7 Tips on Planning an Effective B2B Field Marketing Strategy

Does your company have an effective B2B field marketing strategy? Even if the sales team is able to convert B2B prospects into customers, there's probably room for improvement. And by tweaking your field marketing strategy, you'll reap the benefits of a streamlined nurturing process with a higher volume of B2B qualified leads. However, it's important that you plan an effective B2B field marketing strategy to take advantage of these benefits. Investing a small amount of your time and energy into planning will greatly improve your sales department’s ability to sell its products or services. So, consider the seven following tips on planning an effective B2B field marketing strategy.

#1) Create SMART Goals

An effective B2B field marketing strategy requires goals. In other words, what do you hope to accomplish from your marketing efforts? Rather than creating generic goals, such as "generating more leads," though, you should create SMART goals. Meaning specific, measurable, achievable, results-driven, and time-bound, SMART can help you achieve more success with your field marketing strategy. SMART goals focus on a specific element that's measurable, achievable, results driven and time-bound.

An example of a SMART goal is to generate 5 meaningful appointments with 5 brand new prospects. Seems crazy? Not really. Salesleads does the hard work by uncovering identified projects. We find out who are all involved in the project and capture their names, titles, direct email and direct phone number. Now the rest is up to you.

#2) Create Buyer Personas

Creating buyer personas can help your company create stronger, more effective marketing messages that resonate with prospects. What are buyer personas exactly, and how can they help your company generate more leads? Basically, a buyer persona is a fictional representation of a key segment of your company's target audience. Depending on what your company sells exactly, you may have a half-dozen or more buyer personas. Once you've identified these personas, create personalized, highly targeted marketing messages that resonate with the audience.

#3) ABM

Account-based marketing (ABM) has become a hot trend in B2B marketing. Defined as the practice of marketing and selling to specific accounts directly, it offers a high level of user engagement while driving sales and conversions in the process. Rather than using the same approach to all prospects, for example, ABM emphasizes the use of a more personalized, custom-tailored sales strategy.

Look at the graphic of the mobile phone. The very first paragraph tells you about the company and what commercial construction project they are working on. Due to our abilities to capture information, you’ll get as much detailed information as possible so you can have a meaningful, personalized communication. As a result, our identified projects typically drive more leads.

#4) Content Marketing

If content marketing isn't a component of your company's B2B sales strategy, you should make it one. According to a study conducted by Accenture, 71% of B2B buyers research products and services online before buying them. Without a content marketing strategy -- or without an effective one -- these buyers may choose a different company from which to buy their products or services. You can leverage the power of content marketing by publishing high-quality, valuable content on channels such as your company's website, blog, social media accounts and email newsletter. Even if your content doesn't directly advertise a product or service, it may still attract customers naturally.

#5) Improve Communications

Communications will directly influence your company's level of success. When a prospect wants to learn more about your product or service, he or she may attempt to call your company. If no one answers, that prospect may choose a competitor from which to buy. This is why it's important that you constantly work to improve your communications. There are a few steps you can take to achieve better communications, one of which is to use multiple channels. In addition to phone, for example, consider using online chat, social media and email. Even if a prospect can't reach you by phone, he or she can contact you via email, social media or online chat.

#6) Offer a Solution

Perhaps the most important tip for creating an effective B2B field marketing strategy is to offer a solution to the prospect's problem. Most buyers aren't interested in the features of a product or service. Rather, they are interested in its benefits. In other words, how will your company's product or service benefit the prospect's own company? This is what you should communicate with prospects. Think about what the prospect needs (e.g. a problem his or her company has encountered), and try to offer a solution to it with your company's product or service. You want to market the solution, not the product or service.

#7) Measure Analytics

Finally, include data analytics in your company's B2B field marketing strategy. Regardless of where or how you promote your company's products or services, you should measure the results of your efforts using data analytics. Key performance indicators (KPIs) like click-through rate (CTR), conversion rate and unique visits can all provide valuable insight into your field marketing strategy. If a particular tactic isn't working, you should consider changing or replacing it with a different tactic. After all, monitoring analytics is only helpful if you take action on it.