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B2B Online Marketing: Frequently Asked QuestionsLee Frederiksen, Ph.D.
Q: Why should my firm invest in online marketing? In a nutshell, if your professional services firm is not investing in online marketing, you are at risk of getting left behind. In our recent study of online marketing for professional services, we found that firms that generate 40% or more of their leads online grow 4 times faster than other firms. Unsurprisingly, that growth translates into dollars, as firms that generate more of their leads online are also more profitable. Q: Why is online lead generation more profitable than more traditional ways of marketing? Our research showed that generating leads online is more profitable than traditional marketing methods such as tradeshows, sales calls, networking, or advertising. While the research did not determine a direct cause for this profitability, we have several theories why this is so: 1) Online marketing shows greater ROI. According to Hubspot, 79% of firms that have internal blogs report a positive ROI for inbound marketing this year, compared to just 20% of firms that do not have a blog. 2) Online marketing has a greater reach. The Internet allows firms to reach potential clients all over the country and around the globe, whereas traditional marketing techniques tend to have a more narrow or local scope. Q: What are the high-growth firms doing differently? The biggest marketing difference between high-growth and average-growth firms is that high-growth firms place a greater focus on almost all available online marketing tools. Besides using content marketing techniques, our study showed that high-growth firms were also more likely to use online contact forms, to update their websites frequently, and to have redesigned their websites in the past 6 months.
All of this activity demonstrates how high-growth firms are utilizing a variety of online marketing channels to communicate their message to their consumers. When combined with basic search engine optimization (SEO) techniques, these companies have built an effective and inexpensive online lead generation system with a wide reach. Q: Why is B2B online marketing so effective? In the professional services industry, trust and credibility are often the reasons why consumers choose to hire a firm. Investing in an effective B2B online marketing strategy means that you are able to create much of that trust and credibility online, before your leads ever meet you. As consumers become more and more engaged with the high-quality, free content that you produce, they become stronger and stronger leads. Instead of chasing down new prospects that may or may not be interested, this new system teaches leads to come to you when the time is right. Q: So how do I start doing B2B online marketing? A good place to start is your website. When you use your website to publish a steady stream of blog posts, white papers, articles, speeches, research studies and other content that appeals to your target prospects, you accomplish two goals:
Putting out information that is relevant, interesting, and useful establishes your firm’s reputation and visibility in the marketplace. Consumers begin to trust your firm as they read and appreciate your quality content, again and again. When they need help or service, they will turn to you. Firms that have a dependable system to produce quality content find that their leads come to them — leads that are already interested in their business.
Every piece of content on your site is another chance to be indexed by search engines like Google, Yahoo, and Bing, and another chance for new consumers to find you. Use engaging content to draw consumers from various search engines to your website, where they will then discover a trove of useful information that will keep them coming back for more. To find out more about creating a B2B online marketing strategy, download our free book Online Marketing for Professional Services. |
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