How to Ask for Referrals from Existing Customers and Earn New Clients

People aren’t shy when it comes to speaking about their experiences with brands. According to Google, “Over 2.4 billion conversations about brands take place every day in the United States”—clearly illustrating that world-of-mouth marketing is not dead. In fact, the power of word-of-mouth continues to grow and is becoming an ever-important asset for companies to exploit. But how do we as marketers influence the narrative of these conversations to positively portray our brands and help us gain more customers?

Topics: B2B Marketing, Industrial Marketing, Growth-Driven Design

Does Social “Selling” Really Work?

The dynamics of B2B selling have changed dramatically from the days when the sales person controlled the sales process. Technology has put the buyer in the driver’s seat, with the ability to access a wealth of information and data about a product or service they are interested in.

Topics: B2B Marketing, Social Media, Inbound Marketing Strategy, LinkedIn marketing, Social Media Marketing

4 Marketing Strategies That Help You Effectively Manage Your Sales Funnel

A common question we hear from our B2B clients is, “Do I really need a marketing plan if my sales pipeline is full?” First of all, congratulations—achieving a full sales pipeline is no easy task. But let’s pump the breaks for a second: why is your sales pipeline full in the first place? Unless your company has a team full of cold-calling gurus, then your saturated pipeline is most likely a result of previous marketing efforts.

Topics: B2B Marketing, Industrial Marketing, Industrial Marketing Strategy, Content Marketing Strategy, Sales Enablement, Inbound Marketing Strategy, Marketing for Manufacturers, Inbound Marketing Assessment, Buyer Personas

Are You Answering Their Questions and Solving Their Problems?

The B2B sales cycle is typically an in-depth process that can involve multiple decision makers, and in some cases, takes months or years to complete.

Most buyers are well down the sales path before they even talk to your company. A recent survey found that 71% of buyers had conducted research, and 70% had developed an informal list of potential providers, prior to being in contact with prospective suppliers.[i]

Topics: B2B Marketing, Content Marketing Agency, B2B marketing agency, Industrial Marketing Strategy, Content Marketing Services, Sales Enablement, Inbound Marketing Strategy, Sales Enablement Strategy, Marketing for Manufacturers

Leverage Existing Customers to Improve Your Bottom Line

Leveraging existing customer relationships—by creating a digital marketing strategy tailored to your customer’s needs—can yield measurable ROI. You likely have a pretty substantial inbound marketing list …1,000, 5,000, 10,000+ contacts. Of that list, somewhere around 10-20% may be active customers.

Topics: B2B Marketing, Industrial Marketing, Content Marketing Strategy, Business Development Marketing Strategies, Growth-Driven Design, Marketing for Manufacturers

Measure, Analyze, Update! 

In 2018, companies spent an average of 11.2% of company revenues on marketing.[i] It is anticipated that global media spending will reach $2.1 trillion in 2019, up from $1.6 trillion in 2014.[ii] Companies rely upon marketing to transform interest into profitable transactions, and ideally, long-term customer relationships.

Topics: B2B Marketing, Inbound Marketing, B2B marketing strategy, Industrial Marketing Strategy, B2B Inbound Marketing, Inbound Marketing Strategy, Marketing for Manufacturers

Top 6 Reasons for Manufacturers to Outsource Their B2B Marketing Efforts  

 As a manufacturing company in an increasingly competitive B2B environment, you know how difficult it is to stand out. Marketing is a sure-fire way to spread the word about your business and its unique selling proposition. You could either entrust your marketing activities to an in-house team of marketers or hire a marketing agency to take care of your marketing needs. However, if you’re concerned about the up-front costs of a marketing agency, here are 6 reasons why this is money well spent—and also, why you might not spend more after all.

Topics: B2B Marketing, B2B Inbound Marketing, Website Assessment

Find Out What Your Competitors Are Up To …

If you’re in business today, you’ve probably at least heard of inbound marketing. You may have thought about looking into it. And if your current marketing efforts are doing the job—that’s great! The reality is that your life—both professionally and personally—has felt the impact of inbound marketing, whether you are consciously aware of it or not.

Topics: B2B Marketing, Inbound Marketing, B2B Inbound Marketing, Inbound Marketing Assessment

Traditional Marketing Spend Is an Expense

A print ad is a commodity that expires. It has a shelf life. That’s a concept we’ve come to understand in the internet age. Let’s frame it in this perspective: traditional marketing spend, according to HubSpot co-founder and CTO, Dharmesh Shah, is an expense. Inbound marketing, on the other hand, is an investment in assets.

Topics: B2B Marketing, Content Marketing, B2B Inbound Marketing, Inbound Marketing Strategy

Why Personas Make All the Difference

If you are marketing to engineers, there’s something you should know. According to John Hayes, CEO of engineering.com, “Engineering marketers are now well versed in content marketing. In a recent survey, 89% of engineering marketers said that they were using content marketing as part of their overall marketing strategy.” In his article, Hayes goes on to say, “Most of them are having success,” and, “75% of engineering marketers say that content marketing is helping them deliver more qualified leads to their sales teams.”

Topics: B2B Marketing, Marketing for Manufacturers, Personas, Marketing to Engineers