So, you need a digital marketing firm to fulfill all of your digital marketing needs. From social media marketing to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), web design, and e-Commerce, hiring a digital marketing agency to help build an online presence for your business can be very beneficial. But, aren’t agencies expensive?

Well, what if I told you that hiring a digital marketing agency can actually save you money? Depending on your firm’s price model, an agency can save you time and money as compared to doing it all yourself.

In this article, we are going to dive deeper into the costs and benefits of hiring a digital marketing firm. First, let’s start off with the 7 different types of billing.

7 Different Types of Marketing Agency Billing Structure

When hiring a digital marketing agency, you should always know exactly what the billing and costs will look like. In the world of digital marketing firms, there are several different billing structures including hourly, retainers, and value-based billing.

Keep reading to learn the pros and cons of these pricing structures.

1. Hourly

For a young and up-and-coming digital marketing agency, hourly billing is the ideal structure. Here’s why.

Hourly billing works well for less-experienced agencies because they may not know how long a project can take. By charging by the hour, they won’t accidentally short-change themselves, particularly if they end up with a client who requests a lot of revisions and edits.

The average blended rate for a marketing service agency in today’s market is $150 an hour to $200 an hour in most markets. In the bigger markets like New York or California, it runs closer to $250 an hour.

2. Per-Project

While the per-project billing structure is more common with freelancers, it’s still something to be aware of. You could be charged by the project, rather than the hour. The benefit of this pricing model is that you can ask for as many revisions and changes as you’d like.

In fact, you can ensure the project is tailored to your exact specifications without the risk of blowing your marketing budget. However, if you have several projects you’d like the agency to handle, per-project billing can quickly get pricy.

3. Retainers

Another pricing model is retainers. If you plan on using the agency for a significant amount of time or have several projects you’d like them to work on, a retainer is the ideal set up for a company. This type of billing will allow you to request as many projects as you need without being charged individually or by the hour.

Luckily, most digital marketing agencies prefer a monthly retainer versus a per-project setup. This can also help your business regulate your cash flow and better balance out your marketing budget.

So, how much does hiring a digital marketing agency typically cost? The current average fee for a monthly retainer contract across the U.S. will typically range between $5,000 to $20,000.

4. Recurring

Some contracts are long-term, like those involving SEO. These longer-term projects will often use a recurring billing model. This basically allows for a flexible or discounted annual pricing plan.

One benefit to this is that it allows you to establish a relationship with the agency so they continue to learn what kind of content you prefer. Plus, recurring billing will save you money compared to the hourly rates.

5. Performance-based

Typically, an agency that charges based on a performance-based model is one that is established and has the reputation to back it up. Because they have a reputation and plenty of history to prove their above-average performance, you may find a higher price tag. On the bright side, you have some assurance of the quality of work they offer.

6. Value-based

With a value-based pricing model, the agency will charge you based on the value they can bring to your company, or rather the value their work can bring to your bottom line. Typically, this will be another tactic used by more established digital marketing agencies. Similar to performance-based billing, this price model can be a good indicator of the quality of materials you will receive from the agency.

7. Point Pricing

Point pricing is one of the most unique pricing structures, and it arguably provides the highest value to the customer. Just as the name suggests, this structure is based on points. An agency will assign points based on value. For example, 1 point  = 1 hour. Typically, you can buy packages of points each month.

At Chatter Buzz, we assign a set number of points to each deliverable based on how long it takes to complete a task.  For example, a blog post may be worth 6 points, but a landing page may be worth 20 points since it’ll require more time to complete.  The #1 reason you should hire an agency that uses point pricing?

Points NEVER change! If it takes longer for the agency to complete the deliverable than anticipated, you’re never charged extra as you would be with an hourly rate. Here are some other amazing benefits of point pricing:

• Transferrable from month-to-month
• Available to buy in packages
• YOU get to choose how you use every point

Now that you understand the 7 different types of billing, let’s talk about the advantages of hiring a digital marketing agency over a team of freelancers.

Hiring a Digital Marketing Agency vs. Freelancers

Depending on the size of your business, you may have considered a freelancer to complete the digital marketing projects you have in mind. There are plenty of ways this can be beneficial, but also many reasons to turn to an agency.

One of the biggest reasons to use an agency is that you can save money. Let me explain.

Say you need to create an entire digital campaign for your business. For that, you will want to invest in social media posts, digital ads, video ads, and maybe even a podcast ad. To make all these pieces seamlessly fit together, you’ll need a copywriter, graphic designer, maybe a scriptwriter, an actor or voiceover specialist, and someone to actually implement all these marketing materials.

That’s a HUGE team of freelancers! Not to mention, they will all require you to pay per project so each and every part of your digital marketing campaign is costing a fee for each and every freelancer you have working on it.

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So, what if you hire another in-house employee to join your team instead?

This also isn’t an optimal option for your business’ bank account. In-house hires require hours of training, a costly salary, bonuses, healthcare, a computer… need I say more?

But when you hire a full-service agency, they’re already experts in their field, come equipped with the best tools and tech, and cost less than an average yearly salary!

While this may sound too good to be true, I assure you it isn’t!

BUT it’s important to note that full-service teams are not a good fit for every business. Factors like size of the business and monthly revenue, should all be taken into consideration before you make any big decisions. Luckily, there are several free resources available to business to help them determine if in-house is a good fit for their specific needs.

Remember: you should always strive to see a return on investment to ensure you’re hired help is helping and not hurting your business!

Do you think your business will benefit from a full-service team? Read on!

Agencies Offer Flat Monthly-Retainer Fees

Instead, you could pay a flat monthly-retainer fee by hiring a digital marketing agency. Since most firms range between $1,000 to $3,000, you won’t have to worry about how many revisions you want or if you think of another facet to add to your campaign. You can get a complete and thorough digital marketing campaign for the one fee.

It’s like the difference between renting a car and driving your own. Sure, renting a car is the right choice when you’re on vacation. But, for everyday use, your own is much cheaper. Similarly, you can save a ton of money simply by hiring a digital marketing agency with a monthly retainer.

Price of an Agency vs. Freelancers

To compare the two using numbers, you can expect to spend anywhere from a couple hundred dollars to thousands for a freelancer. The average hourly rate for a freelancer is between $50 and $100. Imagine paying a team of freelancers $50 to $100 each every hour for your marketing campaign.

Instead, you could pay $1,000 to $3,000 for an agency and not have to count the hours or cut corners.

3 Advantages of Hiring a Digital Marketing Agency

Clearly, there are plenty of benefits to hiring a digital marketing agency. Here are just a few to keep in mind:

1. Save Money

Hiring the right agency will save you money, especially for larger projects or campaigns. Freelancers who charge by the hour can add up quickly. Another option is to hire the people you need, but then there are the costs of benefits and equipment they will need.

By hiring an agency, you will be able to avoid the cost of on-boarding new employees and providing benefits. Plus you’ll work with people who have specialized skills for what you need. This leads to the next advantage of a digital marketing firm.

2. Receive Specialized Attention

An agency will be staffed with people who have dedicated their careers to exactly what you need for a great digital marketing campaign. Furthermore, if you want to focus on data-driven results or improve your ROI, you can hire a technology marketing agency to ensure they pay special attention to this region of your business.

In the fee you pay, you receive the specialized attention to your company that you need to increase your customer base and your revenue. Essentially, you’re paying for the skills necessary to make a digital marketing campaign work.

3. Increase your Revenue

Did you know that a successful digital marketing strategy can increase your revenue? For a marketing campaign to do well, it has to look professional and use certain techniques to reach your target customers.

Here’s the good news: A digital marketing agency will know exactly how to make that happen. All you have to do is sit back, relax, and enjoy the increased revenue and broader customer base that comes from a great campaign.

Conclusion

As you can see, hiring a digital marketing agency can provide your business with several great benefits. Prioritize your projects and fully determine your budget before hiring one at all.

The post Hiring A Digital Marketing Agency: The Cost And The Benefits appeared first on Chatter Buzz.

In the ever-evolving world of B2B marketing, B2B demand generation has emerged as a unique way to propel a business’s offer to the forefront of the client’s mind. But, how?

It’s pretty simple, actually… 

B2B demand generation is a marketing technique that creates “demand” for your product or service BEFORE the client actually needs it. The idea is to prime the client towards your brand in such a way that they will automatically choose to do business with you the minute they actually need your product or service.

Similar to how lead generation seeks to pull in qualified leads, demand generation aims to cultivate genuine demand! Pretty cool, huh? 

So, how can your business apply B2B demand generation to its marketing campaigns? 

In this guide, we will delve into the ins-and-outs of B2B demand generation, including:

• What is B2B demand generation?
• Lead generation vs demand generation
• Why should you employ a B2B demand generation strategy?
• 7 steps to a successful B2B demand generation strategy
• How to optimize your strategy for long-term growth

Ready to take your client’s growth potential to new heights? Let’s get started!

What Is B2B Demand Generation?

In essence, B2B demand generation is exactly what it sounds like: A method for businesses to attract demand from other businesses to purchase their products or services.

But it’s so much more than that.

This process is focused on the goal of driving awareness and interest in your organization’s goods or services. From there, the new ideal clients, or leads, learn about your product and desire to become your customers.

You may think this is a different way of saying lead generation, but it’s not. Keep reading to learn the key differences between lead generation vs demand generation.

Differences Between Lead Generation and Demand Generation

Although lead generation and demand generation can work together to achieve a common goal, they are 2 very distinct strategies. 

For starters, lead generation targets specific subsets of the market. It focuses on stimulating and holding the interest of potential customers that will eventually get shuffled into a sales pipeline. While lead generation is more targeted and will see a quicker return on investment, the sales cycle is short-lived. 

On the other hand, demand generation focuses on long-term engagement with ideal customer profiles, or ICPs. Contrary to lead generation, B2B demand generation uses a much longer, personalized, and intricate sales funnel.

Although you should be aware that it will take time to see the results of B2B Demand Generation, you must know that your patience will pay off… in BIG ways $$$! After all, growing your B2B business is more akin to a marathon, not a sprint.  

Why Should You Employ a B2B Demand Generation Strategy?

You might be thinking to yourself, “My company is doing alright, should I still consider a B2B demand generation strategy?” 

Yes. Whether your business is already strong or not, a B2B demand generation strategy can help you grow even stronger! Here’s why. 

A successful B2B demand generation strategy sets companies up for success and pushes them far above the competition. Instead of slowly trudging towards your business growth goals, B2B demand generation may help you reach higher quality clients and achieve a lofty ROI faster. 

If you are looking for the benefits of strategic B2B Demand Generation, here are to name just a few:

Benefit #1: B2B Demand Generation Targets High-Quality Clients

As a B2B enterprise, your biggest goal is to land the crème de la crème of clients. You don’t want to waste your time with small fish that won’t actually convert. You want to hook the high-value clients that will partner with you for years to come! 

By employing targeted campaigns across various channels such as social media, content marketing, email, and events, you can attract prospects who are genuinely interested in your offerings. 

This also ensures your sales team won’t waste time chasing leads that are unlikely to convert. Instead, you put all of your energy towards solid leads, which yields higher conversion rates and improved ROI.

We’ll explain how to target high-quality clients later on! 

Benefit #2: B2B Demand Generation Increases Brand Credibility 

Once you acquire high-quality leads, you’ll engage with larger and more reputable companies. This association inherently enhances your brand’s credibility. 

