was that the end of your interaction with the product or company? Probably (hopefully!) not, and that’s the difference between the buyer’s and customer journeys. The buyer’s journey ends with the purchase, whereas the customer journey continues on well after that point – think about the customer. Customer feedback, customer satisfaction, and customer service all play a pivotal role in the post-sale portion of the customer journey.

We recommend remapping your customer journey – not just the buyer’s journey – at least once a year. This doesn’t require an all-consuming process, but if you don’t rework the map after major changes, you’ll run your sales and marketing operations on bad data, so even data-driven decisions will miss the mark.

If your efforts conclude with the buyer’s journey, you miss out on learning how your customers turn into growth agents for your business, and how you might incentivize the acceleration of that process and scale results. Your relationship with your customer never ends with the sale.

What Are the 5 Stages of the B2B Customer Journey?

The B2B customer journey includes many touchpoints along the way, but we can break up the voyage into a handful of specific phases:

1. Awareness

Your potential customer runs into a problem that needs a solution. For example, an analytics provider stops offering integration with a major platform, and your potential customer needs either a patch or an entirely new provider. Your customer starts casually asking around, and hears your company’s name mentioned by a friend in the same industry or sees your video on LinkedIn. They may follow that up with an online search and read a blog post about the topic, but they’re not ready to sign a deal yet, and will dive in deeper in the next phase.

2. Consideration

The potential customer now begins investigating in detail, perusing your website and those of your competitors to find the best value. This phase will include zero-click searches, conversations with industry allies, focused pricing and product comparisons, and more, so it’s time for your marketing team to shine. Make sure your marketing efforts, including SEO, AEO, U/X, and social media, match the moment.

3. Purchase

You did it! The potential customer has become a buyer, and you’ve reeled in the big fish. Don’t throw the fish back into the ocean – continue the relationship to the next stage.

4. Retention

The contract nears its completion and you negotiate another term, right? No! Oftentimes, the B2B customer journey includes multiple decision makers and different end users; this means you need to foster at least one advocate on the client side at various levels of the organization.

Earn loyal customers through excellent service and a great product. Then, track sales data on the retention phase so you can optimize when and how you approach re-upping, as well as what upsell opportunities make sense for different types of clients. Transform customer retention from a hope into a plan.

5. Advocacy

Thanks to a great experience, your customer becomes a brand advocate, helping you drive even more revenue. Include a referral program to convert this word-of-mouth boost into a, well, conversion machine. Consider double-sided incentives, where the referrer and referred both benefit.

How to Map the Customer Journey

Since the B2B customer journey generally involves multiple stakeholders, you’ll need to create buyer personas: characters who represent your B2B customers, based on your customer data. Perfect personas don’t exist, but they’ll help you tell your customer’s story. Depending on your offering, you’ll need to work on several personas, including users, managers, directors, and C-Suite executives.

Before you start mapping, gather your customer data. This includes customer touchpoints across a variety of channels: marketing, sales, customer service, and beyond. With more and more touchpoints popping up over time (think of how many social media and marketing channels you operate, let alone physical touchpoints), customer journeys swerve and follow anything but a linear path. Did your CEO speak at a conference where one of your buyer personas attended? That’s a touchpoint. Did you run an ad in a trade publication? Touchpoint.

Take that data and lay it on top of the five stages you just read about above. This will be a visual exercise, so you may want to draw on a whiteboard, or use a digital space like Miro.

It won’t be possible to track some touchpoints, which means they reside in the dark funnel – the realm of contact with potential buyers or existing customers not attached to a pixel or tag for easy attribution. From a conversation with a cousin in the same field to a Facebook group discussion or a group text, these steps don’t fit neatly into a typical sales funnel.

Don’t let this distract you. Plot customer touchpoints on your board and insert data wherever possible. From surveys and digital tracking, do you know that 50% of your conversions include organic social media posts? Can you say that half of potential buyers who download your white paper convert? Use whatever data you have, and aim to include more as you gather it over time, filling in the gaps.

Take these points on the map and connect them, with details about pain points and emotions your buyer personas encounter from step to step. Use as much detail as you can along the way. For example, you might note that when users hit your landing page, they run into a redirect, degrading their experience and causing a drop-off in users who would likely move toward the next touchpoint, and ultimately convert.

Uncovering friction your team had no idea existed creates optimization opportunities to push potential customers toward the bottom of your funnel and beyond.

Invest in Mapping Your Customer Journey

If you haven’t taken a hard look at your customer journey in the past year, start the process now. The investment of time and energy will prove well worth it. Mapping your customer journey may seem daunting, but it helps identify friction, soothe customer pain points, improve conversion rates, and lead to fulfilling your ultimate goal: increasing revenue.

B2B Customer Journey FAQs

The post How to Create a B2B Customer Journey: Tips, Mapping & Strategies appeared first on NoGood™: Growth Marketing Agency.

However, as Salesforce has evolved, so has its implementation and maintenance process. Whether you’re trying to transition to Salesforce or trying to improve it in your current organization, finding experts who can help you with this software can truly be beneficial in the long run. We’ve put together a vetted list of some of the best Salesforce consulting companies. These companies or agencies offer exclusive CRM consulting services for software like Salesforce and NetSuite and are committed to guiding your business through even the most complex Salesforce roadmaps to ensure you get the best ROI.

Here are the 25 top Salesforce consulting companies in the world in 2025:

1. NoGood
2. Avenga
3. Abelian
4. Cynoteck Technology Solutions
5. Coastal Cloud
6. Synebo
7. Publicis Sapient
8. Silverline
9. Dazeworks
10. Configero
11. Cloudmasonry
12. Softserve
13. Tieto
14. Simplus
15. Peeklogic
16. Ascendix technologies
17. Affirma Consulting
18. Unosquare
19. Cloudsquare
20. Algoworks
21. Hyperlink Infosystem
22. SENLA
23. Sciencesoft
24. Birlasoft
25. Onilab

1.NoGood

Founded: 2017

Company Size: 50- 100 employees

Location: Soho, New York – Miami, Florida

Clients: Bytedance, Exelon, P&G, Fratelli Carli

Case Studies: View All Case Studies

NoGood has consulted and successfully led Fortune 500 companies & some of the biggest brands in the world with our Salesforce implementation. We have a team of dedicated professionals and experts who can guide organizations through even the most difficult technology transitions and roadmaps. We are focused on delivering seamless solutions in order to help businesses build strong foundations.

2.Avenga

Founded: 2019

Company Size: 1000+ employees

Location: Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia

Clients: M3 Healthcare Technologies, HDI, Opel

View All Case Studies

Avenga works across many different verticals and industries offering a variety of services. Their expertise in Salesforce solutions including administration, consulting, configuration, integration, product development, implementation, customization, training, and support. They have delivered over 100+ successful Salesforce projects to clients.

3.Abelian

Founded: 2017

Company Size: 11-50 employees

Location: Irvine, California

Clients: Vonage, Flowgear, Ringlead

View All Case Studies

Abelian is a certified Salesforce consulting partner and their services include Salesforce configuration, app development, system integrations, and support. Their team consists of experienced marketers who have 50+ Salesforce certifications. As a Salesforce consulting company, Abelian wants to help clients achieve a personalized salesforce experience and they achieve this through an agile methodology.

4.Cynoteck Technology Solutions

Founded: 2008

Company Size: 50-100 employees

Location: Dehradun, Uttarakhand

Clients: ALTA, Blood Hound, Cadence Power

View All Case Studies

Cynoteck understands the needs of their clients and helps consult on strong Salesforce solutions that are tailor-made to produce the best results. They cover the entire spectrum of end-to-end services in Salesforce, which has pleased clients all over the world.

5.Coastal Cloud

Founded: 2012

Company Size: 200-250 employees

Location: Palm Coast, Florida

Clients: Fairpoint Communications, Advent Health, Powerscore

View All Case Studies

Coastal Cloud is committed to improving businesses everywhere with expert Salesforce consulting services. As the only Salesforce platinum partner located in Florida, Coastal Cloud is dedicated to helping clients move away from legacy systems and solutions. They want to partner with clients to plan and execute next-generation Salesforce solutions.

6.Synebo

Founded: 2015

Company Size: 50-100 employees

Location: Dover, Delaware

Clients: Outbrain, Zoomin, IBM

View All Case Studies

Synebo has a strong team with a wide range of certifications and experience in Salesforce technologies and products. The company has worked with clients in diverse groups of industries. Synebo is committed to bringing your business a full range of services, capabilities, and benefits from the Salesforce platform.

