For a lot of B2B companies, summer means a slower pace. If this rings true for your business, consider investing your free time in refining your marketing materials and online web presence – a task that often gets pushed to the bottom of to-do lists during the first two quarters of the year.
Here’s a list of some quick fixes and small adjustments you can tackle that will make a big difference in your day-to-day B2B marketing.
Branding
Even the best branding will evolve over time. Take a look at your website, email marketing campaigns and print marketing materials to ensure they represent the current state of your company and its offerings.
Does your website display all of your recent accomplishments? If you haven’t already, add photos of recent industry awards and individual recognitions received by your company and leadership.
Streamline your brand identity across your website. If you’ve made adjustments to your typography, color palette, logo or imagery style, double check older site pages and printed collateral that may have been overlooked during your brand update rollout.
Seek out testimonials from your best clients. One of the key self-identifiers for many brands is their close ties with the wants and needs of their clientele. Collect feedback from a few executives, along with headshots, and add them to your site. This small initiative can go a long way with site visitors and leads.
Digital
Digital encompasses many tactics from social advertising and selling to search engine marketing (SEM) and search engine optimization (SEO). All of these are complex endeavors that require daily attention and care.
If you already have SEO or SEM operations in place, here are some ways you can fine tune existing campaigns.
- SEO
Take a look at the existing pages of your website. Look for opportunities to logically add target keywords related to your services and location in the existing copy.
Another way to improve your on-site SEO is to find opportunities to “intralink.” For example, take an updated version of an archived blog, visit the older version and include a call-to-action (CTA) link to the new content.
- SEM
If you utilize pay-per-click (PPC) ad campaigns via Google Adwords, you know that there are many moving parts. Take ads that are underperforming and duplicate them. Change one element – such as the headline or the CTA; A/B testing creates an opportunity to make improvements without reinventing the wheel.
Another way to change up your SEM campaigns is to alter your bid strategy. Is one of your service verticals a lot slower during the summer months? Lower your bid or pause the campaign altogether. Conversely, up your bid for a campaign that is already showing piqued interest from users on search.
The beauty of Google Adwords and other paid search engine marketing platforms is how easy they are to customize. Don’t be afraid to try something new!
PR & Social
Public relations and social media are two channels that many businesses neglect. As marketers, we know all too well that in the world of social media and earned media, you only get out what you put in.
This summer, give your social pages a refresh. Some quick and easy changes you can make beyond updating your profile picture and cover photo include:
- Adding more content to your “About Us” or “Bio” section
- Facebook in particular allows you to add additional contact information, hours of operation, the availability of public transportation and parking near your office and a business description.
- Inviting more people to like your Facebook page and following more relevant accounts on Instagram and Twitter
- This strategy can help with social accounts that need more followers or engagement. Sometimes you have to initiate!
- Creating an editorial calendar for social media
- Creating social media posts on the fly can be stressful. Put together some weekly content themes that you can rely on to give your pages a consistent presence.
Of course if you don’t currently have a social media presence, now’s the time to create one.
Traditional Marketing
B2B marketing trends have certainly shifted to digital methods in recent years, and growing ever still. Yet some traditional marketing methods maintain strong ROI, especially for the B2B sector.
During your downtime this summer, take a look at these key tactics and suggested improvements:
- Email Marketing
Believe it or not, 33% of marketers aren’t optimizing their email campaigns according to GateResponse. One key way to optimize an email campaign is by adjusting your send time. Most reports show that engagement tapers off at the end of the work week. In addition, Mail Chimp reported the best time of day to be 10AM. Don’t forget to adjust for different time zones! - Marketing Materials
Many B2B companies still utilize print brochures. Although a complete overhaul would be an awesome summer goal, there are minor improvements you can make such as updating the stock photos and adding social media handles for added engagement opportunities.
Integrated Marketing
The key to truly successful B2B marketing is strategically integrating all the pieces. If you don’t have a marketing plan, learn where to start with a marketing plan outline tip sheet.
The best marketing planners had their 2017 tactics outlined at the start of the year. The summer months provide a great opportunity to reassess your plan at its halfway mark, benchmarking what’s working and what’s not. With key players and influencers taking time off during the summer, it may not be the ideal time for a complete brand strategy overhaul, but these little improvements can take your company a long way.
