Editorial Articles

Direct response campaigns and email marketing can often work well and generate measurable returns for the brands using them. However marketers should not dismiss search as a worthwhile way to connect with B2B audiences.

The B2B marketing space has some catching up to do when it comes to the targeted marketing mechanics employed by the B2C industry. B2B companies are certainly over-reliant on traditional reach tools such as email and its less demonstrable offline counterparts. Understandably B2B audiences are growing used to being on the receiving end of B2C behavioural communications outside of their work environment, and are becoming increasingly perceptive to the styles used in these interactions. They are demanding to be engaged in a more personal and relevant way rather than wading though untailored push marketing.

Direct response campaigns and email marketing can often work well and generate measurable returns for the brands using them. However marketers should not dismiss search as a worthwhile way to connect with B2B audiences.

The majority of industries are still missing a trick with SEO marketing as it is seen purely as a consumer channel which is in fact, it could be argued, a poor business judgement. For those that have caught on this method of marketing is slowly gaining popularity as it can create leads at a low cost and visibly increases physical visitor numbers. As such, completely different attitude, approach and focus needs to be taken for the B2B market, as products and services are much more complex and lead times are longer. Often there is more than one person within a company that is involved in the buying process and it is difficult to offer information to suit everyone’s needs.

According to Hitwise’s study published in May over 90% of traffic comes through natural search. So when talking to those in the B2B environment about SEO marketing and natural search it always comes as a surprise at the uncertainty they express when their site is found through a search engine. Certainly, major procurement is not beholden to a search listing position unlike a retail decision, but there is indisputable evidence that it serves to influence. A successful campaign achieved through different optimisation techniques can build a high quality page and potentially drive traffic to a website. By engaging and persuading users to link from their websites can provide more organic results generating a higher return on investment. Setting up an analytics programme also enables site owners to measure success and improve a site's conversion rate.

Many B2B clients who have considered SEO have expressed some doubt over the relevance of Google et al to their sites, and will often state that it was ‘done’ when the site was built. SEO is categorically an ongoing endeavour, not just a one off. Ensuring the content and architecture are optimised from the outset is fundamental to a successful site build, but thereafter learnings must be taken from the traffic and the subsequent actions they prompt, and the SEO strategy should be altered accordingly.

The key to B2B SEO is understanding all the issues and the likely actions that consumers will consider as they search for solutions. Are they simply looking for a company to specialise in one particular area or do they want something that is integrated? B2B SEO won’t deliver big ticket purchases on first click, but it will shape and compartmentalise leads into the pipeline. This will give the marketer a depth of knowledge of the customer journey that can ultimately serve to complement and inform other, perhaps overused and under-targeted aspects of the marketing programme.

Garrett Dearey
Associate Director, Positive Digital