Inbound Marketing is the “Cinderella” of B2B marketing. On the one hand it is not understood, it is not valued and it is not applied and measured correctly; on the other hand it is the “must-do” marketing for B2B if you need to make it BIG!

Many confuse it with just inbound lead generation but it is more… or with automated marketing campaigns, it is definitely not it.

So what is Inbound Marketing then? To describe it, think of everything that you need to do to get the prospects to be interested in you before you get to go after them.

• Create programs that drive active prospect participation and enrolment.
• Understand your B2B buyer persona and build tactics to approach it.
• Monitor your brand and increase your B2B brand exposure.
• Have an active market presence.
• Identify, follow and participate in all relevant B2B social media platforms.
• Drive traffic to your website monitor and analyze traffic that gets in.
• Develop effective strategies for media outreach.
• Generate opportunities for press and analyst interviews, moderate advisory groups, and find speaking opportunities.
• Build interest for your solutions with your target audience.
• Run regular market analysis and benchmarks to know your market, competition and keep an eye on what’s going on.

This translates into traffic to your website, enrolments and subscriptions, better communications with your market and a positive general impact on your business development activities.

On the long run, inbound marketing is much more effective than outbound for B2B.  The price of an inbound generated lead is 3 times or even less expensive than the price of an outbound generated lead. The problem  is that SMBs in particular don’t allow themselves the time to build-up to it, they don’t constantly optimize and improve on these tactics and they abandon it just before it could take off.

My advice is that you should test different tactics, experiment and always improve. On a tight budget or limited resources you can always outsource this role.  You might be surprised with the economies you can perform by outsourcing this role and how many things you could do with a very good return. Check out the table here to see the numbers on B2B Inbound Marketing Employed vs Outsourced and how you can save about 60% on your inbound marketing projects.

Big company, complex IT structure, stressed IT manager – what happens when he or she wants a day out of the office just to have fun, and learn something new in the same time?

If you, as an IT services provider are there to offer them the kind of professional stimulation  and relaxed atmosphere they need, all combined in an original event, the awareness you generate for your own solutions might bring sales leads, and even contracts. Best way to get to know IT people who are decision makers in their companies is to challenge them to interactive seminars where they can prove their skills and acquire additional ones.

What you need most of all to organize such an event :

• a well-known trainer in the industry of Service Management for example (most major companies have contact centers or client service departments)
• a good catchy story-line. An airport simulation is always a good idea, as it simulates a complex environment with multiple isses to tackle
• a good set of professional benefits to offer to participants, such as the possibility to develop their IT-business relationship understanding skills
• professional logistics (meeting hall, technical equipment, printed materials)

Benefits for your company, as an organizer:

• you increase your own awareness as a provider of IT services
• you get interesting network opportunities
• you have the possibility to acquire qualified leads
• ultimately, the leads you acquired have a very strong chance to turn into contracts

If you want to win the marketing game, here’s a tip: focus on closing the sale not getting the lead. One of the challenges with Internet marketing today is that sometimes it gets so many leads, most companies don’t have the resources to follow-up. So if you do have leads, you want to make the most of them, and follow them through. A B2B survey is a tool that can help you do that.

Using surveys in your lead generation process can get you quite a few benefits:

• Qualified leads
• Personalized future contact with that lead
• Correct identification of your target market’s decision makers

Also, you have the opportunity to collect important information about your product’s market and the people you’re trying to sell to. To be more precise, by using a B2B survey you can:

1. Identify the needs of your target audience

Find out what their problems are in regarding to your field of activity and propose a list of general solutions your company has, that might resolve their issues. Ask them to select the one they find more appropriate to help them overcome their challenge.

2. Effectively size your solution

After identifying what is the solution your prospect needs you have to determine the size he needs it in. You should try to find out the timeframe he or she wants the solutions to be implemented in, or the number of users his company would provide. This helps you with qualifying and prioritizing leads.

3. Collect contact information

This includes direct contact information, as well as indirect contact. You are interested in getting more personal contact information, but he’s not the only one you’re interested in. You also want to know what he reads, where he searches for information and how they research for products or services.