7.Publicis Sapient

Founded: 1990

Company Size: 15,000+ employees

Location: Boston, Massachusetts

Clients: BOFE, hubNashville, Dyno Nobel

View All Case Studies

Publicis Sapient is an end to end expert and Salesforce platinum partner. They have implemented more than 1500 Salesforce projects across the globe. Their agile approach leads to highly developed and customized solutions for customers.

8.Silverline

Founded: 2009

Company Size: 300-350 employees

Location: New York, New York

Clients: Baxter Credit Union, Full Swing, Mindwize

View All Case Studies

Silverline is a top-rated Salesforce platinum partner and are experts in the healthcare and financial services industry. The company understands a successful Salesforce implementation requires a lot of moving parts. This includes a strong team and process. The Silverline team is committed to guiding you through the complete Salesforce journey from strategic planning to implementation and support.

9.Dazeworks

Founded: 2015

Company Size: 50-100 employees

Location: San Francisco, California

Clients: National Geographic, PubNub, Adecco

View All Case Studies

Dazeworks has a team of dedicated experts who are always up to date on the latest advancements in Salesforce products and the overall ecosystem. Their ability to execute and consult on all fronts in the Salesforce platform continues to satisfy its customers.

10.Configero

Founded: 2009

Company Size: 0-50 employees

Location: Atlanta, Georgia

Clients: Jasper Contractors, United Way, Fiberlight

View All Case Studies

Configero is an award-winning Salesforce consulting company has worked and provided solutions for industries ranging from healthcare and financial services to construction and technology. Through its unique analysis, Configero delivers seamless integration with Salesforce for clients.

11.CloudMasonry

Founded: 2018

Company Size: 0-50 employees

Location: Chicago, Illinois

Clients: Clickbooth, Flexera, Beamery

CloudMasonry has a team of professionals who’ve had a minimum of 5 years of experience working with the Salesforce platform. As a full-service Salesforce provider, they partner and guide your brand through every stage of the Salesforce transition.

12.Softserve

Founded: 1993

Company Size: 0-50 employees

Location: Austin, Texas

Clients: –

Softserve is a Salesforce partner and helps empower enterprise clients to deliver strong solutions within Salesforce technology. Softserve is good at solving even some of the most complex enhancements in the Salesforce suite of products.

13.Tieto

Founded:1968

Company Size: 0-50 employees

Location: Helsinki, Finland

Clients: Intrum, Svippr, Baloise Insurance

View All Case Studies

Tieto employs over 24,000 experts and works within a variety of industries from, from small local businesses to enterprises and the public sector. As certified Salesforce consultants, Tieto specializes in a number of different Salesforce products and takes pride in maximizing your brand’s business value with Salesforce implementations.

14.Simplus

Founded: 2014

Company Size: 500-550 employees

Location: Salt Lake City, Utah

Clients: MuleSoft, DocuSign, Baltimore Ravens

View All Case Studies

Simplus is a certified platinum Salesforce partner that has helped various organizations reach and exceed their business goals. They are committed to simplifying the Salesforce implementation journey and keeping customers happy. They have worked on over 2,000 projects and are still going strong.

15.Peeklogic

Founded: 2015

Company Size: 0-50 employees

Location: Cleveland, Ohio

Clients: –

Peeklogic has 6+ years of Salesforce consulting services, integration, app development, and project management. They have worked across industries like healthcare, automotive, marketing, and many more. This type of experience simply means Peeklogic can deliver results to all businesses.

16.Ascendix Technologies

Founded: 1996

Company Size: 0-50 employees

Location: Dallas, Texas

Clients: Highwoods properties, Granite, JLL

View All Case Studies

Ascendix technologies have been helping small, mid-size, and enterprise businesses implement Salesforce solutions since 2001. Their experience has given them unique perspectives on how to use Salesforce to solve all business needs.

17.Affirma

Founded: 2001

Company Size: 350-400 employees

Location: Bellevue, Washington

Clients: Time inc, MoneyTree, Crimson Care Registry

View All Case Studies

As a trusted Salesforce partner, Affirma Consulting helps organizations implement new features, enhance productivity, and improve processes for users. This company uses a proven set of methodologies to improve your Salesforce capabilities.

18.Unosquare

Founded: 2009

Company Size: 500-550 employees

Location: Lake Oswego, Oregon

Clients: Seed, Axos Bank, Foundation Medicine

View All Case Studies

As a technology-first company, Unosquare delivers consulting services that are proven. Their veteran technology skills help them give clients tools that are simple and scalable. They have been one of the fastest-growing private companies in the last 5 years and they focus all their efforts on giving the best ROI for clients.

19.Cloudsquare

Founded: 2017

Company Size: 0-50 employees

Location: Los Angeles, California

Clients: Final Draft, Real Vision, Bankroll

View All Case Studies

Cloudsquare helps organizations become more profitable and efficient across various industries. They create robust solutions on the Salesforce platform. Their forward-thinking and agile methodology is rooted in three core concepts: process, workflow, and automation.

20.Algoworks

Founded: 2006

Company Size: 400-450 employees

Location: Noida, Uttar Pradesh

Clients: Dotrix, Phone2Location

View All Case Studies

As an end to end Salesforce expert, Algoworks knows how important it is to strategize and plan workflows for Salesforce solutions. The company is committed to transforming businesses and helping unleash the true potential of the Salesforce platform for all its clients.

21.Hyperlink Infosystem

Founded: 2011

Company Size: 0-50 employees

Location: Ahmedabad, Gujarat

Clients: Papa Jones, Booth, Klippers

View All Case Studies

With over 100+ Salesforce experts, Hyperlink Infosystem is committed to providing consulting services at every stage of clients’ digital transformation. Hyperlink Infosystem develops and delivers Salesforce solutions across the globe and wants to help businesses reach their potential.

22.SENLA

Founded: 2011

Company Size: 150-200 employees

Location: Minsk, Belarus

Clients: Abbott, Bosch, KPMG

View All Case Studies

SENLA is well-versed in integrating technology and software management processes and resources. They have successfully guided their partners through the most complex and custom Salesforce development plans. Their extensive experience allows them to solve these problems to help your company keep up with progress and gain even more profits.

23.Sciencesoft

Founded: 1989

Company Size: 500-550 employees

Location: McKinney, Texas

Clients: Lixar, Tieto, TruMethods

View All Case Studies

Sciencesoft has been helping companies reach their goals since 1989. However, they still deliver some of the best work in Salesforce consulting. As a Salesforce partner, they have over 700 experts and certified Salesforce developers that can implement changes and deliver efficiency to your business.

24.Birlasoft

Founded: 1995

Company Size: 9000+ employees

Location: Pune, Maharashtra

Clients: –

Birlasoft provides both new and existing customers an array of solutions on the Salesforce platform. This includes design, implementation, data migration, custom development, and consultation services. They are committed to helping businesses create impact with high-level solutions.

25.Onilab

Founded: 2011

Company Size: 50-100 employees

Location: San Francisco, California

Clients: Robert Allen, Ren, Baublebar

View All Case Studies

Whether you’re just starting in Salesforce or need to further optimize your current workflow, Onilab can guide you through the whole process. Their consulting services include optimization of business processes, automation of tasks, and overall evaluation of performance on the Salesforce platform.

Frequently Asked Questions

The post 25 Top Salesforce Consulting Companies in 2025 appeared first on NoGood™: Growth Marketing Agency.

Building trust and keeping your audience engaged before closing a sale requires multiple touchpoints.

Easier said than done, right? This article explores innovative B2B marketing examples that break tradition, offering valuable lessons and inspiration for businesses aiming to elevate their marketing plan.

What are B2B marketing campaigns?

A B2B marketing campaign targets other businesses instead of individual consumers. It promotes products or services crucial to the operations of business clients, like raw materials, components, or professional services.

Decision-makers within the client organization, such as purchasing and technical managers, actively participate in the purchasing process. Senior executives also play a role in prioritizing reliable suppliers for strategic products or services. A successful B2B campaign addresses the needs of all stakeholders involved in the purchasing journey.

B2B vs B2C Marketing Campaigns: Key Difference

B2B marketing aims to drive demand and generate B2B leads that businesses can convert into sales. B2C marketing campaigns focus on boosting community engagement and brand visibility to drive individual consumer sales.

What makes a good B2B marketing campaign?

A successful B2B marketing campaign hinges on several crucial factors contributing to its effectiveness. These elements are pivotal in ensuring your campaign resonates with your target audience, drives engagement, and leads to conversions.

1. Well-defined Target Market

A well-defined target market is the cornerstone of a successful B2B marketing campaign. This process includes identifying your audience by location, industry, and stage of business journey. By precisely defining your target market, you can develop a campaign that effectively addresses their specific needs and desires.

2. Strategic Planning

Effective B2B marketing campaigns necessitate strategic planning. This planning process involves setting clear business goals, pinpointing your target market, and establishing metrics to measure your progress. A strategic plan provides a roadmap for your campaign, helping you stay focused on your objectives.

