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Create a B2B Marketing Plan In 10 Steps

By TechFunnel Contributors - Published on November 3, 2020
10 B2B Marketing Plan

Marketing in the digital realm can seem like a daunting task. Knowing which platform to utilize when advertising your products and services, figuring out a way to best reach out to your target audience, or even who your target audience requires a lot of research and preparation(1). This may seem like a time-consuming and complicated process but knowing what you want for your business can help to alleviate those worries.

Tips on How to Create a B2B Marketing Plan for 2021

  1. Determine your endgame. (Your business’ monetary selling objective)

    Before a business begins to construct the starting point of their marketing campaigns or strategies, they must first visualize what they want their endgame to be. One thing you do not want to be when it comes to marketing is aimless. Know what you want for your organization and find the most effective way to get there.

  2. Figure out your spending cap.

    Marketing in and of itself is a service provided. Whether a business decides to use an agency/firm or a SaaS (software as a service) that specializes in marketing and advertising, the organization must figure out how much of their budget that they are willing to shell out. The marketing department is not the only sector of an organization that is crucial to running a business, so spend wisely.

  3. Grade your latest marketing strategies

    Before a business dives into creating a b2b marketing plan, the organization must delve into what is already successful. In your marketing strategy, is the content modern, fresh, and appealing to your visitors? Are leads converting into buyers at a reasonable rate?

    Even if the organization is not hitting all desired objectives, are they at least meeting some of them? Are these strategies helping the marketing and sales departments operate in a cohesive and streamlined manner? Answer some of these questions to decide what works and what does not.

  4. Grade the marketing strategies of your competitors

    Not only must a business review their internal operations, but they must also review their competition. Seeing how your marketing campaigns hold up against other companies that provide similar products and services allows you to see their strong points that counter your weak points and vice versa.

    Visit their website and social media pages to understand their process of attracting visitors, converting them into buyers, and maintaining their loyalty in order to try to replicate that for your business.

  5. Make an effort to get to know your customer base

    It is a waste of time trying to figure out how to sell a product or service to someone if you do not know who exactly that you are selling it to. Collect background information (age, gender, where they live, etc.) of your customer base, understand their wants and needs, figure out what attracted them to your services in the first place, and what they like and dislike.

  6. Flesh out your internal and external techniques

    Good marketing is about wisely selecting the digital platforms that you plan to utilize when attracting a customer base. For a business’ internal technique, the main goal is to try to lure visitors or potential buyers to your platform through content (blogs, gathering contact information such as email addresses, and conducting FAQ digital seminars).

    For external techniques, a business is trying to get the attention of potential customers through pop-up ads, making phone calls, and business fairs. But internal strategies are more successful for obvious reasons.

  7. Take note of the current marketing trends in B2B

    Taking risks is an integral part of having big gains of attracting, acquiring, and maintaining a customer base. For instance, reaching out to potential customers through e-mail marketing is a tried and true technique dating back to the 1990s.

    Although this way of doing things is effective, not attempting to reach out to consumers through newer techniques like Account-Based Marketing can lead to stagnation in an attempt to gain new customers.

  8. Create a plan

    Your thoughts are probably swirling right now at all the possibilities of creating a stable and satisfied customer base. This is a good time to start creating a plan of action. A business should know what they want their potential customers to learn about its organization when navigating the website and other social media platforms.

    What obstacles are preventing potential leads from continuously interacting with your content? What is your objective when creating content for the kind of consumers that you want to gain? Focus on those objectives in order to satisfy customers. Remember, that you will not achieve everything overnight. Planning take time.

  9. Tweak and enhance your plan

    As you put yourself through the customer journey process in order to get a better understanding of how the organization is seen through the customer’s eye, you might see some turn-offs that you otherwise would not have seen while planning your marketing campaign. Make tweaks and adjustments constantly in order to enhance your plan and set goals for business outreach to let you know about the progress that has been made.

  10. Execute on improved strategies

    Now is the time to execute. Send those emails, post those images and captions, and make that new and improved website live. Implement A/B testing, track interactions and reactions of social media posts, and analyze the background info of those email addresses that you have gathered. Do all these tasks on separate occasions.

    Remember if a strategy is not working out as planned it is not the end of the world (unless you have managed to offend your customer base but, that is what the planning stages are for). Just pivot and adjust accordingly in order to align with what the customer wants and needs.

Final Thoughts

For businesses, creating an effective b2b marketing plan is just another Tuesday on the job but secretly these organizations can feel overwhelmed because everything has to be perfect. One wrong move can sink a campaign, cause a media firestorm, and alienate a business’s customer base. That is why following these tips are crucial for the brainstorming, planning, and execution process of creating a marketing plan.

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Kierra Benson is an alumnus of the University of North Texas at Dallas with a Bachelor’s degree in Communication and Technology. She previously completed an internship at a local newspaper and worked as a content creator for a small online business. Her goal is to work in the media industry in writing/editing and advertising. She has always been fascinated by how messages are marketed in the media to influence the masses and sell products. Connect with her on LinkedIn.

TechFunnel Contributors | TechFunnel.com is an ambitious publication dedicated to the evolving landscape of marketing and technology in business and in life. We are dedicated to sharing unbiased information, research, and expert commentary that helps executives and professionals stay on top of the rapidly evolving marketplace, leverage technology for productivity, and add value to their knowledge base.

TechFunnel Contributors | TechFunnel.com is an ambitious publication dedicated to the evolving landscape of marketing and technology in business and in life. We are dedicate...

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