Last week, I talked about the first five winning habits you can adopt for more B2B marketing success in 2011. You can find that article here. Following are habits 6-10.
Habit 6: Work your social media plan. This is the year to really make social media work for your organization. If you haven’t already started in social media, now is the time to jump in. And if you are already swimming in social media waters, then this is the time to make your program effective. There is a lot posted on this subject, including a recent blog post of mine titled Use Social Media and Pull Marketing to Generate Business. Be careful to utilize a realistic number of social media outlets. For B2B marketing purposes, I recommend blogging, LinkedIn and Twitter. This combination has generated awareness, leads and revenue for Fusion Marketing Partners and our clients.
Habit 7: Relentlessly build your network. This habit is related to the previous one because social media is a great way to build your network. Be intentional about connecting with people you run into in a business context (at events or online). Every person you connect with can be a future customer, partner or referral source. The important thing is to make the connection before you need it. In other words, you will have far less success if your first communication is to push the individual for a job or to buy something from you.
Habit 8: Create some new content. Content is the new lifeblood of B2B marketing. You will need fresh content to support every part of the end-to-end marketing and sales process. But it’s not enough to simply create a bunch of new content. Rather, the right content must be offered at the right step of the process. What works when a person first hits your website is not what will work when they are in the later stages of the sales cycle.
Habit 9: Get to know your sales counterparts. If your company is like most, things can be better between sales and marketing. I wrote a whitepaper about this titled How to Bridge the Gap Between Sales and Marketing (you can get a copy here). Why don’t you resolve to bridge the gap yourself by getting to know the folks in the sales department? Sometimes you will hear unpleasant things (like what they really think about your leads) but you will also learn some useful information and perhaps make a new friend.
Habit 10: Don’t accept less than your best. The economy is still somewhat anemic and everybody is scrambling to get their share of the market. But the B2B marketing prizes still go to those who have the right combination of knowledge, experience, attitude and work ethic. In other words, those that give their best regardless of circumstances. Somebody has to win and why shouldn’t it be you?
If you adopt all, or some of these habits, 2011 will be a better year for your organization and for you as a B2B marketer. Have a great start to the new year and I look forward to talking with you over the coming weeks and months.
As we look toward next year we all need to set our resolutions. This list really helps us to prioritize. Getting to know our sales folks will be fun! Thanks for the great advice, Chris!
Thanks for the comment Gail. Funny that you should mention the habit of getting to know the sales team. I just received a birthday card that had a bunch of cavemen on the cover. The caption read: “I’m not a hunter or a gatherer. I’m in marketing.” I found this very funny but there is some truth in the humor since many sales people don’t think we understand their world, let alone make a contribution to revenue.