3. Creative Marketing

Creativity is a driving force behind successful B2B marketing campaigns. Understanding your audience’s needs and interests is paramount to crafting engaging content that captures their attention. Storytelling is a potent tool in this regard, making your audience feel involved in your narrative. Additionally, the judicious use of visuals reinforces your message and enhances engagement.

4. Effective Distribution

Distribution can be categorized as direct or indirect. Direct distribution means selling your products or services directly to customers. This can be done through print, online ads, or sales representatives visiting customers in person.

Indirect distribution leverages third parties to reach potential customers, often through trade publications or word of mouth.

5. Performance Branding

A robust brand identity fosters trust with potential customers and facilitates lead conversion. Consistency in branding across all channels, including your website and social media, is crucial. A recognizable logo and branding elements that align with your industry bolster your credibility.

6. Engaging PR

Public relations (PR) is instrumental in enhancing brand awareness, generating leads, and nurturing relationships with potential customers. It also safeguards against negative publicity that can harm your reputation and deter potential sales.

7. Intuitive Website Design

A well-designed website is a linchpin of a successful B2B marketing campaign. User-friendliness, professionalism, and Search Engine Optimization are paramount considerations. A user-friendly website with consistent navigation and easy access to information is essential. Professional design ensures your website reflects your brand cohesively, while SEO-friendliness optimizes visibility on search engines.

8. Organized Call Center Design

Call centers have evolved into valuable customer engagement tools. A visually appealing call center can enhance customer interactions and lead generation. A clutter-free, user-friendly design is essential to prevent customer frustration and maintain positive interactions.

9. Hyper-Targeted Email Marketing

Email marketing is a potent tool for connecting with your audience and establishing emotional connections. Segmenting your audience allows you to tailor messages to specific groups while attention-grabbing subject lines accurately reflect the email’s content. You can efficiently foster brand trust and build connections with a wide audience by mastering email marketing.

7 Best B2B Marketing Campaigns

A B2B marketing strategy that proves successful for one business may not yield the same results for another. Nevertheless, this doesn’t imply we can’t draw valuable insights from industry experts. Here are seven exemplary B2B marketing campaigns that have hit the mark.

1. Spotify – Wrapped for Advertisers

2. IBM’s “Every Second Counts” Campaign

3. Mailchimp + VICE Media – Second Act

4. Employee Advocacy – Drift

5. “So yeah… We tried Slack” – Slack

6. Become a Host – Airbnb

7. “Hey World” – Upwork

1. “Wrapped for Advertisers” – Spotify

Spotify’s Wrapped campaign is a hit with every Spotify user. Since its launch in 2015, this yearly event has become a November tradition, sparking organic excitement repeatedly. When exploring what makes a successful B2B marketing campaign, Spotify turned to its loyal customer base for insights.

Wrapped for Advertisers taps into the same fascinating user data consumers eagerly await each year. However, it extends its appeal to businesses this time, giving them unprecedented insights into people’s musical preferences. What sets this campaign apart is its ability to turn user analytics into an exciting journey, highlighting opportunities and fostering a deep understanding of customer behavior.

What sets this B2B marketing campaign apart?

1. Leveraging B2C familiarity: Spotify capitalizes on existing consumer recognition and affection by seamlessly integrating their B2B offering with the beloved B2C Wrapped campaign.
   
2. Data-driven credibility: The campaign bolsters its claims with compelling statistics, showcasing the power of data to drive decisions.
   
3. Social validation: Incorporating testimonials and positive reviews provides social proof, establishing trust in their B2B product.
   
4. Consistency in brand voice: The campaign maintains Spotify’s distinctive brand tone, ensuring a cohesive and recognizable identity.
   
5. Insightful trends: Revealing seasonal and demographic consumer trends and behaviors adds value, demonstrating a profound understanding of their target audience.
   

Takeaway B2B marketing insights

Audience insights are the cornerstone of this B2B marketing success. In fact, the ability to capture insights and measure performance is fundamental to the most successful B2B marketing campaigns.

Meaningful insights empower you to enhance your campaigns and communication continually. This principle extends far beyond audio advertisements. To excel, thoroughly analyze every aspect of your marketing campaigns. Identify what’s effective and where improvements are necessary. In B2B marketing, the key is analytics as the driving force behind performance improvement.

2. “Every Second Counts” – IBM

At the forefront of our list of exemplary marketing campaigns stands IBM’s ingenious initiative, aptly named “Every Second Counts.”

Lucas Robinson, an esteemed figure at Crediful, provides insights into the campaign’s brilliance, emphasizing its multi-faceted approach. This strategy guides users to their landing page seamlessly and offers a captivating and interactive experience. Notably, incorporating video content instead of the conventional image format adds a poignant touch to the campaign.

What sets this B2B marketing campaign apart?

IBM’s “Every Second Counts” campaign distinguishes itself in several ways:

1. Innovative multimedia approach: Instead of relying solely on images, the campaign boldly incorporates videos, providing a more immersive and emotionally resonant experience for the audience. This departure from the conventional image format adds a distinctive and poignant touch to the campaign.
   
2. Multi-faceted engagement: The campaign’s multi-faceted approach leads users seamlessly to the landing page and immerses them in a captivating and interactive journey. It transcends the boundaries of traditional marketing by fostering a deeper connection with the audience.
   
3. Strategic use of social media: IBM astutely harnesses the power of social media marketing within this campaign. By strategically deploying content across various social channels, the brand propels its messages directly to B2B and B2C audiences, maximizing its reach and impact.
   
4. Alignment with audience needs: One of the campaign’s standout features is its alignment with its ideal customers’ diverse tastes and preferences. Recognizing that today’s consumers have varying information-seeking behaviors, IBM tailors its content to cater effectively to this spectrum of needs.
   

Takeaway B2B marketing insights

The key takeaway here, as highlighted by Robinson, is the significance of diversifying content to engage the audience effectively. Leveraging various marketing channels, particularly social media, is invaluable for propelling content forward.

In an era where competition for the attention of consumers is fiercer than ever, IBM’s “Every Second Counts” campaign sets a compelling example. Its innovative approach is a testament to the power of mixing media formats to deliver relevant content to the right people.

This campaign’s success underscores the importance of aligning marketing efforts with B2B and B2C customers’ needs and preferences. Companies can craft impactful B2B marketing strategies that resonate at every buyer journey stage by catering to ideal customers’ diverse tastes and information-seeking behaviors.

One notable aspect of IBM’s campaign is its astute utilization of social media marketing, a vital component of modern B2B marketing strategies. Businesses can funnel their marketing messages directly to B2B and B2C marketing audiences through strategic deployment across social channels.

3. “Second Act” – Mailchimp + VICE Media

In B2B marketing excellence, Mailchimp and VICE Media’s collaboration in the Second Act campaign is a compelling example.

Within Mailchimp’s repertoire, this video campaign finds its place in the Series collection, showcasing the brand’s unwavering dedication to infusing a human touch into its identity through the craft of storytelling.

Centered around a musician as the protagonist, the narrative delves into his dreams, aspirations, and journey of self-discovery within a supportive LGBTQ+ music community.

What sets this B2B marketing campaign apart?

1. Powerful human-centric storytelling: The campaign develops a powerful narrative that emphasizes humans and their stories, forging an emotional connection with the audience.
   
2. Alignment with societal awareness: By championing LGBTQ+ inclusivity, the campaign aligns the brands with broader societal awareness and inclusiveness, resonating with diverse audiences.
   
3. Feel-good factor: With a feel-good factor rating 10/10, the campaign strikes a chord with viewers, leaving a positive and lasting impression.
   

Takeaway B2B marketing insights

The key takeaway from this extraordinary B2B marketing endeavor is the art of humanizing brand content, even for brands that may not initially seem inclined to do so. Mailchimp’s willingness to experiment, as evidenced by its Smart Living and Films sections, complements VICE Media’s reputation for immersive and edgy publishing.

This collaboration dares to venture into uncharted territory in a space where many B2B marketers adhere to tried-and-tested campaign formulas. By encapsulating relatable human struggles and triumphs within their narratives, these B2B brands draw their audience deeper into the stories and, consequently, closer to the brands themselves.

The synergy achieved through this partnership, with resources pooled to maximize results and reach, underscores the potential rewards of bold experimentation in B2B marketing. It reminds us that, in the marketing world, exploring unconventional ideas that stand out from the crowd sometimes pays off handsomely.

4. “Employee Advocacy” – Drift

A common challenge in B2B campaigns is the perception of detachment. While B2B interactions often revolve around facts and data, it’s crucial to remember that there’s a human presence behind each screen.