Credibility stems from various sources, but active customers serve as a primary indicator. Just as consumers often seek out products with top ratings, businesses similarly evaluate potential partners based on their track record.

In addition to lead acquisition, B2B demand generation strategies encompass various tactics aimed at bolstering brand credibility:

• Create compelling case studies
• Provide free educational content
• Maintain consistent brand messaging that meets the needs of the client
• Emphasize transparency and best industry practices

These initiatives, along with effective messaging strategies, position your company as a thought leader within the industry. And as you know, this is a HUGE deal when it comes to brand credibility… not to mention thought leaders naturally increase SEO rank as well. Talk about a win-win.

When other businesses recognize your brand as a leading authority, it confirms that your company is operating at its highest level of performance.

Moreover, B2B demand generation plays a crucial role in building brand equity and credibility within B2B space. Through consistent and value-driven communication, companies can position themselves as trusted advisors in their respective industries. 

This not only helps attract new customers, but it also retains existing ones since businesses are more likely to partner with companies they perceive as reliable and knowledgeable.

Benefit #3: B2B Demand Generation Fosters Long-Term B2B Partnerships

Lastly, demand generation fosters long-term relationships with clients through tailored lead nurture campaigns such as a skillfully targeted and highly valuable email sequence.

Why nurture campaigns? 

Lead nurture campaigns seek to deliver relevant and personalized content at each stage of the buying process. Yes, you guessed it – it all boils down to your sales funnel!  

This allows businesses to engage with prospects on a deeper level, addressing their pain points and providing solutions. This results in increased:

• Increased customer satisfaction
• Strengthened loyalty
• Stronger brand advocacy
• Repeated business
• Organic referrals

In a competitive landscape where customer acquisition costs are rising, investing in B2B demand generation is not just a strategic choice but a NECESSITY for driving success and staying ahead of the curve.

Before we get into how to create the best B2B demand generation strategy for your business, let’s take a quick look at market dynamics. 

Market Dynamics for B2B Demand Generation

Here’s a simple marketing truth: You MUST understand your industry’s market dynamics if you want your business to adapt and respond to the ever-changing needs of your clientele. The same is true for B2B demand generation marketing. 

So, what exactly do we mean by market dynamics? 

Simply put, market dynamics refer to the forces that influence behavior and shape the overall demand for products or services. These forces can include factors like: 

• Economic conditions 
• Technological advancements
• Competitive landscape
• Social trends

By analyzing market dynamics, you can gain valuable insights into your target audience’s preferences and pain points. This knowledge enables you to tailor your marketing efforts towards meeting these specific needs effectively.

7 Powerful Steps to a Successful B2B Demand Generation Strategy

Ready to learn how to create a B2B demand generation strategy for your business? Here are 7 valuable steps to get you started! 

1. Identify Your Target Audience for Maximum Impact

As promised, let’s talk about how to attract those high-quality clients to your brand. 

Identifying and targeting the right audience is crucial in B2B demand generation strategies. Without this, you are essentially shouting into a void, hoping someone responds. You need a target.

To effectively reach and engage potential customers, businesses need to clearly understand who their target audience is and what motivates them. You can do this in 3 ways:

1. Conduct thorough market research
2. Analyze consumer behavior
3. Identify key demographics

Once businesses have a clear understanding of their target audience, they can tailor their marketing messages and campaigns to resonate with these specific groups. 

By speaking directly to the needs, interests, and pain points of their target audience, businesses will create a deeper connection with their target audience. This will ultimately increase the chances of conversion.

2. Direct Your Marketing Energy to the Right Place

Instead of wasting time and money on broad marketing efforts that may not yield results, companies should focus their efforts on reaching those companies who are most likely to be interested in their products or services. 

Imagine being able to save your team the headache of endless budget adjustments simply because you did your due diligence at the beginning! This targeted approach ensures that every dollar spent on marketing has a higher chance of generating a positive return on investment.

Where Is Your Audience Located?

If your ideal clients only use LinkedIn and Google, why waste any effort with Facebook Ads? If your consumer behavior reports indicate that the best time to contact them is between 1-4PM, why would you bother sending an email first thing in the morning?

These are questions you must ask yourself from the beginning! Don’t waste your time and money on marketing efforts that will miss the mark. 

Here’s the simple truth: Businesses enhance the effectiveness of their demand generation endeavors when they target the right audience and employ the right marketing tactics from the get-go. 

Now, let’s talk about how you should target your audience through engaging, valuable, and personalized content.

3. Craft Compelling Content

In this step, we’re going to tell you about B2B demand generation content. Keep in mind, this varies slightly from your traditional lead generation content. The goal of demand-oriented content is to foster… well… DEMAND! 

How to Create Demand-Driven Messaging

Now that you have defined your audience, it’s time to create content that will hook them at first sight.

Your content is extremely important in the realm of B2B demand generation and business growth. In order to capture the attention of another business, businesses must create messaging that speaks directly to their audience’s needs.

Route Out Client Pain Points

A business’s product or service should solve a problem; make something easier, faster, more organized or technologically updated. What the problem it solves needs to be the focus of the campaign. 

It’s like the infomercials that start with questions:

• Are you tired of…
• Sick of…
• Need help with…

These emphasize the pain points that the product will solve. If the pain point is known, the marketing can be made more relatable and memorable for its target audience.

Here’s where this step differs from traditional lead generation…

The secret to demand generation is to CREATE DEMAND. Sometimes, you might need to define a problem that your client might not even know they have. Once you develop the problem and present it to them, they’ll begin to desire a solution to that problem.

And guess what? Your brand will be the answer to that pain point! Demand generation requires you to think outside of the box and position yourself as a unique and different solution to perceived problems. 

Position the Client as the Hero

At its core, everyone wants to be the hero of the story. So why not fulfill that here?

When marketing to your target audience, you should always make them the focal point of your message… NOT your company. When done properly, you will evoke an emotional response within them. It’s a response they will hold on to and remember for days after seeing your content. 

The creative content should put the audience at the centerpiece of its marketing. It will show that the company is there to help guide them to a solution. When that feeling is evoked, your target audience is more likely to convert.

Highlight a Unique Value Proposition

While the other two points are important, there will always be the one question that is asked:

“What makes you different?”

This goes back to the pain points earlier. What can make you different is if you perform a necessary task faster, better, more efficiently. It can even be a value or mission for the company as a whole. Does your company strive to make change in an industry or provide better services?

This question needs to be answered clearly and concisely. Setting one business apart from the others will always be a deciding factor for people and it usually has nothing to do with price.

4. Reach Clients through Various Channels

Digital marketing channels can be leveraged to maximize reach and engagement for businesses in today’s highly competitive market. With the rapid advancement of technology and increasing dependence on online platforms, businesses must adapt their marketing strategies to effectively reach their target audience.

Digital marketing channels such as: 

• Social Media
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Email Marketing
• Content Marketing
• Paid Advertising

These provide numerous opportunities to connect. These channels allow businesses to create engaging and personalized content that resonates with their target audience while also providing a platform for interaction and feedback.

How to Maximize Reach through Digital Marketing Channels

Businesses shouldn’t only increase brand visibility, but they should also build meaningful relationships with these potential partners. Through targeted advertisements or compelling social media campaigns, companies can drive traffic to their website or other digital platforms where they can further engage users through informative content or attractive offers.

Here’s an example.

A few years ago, Owlet Baby Care ran a campaign for their new monitor. During their research, they found that 81% of mothers were using Facebook over other channels. They then used a creative with pastel accent colors against a night sky background, animated illustrations, smooth scrolling motion and product highlights accompanied by a “Shop Now” button.

This increased their CTR by 55% and order values increased by 19%.

To master the art of demand generation, you must utilize various digital marketing channels effectively. When you incorporate these tactics into your overall demand generation strategy, it will enable you to stay ahead of the competition and build strong connections with your customer base.

5. Generate & Nurture High-Quality Leads

Next, the ability to generate and nurture leads is an essential for business growth. To effectively generate leads, it is important to conduct market research to gain insights into consumer preferences, behaviors, and needs.

Diversify Your Social Platforms

Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Reddit, Snapchat, and even TikTok are all powerful tools for lead generation. 

With millions of users who scroll, click, like, and interact daily, these platforms offer vast opportunities to capture attention. As mentioned earlier, your responsibility is to ensure that the content they engage with is sourced from your business’s content page.

At the heart of this strategy lies the creation of quality, relatable content and the promotion of awareness across channels where your target audience is most active. You can effectively reach and engage potential leads, ultimately driving business growth through the proper leverage of these channels.

Invest in Marketing Automations

Everyone has been enrolled in automations by a company. Texts about the latest perks, reminders about upcoming events, and emails about flash sales are just a few of the goals for different types of automations. 

Marketing automation can be created through many different platforms and all that is needed from your potential client as a phone number or email address. These messages are created and dispersed so a business can add touch points with their lead. 

On average, a client needs 5 touch points before they convert. Although a simple online impression may work from time to time, direct outreach is more likely to yield stronger results.

6. Analyze the Results of Your Campaigns

The target audience has been identified, the content has been created, and it’s going out to all of these new potential clients for the business. Now what?

As former marketing great Peter Druker said, “What gets measured, gets managed.” So it’s time to measure.

How to Measure the Success of Your B2B Demand Generation Campaign

Once the campaign is outlined, businesses need to know what metrics will determine if the campaign worked. They also need to set up check-ins so they can know if the campaign is not working, they can shift without losing too much time.

The measurement of success will depend on different factors depending on the industry a business is operating in. What key performance indicators will determine success over failure? 

Here are just a few KPIs that many companies have used to measure their success:

• Cost Per Click
• Total Leads
• Total Conversions
• Cost Per Lead
• Appointments Booked

These are just a few different KPIs that should be tracked over the life of the campaign. Businesses can compare month-to-month or even year-to-year with the right metrics and set up through a CRM or marketing platform. 

7. Optimize Your Strategy for Long-Term Growth

The B2B demand generation strategy is NOT a “set it and forget it” venture. It must be optimized for the long-term. The goal of B2B demand generation is to source leads over the long-term verse in short bursts.

Here are some of the best ways to ensure your strategy stays sound:

Establish Clear Goals

Setting goals is the key to success. There are even acronyms to help set goals like S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-Based). 

A clear goal will provide a solid foundation for a company that is just starting out with B2B demand generation. It keeps the goals in a frame that can be made easily understandable for everyone involved.

Goals should also be set further out. Once one goal is reached, another goal should be there like a weightlifter. Lifting 225 lbs is great, but once you lift it, it’s time to go higher!

Use Data Analytics

Businesses gain valuable understanding from both past experiences and customer behaviors, enabling them to refine their strategies and leverage data-driven insights. With this, businesses can further optimize their efforts through predictive analytics and personalized targeting to maximize the impact of their campaigns.

With a focus on data analytics, businesses can unlock invaluable insights that inform every aspect of their lead generation process. 

When your team analyzes historical data and monitors ongoing customer interactions, you will identify patterns, preferences, and new pain points, which will allow you to continue using a tailored approach that truly resonates with your target audience. 

Test Different Channels

Marketing is always evolving. A tactic that may work today might become obsolete by next year due to technological advancements, new software updates, and social pressures. That is why it is best to test different channels.

