It’s a new year, which is an opportunity to refresh, change your perspectives, and make a new start. If you haven’t already drafted your 2017 marketing strategy, look at How to Prepare Your Marketing for 2017. If you haven’t put your B2B marketing strategy in place for the year, there are still several resolutions you can make about the execution of your firm’s strategy.
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Look at the Data
It’s a digital age with cookie placement, visitor tracking, engagement metrics, and more. The issue many marketers face is that they are overwhelmed with data coming from every angle and every channel. It’s almost too much data. In 2017, we suggest that marketers resolve to look at the data…the data that matters. What data matters?
This question can have different answers depending on your marketing and sales objectives – but a major metric we consider highly valuable is the number of quality leads. An effective marketing strategy doesn’t just drive a ton of potential customer leads. Rather, an effective B2B strategy drives quality leads from the ideal target market.
This year, resolve not to get lost in the sea of data, but to keep an eye on the important metrics and really LOOK at what they are telling you about your marketing efforts.
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Try New Things
We’ve said this before: technology is changing how clients learn about your firm’s services, engage with your firm, and evaluate your services. With the influx of new applications, software, devices, and wearables, it’s important to be open to trying new things, approaches, techniques, and channels. This doesn’t mean jumping on the bandwagon immediately for every new social network, sharing resource, or software tool. It does mean taking a careful look at new technologies and resources and evaluating their fit with your marketing and sales objectives.
Resolve to be open to new channels and technologies this year and set aside time for taking a careful look at how they do (or don’t) apply to your clients, services, and industry. A careful vetting process ensures you can maximize new technologies, while not wasting time on fads or useless tools.
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Cut What Doesn’t Work
“We’ve always done that.” This statement should never be the reason that you continue to use a certain channel or specific approach. At Bop Design, we like to try new things, especially tools and channels that have proven to be effective for other marketing agencies. In 2016, we tried several new things and the truth is that only a few things worked (i.e., generated traffic and leads). As a result, we’re filtering out what didn’t work – or we are changing how we handle the implementation of those tools.
In the upcoming 12 months, resolve to cut what has proven to be ineffective. If your quarterly direct mail campaign is no longer generating the rockstar leads it used to, cut it and redirect those resources to other channels that are generating leads.
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Be Client-Centric
Many of us are working on complex sales and marketing strategies that have a bunch of moving parts, deadlines, and guidelines for roll-out. Because of this, it can be very easy to forget that the focus should always be the client or prospect. At the center of everything we do should be our clients and prospects. Without them, there won’t be much for us to do.
Over the course of the year, continue to actively evaluate how your B2B marketing efforts are helping your current and potential clients. Before the launch of any major campaign, ask yourself, “Does this provide value for my prospects or clients?”
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Track, Measure, Repeat
Consistent tracking and evaluation are essential for gauging the effectiveness of B2B marketing efforts and wisely applying a budget. Even with a hectic schedule, it’s important to take a moment to stop, thoughtfully analyze results, and strategize how to move forward. Even when the metrics look great, you can find helpful insights for your overall marketing strategy.
Make 2017 the year that you set aside time to stop all activities, review your progress, and determine next steps forward.
Need help with your 2017 B2B marketing strategy? Contact us today to schedule a consultation.
