{"id":14088,"date":"2017-04-24T12:17:23","date_gmt":"2017-04-24T16:17:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mgb2b.com\/blog\/?p=14088"},"modified":"2017-04-24T12:17:23","modified_gmt":"2017-04-24T16:17:23","slug":"monday-myth-b2b-marketing-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mgb2b.com\/blog\/monday-myth-b2b-marketing-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"B2B Monday Myth: When Sales Are Down, a Quick Fix Is the Answer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"B2B<\/a><\/h3>\n

The Myth: A Quick-Fix\u00a0Marketing Campaign Is Necessary When Sales Numbers Are Down.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Truth: A Slow-Burn B2B Marketing Strategy Will Foster ROI in the Long-Term.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Imagine: it\u2019s Q2, and you look at the numbers. And the numbers aren\u2019t looking good. If you end the year like this, it is bad news. Panicked, you call your marketing department, and give them this message: Do whatever you can, right now, to get my sales numbers up.<\/p>\n

And Marketing executes a last-ditch, quick approach to try to get your company back on track. It may even yield good results. In the short term.<\/p>\n

But the truth is, if you implemented long-term\u00a0marketing strategy in Q1, you should expect a slow burn instead of an immediate increase in ROI. Especially with marketing plans that rely heavily on content marketing. If you put your time into a quick execution to boost immediate numbers, you’re wasting it. Instead, you should spend that time\u00a0working toward larger, long-term successes.<\/p>\n

There are several\u00a0elements\u00a0that take time to develop \u2013 many that require testing \u2013 in order to be done well. So you have to ask: what are the steps for\u00a0implementing a successful long-term B2B marketing strategy?<\/p>\n

Step 1: Know Your Goals and Objectives<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The purpose of your campaign is to increase ROI over the long haul, not just in the immediate future. Converting leads right now will increase your sales in the short term, but long-term thinking will set the wheels in motion for greater successes year after year. Outside of sales, what are you looking for?\u00a0Know exactly what you want to achieve from your campaign. You cannot expect to implement this strategy in a day and have leads knocking the door down. Brainstorm how you can sustain this campaign in the over one year, two years, three. And remember, a lot of your strategy will hinge on building relationships over time. Continuous engagement with your brand puts you on a steadier path to conversion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you are a bigger company, it might benefit you to take a step back and look at the bigger picture for your marketing strategy. Reworking your brand may be the key to sustaining leads for longer.<\/p>\n

Step 2:\u00a0Do Your Research<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Your strategy will be useless if you haven\u2019t taken the time to do proper research<\/a> on your target audience and how your message will be best conveyed. Utilize market research initiatives to find out more abut who you plan to target, what they want, where they are in terms of the sales funnel, what messages resonate with them, and their preferred media and marketing channels. By doing the research, you will\u00a0be putting the right message in front of the right people at the right time.<\/p>\n

Step 3: Implement, Evaluate, and Fine-Tune<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Your slow-burn campaign will be a long-term commitment<\/a>, meaning the creation of a pipeline with organized divisions of labor and clear deadlines is vital to staying on track. When implementing a long-term strategy, you want to make sure it is as effective as possible. That’s why it’s important not to underestimate the value\u00a0of\u00a0keyword\u00a0evaluation, website analytics, and A\/B testing<\/a>.\u00a0Note that sales are far from the only KPI (key performance indicator). It’s important to align your KPIs with the goals you set in Step 1. If you’re measuring the wrong thing, it may become an obstacle rather than a boon.\u00a0You may also need to accept that not all measures of success can be supported by hard data.<\/p>\n

Taking the time to create a strategy, research your target audience, and detailed evaluation may seem like a lot of work. But it’s worth it in the long run. While you may not see an immediate increase in sales, these steps will ultimately foster long-term success that all company stakeholders will benefit from in the end.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Myth: A Quick-Fix\u00a0Marketing Campaign Is Necessary When Sales Numbers Are Down. The Truth: A Slow-Burn B2B Marketing Strategy Will Foster ROI in the Long-Term. Imagine: it\u2019s Q2, and you look at the numbers. And the numbers aren\u2019t looking good. If you end the year like this, it is bad news. Panicked, you call your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[507,273,388,103,602],"tags":[232,138,680,679,681,678,627,263],"class_list":["post-14088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-b2b-monday-myth","category-content","category-lead-generation-nurturing","category-marketing-strategy-2","category-paid-search","tag-b2b-marketing-strategy","tag-content-marketing","tag-keyword-research","tag-long-term-strategy","tag-marketing-research","tag-quick-fix","tag-sales","tag-target-audience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mgb2b.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mgb2b.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mgb2b.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mgb2b.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mgb2b.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14088"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.mgb2b.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14088\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14095,"href":"https:\/\/www.mgb2b.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14088\/revisions\/14095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mgb2b.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mgb2b.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mgb2b.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}