Recognizing this, Drift embarked on an employee advocacy campaign to inject a personal touch into their B2B relationships while upholding professionalism. The focal point of this initiative was the “Power user spotlight,” casting a brilliant light on individual company employees, some of whom even graced the homepage.

What sets this B2B marketing campaign apart?

1. Humanizing the business: Drift’s campaign bridged the gap by highlighting the human faces behind the corporate facade, making B2B interactions more relatable and personable.
   
2. Elevating employee value: The campaign spotlighted individual employees, highlighting the significance of each role within the company and fostering a sense of authenticity and connection.
   
3. Emotional appeal: Drift successfully brought emotions into the B2B landscape, a space typically characterized by data-driven communication.
   

Takeaway B2B marketing insights

The lesson drawn from this employee advocacy program is elegantly simple yet profound: “If you aspire to place people at the core of your company, ensure they are seamlessly integrated into every aspect of your content,” as highlighted by Ethan Taub from Debtry.

1. Human-centric approach: Emphasizing the human element in B2B marketing fosters stronger connections and more meaningful customer interactions
   
2. Individual empowerment: Highlighting individual employees within the organization can make customers perceive each role as relatable, reinforcing the company’s authenticity.
   
3. Emotion in B2B: Don’t shy away from infusing emotions into B2B marketing. Authenticity and meaningful connections can set you apart in a traditionally data-driven landscape.
   

Drift’s employee advocacy campaign exemplifies how infusing humanity into B2B interactions can redefine relationships and elevate the brand. By acknowledging that real people are behind every business transaction, companies can make their mark in an otherwise impersonal space and forge connections that resonate deeply with their B2B audience.

5. “So yeah, we tried Slack” – Slack

Inspired by beloved sitcoms like “The Office” and “Parks and Recreation,” Slack ingeniously crafted a mockumentary-style video advertisement. This tongue-in-cheek approach aims to showcase why Slack stands head and shoulders above other forms of professional communication.

The video narrative unfolds at Sandwich Video, a real Slack customer, as they introduce Slack into their office culture. It seamlessly transforms into a testimonial-packed case study while delivering genuinely entertaining content.

What sets this B2B marketing campaign apart?

1. Humorous engagement: Slack’s campaign adopts a humorous tone, defying the often dry nature of B2B marketing. This approach resonates with the audience, creating a memorable and enjoyable experience.
2. Relevant information: The campaign is amusing, and it also provides valuable information tailored to its audience’s needs and pain points. This combination of entertainment and utility is a winning formula.
3. Playing on company culture: Bringing the viewer into office culture jokes and humourous moments, makes them feel more connected to your brand. The viewer can laugh and find commonalities in the humourous moments which increases the possibilty of them buying your product.
4. Addressing pain points: By addressing common pain points in professional communication, Slack strikes a chord with its target audience, showcasing the practical benefits of its platform.
5. Ingenious case study: The video cleverly transforms into a case study, offering real-world insights from a satisfied customer. This adds authenticity and credibility to Slack’s claims.
6. Alignment with mission: Slack effectively aligns its B2B content marketing with its core mission, emphasizing the importance of effective communication within businesses.

Takeaway B2B marketing insights

Slack’s approach highlights the value of injecting humor into B2B marketing efforts. Research indicates that humor can enhance persuasion and foster a positive brand experience, a lesson well-learned by Slack.

Finding the right balance between entertainment and information is key. Slack masterfully weaves various integrations into its advert while keeping the audience engaged and amused.

Furthermore, this campaign underscores the significance of communications in shaping external reputation and internal company culture. Businesses should recognize that their communication impacts their brand image and workplace dynamics.

Slack’s “So yeah, we tried Slack…” campaign showcases how a touch of humor, relevance, and a keen understanding of pain points can make B2B marketing effective and enjoyable.

6. “Become a Host” – Airbnb

In B2B marketing, Airbnb takes an unconventional approach by targeting homeowners, a group that may not typically be considered businesses. This audacious strategy proves that non-conformism can unlock success, as seen in our exploration of the best B2B marketing campaigns.

A simple yet effective messaging approach underpins Airbnb’s mission to transform homes into businesses. They recognize that this decision is deeply personal for homeowners. In this B2B marketing campaign, Airbnb taps into the emotional aspects, appealing to hearts before minds. Their approach is image-centric, with concise copy focusing on the visual narrative.

What sets this B2B marketing campaign apart?

1. Visual-centric format: Airbnb adopts a visual-first format, understanding that compelling imagery captivates attention swiftly and invites further exploration.
   
2. Targeting personal pain points: The campaign addresses homeowners’ psychological drivers, empathizing with their unique needs and aspirations.
   
3. Story-led benefits: Rather than overwhelming the audience with statistics and details upfront, Airbnb emphasizes the benefits through storytelling, connecting on a personal level.
   
4. Encourages exploration: The campaign encourages curious homeowners to delve deeper, seeking more information at their own pace. Detailed content supplements the main campaign.

Takeaway B2B marketing insights

This campaign underscores the power of visuals in B2B marketing. It exemplifies that top-of-funnel content doesn’t need to convey the entire pitch but should ignite curiosity and prompt further exploration.

Intrigue is best generated through imagery, complemented by brief copy. Beyond bespoke ads, a visually focused content platform can effectively seize the audience’s attention and pave the way for deeper engagement. B2B marketers can make even the unconventional feel relatable and compelling by focusing on visual appeal and crafting an emotional message.

7. “Hey World” – Upwork

Upwork, the freelancer marketplace connecting talent with clients, embarked on an audacious mission: fusing personalization with mass marketing, demonstrating that the unconventional can lead to remarkable success.

Their “Hey World” B2B marketing campaign featured a captivating blend of short animated videos and eye-catching out-of-home assets like billboards. These billboards prominently showcased high-profile individuals such as George R. R. Martin and household names like Amazon, instantly grabbing the audience’s attention.

However, the true brilliance of the campaign lies in its scalable personalization strategy, extending beyond mere name-dropping. Upwork ensures that its ad copy remains contextually relevant to the name or business mentioned.

What sets this B2B marketing campaign apart?

1. Personalized precision: Upwork’s campaign excels in personalized marketing, demonstrating the potency of tailoring valuable content to specific individuals and businesses within a mass marketing context.
   
2. Maximized outreach: By leveraging a mix of animated videos and attention-grabbing billboards, the campaign reaches a broad audience, further enhancing its impact.
   
3. Striking visuals: The eye-catching design elements of the campaign ensure that it stands out, even in traditional B2B campaign content.
   
4. Breaking boundaries: Upwork’s campaign pushes the boundaries of conventional B2B marketing content, proving that innovation can yield remarkable results.

Takeaway B2B marketing insights

Personalization is a familiar concept in marketing, but its execution can be challenging. In a rapidly changing world where brands are constantly fighting for attention, it pays to think outside the box, as demonstrated by Upwork. Successful B2B marketing platforms should be capable of simple, scalable personalization.

This campaign serves as a testament to the power of personalization, showcasing how it can elevate traditional mass marketing efforts. By going beyond superficial personalization and tailoring content deeply to the individual or business, B2B marketers can connect with their audience on a profound level, creating memorable and impactful campaigns.

Final Thoughts

In B2B marketing, where strategies continually adapt to shifting consumer preferences and technological advancements, standing out and effectively connecting with target customers is paramount.

B2B companies navigate complex marketing funnels, striving to deliver the right content at the right moment in the customer journey. A compelling digital marketing strategy that connects with potential customers and guides them through the buying process is essential for campaign success.

To excel in this environment, B2B companies must align their marketing goals with their customers’ unique needs and behaviors. They must orchestrate engaging customer experiences that cater to the twists and turns of the B2B customer journey while nurturing and converting leads into loyal clients.

These campaigns showcase strategies and tactics that set them apart, from the clever use of humor to the power of human-centric storytelling.

More importantly, they effectively address pain points, leverage emotions, and personalize content to maximize outreach. These campaigns light the path for B2B companies looking to redefine their marketing cycles and create memorable customer experiences. By incorporating lessons from these exemplary campaigns, such as the significance of diverse content, social media channels, and deeply personalized approaches, B2B marketers can refine their strategies and thrive.

If you need help creating B2B marketing campaigns that move the needle, our growth experts can help. Feel free to drop us a line.

The post The 7 Best B2B Marketing Campaigns & What to Learn from Them appeared first on NoGood™: Growth Marketing Agency.

Let’s take a look at several of the biggest social media trends that are expected to drive engagement and growth for B2B businesses in 2024, in addition to providing insights and actionable tips to help you stay ahead of the competition. Staying abreast of these latest shifts in the space is crucial for businesses seeking growth and engagement. As we are well into 2024, here are the key practices that will shape the B2B social media landscape in the next year and arm brands with the tools to succeed.

