2020 is not how we had planned it and people everywhere have had to adjust to a new way of living and working. For businesses that rely on attending trade shows and sponsoring events to get their brand noticed, marketing strategies have had to rapidly pivot as events have been forced to cancel with no definite business as usual date in sight.
B2B tech and telecoms businesses are being challenged to engage and nurture prospects. While events will always play a role in the B2B marketing mix, 2020 is offering many the chance to explore new ways of engaging prospects and customers. Businesses still need to be active and nurture leads even when big events have been cancelled or postponed.
With no end date in sight and businesses adjusting to a new normal, many organisations need to go beyond events and reallocate budget to attracting, engaging and nurturing with thought leadership, creative content and helpful advice. It is actually an opportunity to re-evaluate investments in event sponsorship and find measurable, lasting and cost-efficient ways to generate leads.
Like many aspects of tech and telecoms, the outcome of COVID-19 lockdowns and quarantines will be a step change in how B2B organisations market themselves. Some organisations are spending 50% of their budgets on events, which could easily be shifted into driving leads online with thought leadership, engaging prospects via email campaigns and digital advertising, and creating momentum and new touchpoints with PR.
All of these elements can be measured, tracked and evolved based on response and results. There’s no question about what is working and what isn’t. Businesses can then adjust budgets based on leads, conversions and productive sales conversations. It is simple and there’s no guess work.
Here are our recommendations for going beyond events, pushing your B2B marketing forward and adapting to a new normal. These are some the biggest questions that we’ve been getting lately:
What marketing activities can we do until events resume?
More people are online, on LinkedIn and consuming content than ever before. It is a good time to share interesting content that defines your organisation’s purpose and gives prospects a clear call to action. We have helped clients create and distribute whitepapers, blog posts, customer success stories, global PR and a whole range of content and communications that keeps them active and moving forward as a B2B brand.
We recommend exploring Inbound marketing strategies and creating new touchpoints that support sales. There is nothing stopping you from reallocating budget and using this time to launch new campaigns.
We don’t have any good stories. What can we share?
There are experts within B2B tech and telecoms businesses that are solving customer challenges every day. Any question or pain point that customers have can be turned into content that helps others. The chances are they aren’t the first ones to be dealing with this and the organisation can be first with an answer.
By targeting common customer pain points and offering helpful advice, you can use an inbound marketing strategy to gain more leads, and in turn, more customers. Blog posts, eGuides and whitepapers are a great way to show that you’re an expert in your field and analytics allow you to track the success of this content.
At the same time, many B2B organisations have news and milestones that they’ve never shared with their prospects and customers. Every business can be mined for news stories to share that drive momentum and demonstrate success. It is just a case of recognising what is and isn’t a story and packaging it for media.
Should we ‘wait and see’ before posting anything or launching a campaign?
There’s nothing to wait for. A lot of B2B tech and telecoms companies we work with are providing essential communications services or solutions that support a lot of the applications we all benefit from. They should market their businesses and continue to tell their story. They can use this time to build momentum and nurture prospects and customers.
Some businesses are seeing surging demand for their services as they support remote workers or provide connectivity for applications. If they have a solution that will benefit enterprises that are struggling to provide business continuity, they should definitely be marketing their business.
How do I nurture prospects when I can’t meet them in person?
Create content that matters to your audience and share it regularly. Sending emails out to prospects and customers is a great way to engage and nurture them with recommendations, advice or insights. Whether it’s a monthly newsletter, a quarterly blog content update or a follow-up to an enquiry on your website, marketing platforms like HubSpot have all the tools you need to continually engage and nurture prospects, customers and partners.
You can utilise and edit existing templates or create your own from scratch – HubSpot has the flexibility for you to unleash your creativity or create a clean and simple email in just a few simple steps. With CRM at its core, HubSpot enables you to upload all your contacts and target your emails to different groups and segments. With an abundance of tools at your fingertips, you can create different emails to suit different prospects and customers, enabling you to engage and nurture them in ways that are most suited to them.
Do we need to make a statement COVID-19 for our business?
Yes. We recommend clearly stating the preparations and plans you have for ensuring business continuity as well as the health and safety of partners, customers and employees. You want to ensure that the steps you are taking are understood by the entire value chain around your organisation, especially employees. A clear and simple statement can be reassuring to staff and communicate to the market that your organisation can be trusted at this uncertain time.
How do we get started?
There has never been a better time to explore new opportunities in your marketing. You can continue to capture leads and grow your business while developing a robust approach to marketing and communications. Content is something that lasts. The campaigns you create and deliver now will still be relevant in 6 to 12 months and will support your eventual return to industry events.
Ilex can help you to develop campaign strategies, content, PR and entire an ecosystem of content and communications. We’re ready to support you as you transform your marketing to go beyond events.