It’s important to stay up to date on these changes to better equip yourself for future marketing shifts. For example, no one was ready when Elon Musk bought Twitter and rebranded to X. Partners and advertisers pulled their funding almost immediately. Who’s to say something similar won’t happen to Facebook or HubSpot?

Testing different channels can also position your company as an early adopter of new technology. If businesses want to continue to be thought leaders, this is an excellent step to take.

Final Thoughts

At the end of the day, effective B2B demand generation is not just a strategy; it’s a journey that requires adaptability, innovation, and a deep understanding of your target audience. 

At Chatter Buzz, we recognize the importance of staying ahead of the curve. Our approach to lead generation integrates cutting-edge techniques, data-driven insights, and our years of expertise to help businesses thrive in today’s competitive environment.

Whether you’re looking to expand your client base, increase brand awareness, or drive conversions, Chatter Buzz is here to guide you every step of the way. 

Let’s embark on this journey together and unlock the full potential of your business. Contact us today to get a FREE strategy session and learn how we can elevate your B2B demand generation efforts to propel your company to new heights.

The post B2B Demand Generation: Your All-Inclusive Strategic Guide appeared first on Chatter Buzz.

The first step to a successful account based marketing (ABM) campaign is to identify your high-value clients. After all, the goal of ABM is to pursue very specific, high-value accounts.

Also known as Ideal Customer Profiles (or ICPs for short), these high profile customers should make up the majority of your bottom line. The only problem is… you have no idea where to start! How on earth do you identify and market to these accounts?

Don’t worry. If you’re a beginner to ABM, then you’ve come to the right place.

In this article, we’ll teach you how to easily identify, target, and market to high-value clients.

Keep reading to learn:

• How to identify your ideal customer profile (worksheet provided)
• Unlocking the buyer committee
• ICP vs buyer persona: what’s the difference?
• Real-life ICP example
• 5 fool-proof ways to target high-value clients
• FREE Ideal Customer Profile Template

Let’s dive right in!

What is an Ideal Customer Profile? 

An ideal customer profile is exactly what it sounds like. It describes the most ideal type of company account that you DREAM of doing business with.

For B2B, ICPs are accounts that you believe would be a perfect match for your products or services.

Oftentimes, they are high-value clients that have a very specific need that only your company can solve. Furthermore, they have a lofty budget that can accommodate the costs of your products or services AND are willing to invest in the time it takes to partner with your team.

So, how do you identify your ICP?

How to Identify an Ideal Customer Profile

Here’s an insider secret: The BEST way to find your ideal customer profile is to take a look at your CURRENT clients and interview them. This is particularly important if you have a strong network of long-term clients that have worked with you for many months – if not years.

These clients will give you a good idea of what they find most valuable in your brand and your offering. Plus, they will paint a good picture of the type of enterprise accounts you should target (i.e. account demographics – number of employees, location, budget, and industry). Chances are, your ICP will have similar interests and work in similar industries.

ICP 101: Questions to Ask

When identifying your ICP, you’ll want to explore a fictitious business that you believe would be the perfect enterprise to work with. In your head, imagine your ideal client account. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

• How would they ideally respond to your sales team?
• What is their budget?
• How big are their operations?
• Where are they located?
• What are their primary needs?
• How big is their customer base
• Are these needs perfectly solved by your products or services?
• How much time are they willing to commit to migrating to or partnering with your company?

Once you answer these questions, you’ll have a pretty good idea of your ICP. Then, you can go out into the real world and search for high-value clients that fit your ICP.

Need help building your ICP? Here’s a FREE ideal customer profile template for you to download.

Unlocking the Buying Committee

Next, one of the foundational pillars of discovering your ICP is the buying committee. In essence, the buying committee is the group of people that influence buying decisions within high-value accounts. For instance, key stakeholders in the company such as CEOs, CMOs, VPs of Marketing, and Directors will make up the core of the buying committee.

Why is it important to understand this?

Because you will have to (1) tailor marketing and sales directives towards each member of the buying committee and (2) know the desires, needs, and pain points of the stakeholders.

Who Makes Up the Buying Committee?

To keep it simple, the buying committee is made up of 4 types of people:

1. Champions: Key stakeholders in the company that are in charge of initial vendor research. Typically, they will become the end-users of your offering and are the face of the company (such as the CEO)
2. Decision Makers: Senior executives that actively participate in the deal. They are usually in charge of big decisions, such as negotiations, budget approval, and budget delegation
3. Influencers: People both inside and outside of the business that provide valuable feedback and opinions about the deal. For instance, an external consultant hired by the CEO would be considered an influencer
4. Blockers: Members of the buying committee that are wary of or against your solution. Oftentimes, these people have doubts about the efficacy, price, or value of your offering. They will speak up about their concerns to key decision makers

It’s your responsibility to identify and research each type of committee member in the accounts you pursue. Each person plays a big role in the decision to choose your company as a partner, so it is wise to really investigate the buying committee before you pursue the high-value client.

ICP vs Buyer Persona: What’s the Difference?

An ICP sounds a lot like buyer persona. In fact, a buyer persona often work in tandem with an ICP. However, it’s important to understand that they aren’t the same thing.

On one hand, a buyer persona describes an individual person or audience segment that would benefit from your products or services. On the other hand, an ideal customer profile captures the overall business account that you are targeting. For instance, if your ICP is a chain of hospitals, then your buyer persona would likely describe a high-ranking official that works for the hospital chain, such as the operational manager or director.

In general, buyer personas and ICPs can help direct your marketing and sales teams to work together to reach a common goal (which is, in essence, the purpose of account based marketing).

Now let’s take a quick look at an example of a company who has mastered their ICP and has drawn in many ideal clients because of it.

Khameleon Software: ICPs for a Niche Software Solution

Khameleon offers a specialized enterprise resource planning system made for project-based dealerships. This B2B company has a very specific niche market: commercial furniture dealers.

Since Khameleon uses account-based marketing to achieve the vast majority of their marketing goals, the company has developed a strong understanding of their ideal customer profile: high-value office furniture dealers.

Over the years, Khameleon has created long-lasting partnerships with big-name members of the commercial furniture world, including Haworth. They also aligned with integrations that project-based dealerships would find valuable, such as Avalara, Configura, and SolomonCoyle. These alliances allow them to appeal greatly to their ICP, which quickly turn into long-term, high-value clients.

Through these unique partnerships and integrations networks, along with a solid offering, a strong understanding of their ICP, and a tactical ABM strategy, Khameleon has successfully defined, targeted, and reached high-value clients.

5 Fool-Proof Ways to Target High-Value Clients

So, how can YOU target and market to YOUR high-value clients? Here are 5 must-use tactics to land your dream accounts.

1. Provide a Desirable Offering

First and foremost, your product or service MUST provide immense value to your ideal clients. There’s a good chance your offering costs a pretty penny, not to mention all of the hours it potentially takes to onboard your products or services.

If you offer a high involvement, high priced offering, then you have to make sure you can adequately explain the value your clients will receive when they choose to work with you.

Work with Compatible Enterprises

Here’s a good rule of thumb to follow: Only market to enterprise accounts that you believe will have the best chance of working with your company. Through research and analytics, you can identify accounts that have:

1. A need for your product or service
2. A budget to support your offering
3. The ability to invest time into the onboarding process

Once you know what makes your offering desirable (and stand out from the competition) AND identify the right company accounts to pursue, then follow this next step.

2. Get to Know Key Stakeholders (AKA: The Buying Committee)

Assuming you’ve defined your ICP and already have a list of company accounts you’d like to target, we recommend you take the time to research all of the main players in each account. As we mentioned before, the key stakeholders are part of the enterprise’s buying committee.

Ask the following questions:

• Who is the CEO?
• Who works under them?
• How many employees does the business have?
• And, of those employees, who makes the big decisions?
• Are there any key influencers (both internal and external) that persuade in favor or against your offering?
• Who are the blockers and what are their pain points?

When it comes time to market to the key stakeholders in the account, you’ll want to create content that resonates with each individual you target. This might mean you’ll have to build different campaigns for the CEO, CMO, CFO, and other important account heads.

At this time, your sales and marketing team will have to work together to create a strategy that will win over each stakeholder.

3. Ask the Right Questions

Next, when targeting high-value clients, you have to make sure your business is the right fit for them. Otherwise, you’re wasting a lot of marketing resources on a deal that will likely fall through.

In particular, you need to ask the right questions from the get-go (even before you reach out to stakeholders!). Proper research and analysis is extremely important if you want to land a “prize account.”

Rule Out Legal Restrictions

For instance, does the client in question stipulate any legal or contractual limitations? In other words, are there any legal conflicts of interest that would cause problems for you down the road. For example, do you already work with an account that is a direct competitor for any of your ideal clients?

Next, make sure there aren’t any location-based restrictions that would inhibit you from doing business with the desired account. If you uncover these hurdles from the very beginning, it will save you a lot of time and money in the long run.

4. Build a Relationship with High-Value Accounts

Account based marketing is all about relationships! There’s a good chance your product or service takes a lofty investment of time or money (sometimes BOTH) to onboard. Therefore, it’s extremely important to establish a trustworthy, transparent, and honest relationship with key stakeholders from the very beginning.

Relationships Resolve Risk for the Client

The point of the relationship is to alleviate any pain points the client may have about your brand and offering.

If they are going to invest a lot of capital into your business, then they need to know upfront if your solution will really work for them. You want to show them how easy you are to work with and that you have their best interests in mind. This requires strong relationship-building skills on your part to build this initial foundation.

5. Provide Value from the Get-Go

A simple way to initiate a relationship is to offer a free asset, such as a useful webinar, an informative guide, or a free demo of your service. Work with each lead one-on-one and provide REAL value that is PERSONALIZED to each contact.

The more you can tailor your content to the individual account, the easier it will be to create a foundation of mutual trust and support.

Pro-Tip: Ask your current clients what they value most in their partnership with you. Their answers will give you a good idea of what future clients will find value in as well.

Final Thoughts (& FREE ICP Template)

If you are a B2B company, then you most likely cater to high-value clients! When you create an ideal customer profile, you’ll be able to target the right accounts that best match your business model. Then, you can successfully align your account based marketing efforts to each individual client.

Need help building your ICP? Here’s a FREE ideal customer profile template for you to download.

If you need further help, feel free to reach out to us anytime!

At Chatter Buzz, we have a whole team of digital marketing experts that have years of experience with B2B strategies. Our strategists are ready to help you create the best ICP for your ABM strategy.

The post High-Value Clients: How to Identify Ideal Customer Profiles appeared first on Chatter Buzz.

Are you thinking about adding some account based marketing principles into your overall marketing strategy? If so, this has probably led you to ask the question, “Does account based marketing (ABM) mix well with other strategies?”

This is a completely reasonable question. After all, you’ve probably invested a lot of time and energy into your current campaigns. The last thing you want to do is flush them all down the drain.

Here’s the thing: It’s no secret that B2B companies such as SaaS and manufacturing industries benefit greatly when they adopt an ABM playbook to drive sales. This is because ABM allows you to really focus on, target, and pursue big accounts that have the best chances of converting into long-term clients.

But, is ABM the only strategy you should use? Or can you mix it together with other campaign styles such as lead generation? Let’s find out!

