A lot of the talk surrounding email marketing focuses on connecting with retail consumers and getting the word out about products and services to everyday shoppers. But what if your customers don’t exactly fit this mold? For businesses that primarily serve other businesses, the process takes on an entirely different, and sometimes complex, look. With this in mind, let’s dig into some powerful tips that can help keep your next business-to-business (B2B) campaign on track to be a major success.
B2B Emails Aren’t Always a Sales Pitch
The first tip covers an ideological mindset that plenty of brands stumble over when trying to enact B2B strategies in the inbox. As Douglas Burdett of Business 2 Community explains, utilizing email marketing in this manner requires a commitment to more than just pitching sales. Sure, offering up deals and discounts is a big part of the equation, but adding in some content marketing attributes to your approach can go a long way toward pleasing these email viewers.For instance, highlighting snippets from your blog about breaking industry news, white papers that cover longstanding issues, and other powerful content can help turn your periodic messages into must-read material. Even if it’s something as simple as a newsletter linking to other major voices in your marketplace, having something outside of “salesy” content goes a long way with the corporate entities that make up your brand’s email contact list.
Don’t Assume You’ll Always Have Their Attention
Speaking of the contact list, Burdett goes on to point out that getting these companies into your digital rolodex is one thing, but don’t assume that this accomplishment is enough to keep them around. Having idle members is almost as bad as lacking members in the first place. Because of this, going out of your way to keep these organizations engaged is essential to the long-term viability of your campaign. Whether it’s via live webinars, regular social outreach, or a variety of other interactive activities that relate back to you email content, rubbing online elbows whenever possible is a great way to extend the effectiveness of your inbox initiative and hold onto the attention of these consumers.
Landing Pages Are More Important Than Ever
Of course, great email marketing doesn’t end in the inbox. If you want to truly turn your business-based viewers into customers, Simms Jenkins of ClickZ points out that you’ll need a killer set of landing pages. As the gateway between the inbox and your website, these pages work best when they go beyond the mundane and provide a treasure trove of content and information. Providing access to SMS contact lists, teasing promotional materials, and even offering up links to related blog posts and extended content all fit this approach perfectly. The big key here is that you don’t let this opportune space go to waste. When it comes to getting a leg up on the competition and roping in conversions, maximizing even the smallest of advantages pays off major dividends.
Segmentation Still Matters
In terms of knowing your audience, Jenkins also advocates the power of segmentation when engaging in B2B-oriented email marketing. Naturally, it might seem a little odd to implement this process; after all, we’re talking about businesses and not individuals. However, the same concepts apply, regardless of who or what constitutes your audience.The more you know about these businesses, the more you can personalize and specialize your email content. You might not be able to learn as much as if your brand operated in the more conventional retail setting with specific consumers, but there’s still plenty to be gained by segmenting your audience. Otherwise, don’t be surprised if you receive a lackluster response when shipping out “one size fits all” messages.
Look Beyond Simple Statistics
Finally, the last tip you’ll need to start, or improve, is your journey in the world of B2B email marketing which comes from Barry Saunders of B2BMarketing.net and addresses the role of analysis in the process. While plenty of brands understand the basic statistics, like conversion rates and raw contact list numbers, the reality of the situation is that if you want to succeed, you’ll need to go beyond these fundamentals and get into some more specialized metrics.From A/B testing the subject lines of your message, and everything else that comes afterward, to consistently reviewing the latest trends and spending habits of your audience, digging into as much data as possible positions your campaign to truly make a splash. When combined with the rest of what you’ve learned, the sky really is the limit for the hard work you put forth in the inbox.