1. Short-Form Video Content Explosion: The rise of platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels has propelled short-form video content to the forefront of B2B social media. With shrinking attention spans and the need for quick, impactful messaging, B2B businesses must embrace video content to effectively capture and keep their audience’s attention.
2. Personalized Experiences: The key to success in B2B social media lies in understanding your audience and tailoring content accordingly. Leveraging data and analytics, B2B businesses can create personalized experiences, delivering targeted messaging and content that resonates with their audience’s needs and interests.
3. Employee Advocacy: Employees are your brand’s most authentic ambassadors. Encourage them to share company-related content, insights, and experiences on their social media platforms. This not only amplifies your brand’s reach but also fosters a sense of employee engagement and pride.
4. Influencer Marketing: Collaborating with industry influencers can provide B2B businesses with access to a wider audience and increased credibility. By partnering with influencers who align with your brand values and target market, you can effectively tap into their network and gain valuable insights into your industry.
5. Social Listening: Stay ahead of the curve by actively watching social media conversations and discussions related to your industry and target audience. This enables you to respond to customer inquiries promptly, address concerns, and participate in relevant discussions, demonstrating your brand’s responsiveness and engagement.
6. Live Streaming: Live streaming offers a unique opportunity to connect with your audience in real time. Host webinars, product demonstrations, or Q&A sessions to provide valuable insights, showcase your expertise, and foster direct interactions with potential customers.
7. Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR): AR and VR technologies are revolutionizing the way B2B businesses engage with their customers. Incorporate AR/VR elements into your social media strategy to deliver interactive experiences, product demonstrations, and immersive content that leave a lasting impression.

These seven trends represent a treasure trove of opportunities for B2B businesses to elevate their social media presence, drive engagement, and ultimately achieve their business goals. Now, let’s dive a little deeper into them…

Short-Form Video Content Dominates

Short-form video content is a hot trend in B2B social media, with platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels seeing massive growth in popularity. This type of content is ideal for capturing the attention of busy B2B buyers, and B2B marketers can use it to showcase their products, services, and company culture in an engaging and visually appealing way.

Videos have a higher engagement rate than any other form of content on social media, and short-form videos are particularly effective because they are easy to digest and share. B2B marketers can use short-form videos to:

• Educate their audience about their products or services
• Share customer testimonials
• Highlight company news and events
• Promote special offers
• And more.

In addition to being a great way to engage with potential customers, short-form videos can also be used to generate leads. By including a call to action in your videos, you can encourage viewers to visit your website, sign up for a free trial, or contact you for more information.

Here are a few tips for creating successful short-form videos for B2B social media:

• Keep your videos short and sweet. The ideal length for a short-form video is between 15 and 60 seconds.
• Use high-quality visuals and audio. Your videos should be visually appealing and easy to understand.
• Focus on your message. Your videos should be clear and concise, and they should focus on one key message.
• Use a call to action. Tell your viewers what you want them to do after watching your video.
• Promote your videos. Share your videos on all of your social media channels, and include them in your email marketing campaigns.

By following these tips, you can create short-form videos that will help you reach your target audience, generate leads, and drive meaningful results.

Influencer Marketing With a B2B Twist

Influencer marketing has traditionally been associated with B2C marketing, but B2B companies are starting to recognize the potential of this strategy to reach a wider audience, build relationships, and generate leads.

B2B influencer marketing involves partnering with individuals or organizations that have a large following and are respected within the industry. These influencers can help to create awareness of your brand, generate interest in your products or services, and drive traffic to your website.

When choosing influencers to partner with, it’s important to consider their relevance to your target audience, their reach, and their engagement rates. You should also make sure that their values and personality align with your brand.

There are many ways to collaborate with influencers, such as:

• Sponsored content: Influencers can create content that features your products or services and share it with their followers.
• Product reviews: Influencers can review your products or services and share their honest opinions with their followers.
• Webinars and events: Influencers can host webinars or events that are sponsored by your company.
• Social media takeovers: Influencers can take over your social media accounts for a day or a week and share their own content.

Influencer marketing can be a powerful tool for B2B companies, but it’s important to do your research and choose the right influencers to partner with. By doing so, you can reach a wider audience, build relationships, and generate leads.

Here are some tips for successful B2B influencer marketing:

• Set clear goals and objectives for your influencer marketing campaign.
• Choose influencers who are relevant to your target audience and have a strong following.
• Make sure that the influencers’ values and personality align with your brand.
• Develop a clear and concise agreement with each influencer.
• Measure the results of your influencer marketing campaign and make adjustments as needed.

Social Listening For Enhanced Customer Engagement

Social listening is a powerful tool in the hands of B2B companies seeking to enhance customer engagement. By actively checking social media platforms and gleaning insights into customer needs, preferences, and challenges, businesses can embark on proactive customer engagement strategies.

This process enables them to identify influential figures and brand loyalists, empowering them to make informed decisions regarding product development, marketing strategies, and customer service enhancements.

One of the key benefits of social listening is the invaluable understanding it provides about the target audience. By meticulously analyzing customer conversations, businesses unravel their customers’ interests, concerns, and obstacles. Armed with this knowledge, they can craft content, products, and services that resonate with their customers on a deeper level.

For instance, if a B2B company observes a recurring theme of discussions about an industry trend, they can capitalize on this opportunity by developing content that directly addresses the trend. This strategic move positions the company as an authority in the industry, fostering trust and credibility among its customers.

Beyond understanding customers, social listening unveils potential influencers and brand advocates. Influencers, with their substantial social media followings, have the power to shape the purchasing decisions of others. Brand advocates, fueled by their passion for a brand, willingly share their positive experiences, acting as organic ambassadors.

By identifying and collaborating with these influential individuals, businesses can exponentially expand their reach and generate a surge of leads. Influencers can effectively promote products or services to their loyal followers, while brand advocates serve as catalysts for positive word-of-mouth, amplifying the brand’s reputation.

Furthermore, social listening serves as a versatile tool for tracking marketing campaign performance and gauging customer satisfaction. By diligently tracking social media mentions of the brand, products, or services, businesses gain real-time insights into customer sentiment and campaign reception.

This feedback loop empowers them to make data-driven adjustments to their marketing strategies and address any customer concerns promptly, fostering an environment of enhanced customer satisfaction.

In essence, social listening empowers B2B companies to elevate customer engagement, delve into the depths of their target audience’s preferences, identify influential allies, assess marketing campaign effectiveness, and cultivate customer satisfaction. By embracing this powerful tool, businesses can efficiently and confidently navigate the ever-evolving landscape of customer interactions.

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) on Social Channels

Account-Based Marketing (ABM) is a targeted marketing strategy that focuses on building deep, personalized relationships with a select group of high-value accounts. Social media provides an excellent platform for ABM as it allows businesses to connect with and engage with their target accounts in a meaningful way.

There are several benefits to using social media for ABM. First, social media allows businesses to reach their target accounts directly. Second, social media provides a wealth of data and insights about target accounts, which can be used to create personalized content and campaigns. Third, social media allows businesses to build relationships with target accounts over time, which can lead to increased brand loyalty and sales.

To create successful ABM campaigns on social media, businesses should first identify their target accounts. Once target accounts have been identified, businesses can create personalized content and campaigns that appeal to their specific interests and needs. Personalized content can include things like tailored blog posts, infographics, videos, and social media posts.

In addition to creating personalized content, businesses should also engage with their target accounts on social media. This can be done by liking and commenting on their posts, sharing their content, and responding to their questions and comments. By engaging with target accounts, businesses can build relationships and trust, which can lead to increased sales.

Finally, businesses should measure the success of their ABM campaigns on social media. This can be done by tracking metrics such as reach, engagement, and conversions. By tracking these metrics, businesses can see what is working and what is not, and make adjustments to their campaigns accordingly.

Interactive And Engaging Content Formats

Interactive and engaging content formats are essential for capturing the attention of B2B buyers and driving engagement on social media. These formats can help to educate, entertain, and inspire your audience, while also providing valuable insights into their needs and interests.

Some popular interactive and engaging content formats for B2B social media include:

Interactive polls, quizzes, and surveys allow you to gather feedback from your audience and get them involved in your content. This can be a great way to generate leads, conduct market research, and build relationships with your customers.

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) can be used to create immersive experiences that allow your audience to interact with your products and services in a realistic way. This can be a great way to showcase your products and services and to provide your audience with a memorable experience. Especially with the introduction of the Apple Vision Pro, getting ahead of the game with experiences designed for the early and future adopters of the headset will be a strong move.