PSA: There’s No One-Size-Fits-All Approach to Marketing

Here’s the quick answer: YES. You can mix ABM with other marketing strategies.

Since there’s no single magic marketing trick that will work for every business out there, companies often have to mix and match different tactics to get the right result. Although you can look at industry trends and get a good idea of which strategy might work best for you, there are times where you might have to get creative to really reach your goals.

For instance, although ABM is commonly used by B2B industries and generally produces great results, you might need to combine other marketing practices to really reach your specific consumers. Depending on your niche audience and the products and services you offer, you might need to add a pinch of account based marketing principles here, throw in a dash of lead generation there, and wrap it all up with some retention or relationship marketing techniques.

The real question you should be asking is this: SHOULD you add ABM to your overall strategy?

When to Adopt Account Based Marketing Principles

Consider using ABM if…

1. You have a high-involvement and/or a high-cost offering
2. You have specific high-value accounts that you would like to work with
3. You need to foster a strong relationship with each account before they are ready to partner with you
4. You want to focus on larger deal sizes
5. Your sales and marketing team are willing to work together

Furthermore, keep in mind that ABM often requires businesses to invest in predictive analytics, intent data, and a good CRM system. These ABM tools will help you pinpoint the best accounts to market to first (in other words, the accounts that are most likely to convert and give you a strong ROI).

Now, let’s answer the question:

Should You Add ABM to Your Overall Strategy?

If you checked off all 5 points in the list above, then YES. You should definitely add account based strategy principles to your overall strategy! ESPECIALLY if you have a high-involvement, high-cost offering and you cater to very specific high-value accounts.

But, what if you only checked a few boxes off of the list? YES, you can still benefit from ABM tactics, you just have to decide what type of principles you would like to implement and by how much.

It’s All About the Right Ratio

If you’re not already employing account based marketing principles, then you most likely use traditional inbound marketing (i.e. lead generation and content marketing). Here’s the good news: You can run ABM parallel with your inbound campaigns. The secret is to find the right ratio that best fits you and your consumers.

So, how do you come up with the right ratio? Consider the following:

• Your brand
  • Who are you and what do you offer?
  • Does ABM make sense for your brand?
• Your existing clients
  • How do they respond to your current lead-based marketing strategy?
  • How involved are they with your brand?
  • Are strong brand-client relationships important to them?
• Your target audience
  • Which high-value accounts are you targeting?
  • What are their demographics?
  • Where are they located?
• Your resources
  • Are you willing to invest in specialized tools to optimize an ABM approach?
  • Are your marketing and sales departments willing to work together?
• Your company’s level of maturity
  • What stage of growth are you in?

Depending on your answers to these questions, you can cook up the right ratio for your strategy. Whether it’s a perfect 50/50 mix of ABM and lead-based marketing, or if it’s 80/20 or even 90/10, it really depends on your business model and clientele.

How to Mix Account Based Marketing Principles with Lead-Based Campaigns

With so many types of marketing out there, it’s only a matter of time before you start mixing different ones together. When it comes to adding account based marketing principles to your master plan, you should consider how ABM will help bolster your current strategies.

In other words, instead of diving head-first into ABM and leaving your other campaigns out in the cold, you should create an overarching strategy that capitalizes on all the facets of each marketing tactic you employ.

For example, B2B companies will often use ABM to target high-profile accounts that they definitely want to close that quarter. This requires the sales and marketing departments to get on the same page and heavily pursue these key accounts. HOWEVER, a big mistake businesses make is they stop their other lead-based campaigns, such as paid media, to focus completely on ABM. This could cause them to miss quality leads that wouldn’t be captured through ABM alone.

Send Accounts & Leads Through Their Corresponding Funnels

Depending on how your business is structured and the type of product or service you offer, you can still rake in a lot of customers through traditional inbound marketing. You just need to organize your marketing team in a way where they can easily filter the accounts that come in through your ABM funnel versus those that were captured through lead-based techniques.

Why do you need to do this?

For starters, it’s important to realize that lead generation and other inbound strategies send leads through a wide-mouth funnel, while account based marketing principles push target accounts through an inverted, narrow-mouth funnel.

Therefore, you’ll want to keep your targeted accounts and organic leads separated. This will help you keep everything in order so you can appropriately nurture the leads based on the strategy they came through.

Example of B2B Mixing ABM with Inbound Marketing

Now that you have a better understanding of how you can mix account based marketing principles into your strategy, let’s take a look at a real-time example of a B2B company that successfully did this.

Khameleon Software: Conversions Skyrocket by 8600%

Khameleon is a software company that offers a high-involvement, high-cost enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution. The company targets a very niche market of security integrators and office furniture dealers, and heavily relies on strong relationships with its partners to maintain its clients in the long run.

ABM Fosters Long-Lasting Partnerships

As you can see, Khameleon’s SaaS requires a very specific marketing approach to reach its key accounts, which makes ABM a perfect match for the company. To cater to these ideal accounts, Khameleon created several in-depth webinars, software demos, and case studies that specifically targeted the CEOs and key players of these accounts. They also used ABM tactics to build a tight-knit community among their current client base and marketed this community to prospect accounts.

When they migrate one high-profile account to their system, they often retain the account for years to come. In fact, many of their current clients have partnered with them for 10+ years! Therefore, the strong relationship-based principles employed by ABM have really benefited Khameleon’s bottom line.

Lead Generation Boosts Organic Traffic

On the other hand, lead-based tactics have also proven to be extremely valuable to Khameleon.

For example, Khameleon developed a comprehensive inbound marketing strategy that involved a strategic SEO content marketing campaign to drive organic traffic to their website. Through this particular lead-based approach, Khameleon saw their organic website traffic go up 394% and a 250% boost in qualified leads, leading to conversions increase by 8600%. 

They also implemented social media strategies (particularly through LinkedIn), email marketing campaigns, and outreach marketing. All in all, the company saw great success when it mixed particular account based marketing principles with its overall inbound marketing strategies.

Final Thoughts

At the end of the day, the vast majority of businesses mix and match all types of marketing tactics to create one overarching strategy. After all, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to marketing.

For B2B industries like manufacturing and SaaS, ABM is a great strategy to add to your master plan. Now the next question is… where do you start?

If you’re having a hard time building a fool-proof digital marketing strategy, our full-service agency can help. Chatter Buzz has years of experience creating the perfect marketing strategies for businesses of all shapes and sizes, including those in B2B industries!

We have loads of marketing expertise and FREE resources to help you get on track, such as this complete guide to digital marketing solutions for manufacturers. Reach out to us anytime, we’re one call away!

The post When to Mix Account Based Marketing Principles into Your Strategy appeared first on Chatter Buzz.

If you’re a B2B business owner, then you’ve probably heard of account-based marketing (ABM). And now, you’re curious. You want to see if there are any account-based marketing tactics that you can apply to your business strategy that will help you land more clients and ultimately, more sales.

Here’s a simple truth: ABM is a tried and true method for companies of all shapes and sizes, and is especially useful for B2B industries. If you’re interested in this strategy, then you’ve come to the right place! In this article, you will learn:

• The types of businesses that benefit from ABM
• How to profile and target your high-value client
• 6 account-based marketing tactics to win more sales
• And so much more!

Now, just in case you need a little refresher, let’s take a quick look at what ABM is.

Account-Based Marketing Tactics Defined

ABM follows a tactical strategy that pursues very specific, high-value accounts. Unlike other types of marketing, ABM invests a lot of time in account profile screening and selection. Only the accounts that are the most likely to become clients are chosen. Then, through highly-targeted campaigns, ABM seeks to build a strong rapport between the company and each account.

Oftentimes, the company creates a personalized campaign for each account it pursues. This develops a unique account-based customer experience (ABX) for the key players of the account and encourages them to become paying customers. Here’s the thing: in order to create a strong ABX, the strategy usually requires a joint team effort across the company’s departments (marketing, sales, and customer service) to see success.

We’ll go into more detail about ABX later down the road. But for now, let’s talk about the types of businesses that would excel with account-based marketing tactics.

Types of Businesses Benefit from ABM

In general, any type of business that sells a high-involvement, high-priced product or service would be a great fit for account-based marketing tactics. Typically, these types of businesses cater to a very specific niche market and are often B2B.

For instance, here are a few categories of B2B industries that would benefit from ABM:

• SaaS
• Manufacturing
• Wholesale suppliers

Now, when it comes to ABM, it’s super important to know WHO your high-value clients are. Here’s what you need to know.

Who is the High-Value Client?

The high-value client, also referred to as the high-value enterprise account or the ideal customer profile (ICP), is someone who has a major impact on your bottom line. Think of them as a prize fish. If you are able to catch them and turn them into a paying customer, you will see a BIG profit.

These “prize fish” also fit your niche market perfectly and are compatible with what you offer.

Here’s the thing: To catch a prize fish, you have to spend a lot of time profiling them, pursuing them, and building a relationship with them. Otherwise, you’ll have a really hard time getting them into your boat – especially if you are trying to sell a complicated or pricey offering.

This is where account-based marketing tactics come into play.

ABM Naturally Pursues High-Value Clients

More times than not, if you can build a strong business relationship with your high-value client, they will subscribe to your brand year after year. And since ABM is all about building personal relationships with clients, it’s a no-brainer for businesses that sell high-involvement offerings.

This is why many SaaS businesses adopt ABM strategies – it might take some time to nurture a lead and migrate them to your software platform, but once you do, you usually create long-lasting relationships with these clients and reap a high-yielding reward for years to come!

6 Account-Based Marketing Tactics to Win the High-Value Account

So, what are some ABM techniques you can add to your marketing strategy to start catching more prize fish? It’s about time we answered this question! Without further ado, here are 6 expert account-based marketing tactics to get you started.

1. Identify Your Ideal Customer Profile 

As we mentioned before, it’s extremely important to define your ICP. You’re probably wondering, “how on earth am I supposed to do that?”

Here’s the good news: it doesn’t need to be complicated. You can get started by analyzing your current customer base and find the commonalities between them. You can do this through a CRM. Be sure to consider the following characteristics:

• Company revenue
• Number of employees
• Job titles
• Type of industry
• Region

Once you’ve done that, you can go the extra mile by investing in predictive analytics software. There are a ton of different platforms out there that you can use to collect and analyze ICP data. This leads us to our next point.

2. Target Key Players in the High-Value Accounts

One of the biggest benefits of using predictive analytics software is that it helps you gather qualitative, quantitative, and predictive data on your ICP. This ultimately helps you collect valuable information on:

1. The accounts you wish to pursue
2. Key stakeholders in the accounts that you decide to pursue

Why is this important?

Because the initial interactions you have with these stakeholders can make or break your future relationship with them. You need to be able to identify the top players in the enterprise and create a custom campaign that fits their individual needs. But before you start creating campaigns, you need to check out this next account-based marketing tactic. 

3. Select the Prize Fish

Keep in mind that the goal of ABM is to select just a few prize fish accounts to pursue. Although you can opt for a “one-to-many” type of ABM strategy, it’s often a better idea to choose a “one-to-few” or “one-to-one” highly-personalized campaign. That way, you can really develop a strong customer journey plan for each individual account.

So, what’s the criteria for the perfect catch? The accounts you choose should be the most suitable for your business to partner with (i.e. it should just “feel natural” to work with each other) AND they should have the highest chance of converting into a paying customer. After all, that’s what your after, isn’t it?

