LinkedIn is Changing The B2B Marketing Game.
A few days ago, I trained a sales and marketing team and reviewed the alignment talking about tools that help reframe the process. We came along with how Linkedin not only influenced Marketing and Advertising but also has a considerable impact on all the B2B companies.
So, how has LinkedIn changed the game for B2B?
In three significant ways:
B2B Advertising
B2B Marketing Strategy
Marketing and Sales Alignment
Let's see these in details:
Illustration: EPSON B2B Advertising
1. B2B Advertising
A long time ago, before the internet, B2B advertising was limited, Printing magazines, TV, Radio, and billboard ads were the channels to be.
But for targeted ads, the best you could do was trade magazines.
With the internet, something magical happened, and B2B brands suddenly could attract their audiences to a website.
The Golden Age of Inbound Marketing for B2B was born, and it sure was glorious.
You could attract visitors to your site by writing about the subjects that marketers were interested in, gaining in the search rankings, and getting organic traffic. But if you wanted to advertise online, Google was your best bet.
You could bid on all sorts of keywords around "marketing dashboard," but ultimately, your reach was limited by the number of searches made.
illustration: Google Adwords Keywords
When Facebook launched their ads platform, this offered a new and interesting way to advertise - and due to the huge reach and scale of Facebook (and then Instagram) it's been a great way to reach large audiences - but still, it's not what you can use to get in front of your audience if your audience is a specific B2B niche.
Illustration: Facebook Ads
LinkedIn Ads allows marketers to get in front of the right people and the right organizations, turning them from passive to active.
Instead of building something that attracts the customer, you can create a lead-gen machine.
B2B Marketers can get in front of the Industry they want, in terms of Company Size and Department, and get the leads you need to feed your Lead Generation engine. This was not possible before, and it's something that can make or break a company.
2. B2B Marketing Strategy
Considering how accessible it is to create a lead-gen engine, your whole Go-to-Market strategy must now include LinkedIn as a startup.
Beyond the ads, there's also the organic side.
Yourself, your CEO, your CTO, and your Marketing, Sales, and Bizdev departments can AND SHOULD be on LinkedIn daily to engage with your community and audience.
Imagine this; you just posted about the newest feature product or service, which gets lots of engagement. You can see who has just liked your post; you can reach out directly in an InMail and ask that person if they'd like to hear more about your product.
That means that instead of looking at your website as the anchor of your B2B Marketing Strategy - it's time for B2B brands to look at how LinkedIn should be the anchor. You can educate and inform your audience and generate leads.
3. Marketing/Sales Alignment
Probably one of the most overlooked and essential aspects of B2B marketing - LinkedIn brings (or can and should bring) Marketing and Sales together. LinkedIn gives B2B marketers and B2B sales the ability to work together on a single platform - execute advanced tactics together, and address your potential customers together in a single platform. It changes the relationship between marketing and sales works, not more siloed but with a common mind outcome.
If your B2B company hasn't fully embraced LinkedIn in all its splendor, get your act together and get started today.
Your entire company absolutely must align on a LinkedIn strategy, which is no more "Get the intern to do it," but it is a strategy that, ideally, all the departments should be involved to have a significant competitive edge in the coming years.
Many B2B companies, startups, and Enterprises alike struggle with digital lead-gen. From targeting the right people, at the right companies, to converting them into leads - and helping sales get those leads in your sales lifecycle until they become a customer - and making sure you have the right people and technology in place, it's no trivial task.
Foundcoo can Help you to reframe your Sales and Marketing team, or leverage the World’s Largest Professional Network for Your Business, LinkedIn.