Gamification elements can be used to add an element of fun and competition to your social media content. This can help to keep your audience engaged and coming back for more.

Live Q&A sessions, webinars, and virtual events are a great way to connect with your audience in real time and answer their questions. This can help to build trust and credibility with your audience and to position your business as a thought leader in your industry.

Interactive infographics, animated videos, and other visually appealing formats can help capture the attention of your audience and make your content more memorable. This can be a great way to share complex information clearly and concisely.

By using these interactive and engaging content formats, B2B businesses can drive engagement and growth on social media. These formats can help to educate, entertain, and inspire your audience, while also providing valuable insights into their needs and interests.

Emphasis on Original and Authentic Content

In the ever-evolving landscape of B2B social media, it’s no longer enough to simply curate and share content from other sources. To truly stand out and engage your target audience, it’s essential to prioritize the creation of original and authentic content that resonates with your brand’s values and messaging.

One of the key benefits of original content is that it allows you to establish your brand as a thought leader in your industry. By sharing unique insights, perspectives, and expertise, you can position your business as a trusted resource and attract potential customers who are seeking valuable information. Original content also enables you to showcase your brand’s personality and culture, creating a deeper connection with your audience and fostering a sense of community.

Authenticity is equally important in building trust and credibility with your B2B audience. Avoid creating content that feels overly promotional or sales-driven. Instead, focus on providing genuine value to your followers by sharing behind-the-scenes glimpses of your company, employee spotlights, customer success stories, and industry-related news and updates. Transparency and honesty are essential in building long-lasting relationships with your customers.

User-generated content (UGC) is another powerful way to leverage the authenticity of your customers and create a sense of community. Encourage your customers to share their experiences with your products or services, whether through social media posts, reviews, or testimonials. Featuring UGC on your social channels not only adds variety and authenticity to your content mix but also serves as social proof, building trust and credibility among potential customers.

Employee Advocacy Programs

This is a great way to boost brand awareness, generate leads, and build relationships with customers. By encouraging employees to share company-related content on their personal social media accounts, businesses can tap into a wider audience and create a more authentic and credible online presence.

To create an effective employee advocacy program, it’s important to first identify talented creators within your organization. These are employees who are passionate about the company and its products or services, and who have a strong social media presence.

Once you’ve identified these employees, provide them with training and resources to help them create high-quality, engaging content. This could include tips on writing effective social media posts, creating visually appealing graphics, and using social media analytics to track their progress.

It’s also important to acknowledge and reward employees for their contributions to the program. This could be done through public recognition, such as shout-outs in company newsletters or on social media, or through more tangible rewards, such as gift cards or bonuses.

By implementing an effective employee advocacy program, businesses can leverage the power of their employees’ social networks to reach a wider audience, build relationships with customers, and ultimately drive business growth.

Leveraging AI for Personalized Customer Experiences

AI (Artificial Intelligence) has emerged as a powerful tool for businesses seeking to deliver personalized customer experiences. In the realm of B2B social media, AI can play a pivotal role in enhancing customer engagement and driving business growth.

One of the key ways AI can be leveraged is through AI-powered analytics. By analyzing vast amounts of customer data, businesses can gain deep insights into customer preferences, behaviors, and pain points. This knowledge empowers businesses to tailor their social media content, interactions, and offerings to meet the specific needs and interests of their target audience.

Chatbots and virtual assistants are other AI applications that can significantly improve customer experiences. These automated tools can provide real-time assistance, answer customer queries, and guide customers through various processes, offering a seamless and efficient experience.

By incorporating chatbots and virtual assistants into social media platforms, businesses can make sure that customers receive prompt and personalized support, enhancing overall satisfaction and loyalty.

Personalizing social media content and ads is another effective way to leverage AI for customer engagement. By using AI algorithms, businesses can analyze customer data and preferences to deliver highly relevant and targeted content. This approach increases the likelihood of capturing customer attention, generating leads, and driving conversions.

Finally, AI-generated recommendations can further enhance customer experiences by suggesting relevant products, services, or content based on individual preferences. This level of personalization demonstrates a deep understanding of customer needs and interests, fostering a sense of value and connection with the brand.

Leveraging AI for personalized customer experiences is a crucial strategy for B2B businesses seeking to thrive in the competitive social media landscape. By harnessing the power of AI-powered analytics, chatbots, personalized content, and recommendations, businesses can create deeper connections with customers, drive engagement, and ultimately achieve sustainable growth.

Conclusion

Needless to say, the B2B social media landscape is in a perpetual state of flux, which means brands need to remain vigilant and adaptable to the ever-shifting trends. By incorporating these emerging trends into your B2B social media strategy, you position your business for success, driving engagement, fostering growth, and ultimately achieving your overarching business objectives.

Embrace innovation, think a few steps ahead (and outside of the box), and leverage the power of social media to connect with your target audience, build meaningful relationships, and drive business growth.

The post 7 Hottest B2B Social Media Trends to Drive Engagement and Growth in 2024 appeared first on NoGood™: Growth Marketing Agency.

Think of B2B performance marketing as your GPS in the world of business-to-business dealings. It’s a data-driven approach that focuses on achieving specific, measurable outcomes. Whether it’s generating leads, conversions, sales, or even awareness, every action is aimed at contributing directly to your bottom line. And in the B2B realm, where decisions are weighed heavily and made by more than one pair of hands, this approach is not just nice to have; it’s a must-have.

The beauty of B2B performance marketing lies in its ability to turn insights and learnings into actions. By leveraging channels like SEO, PPC, content marketing, and social media advertising, we’re not just shouting into empty space. We’re using experimentation to engage in meaningful conversations with potential business customers, using data to guide us every step of the way.

Now, you might wonder, “Isn’t all performance marketing the same?” Well, not quite. B2B and B2C marketing might share a stage, but they play very different roles.

B2B marketing is similar to a chess game. It’s strategic, with longer sales cycles and higher stakes. You’re dealing with multiple decision-makers, oftentimes, each with their own set of concerns and criteria. The challenge here, among navigating ever-changing stakeholders and evolving goals, is to nurture these leads through a complex journey, using targeted content to address their specific needs at each stage.

B2C marketing, on the other hand, is more like checkers. It’s faster paced and the strategies here are aimed at rapidly capturing the consumer’s attention to drive them towards an immediate conversion event like a purchase or other action.

This distinction is crucial because it helps shape our approach to performance marketing. In B2B marketing, it’s not just about making a sale; it’s about establishing trust and proving value over time.

At the end of the day, the heart of B2B performance marketing serves one purpose – increasing conversion rates. This is where we can transform potential into profit and drive tangible results for businesses.

But, how do we get there? It starts with personalization. By identifying value propositions and establishing personas, we understand our audience’s unique needs and preferences, and we can tailor our messages to resonate deeply with our targeted personas. Then, we cast our net across multiple channels, ensuring we are serving ads where our audience is speaking their language.

Content is king here, but not just any content. What works is content that is value-driven and educates and informs. Some effective examples of this type of content are downloadable PDFs or articles such as white papers, case studies, and industry insights that speak directly to the challenges our audience faces.

And, of course, we can’t forget about measuring and analyzing performance results. This is our compass, guiding us through the wilderness of marketing strategies. By continuously measuring and optimizing our efforts, we ensure that every step taken is a step closer to our goal.

The 7 P’s of B2B Marketing

To navigate the world of B2B marketing successfully, it is important to familiarize yourself with the 7 P’s of B2B marketing. These fundamental principles will help guide your strategy, ensuring that every decision and action aligns with the north star of connecting with your business audience.