Not only that, but you need to look at the possible retention rate you have with these accounts. In other words, how likely are they to stay with your brand in the long-run?

Once you have narrowed down the accounts you wish to pursue, then you need to get a strategy in place to initiate a conversation with them.

4. Personalize Your Approach to Maximize ABX

As promised, we’re going to talk a little bit more about account-based customer experience (ABX).

For businesses that offer high-involvement products or services, you want to make sure your ABX is spot on. This is where all of that data you collected on the stakeholders will come in handy. It will help you align your strategy with the overall goals of the stakeholders which, in turn, will help you foster a good relationship with them.

Build Those #RelationshipGoals

Like we mentioned before, ABM is all about building a strong relationship with your desired accounts. At the same time, you want to create content that increases ABX, drives your prospects to choose you over your competitors, and take action.

So, how do you do this? First, you need to really hone in on what your target accounts’ pain points are. Put yourself in their shoes.

• What types of questions would they ask you?
• What are their biggest problems and how will your product or service solve them?
• Why should they go into business with you?
• Are you reliable and trustworthy?
• Do you have their best interest at heart?

These are all questions you need to address BEFORE you make contact with the account. AND, keep in mind that you have to do this in a personalized way for each and every account.

Yes, this take time and resources to do this properly… but just think about the massive reward at stake! You just need one of these accounts to turn into a paying customer for you to make out pretty well!

5. Improve Your Website and Other Digital Assets

While we’re on the topic of customer experience, it would be wise to mention that general digital marketing strategies should not be put to the wayside while you’re focusing on your ABM tactics. For instance, one HUGE mistake we see business owners make time and time again is a lack of attention to their digital assets, such as their website.

Your website should offer a delightful user experience (UX) every time a high-value stakeholder visits your page. It should be quick to load, easy to read, and simple to navigate.

This is no exception. If you lack a user-friendly website, it will just make it harder for you to build a trustworthy and credible relationship with your prospects. This goes for all of your digital assets, including your social media pages, press releases, case studies, and even your email campaigns.

6. Give Them a Little Taste 

Sometimes, you need to give your prospects a little taste of what they’re missing out on. After all, no one wants to invest a ton of their time and money into something they know very little about. And you can best bet that they’ll be wondering, “what would it be like to partner with this business?”

So, what should you do to give them a little taste?

As an example, if you operate a SaaS-type business, offer your stakeholders a free trial of your service. Walk them through each step of your platform and really give them a personalized taste of what your service will do for them. You can also make a custom webinar or training guide specifically for them!

Again, we know it will take a lot of time and resources to give a tailored “taste” to each account you pursue. In some cases, you might have to give several “taste tests” for a client to finally say yes. However, at the end of the day, ABM is all about creating lasting relationships with your high-value clients. If you’re in it for the long run, chances are – they are too. With that being said, it’s worth the investment.

Final Thoughts

Account-based marketing tactics will help you land your ideal accounts, increase sales, and maintain long-lasting relationships with clients for years to come. If you take your time to master ABM from the get-go, you will see much success down the line.

Need help developing an ABM strategy for your business? Or maybe you need some assistance improving your website for UX? Don’t hesitate to reach out to one of our digital marketing strategists at Chatter Buzz for a free ABM strategy session! Just give us a call and we’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have.

The post 6 Expert Account-Based Marketing Tactics to Reach High-Value Clients appeared first on Chatter Buzz.

Account based marketing (ABM) is the marketing strategy of choice for manufacturing businesses. But the big question is, how do you successfully create and run an ABM campaign? Luckily for you, we created this all-inclusive ABM playbook to help manufacturing businesses like you learn about and adopt the best ABM strategies so you can bring in more sales!

In this ABM playbook, you will learn:

• Why ABM works so well for manufacturing businesses
• The big marketing problem manufacturers face today
• How you can benefit from ABM
• 5 pivotal steps to create a strong ABM strategy

But first, let’s define account based marketing.

What is an ABM Strategy?

Account based marketing is a type of marketing strategy that pursues very specific high-value customer accounts.

Unlike other marketing strategies like lead generation, which casts a wide net to capture as many leads as possible, ABM creates tailored campaigns that address the individual needs of each customer account.

In other words, it’s a much more pinpointed effort. A lot of energy is spent on identifying the target enterprises and creating content that best suits the needs of those accounts.

So, Why Should Manufacturing Businesses Adopt an ABM Playbook?

To answer this question, we need to take a look at a big problem that B2B industries face when it comes to marketing.

THE BIG PROBLEM

Oftentimes, manufacturing products and services demand a lot of time to acquire and onboard new accounts. This is because their offerings can be very technical in nature.

Furthermore, they usually require the buyer to invest a lot of capital. This is a massive decision for accounts to make and it can take a long time for companies to get approval to make these big financial choices.

If you don’t have the right marketing message to support these pain points and answer these objections, you will waste a lot of time and money on failed campaigns.

THE PERFECT SOLUTION

When it comes to marketing for most manufacturing businesses, you need to build a strong relationship and trust with very specific mid-to-large accounts that fit your ideal customer profile BEFORE you try to make the sale.

For starters, you need to put a lot of time and energy into proper communication with each account so they can understand the ins and outs of your product or service and eventually trust that your solution will solve their pain points. Then, and ONLY then, will they be able to make an informed decision to strike a deal with you.

So, how are you going to accomplish this? With account-based marketing, of course! 

Top 3 Benefits of ABM for Manufacturing Industries

As of 2021, the largest manufacturing subsectors in the U.S. include computer and electronics, chemical manufacturing, food and beverage products, and machinery. Due to the technicality of these industries, all of them would greatly benefit from account-based marketing.

Here’s to name just a few of the benefits you can expect to see when you adopt an ABM playbook. 

1. You Won’t Waste Time on “Small Fish”

Rule #1 in the ABM playbook: Target and pursue big fish!

Typical inbound marketing strategies, like lead generation, might not work out very well for manufacturing companies because they attempt to attract a broad range of customers rather than targeting and pursuing the best accounts that makes them the most profit. This works well usually for low-cost products and easy-to-integrate services, but not so much for expensive and potentially complicated offerings.

Instead, ABM helps you be in-front of high-value accounts and their respective decision makers.

We call these “big fish.”

If you can catch one big prize fish, you will bring in a lot of money. You need to focus your time on catching these types of fish! 

2. You Will Create Stronger B2B Relationships

Next, account-based marketing strives to build and maintain a lasting relationship between you and the enterprise accounts you pursue.

More times than not, each account you target and acquire will become extremely loyal to your brand. If you take the time it takes to create a strong relationship from the get-go, these accounts will stick with you for years to come. Account-based marketing is the cornerstone of a strong relationship.

3. You Will Convert High-Value Accounts

Let’s face it: You have a very tight niche market. Unlike other industries, your manufacturing business might only serve a small fraction of the population.

Luckily, the mid to large size accounts you want to work with are high-value customers. You only need to convert a few to see a massive increase in revenue!

With the right account-based marketing strategy in place, you will be able to target these accounts, build a lasting relationship with them, and convert them into (fingers-crossed) lifelong customers.

Your ABM Playbook: 5 Steps to Develop a Strong ABM Strategy

Keep reading to learn how to develop the perfect ABM techniques for your business.

1. Choose the Right ABM Playbook

Account-based marketing can be broken down into 3 playbooks:

1. Programmatic ABM: Create marketing campaigns at scale (one-to-many accounts)
2. Lite ABM: Tailor lightly-customized campaigns for 5-10 target accounts (one-to-few accounts)
3. Strategic ABM: Build strong, highly customized campaigns for only the most-valued accounts (one-to-one accounts)

The ABM playbook you choose depends widely on the type of manufacturing sector you work in, the products and services you offer, and the size of your niche market. Furthermore, you can choose more than one playbook to form your overall strategy.

For example, if you offer a highly technical service that requires your customers to contribute a lofty time commitment and monetary investment, then you might want to opt for the Lite ABM and Strategic ABM playbooks.

That way, you can really narrow down the most valuable accounts that you want to target. Then you can foster very personal relationships with each account through highly-tailored content campaigns.

2. Align Your Resources

Next, you should evaluate your company’s overall ABM capabilities. In this step, you will want to make sure you have the right team  / staff and additional resources in place to ensure your ABM strategy is successful.

For instance, what is your budget? Are you willing to invest in software to help you gather information about your key customer accounts and measure the performance of each campaign?

Additionally, account-based marketing often requires your sales and marketing departments to align goals. Are your departments willing to work together to achieve a common goal?

These are all considerations you need to take into account if you want your strategy to be successful!

3. Identify Key Customer Accounts

This next step is absolutely critical to master! You must identify your ideal customer profile (ICP). Your ICP is a detailed analysis of an enterprise that you think will be the perfect candidate for your products or services.

To help you establish the right ICPs, take a look at the characteristics of the current loyal customers you serve. What do they all have in common? What are their pain points and how does your brand solve these pains?

Oftentimes, your ideal customer profiles will all have similar characteristics, including:

• Geographic restrictions and needs
• Industry style
• Size and scope of business (ex. number of employees)
• Revenue and budget
• Customer base

Once you have narrowed down your ICPs and identified the right customer accounts to pursue, it’s time to engage them. 

4. Engage with Key Stakeholders

In this step, you’ll want to really hone in on the stakeholders of the enterprises you’re targeting.

• What are their names?
• What are their roles?
• How much influence do they have in making decisions for the company?
• How likely are they to change their mind during pivotal moments in the decision-making process?

Once you have thoroughly evaluated your stakeholders, you can begin the content creation process. Be sure to develop customized content and offers that target the direct needs of each account profile. The marketing content or sales copy that you will send to a CEO will be very different to what you will send to a CMO, CFO, or CIO.

Also one important note, you will also want to make sure your website is up-to-date and user-friendly so your stakeholders can easily learn about your brand.

Remember: Account-based marketing is all about building strong relationships with your target accounts! You want to foster trust with each stakeholder you reach out to.

5. Advocate for Your Target Accounts

Finally, you’ll want to create prospect-specific offers that really solve the problems of your ideal customers. More times than not, these offers will be highly customized to fit the individual needs of each account.

At this step in your ABM playbook, you will likely spend a lot of time communicating the ins and outs of your products and services with key decision-makers in each account. Make sure you focus on the customers themselves and put extra emphasis on how your business will solve their problems!

If you can effectively communicate how a long-lasting partnership between your business and theirs will help them rise to new heights, then you will see much success with your ABM strategy.

Final Takeaways

At the end of the day, your ABM playbook should be hand-tailored to your target customer accounts. If you are able to pinpoint the needs of each desired account and create a strong B2B relationship with them, you will see HUGE success with your overall ABM campaign.

If you need to help to put together the perfect ABM solution or playbook for your manufacturing business, give us a call for a free ABM strategy session.

Our team of strategists will create the perfect ABM playbook that will drive your sales and scale your business.

The post ABM Playbook for Manufacturing Industries: How to Drive More Sales appeared first on Chatter Buzz.

When it’s time to choose a marketing strategy for your B2B company, you should never make a blind decision. Why? Because certain strategies work better for different industries! This is certainly the case when it comes to account based marketing vs lead generation.

