Many B2B companies have very little, to no actual marketing of their products or services. That is especially true for small manufacturers. That's why it makes so much sense for them to get started with marketing the Inbound way (e.g., the effective, most rewarding, most profitable, etc... :)).
The first step in Inbound Marketing for a B2B company is getting SUPER clear on who you want to attract to your website, convert into a lead, close into a sale and delight into a raving, referring fan.
The who, also known as your buyer persona(s), is the center of your Inbound Marketing efforts, strategy and tactics.
- The terms you rank for in search engines (SEO) are focused on them.
- Your content marketing speaks to them.
- Your calls to action appeal to them.
- Your landing pages are focused on what makes them take action.
- Your lead nurturing workflows appeal to their specific journey to a purchase.
- Your sales process is crafted around them.
- Your post-sale support and ongoing sales efforts are focused on them.
Everything in your sales and marketing world should revolve around your buyer persona(s)! That is, if you want to get the most bang for your buck, return on investment and sales.
You Will Want To Skip This. Don't!
The process of crafting and understanding your buyer personas is one that can easily be side stepped at the expense of everything I outlined above. Don't take that shortcut. It's not worth it.
Ask yourself if you'd like to look back a year or two from now and realize how much time, money and effort you wasted by not targeting all of your efforts to your best buyers. I can guarantee that you would be much better served to spend the time up front to do the Buyer Persona work necessary to make everything else better.
Free Guide To Establishing Buyer Personas
If you want to use Inbound Marketing for a B2B company, you should start the process right, with buyer personas. To make that process as painless and effective as possible, grab the Free Guide below:
How to Audit your Online Marketing
If you are executing digital marketing, congratulations! You are most likely already one step ahead of your competition, and making strides to meaningfully connect with prospects online. But, how do you know if you’re seeing continual success year over year, and improving your metrics?
Without the tools in place to analyze and benchmark your efforts, it is impossible to scale your online marketing and ensure continuous success.