• Product: Learn to customize your products/services to solve the unique puzzles faced by B2B buyers. Each business (especially among different industries) will face its own challenges and have its own nuanced factors to consider.
• Price: Setting your prices isn’t just about numbers; it’s a balancing act that showcases the value you bring to the table, making sure B2B companies see the bang they get for their buck. It’s important to highlight the bottom-line impact the business will see from using your product/service. This is a great place to talk about ROI to offset the focus on the pricing.
• Place: Finding the right channels to connect with B2B businesses is like choosing the perfect fishing spot; it’s where you’ll catch your biggest leads. Find your audience where they are. There are several factors to consider when selecting which paid media channels to run on for a B2B business, such as:
  • Target Audience Presence: Identify where your B2B audience spends their time online. LinkedIn, for example, is optimal for reaching professional audiences
  • Content Format Compatibility: Choose channels that best support your content format, whether it’s video, text, infographics, or webinars
  • Budget Considerations: Evaluate the cost-effectiveness of each channel. Some platforms may offer a better ROI for B2B campaigns
  • Industry Trends: Stay abreast of where competitors and industry leaders are most active, which can indicate effective channels for your sector
  • Customer Journey Stage: Select channels that align with the stages of your customer journey, from awareness through decision-making
  • Measurability and Analytics: Opt for platforms with robust analytics to measure campaign performance and optimize for better results
  • Channel Reach and Engagement: Assess the reach and level of engagement potential customers have with the platform
  • Ad Format Flexibility: Consider channels that offer a range of ad formats to creatively showcase your value propositions
  • Integration Capabilities: Look for platforms that can integrate seamlessly with your other marketing tools and CRM system
  • Compliance and Brand Safety: Ensure the channel aligns with your brand values and complies with industry regulations
• Promotion: Here, content is your megaphone. Crafting strategies that resonate with potential customers is key to the success of your efforts. Understand the competition’s approach, develop intentional buyer personas, identify value propositions and pain points, and draw your audience closer with well-thought-out, purposeful content.
• People: Your sales teams and customer service folks are the navigators of the buyer journey–the frontline forces who can provide detailed customer feedback, which serves as a growth loop that can help direct your future strategies. Cross-team communication can help identify points of weakness in the marketing funnel or areas where additional information is warranted in your content.
• Process: Streamlining your sales funnels and purchase decisions is crucial for guiding customers from initial interest to final purchase. By optimizing the process, you increase conversion rates throughout the marketing funnel, moving prospects from “just looking” to “just bought.”
• Physical Evidence: Case studies, white papers, and testimonials are examples of downloadable content that serve as trust-building tools, guiding hesitant or uninformed prospective customers toward confidence in a business’s offerings. They provide concrete evidence of a product or service’s value, showcasing its effectiveness and reliability.

Each of these elements plays a pivotal role in the grand scheme of B2B performance marketing and are all individual levers to experiment with throughout the growth process. Experimentation with each one of these levers can lead to faster learnings that will ultimately drive growth for your business.

Crafting a B2B Performance Marketing Strategy

Creating a B2B marketing strategy that resonates with your audience and drives results requires a deep understanding of the landscape and the unique challenges of the B2B buying journey. Unlike the typically shorter path in D2C, the B2B journey is longer and more complex, necessitating a different approach to push prospects along the buying journey. This means providing a lot more information about how the decision to purchase will drive business results that contribute to the bottom line.

Identifying your target audience and understanding the buyer journey are foundational steps. It involves delving into who your ideal customers are, the challenges they face, and how they make decisions. This understanding informs every piece of content you create and every interaction you have with your audience. Many businesses see success with account-based marketing (ABM) and use a suite of tools to bolster their targeting approaches. Here’s a short list of tools if you’re interested in taking an ABM approach:

• LinkedIn Ads: LinkedIn offers powerful targeting options for B2B marketers, allowing you to target ads based on company size, industry, job title, seniority, and more. With LinkedIn’s extensive professional network, you can reach decision-makers and influencers within your target accounts effectively.
• Demandbase: Demandbase is a comprehensive ABM platform that provides account-level targeting capabilities. It uses proprietary technology to identify and target specific companies based on firmographic data, website engagement, and intent signals, enabling personalized campaigns tailored to each target account.
• RollWorks: RollWorks is an account-based platform that combines account-based advertising with account-based data and sales automation to identify and engage target accounts across multiple channels, including display, social, email, and web.
• Terminus: Terminus is a leading ABM platform specializing in targeting and engaging high-value accounts. It offers a suite of targeting tools, including account-based advertising, email marketing, and web personalization to reach key decision-makers and influencers within target accounts.
• 6sense: 6sense is an AI-powered ABM platform that uses predictive analytics to identify and prioritize target accounts based on their likelihood to buy. It provides insights into account behavior and intent signals, enabling you to deliver personalized experiences and targeted campaigns to the most promising prospects.

Another key factor in a successful B2B Performance Marketing approach is developing a content strategy that addresses the needs and pain points of B2B buyers. This is about crafting a narrative that directly addresses your audience’s needs and challenges. Whether through whitepapers, videos, or infographics, your content should educate, engage, and inspire your audience throughout the buyer journey.

Selecting the Right Performance Marketing Channels is crucial. This involves choosing channels where your audience is most receptive, such as SEO, email marketing, social media, and native advertising. Each channel serves a different purpose, from visibility to engagement, and should be prioritized based on your goals and resources.

In essence, crafting a B2B marketing strategy is about connecting the dots between understanding your audience and delivering the content they need to nurture them throughout the buying journey while utilizing the channels where they’re most likely to engage.

It’s a deliberate process that requires insight, creativity, and precision. By focusing on these core elements, you lay the groundwork for a strategy that not only reaches your target audience but also drives them toward action, ultimately delivering the results your business seeks.

Performance Marketing Tactics for B2B

SEO Strategies Tailored to Organic Search and B2B Keywords: B2B buyers will often conduct extensive research before making purchasing decisions. To ensure your brand is visible during this research phase, your SEO strategy should focus on optimizing your website and content for relevant B2B keywords. This involves conducting thorough keyword research to identify the terms and phrases your target audience is using, and then strategically integrating them into your website copy, blog posts, and other content (whitepapers, case studies, etc.). Additionally, optimizing technical aspects of your website, such as site speed and mobile responsiveness, can further enhance your search visibility and improve user experience.

Looking for a full list of SEO optimization strategies?

We’ve already discussed the importance of content marketing as a powerful tool for providing value and building trust throughout the buyer journey. In addition to the downloadable content listed above, another great way for businesses to provide informative content is to create and publish regular blog posts and articles that address common pain points and demonstrate your expertise.

These types of content not only educate your audience while encouraging them to come back for more, but this content will also position your business as a thought leader in the space.

As with all performance marketing strategies, it is pertinent to ensure that your data collection is top of mind. Conversion tracking should be set up across all channels and pages, and in the cookieless world we’re entering, you should be collecting zero-party data wherever possible. Here’s a great resource on how to implement a zero-party data strategy. 

Lastly, building a community through social media is another tactic that can help prove thought leadership and establish your business as a trusted resource in your industry. It’s crucial to develop a social media strategy that fosters audience engagement and brand awareness. Although B2B decision-makers may not spend as much time on social media as their B2C counterparts, platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter still play a crucial role in the B2B marketing landscape.

Here, you can share content, engage with industry influencers, and participate in relevant conversations. Additionally, consider leveraging paid social advertising to target specific B2B audiences and amplify your brand’s reach. By consistently sharing valuable content and actively engaging with your audience, you can build brand awareness, establish authority in your industry, and generate leads for your business.

Measuring Success in B2B Performance Marketing

With all these efforts to build and engage an audience, it’s vital to set clear marketing goals that align with your overall business objectives and define B2B marketing KPIs so that you can measure and track what your success looks like. Whether your aim is to increase lead generation, boost brand awareness, or drive conversions, clearly defined goals provide direction and focus for your marketing efforts.

Additionally, identifying key performance indicators (KPIs) specific to B2B marketing—such as lead-to-customer conversion rate, marketing-qualified leads (MQLs), and customer lifetime value (CLV)—allows you to measure progress and gauge the success of your campaigns accurately.

Ensure that you have set up your analytics backend properly with the appropriate tools for your business. Generally speaking, Google Analytics is a powerful tool for tracking and analyzing website traffic, user behavior, and campaign performance.

By implementing tracking codes and setting up conversion goals, you can gain valuable insights into how visitors interact with your site and which marketing channels drive the most engagement and conversions. Analyzing metrics such as bounce rate, time on page, and conversion rate helps you understand buyer behavior and identify areas for optimization.

Now equipped with data from Google Analytics and other analytics platforms, you can make informed decisions about where to allocate your budget to achieve the highest return on investment (ROI). By continuously monitoring campaign performance and comparing results against your predefined KPIs, you can identify underperforming channels or tactics and reallocate resources to those that drive the greatest results.

Whether it’s scaling up investments in top-performing channels or experimenting with new strategies to improve performance, data-driven decision-making allows you to optimize your marketing spend and maximize ROI over time.

Conclusion

In summary, B2B performance marketing is a calculated journey aimed at driving conversions and value for businesses in the short and especially long term. It’s the light guiding marketers toward specific, measurable outcomes that directly contribute to the bottom line.

Understanding the 7 P’s of B2B marketing is crucial for crafting a successful strategy, as it ensures alignment with the business audience and their unique needs. Effective targeting through tools like LinkedIn Ads and 6Sense enables marketers to engage high-value target accounts effectively, driving personalized campaigns tailored to each account’s needs. Additionally, a robust content strategy that addresses the needs and pain points of B2B buyers is essential for nurturing leads throughout the buyer journey.

Finally, measuring success through clear marketing goals, carefully defined KPIs, and analytics tools like Google Analytics allows marketers to use data-driven insights to continuously optimize campaigns and maximize ROI.