Although both marketing strategies have been proven to be wildly successful, there are many differences between the two. For instance, account based marketing has certain characteristics that make it extremely compatible with B2B. Meanwhile, lead generation tactics often harvest a higher yield for B2C companies than for B2B.

Why is that? Well, you’re about to find out!

In this article, we’re going to answer all of your questions about account based marketing vs traditional lead generation marketing, including:

• What is account based marketing?
• Why should B2B companies consider account based marketing over traditional lead generation marketing?
• Can lead generation still be fruitful for B2B companies?
• How can you easily transition to account based marketing?

Let’s get started!

What is Account Based Marketing?

Account based marketing, better known by its acronym, ABM, is a marketing technique that targets specific high-value customer accounts through the creation of tailored content and offers. Once the target accounts have been defined, marketing and sales efforts work together to address the specific needs of each account.

In other words, the goal of ABM is to pursue their ideal customer and invest a lot of marketing effort into very specific people or enterprises. As you can see, this marketing strategy is very pinpointed.

What is Traditional Lead Generation Marketing?

Lead generation is one of the primary tools used in inbound marketing, although it is sometimes implemented in outbound marketing strategies as well.

In essence, the ultimate goal of lead generation is to attract ideal prospects to a particular product or service through compelling campaigns (such as the promise of a ‘free e-book’ or ‘exclusive webinar’ that the prospect can access if they give you their email address). Once the prospect has been ‘captured,’ the lead is nurtured over time and slowly sent through the marketing funnel.

Through the strong relationship, you create with the lead during the nurturing process, the hope is to convert them into paying customers and build brand loyalty.

Unlike ABM, lead generation seeks to attract a variety of interested prospects, not just select accounts.

Account Based Marketing vs Lead Generation: The Fishing Analogy

Now let’s compare these marketing styles. To make this comparison, we’re going to use something we like to call “The Fishing Analogy.”

In general, there are 2 types of fishermen: Artisanal Fishermen and Sports Fishermen.

The Artisanal Fisherman

On one hand, artisanal fishermen have a good idea of the type of fish they would like to catch and where to find them. The type of fish they hunt for swim in big schools and are usually easy to find. The artisanal fisherman uses a big chunk of bait to attract the fish to him and then casts a wide net to capture many of them all at once.

Although each individual fish doesn’t bring in a ton of money on its own, the artisanal fisherman is able to net and pull in a lot of them onto his boat.

The Sport Fisherman

On the other hand, sport fishermen have a very specific type of fish they want to catch. Oftentimes, this fish is a prize fish, like a blackfin tuna or a marlin.

The prize fish can be hard to find and catch. In fact, the sport fisherman has to target, study, and pursue the prize fish in order to successfully catch it.

Usually, the fisherman has to use a very specific type of bait and fishing strategy (such as trolling a line) to get the prize fish to bite. However, once the sport fisherman finally catches the prize fish, it will bring in A LOT of money!

You’re probably wondering what this has to do with marketing. Let us explain.

Lead Generation Attracts Schools of Fish

Lead generation is like the artisanal fisherman. It’s a great strategy for companies that have lower priced products or services that are aimed at a larger market. Unlike the sport fisherman, the artisanal fisherman attracts fish to his boat and casts a wide net in hopes of catching many qualified fish. This is similar to the lead generation strategy.

Lead generation creates a generalized chunk of bait (such as a “free e-book”) that attracts many interested prospects into its net and then takes those qualified leads through the sales funnel.

ABM Pursues Prize Fish

Account based marketing is like the sport fisherman. This strategy is a fantastic tactic for companies that have high involvement, high priced products or services that meet the needs of a very specific target. In particular, ABM works well for industries that have a high touch packaged offering made specifically for niche markets, like enterprise accounts.

Unlike the artisanal fisherman, the sport fisherman has to pursue each prize fish and use tailored fishing tactics to catch them.  This is similar to the ABM strategy.

Instead of casting a wide net, ABM offers personalized bait that is very enticing to a particular prospect in hopes of landing the perfect catch! Once the prize prospect is lured in, the sales funnel widens as the lead is nurtured down into the funnel.

Is Account Based Marketing Better for B2B?

Now that you understand account based marketing vs lead generation, which one is the best marketing strategy for B2B companies?

The quick answer is ABM. As a matter of fact, when a business owner asks us which strategy is best for their B2B company, we almost always recommend ABM.

However, there are special considerations you must take into account before diving head-first into this strategy. After all, you want to make sure it’s the right fit for you and your team!

Be Mindful of These Considerations

For starters, ABM is most beneficial for businesses that offer high priced and very industry-specific products or services. Plus, if you have a very specific niche market with a set amount of prized fish, then this marketing strategy is for you!

Furthermore, if your offering(s) require a lot of involvement to onboard and implement (example: a complicated SaaS platform), then you should also consider ABM as your go-to marketing solution.

Lastly, if your business is unable to get real support from the marketing operations and sales teams or create high-value, personalized content at the account level, then you might want to avoid ABM. Why? Because this type of marketing takes a lot of time and dedication, so you’ll want all hands on deck! Here’s the good news: You will reap a BIG reward if you implement your strategy properly.

Can B2B Still Benefit from Lead Generation?

Yes, of course! In fact, lead generation is sometimes used in tandem with ABM. It all depends on your business model and what you are selling.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Do you have the additional capital to spend on lead-generation campaigns?
• How big is your audience? Is it worth the investment to try to draw these people in through lead generation?
• Do you have a lead nurture program to push prospects through the marketing funnel (ex. email sequences)?

If it makes sense for you to incorporate lead generation along with your ABM strategy, then go for it!

How to Transition Your Company to an ABM Strategy

Many B2B industries can benefit from this type of marketing strategy. If you think ABM is the right fit for your company, then here’s what you need to know if you want to add this strategy to your marketing mix.

1. Recognize Your Ideal Customer Profile

One of the #1 characteristics of ABM is the ‘ideal customer profile,’ also known as the ICP. Your ICP is the account (or enterprise) that would benefit the most from your product or service.

For example, Khameleon Software offers software designed specifically for project-based businesses, in particular, office furniture dealers. Their ICP would be businesses that operate in the commercial furniture industry, such as Haworth Office Furniture.

Once you know your ICP, you can create tailored content and offers that are personalized to each big account.

2. Align Your Sales and Marketing Departments

Next, you need to ensure your sales and marketing teams are on the same page when it comes to ABM marketing. You will need to target high-value accounts that hold the biggest potential business opportunity.

Since ABM starts with a particular set of accounts (which inverts the typical sales funnel), you will need to have all of your ducks in a row BEFORE you begin to market to these accounts. You will find that your sales team will be heavily involved in this process – more so at the beginning than other marketing strategies may demand.

3. Gather Rich Data on Target Accounts

In this step, you should consider if you want to invest in ABM tools, such as predictive analytics and B2B data enrichment programs. These tools will help you mine rich data from your target accounts and can help you find quantitative business information that will aid in your overall strategy. 

Final Takeaways

Account-based marketing is a fantastic strategy for B2B companies. However, we understand how difficult it can be to put together a strategy that will actually see success. ABM requires a team to plan, execute and launch.

Whether you need help deciding between account-based marketing and lead generation or you’re ready to jump straight into ABM, feel free to consult experts who have launched ABM growth sprints regularly.  Contact us for an ABM-free strategy session if you need help.

The post Account Based Marketing vs Lead Generation: Which is Better for B2B? appeared first on Chatter Buzz.

What’s the secret to increasing sales? That’s the age-old question every business owner has asked themselves. If only you could close your eyes, say a magic word, and voilà… you instantly increase sales. Unfortunately, the world doesn’t work like that.

But, don’t give up on your growth goals just yet. I have some fantastic news that will surely tickle your ears.

What if I told you that there is, in fact, a secret ingredient to increase sales. Yes, there is a magic phrase that will improve your marketing strategy tenfold. Repeat after me:“Irresistible offer.” 

If you’re asking yourself, “What on earth is an irresistible offer and how can I make one?” then you’ve come to the right place. In this article, you’ll discover:

• What is an irresistible offer?
• How to create an irresistible offer
• 5 secret ingredients of an irresistible offer that will increase sales
• And so much more!

Keep reading to learn everything you need to know on how to create an irresistible offer.

What is an Irresistible Offer?

Have you ever wondered why some businesses fail almost instantly and never gain traction while others seem to skyrocket the moment they hop on the market?

Here’s the straight and simple answer: It all has to do with WHAT they offer their customers and HOW they do it.

To understand this concept, you need to know what sets a good offer apart from a bad one.

Anatomy of a Stellar Offer

Great offers make selling a breeze. Let me repeat that. GREAT OFFERS MAKE SELLING A BREEZE! In other words, if you want to increase sales, then you need to present a foolproof offer to your customers.

We all know what an offer is. It’s the proposal of a product or service with the intent of getting customers to buy it.
Under that definition, all I have to say to you is “Buy my product” or “Subscribe to my service.” That’s my proposal. That’s my offer. But, how many of you would actually buy my product or subscribe to my service? Exactly, none of you!

That’s because the offer wasn’t very good. It didn’t give you any details about the product or service, nor did it show you how the product or service would benefit your life.

Can you see where I’m going with this? You need to create a BETTER offer – an irresistible proposition!

So, what is an irresistible offer?

An irresistible, stellar, grand slam offer is one that is superior to all other offers on the market. It’s one that is a no-brainer for your customers to subscribe to. It answers the question, “What’s in it for me?” and delivers both functional and emotional benefits to the buyer. And finally, it combines an attractive solution with a desirable proposition.

Don’t worry, I’m going to explain all of this really soon. But before we get into that, let me tell you how a bad offer can destroy your future gain.

How Your Current Offer is Killing Your Sales

Now obviously, the vast majority of us aren’t just saying “Buy XYZ. End of story.”

However, a common mistake companies make time and time again is that they will invest a HUGE portion of their resources into marketing BUT neglect the actual offer itself. In other words, they send out tons of (oftentimes very good) marketing campaigns, but their target audience finds very little value in them. This is because the offer you’re presenting is weak in your customers’ minds.

Marketing is Important, But So is Your Offer

I’m not saying that you need to toss all of your marketing efforts out of the door. Marketing and sales go hand in hand. I’m just simply highlighting that you should put a greater focus on the way you offer your brand to the consumer!

Remember: Great offers make selling a BREEZE. This means you don’t necessarily need super intricate marketing campaigns to sell your brand, although marketing (like email marketing) does play a big role in the success of a business.

The offer itself will do all of the work. It easily convinces the customer that your company is the best option on the market.

Your Irresistible Offer is More Than Your Product or Service

Something worth mentioning is that your offer makes up more than just your product or service. It should tell a story that your customers resonate with. You can sell anything if you tell the right story about it.

For example, take a look at the guy who invented Pet Rocks. He took ordinary rocks, labeled them as pets, and made millions! He didn’t need a stellar product to make a killing. He just found a way to create a superior offer that made rocks the toy of choice for children in the 70s.

At the end of the day, what I’m trying to say is that you clearly want to stop wasting time and money on marketing campaigns that have not and never will take off. If you’ve poured thousands of dollars and hours into a strategy that hasn’t paid off and you’re quickly running out of ideas as to what to do next, then DO THIS:

Spice up your offer. Make it irresistible!