A useful piece of advice would be to conduct your survey online. You are guaranteed to get a higher response rate, as it takes a lot less effort to complete an online survey.

If the survey is conducted efficiently, a very important benefit is that you can use the information given to you to establish further communication with your perspective clients. Personal contact is easier, after the initial was made. You can use this opportunity to better introduce your services or products and finally close the deal. And if you don’t succeed at this, you’ve gathered important information regarding your target market, so you win either way.

It has become common knowledge that the success of a direct mail campaign can be broken down into three primary components:

· The mailing list or target audience

· The offer or incentive for the customer to buy the product

· The creative package or communication message conveyed in the overall package

Experts in the field of direct mail have even established the ratio in which these elements affect the success of the campaign:

· 40% is driven by the mailing list,

· 40% by the offer,

· 20% from the creative package.

This is all true from a big picture point of view. But when going into details, you have 9 key strategic factors to consider:

The List

Knowing the customer or decision maker for your product/service is instrumental in developing a successful direct mail campaign.

No matter what criteria you use to organize your mailing list, it is critical to understand your intended buyer/customer and select a mailing list within an appropriate and useful target audience.

The Offer

Every direct communication should include an offer or incentive for the customer to buy your product/service. A general rule is that money tends to produce the best results. But be careful, you don’t want to give away too much – a lucrative offer such as 50% off might generate a wonderful response rate, but it might be an expensive proposition.

Message & Copy (Creative Package – part 1)

What is your product? What are its benefits? Why does your audience need it? Where does the reader sign up, and by when? These are examples of the critical messages that need to be clear, concise, and even repeated several times in your communications. If your readers are confused, they will not buy.

When developing copy, assume your reader has a short attention span. It is best to use short sentences, bullet points and headlines that can be read quickly. Finally, while grammar is important, your English teacher is not grading your letter. Feel free to take creative license.

Format & Graphics (Creative Package – part 2)

Using different type styles such as bold, underline and ALL CAPITAL letters can be used to draw your reader’s eye to key messages. Headlines and/or changes in font sizes can do the same thing. However, be judicious in your use of these techniques, as over use will lessen the impact.

Consider highlighting your offer, call to action, and response date, while using headlines as an opportunity to state benefit messages throughout your communication piece.

Call to Action

The bottom line with any direct mail piece is to generate action or sales. You have to be very clear as to the action you want the recipient of the message to do. Do you want your prospect to fill out an application or do you want them to call for more information?

Testing Multiple Variables

The greatest benefit of using direct mailing is the fact it generates immediate response. The results can easily be measured, but the problem is you can’t tell which of the elements you used attracted the client, and determined the positive response.

As a result, consider creating “test cells” by mixing key variables of your campaign. For example, divide your mailing list into four parts and send:

Offer A with Copy X to 25%

Offer B with Copy X to 25%

Offer A with Copy Z to 25%

Offer B with Copy Z to 25%

Multi-Wave Mailings

Another testing opportunity is mailing a 2nd and possibly even 3rd letter to the same person approximately 1-4 weeks apart.

A general rule of advertising is that people do not really see and/or internally comprehend a marketing message the first time around. Using this rule of thumb, it might take your target market 2-3 “viewings” to open, comprehend and internalize your message enough to buy your product/service.

Creating Tracking Measures

Establishing accurate measurement tools such as promotion codes and/or coupons cannot be overlooked when designing your direct mail campaign.

For example, if you are selling newsletter subscriptions, ask your customer to mention the coupon or read a promotion code when they sign up. Keep track each time a customer mentions or reads the code so that you can be sure they were responding to your letter, versus signing up on their own.

Financial Success

The financial success for a campaign can be measured in many ways, for example Cost per new accounts (CPA) and return on investment (ROI). To calculate a CPA, take your total program expenses and divide by the number of new accounts acquired. A simple ROI equation takes the total program expense minus the additional money generated as a direct result of the campaign.

Direct mail can be a very important element of your marketing mix. When used correctly it allows for high target market selectivity, personalization, testing, and most importantly, it enables you to measure results. So, take the time to consider the details of a successful campaign.