The post Tips for Creating a High-Converting B2B Performance Marketing Campaign appeared first on NoGood™: Growth Marketing Agency.

As with any new technological leap, the injection of AI into your life brings with it numerous questions.You’ve likely asked yourself: “How should I use Artificial Intelligence?” “Does Artificial Intelligence work for B2B marketing?” “Does Artificial Intelligence actually provide valuable insights?” “Will Artificial Intelligence make my life as a marketer easier?” “Will AI replace B2B sales?”

Well, not to worry, because you’re about to get the ultimate guide to leveraging AI in B2B marketing. You’ll learn how to use AI, what role AI can have in the B2B marketing sales funnel, and how AI affects B2B marketing campaigns and processes.

In an attempt to not put the cart before the horse, let’s first define AI. Artificial Intelligence refers to the development of computer systems that can perform repetitive tasks that typically require human intelligence. Think recognizing patterns, learning from data, providing data-driven insights, and making decisions. AI plays a critical role in automating processes, optimizing marketing campaigns, and delivering personalized experiences to target audiences.

How Is AI Used in B2B Marketing?

When you’re talking about B2B marketing, the goal is sales. But how do you get to sales? How do you get the big fish? Traditional B2B marketing suggests you use account-based marketing, lead generation, and personalization. Thanks to AI, a world beyond traditional B2B marketing strategies now exists, so much so that 96% of executives say generative AI is a hot topic of discussion with their boards.

Let’s walk through some B2B marketing AI use cases.

Using AI for B2B Marketing Analysis

When it comes to B2B marketing, the goal is to create segmentation and personalization throughout your paid media strategies, CRM strategies, content marketing, and sales tactics. Understanding your audience remains the key to closing big deals, even as the tech landscape rapidly evolves. Prior to AI, a B2B SaaS company required a team of people who crunched numbers all day to provide data analysis. Now, AI can do all of the hard work on a consistent basis.

Imagine you want to understand what time of day a person with a specific job title clicks on your ad, visits the landing page, and hits “request a demo.” Now, instead of relying on dashboards built into Salesforce to provide you with actionable insights, you can automate the entire process. No more surveys and customer interviews. With task automation, you can get the high-quality data you need to plan out marketing strategies that will actually work.

This means less money spent on ads, higher ROAS, and clients with a longer LTV. AI can unlock necessary B2B marketing data, such as generating cohorts likely to schedule a demo, recognizing online customers more likely to engage, and identifying what times you need the B2B customer to engage to have the highest success rate.

AI Can Drive B2B Content Generation

B2B marketers tend to focus on one thing for brand awareness: content, content, content. Why? Because in B2B, brand awareness means B2B sales. Content is king because it’s in everything you present to your potential customers.

B2B marketers constantly churn out marketing content such as blogs, ebooks, ad copy, etc. That’s how your B2B business gets discovered. Turning to an AI platform such as ChatGPT can significantly help your productivity and can even inspire new ideas. Leverage generative AI tools for B2B marketing to personalize your high-quality content, feed it cohorts to come up with ad copy, or even use it to help write your blogs (just remember to add a human touch – no one wants to read any more AI slop).

AI Tools for B2B Audience Insights and Predictive Analytics

The best AI tools for B2B marketing can analyze vast amounts of data to gain customer insights into buyer behavior, preferences, and demographics. By harnessing these insights, B2B marketers can create highly targeted and personalized content, improving the chances of engagement and conversion.

AI algorithms can predict future trends and behaviors based on historical data. In B2B marketing, predictive analytics help identify potential leads and guide sales teams toward the most promising prospects.

Essentially, this provides data analysis at scale. AI has the capacity to process and analyze vast volumes of data far more quickly and accurately than humans can. This includes data from various sources, such as website interactions, social media engagement, email interactions, and historical sales data. By aggregating and analyzing this data, AI can uncover patterns and trends that might go unnoticed through manual analysis.

What Is the Role of AI in the B2B Sales Funnel?

B2B is all about sales, right? B2B marketing creates a B2B sales funnel. The funnel gets filled with prospects, whether from organic traffic, paid media, or outbound calls. So, how can you leverage AI to fill your sales pipeline with more qualified leads that will hopefully turn into customers?

Use AI to Create Personalized Experiences

The name of the game is prospecting. But how can you ever really know what a prospective buyer wants to see? AI can analyze individual customer preferences and behavior to personalize content recommendations. This goes beyond simply addressing the recipient by name – it involves tailoring the entire content experience to match a customer’s interests and needs. This kind of personalization at scale allows the sales team to deliver content and recommendations to a large audience, fostering stronger connections with potential clients.

Improve B2B Sales Data Analytics with Generative AI

Thanks to predictive analytics, AI can gather deep insights into customer behavior and preferences to help your team make better decisions about how to approach each interaction. Furthermore, the problem of having to clean data to make those decisions – consider it gone.

AI-powered tools can automatically clean and enrich sales data. This includes removing duplicate entries, standardizing data formats, and filling in missing information. Clean and enriched data ensures that sales teams work with accurate and complete information.

AI can also provide your B2B sales team with forecasting models that use historical sales data, market trends, and other relevant factors to predict future sales performance accurately. These forecasts help businesses plan strategy, allocate resources, and set realistic sales targets. You can train an AI platform like ChatGPT to fit your specific needs with effective prompt engineering.

Automate Lead Qualifying and Lead Scoring with AI

What is the likelihood that a prospective lead will actually convert? Even if your manual scoring system says 90%, you never really know. Therefore, you could be spending time on a prospect that could be a waste.

AI can help when it comes to lead scoring and qualifying promising leads. How? AI algorithms can automatically score and prioritize high-quality leads based on their likelihood to convert. This ensures that sales teams focus their efforts on leads with the highest potential, increasing efficiency and conversion rates. The role of AI in B2B marketing isn’t to replace B2B sales, it’s to help the sales and marketing teams close leads more efficiently.

To take it one step further, AI can track leads and prospects through the sales funnel, providing insights into where leads get stuck or drop off. This information guides marketing efforts to optimize the sales process and improve conversion rates.

How Does AI Affect B2B Marketing Processes?

The AI landscape changes at an ever-increasing pace. Reinforcement learning and larger-scale leaps, such as the introduction of reasoning models, have pushed AI from helping improve copy reasonably well a few years ago to affecting the job market. Unless legislation changes the trajectory of AI growth, we can expect AI-based tools to impact B2B marketing more and more. So, how can you turn yourself into a “10X” marketer of the future?

AI Makes You More Efficient

As the labor market tightens, marketers with knowledge and experience will remain in demand – should they keep up with the latest AI advancements.

Your overall productivity can skyrocket with an AI assistant by your side. Use AI to improve your knowledge base, up your writing chops (even in a non-native language), generate dozens of content or strategy ideas in seconds rather than an hour, and analyze data in ways you never knew you could.

Say you have new responsibilities at work, such as running paid social and search campaigns for the first time. Ask your favorite answer engine for an educational plan. Gemini, for instance, has a dedicated “Career guide” section.

Steer the answer engine in the right direction and upskill. Then rinse and repeat.

Customize AI to Your Needs

Perhaps your website’s conversion rate has slumped. Aside from utilizing AI to analyze performance and hypothesize on the reason behind the issue, consider customizing a chatbot to answer website visitors’ questions. A chatbot can answer product questions, schedule demos, or even guide potential customers through the majority of the buying process, freeing you up to focus on more strategic initiatives.

AI Helps Scale

Scaling your company takes hard work. Luckily, AI can help you solve this problem. AI can take the time that it would cost a team to complete a task and cut it down dramatically. Your AI software can consume far more information than a single human or marketing team. It can analyze thousands of leads at a time, create endless personalized messages, and predict trends you need to get ahead of.

Utilize AI for Continuous B2B Optimization

Artificial Intelligence is just that: computer learning. Algorithms constantly evolve, learn, and improve. AI can optimize paid media, leaky funnels, drop-off points, and more by consistently getting better at what it does. If you leverage AI, you’ll stay ahead of the curve before you even realize you’re behind it.

Artificial Intelligence has proven its value as more than just a buzzword: it’s a transformative force in the world of B2B marketing. From refining customer insights to automating processes and enhancing the efficiency of sales teams, AI empowers businesses to stay competitive and drive growth.

As AI continues to evolve, it will take on an increasingly significant role in B2B marketing. Embracing this technology and harnessing its capabilities has moved from a nice option to an absolute necessity for businesses looking to thrive in the digital age. So, start exploring the world of AI in B2B marketing today, and prepare to reap the rewards of innovation and progress.

The post The Ultimate Guide to Leveraging AI in B2B Marketing appeared first on NoGood™: Growth Marketing Agency.