How to Create an Irresistible Offer (With Examples)

Now, it’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for: HOW to create an irresistible offer. In this next section, I’m going to give you 5 important ingredients that will help you deliver a bullet-proof offer. Be sure to take notes!

1. Attractive Solution + Desirable Proposition = Increased Sales

Remember how I said an irresistible offer combines an attractive solution with a desirable proposition? Well, that’s the very first step you need to take if you want to create a grand slam offer.

As I mentioned before, your offer should be more than just your product or service. You need to shine a spotlight on the SOLUTION your brand will provide the buyer.

Say Goodbye to Painful Perceptions>

Here’s the truth: If the solution is perceived as unattractive or painful (i.e. difficult to sign up for or takes too much effort to see results), then no one will want it!

Instead, you need to find a way to position your solution as a “no-brainer” for your customers to subscribe to and then wrap it up in a desirable proposition. In other words, the format you choose to present your offer is important.

For instance, a desirable proposition could include:

• Free trial to test the product/service
• A money-back guarantee
• Social proof that the product/service works in real-time
• 24/7 help desk to serve subscribers
• Exclusive offers or limited supply of bonuses

Keep in mind that there is not a “one-size-fits-all” way to propose your offer. It varies between industries and markets. To find the best avenue to go, you will have to invest some time in research, including customer and competitor research.

An Example of an Attractive Solution and Desirable Proposition

Let me give you a real-life example that just happened to me. I recently adopted 2 guinea pigs from an animal shelter. As my piggies were settling into their new home, I began to research food options for them. Keep in mind that I’m a price-sensitive shopper that also wants to provide the best care for my animals.

Lo and behold, Facebook picked up on my quest to find the perfect food for my pets. This is what popped up on my page:

Free food for my guinea pigs? How could I possibly resist? In this instance, Andy by Anderson Hay combined an attractive solution (quality pellets) with a desirable proposition (FREE, just pay to ship).

And just to prove to you that this was a no-brainer for me:

2. Show the Benefits

This next step to achieve an irresistible offer goes hand in hand with the way you present your attractive solution. After all, the benefits of your product or service should provide relief to your customers’ problems.

First, ask yourself, “What are my buyers’ pain points? Why do they NEED my product, and how will it save the day?”

For example, take a look at what your customers may struggle with in their quest to find a solution to their problem.

• Are there any limiting beliefs?
• Are they price-sensitive?
• What kind of results are they looking for?
• How much time do they have to commit to see results?

Next, jot down all of the ways your company can solve these problems.

Create a Solution List

In other words, engineer a solution list. What can your company provide your customers that the market is lacking? When you create this list, take the following types of benefits into consideration.

Functional – Explain the functionality of your product or service. This is the “star of the show” benefit that your brand will be known for.

Dimensional – Demonstrate HOW it will actually work in the real world. Paint the picture for your audience so they can imagine how it will work for them. Your customers need to know how it will work in real life before they will willfully give you their money.

Emotional – Trigger an emotional response from your audience. Give them a taste of what it will FEEL like if they choose to invest in your product or service.

Does this make sense? Good, let’s move on.

3. Give a Guarantee

We all love a good guarantee. Why?

Because it takes the pressure off of the question, “Will this actually work?”

Even if the product DOES NOT work for a particular customer, they will feel reassured that they will get their money back. This reduces the risk for the person and increases the likelihood of them saying, “Yes! I’m all in!”

Guarantees come in all shapes and sizes. Some of these include:

• Money-back guarantee
• Satisfaction guarantee
• Customer-support guarantee (think Apple Care)
• Product replacement guarantee
• Time-sensitive guarantee (ex. 5-year guarantee)

As always, be sure to choose a guarantee that fits your target market, industry, and business model. If you cannot actually guarantee a full refund or 24/7 customer support services, then don’t offer them!

4. Promote Fast Results

In today’s world, ease and speed are the names of the game. People are on the search for bigger and better… and FASTER.

Let’s take a look at a common example: Weight loss. For the most part, people don’t want to wait month after month to see weight loss results. They want it right away – and with as little effort as possible. But, there’s a problem. Long-term weight loss often takes a long time to achieve.

So, What If You Can’t Promise Fast Results?

Not all solutions are a walk in the park. However, there are ways to improve your offer.

Think of it this way: Even if it takes some time to get real results, what can your team offer in 24 hours?

• Will your clients receive a personalized meal plan?
• Can you promise them a same-day complimentary call to get them started on their weight loss journey?
• Will you send them a virtual workout tutorial/training guide that they can access right away?

As another example, if you’re a fence company, speed of service is also a major pain point of your target audience, but building fences and filing for the proper permitting takes time. Your solution in this case might be to offer instant estimates using a “build your own fence” tool online.

Speed is all relative to the marketplace. But, whenever possible, promote speedy service and ease of use. This will spice up your offer and increase sales.

5. Update Your Offer as the Market Evolves

We all know the tragic story of Blockbuster. The company’s business model couldn’t keep up with the times. Instead of offering a new way to view movies, their competitors overtook them and they quickly went out of business.

The same problem affected VHS and cassette tapes. Out with the old, in with the new!

Here’s what you want to avoid: You don’t want to be a one-time trend. If you want to increase sales and maintain profitability in the long run, then you always need to stay up-to-date with your market.

People want unique solutions that will help us overcome the problems they face TODAY – not the ones they had in 1992! If you can find a new and different way to promote your product or service no matter what happens (just think about how much COVID-19 changed our market), then you will keep your irresistible offer up-to-date.

Always Tell the Truth

Before I go, I have one more important detail to leave you with: Be truthful.

It’s okay to go big and bold with your claims. However, you also want to be BELIEVABLE. Although it’s tempting to “expand the truth,” it’s always better to give truthful offers.

There’s an ancient proverb that states, “A wicked person earns deceptive wages, but the one who sows righteousness reaps a sure reward.” So, if you want to increase sales, always do so honestly.

Market Your Irresistible Offer with the Best of the Best

At the end of the day, an irresistible offer is the best way to increase sales. But, before you can make a grand slam offer, you need to know your market!

At Chatter Buzz Media, we’re experts in digital marketing strategy. From start to finish, we’ll help you define your audience and create an irresistible offer – one that is sure to win the customer! Talk to a strategist to see how we can take your company to new heights.

The post How to Create an Irresistible Offer (with Examples) appeared first on Chatter Buzz.

Here’s something we can all agree on: There’s only so many services you can successfully provide your clients before 1) you fall out of your area of expertise and 2) you have to hire more employees.

Luckily, there’s a way you can offer more value to your clients without compromising your mission or recruiting new full-time staff. It’s called white-label marketing services.

If you’re unfamiliar with this term, you might be wondering, “What is white label marketing and how will it benefit my business?” Great question!

In this article, you’ll learn everything you need to know about this effective business strategy, including 6 huge ways white label marketing services can take your company to new heights.

Let’s get started!

What is White Label Marketing?

In essence, white label marketing is when an external entity provides a marketing product or service to your business and gives you the rights to offer the service under your brand’s name.

In other words, you add a new service to your portfolio and send all of those new service tasks to Company X to do them for you. Then, you sell the completed tasks to your clients under your business’s name.

It’s as simple as that!

Why Use White Label Marketing Services?

One of the biggest problems agencies, consultants, coaches, and many other organizations in the service industry face is how to scale their business without overstepping the boundaries of their expertise.

When a business wants to expand their offerings, they usually have to:

1. Learn how to do the new service themselves
2. Hire new employees that are skilled in the service
3. Spend tons of time and money on a service that they might not be able to successfully accomplish on their own

This leaves many agencies limited in the amount of marketing services they can give their clients and it also constricts their ability to expand into new revenue streams. How frustrating!

Here’s the good news: You can use white label marketing services from another company that has real-life experience and valuable expertise in the new offering to do the work for you. Then, you can sell those services to your customers under your own brand name!

Why It’s An Effective Strategy

White label marketing services will allow you to:

• Dig new revenue streams
• Offer more value to your clients
• Avoid overhead costs of hiring new employees
• Position yourself as a full-service agency

Not to mention, it is often way more cost effective than onboarding new staff to fulfill these tasks for you! That’s what white label marketing is all about.

Still a little confused? Here’s an example.

White Label Marketing Example

Let’s say you operate a successful marketing agency that specializes in SEO and web design. You really want to add paid media advertising to your portfolio, but you don’t want to hire new staff to do this for you nor do you want to step outside your own area of expertise.

Instead of just throwing in the towel, you can actually hire another digital marketing agency that offers white label marketing services to take over the paid media advertising for you!

This is usually more cost-effective than recruiting new staff. And the best part is, you can market the new offerings under your brand name, which makes your agency look even more desirable to prospective clients.

6 Huge Ways White Label Marketing Can Boost Business

If you’re ready to expand but you’re worried about biting off more than you can chew, then it’s time to look into white label marketing services.

Here are 6 massive ways this business strategy can propel your company to new heights.

1. Become a One-Stop-Shop for Digital Marketing Services

Just because you only specialize in a handful of marketing services doesn’t mean you have to limit what you offer to your clients. In fact, white label marketing can help you become a full-service agency!

Types of White Label Marketing Services

White label marketing comes in all shapes and sizes. If you’re falling short in one particular area, chances are you can find white label digital marketing services to help you out.

For instance, some offerings you can acquire through this business strategy include:

• SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
• Custom mobile & web development
• UX & UI experience design
• Paid media advertising (social media, digital video, Amazon, Google, geofencing, etc.)
• Email marketing
• B2B outreach lead generation
• Graphic & visual design

And the list goes on!

Finally, you can position yourself as a full-service agency without having to sacrifice quality of work or your time.

Speaking of time…

2. Reduce Work Delays & Dissatisfaction

Every time a task is late or a deadline is missed, your brand’s reputation is on the line.

But, what causes work delays? Typically, when your employees are bombarded with too many projects, especially ones that are out of their expertise and require extra research, assignments can begin to stack up and cause delays.

Unfortunately, this often results in both client and employee dissatisfaction. Here’s the good news: White label marketing agencies provide a helping hand with big projects and can completely dissolve work delays.

And the faster you check off assignments, the more work your company can take on. This helps you grow!

3. Get More Bang for Your Buck

According to statistics, the average cost per hire is $4,700 in 2022. This is just the price of recruiting, interviewing, and hiring a new staff member! Not to mention the annual salary you have to pay every year for that one employee to work for your company.

Compared to hiring a new employee, white label marketing is a fraction of the price.

Instead of wasting countless hours trying to offer the service yourself or investing on recruiting new employees that do not stay or unreliable freelancers, you can rely on white label marketing to do it for you!

And that’s not all…

4. Acquire Premium Access to Helpful Tools & Resources

Along with the savings you earn from avoiding new hires, white label marketing often comes with some other valuable perks.

For instance, the white label marketing company you choose will most likely use premium digital marketing tools, such as Hubspot, Ahrefs, Yoast, and Mailchimp to successfully do their work.

This allows you to avoid purchasing these (oftentimes very pricey) digital marketing tools for yourself… and also saves you hours upon hours of time it would take you to learn how to use these resources effectively.

Run More Effective & Strategic Campaigns

Here’s another benefit: White label marketing will help you run stronger campaigns and adopt new, revenue-boosting strategies.

Through the tools, resources, and expertise that comes along with a white label marketing company, you will have the unique opportunity to discover new ways to provide your clients with value.

This not only carves the way for a multitude of possible revenue streams, but it also increases your brand authority and credibility. This leads us to our next point.

5. Improve Client Satisfaction

What if we told you that hiring a white label marketing agency can increase customer loyalty and retention rates?

This is a pretty easy concept to understand.

As an agency, it is your job to help your clients build their businesses and pull in more revenue. This can only be accomplished if you provide them with the right marketing strategies and the expertise and resources to back those strategies up.

With white label marketing services on your side, you will be able to offer more useful services to your clients, resulting in more 5-star reviews!

6. Focus on Your Area of Expertise

Last but not least, white label marketing allows you to focus on what you love to work on the most.

Oftentimes, agencies, consultants, and coaches will try to tackle new services on their own. Unfortunately, the time and capital it takes to do this can quickly lead to burnout. Obviously, you don’t want that!

Just think about how long it took you to master your own area of expertise. You know first-hand that it can take years and years of experience to become an expert in a certain offering!

Instead, when you allow another company to handle the new marketing service or product, you can spend your time on tasks that you actually enjoy doing. This keeps your core mission strong and helps you avoid costly mistakes that can arise from a lack of experience.

How to Hire a White Label Marketing Agency

When you hire another entity (such as a digital marketing agency) to take care of your new offerings, you will instantly be able to:

• Provide more marketing services to your clients
• Build new revenue streams
• Expand your business
• Stay competitive

Sounds like a pretty good deal, right? So, what steps do you need to take to hire a white label marketing agency?

Research, Research, Research!

First things first, you need to have a good idea of what new revenue streams you would like to access.

You should never go into this blind. Always research what types of services your clients (or prospective clients) desire first before you attempt to offer new marketing products.

Evaluate the Company

Once you have done that, you should search for a white label marketing agency that can adequately supply valuable expertise in that particular area.

Be sure to ask the company of your choice about their current marketing strategies, which tools and resources they use, and how quickly they will be able to complete tasks for you.

Also, take a look at their portfolio and Google Reviews. This will tell you how successful the company is in their marketing campaigns.

If the company checks out to be a good fit for your team, then all you have to do is solidify the deal!

As you can see, white label marketing is a great way to expand your business and access new revenue streams without having to hire new staff. Now that we’ve covered everything you need to know, you can use this effective business strategy to finally take your business to the level you’ve been trying to reach.

The post 6 Ways White Label Marketing Services Will Grow Your Business appeared first on Chatter Buzz.

Like all aspects of your business, it’s important to have a proper strategy in place to guide you to success. The same is true for LinkedIn! Nowadays, with membership soaring well over 810 million active users, it’s super important to find LinkedIn outreach strategies that will help your company convert more leads.

So, what is LinkedIn outreach? Which messaging strategies should your business use? And most importantly, how will these strategies help you reach more prospective clients?

In this article, you will get the answers to all of these questions and more, including:

• What are the top 8 LinkedIn outreach strategies
• How to put these practices into action
• Informative messaging templates & examples

Ready to get started? Let’s dive right in.

What Is LinkedIn Outreach?

Simply put, LinkedIn outreach occurs when a business researches, targets, and ultimately reaches out to prospective customers on LinkedIn. The goal of the outreach process is to:

• Pull in more leads
• Develop stronger relationships
• Grow conversion rates

For the most part, Linkedin outreach takes place in the “Messaging” section of the site.

Why You Should Use It

When done right, LinkedIn outreach is a fantastic way to generate more leads, especially for B2B businesses. This is because LinkedIn is the fastest growing B2B social network in the world.

Furthermore, you can also use LinkedIn outreach strategies to foster relationships with new or existing customers, especially when you’re trying to increase client retention rates and encourage engagement.

So, how can you add Linkedin outreach to your digital marketing toolbox?

8 Fantastic LinkedIn Outreach Strategies You Need to Follow

Unfortunately, so many businesses fall short when it comes to this unique marketing tool. When messages become too long, profiles look disorganized, or value isn’t provided, LinkedIn outreach has a slim chance of actually working.

Here’s the good news: With these top 8 LinkedIn outreach strategies, you can improve your messaging game and FINALLY see the results you’ve been hoping for. Keep reading to see what you should do first.

1. Optimize Your Profile

First things first, you’re going to want to make your profile picture perfect. In other words, it’s time for a makeover!

Here’s What You Need To Do

Your profile reboot shouldn’t take too long. In fact, it’s as simple as 1-2-3!

Step 1: Update the profile picture and background photo to relevant pictures. Make sure the pics aren’t blurry, pixelated, or too chaotic and distracting.

Step 2: Disclose your title and company name on the profile. When a message is sent on LinkedIn, your formal title will appear under your name. Therefore, it’s important to include one!

Step 3: Rewrite your “About” section. If a lead is unfamiliar with you or your business, chances are they’ll dig around on your profile before they respond to your message. Your “About” section should be informative, easy to read, and personable. Keep language simple and cater to your audience (a.k.a. use lingo that your niche market is familiar with!).

All profiles that intend to reach out to prospects should take these simple steps to put their best foot forward. This includes your company’s profile as well. After all, first impressions really do matter!

2. Consider Your Messaging Options

Next, familiarize yourself with the types of LinkedIn outreach options available to you. For starters, there are 3 main avenues you can take. Keep reading to learn more about each one.

Open Profile

If you’re looking for an affordable way to send messages to prospects, then open profile is one way to go. Through open profile, you can shoot free InMails to LinkedIn members with open profiles.

With this kind of messaging, you have to manually select each person you would like to message. Plus, it doesn’t work with everyone, only profiles that were opted to remain open and that you are already connected to.

Although tedious, the process may still be worth it in the end.

Sponsored InMail

Next up is Sponsored InMail, also referred to as LinkedIn Message Ads. This allows you to send direct messages to several leads at once. This option is a fantastic way to deliver interactive and valuable messages for your prospects to engage with. You can also track your audience through engagement metrics and demographic reporting.

The only downside is Sponsored InMail comes at a price. However, if you have a large volume of prospects to reach out to, this option could be well worth the investment!

Premium Plans

Finally, when you sign up for a premium plan, you receive special “InMail Message Credits” that allow you to send InMails to prospective customers. You also reap the benefits of the Sales Navigator tool, which is included in the premium plan.

Like the open profile option, you are unable to send messages in bulk. However, you will have exclusive access to send messages to Premium members with open accounts, even if you aren’t connected to them.

3. Less Text is More

Now that you have developed your overall outreach plan, it’s time to talk about the messages themselves.

As a general rule of thumb, treat your message like a text – the shorter, more concise it is, the better! Here’s why.

Cut Back Your Word Count

Too many sentences will require your recipient to scroll. This deters them from actually reading the message! Especially if it’s the very first message you’ve ever sent them, you don’t want it to be too wordy.

Need an example? Check this one out:

Notice how simple and straightforward the message is? A short and sweet message is your first foot in the door. Once you get a bite or are ready to send a follow-up message, you can go into further detail about your offer.

4. Personalize, Personalize, Personalize!

Automated messages are great and all… except when it feels like a robot is talking to you. People want to talk to other people because it feels more authentic.

So, to avoid ending up in the ‘unread messages’ bin, be sure to personalize the message to the recipient.

How to Personalize a Message

For instance, use their name in the greeting! That’s the first step.

Next, take the time to go through their profile and find a reason WHY you’re sending them the message. It’s okay to point out an accomplishment, certification, or business portfolio that your prospect is showcasing on their profile. This makes it more personal.

Take a look at this example:

In this example, the sender viewed the recipient’s profile and found that they are interested in leadership and online programs. This is a perfect reason for the sender to give the recipient this message!

5. Include a Free Resource

PAY ATTENTION to this next strategy! You will definitely want to include this one in your overall LinkedIn outreach strategies toolbox…

GIVE YOUR RECEIVER A VALUABLE RESOURCE!!!

If you want to really attract your prospect to your initial proposal, you need to give them a good reason to stick around. A free resource is the perfect solution.

Plus, it’s the perfect way to push them further into your sales funnel and begin the relationship building process with them. It’s all part of the ultimate lead nurturing strategy.

Make Sure It Offers Value

So, what kind of resource does your prospective client need? Let us emphasize the word NEED.

Keep in mind that you should always cater to your audiences’ wants, needs, and desires. This is marketing 101. Therefore, your free resource should be something they would actually be interested in, such as a:

• Helpful Ebook
• Exclusive webinar
• Useful blog
• Informative video
• Free trial to a service or product

Here’s an example:

Pro-Tip: See how the sender also included reasons WHY the recipient would want to try their service for free? They included pain points and how their product would help the receiver out. DO THIS!

6. Find Commonalities & Mutual Connections

It’s no secret that the more similarities and connections you have in common with your lead, the more trustworthy you will become in their eyes. And when it comes to business, especially answering a message from a complete stranger, every bit of trust counts.

So, make sure you get to know your prospects before and during your first conversations with them.

You can also send them your profile and ask them if they would like to connect with you first before you dive into your proposal. This gives them the option to consent to your request, highlighting you as a considerate person.

7. Send a Follow Up

Did your message get a response? If so, that’s fantastic! Be sure to reply as soon as you can – preferably within 12 hours or sooner.

On the other hand, if you did not receive a response, go ahead and send them a follow up message. Make it short and sweet.

How Often Should You Send Follow Ups?

In general, it’s acceptable to send up to 4 follow up messages to unresponsive prospects. Make sure to space them out over time (for instance, over a 2 month period).

However, if you don’t get a response by then, it’s best to just move on. Sending too many messages can put a bad taste in your prospect’s mouth.

Pro-Tip: You can even include a subject line in bold, such as “Just had to try again” or “Sending again. You will really like this!” This makes the message more enticing and will hopefully encourage them to take a quick peek at what you sent them.

8. Keep A Tab on Promising Prospects

In other words, track your leads! This is a useful strategy if you plan to send messages to many people at once or if you need to keep track of your follow up messages.

On your LinkedIn profile, you can actually subscribe to an internal reporting and analytics tool to measure the ROI of your messages. Through this tool, you can monitor conversations, get real-time data on your performance, and gather demographics on your preferred leads.

A Few Extra Tips to Keep in Mind

Along with these 8 LinkedIn outreach strategies, consider the following additional tips to really boost your message campaign.

Be Careful with Links

Proceed with caution when you add a link to your recipient’s message. On LinkedIn, a link pops up as a large thumbnail in the chat. Unfortunately, this can take up a lot of space in the message and can make the actual message difficult to read.

If you do include a link, it’s best to attach it at the end of the message instead of at the beginning or in the middle.

Automate Your Messages

As you begin to reach out to more and more people, keeping up with your long list of chats can quickly become a daunting task.

Luckily, you can choose to automate your messages to reach more people and stay on top of responses… without everything falling out of control.

Bonus: LinkedIn Outreach Messaging Template

Now that you have some strategies in your toolbox, it’s time to put them into play.

Not sure where to start? Download this messaging template to get some easy ideas for your first messages!

LinkedIn Messaging Scripts

So, Which LinkedIn Outreach Strategies Do You Like Best?

Let us know which strategy is your favorite in the comments!

The post 8 Brilliant LinkedIn Outreach Strategies To Reach More Prospects appeared first on Chatter Buzz.