Inbound marketing adoption has grown rapidly in Europe and North America and there is an opportunity for more B2B organisations across the Middle East to use it to capture new leads and grow their businesses.
Inbound marketing focuses on attracting potential customers by providing helpful content that is tailored to their specific needs and challenges. An inbound strategy utilises many forms of “pull” marketing including thought leadership content like eGuides, blogs, reports, social media marketing, email marketing, and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO).
According to Hubspot, 70% of marketing teams globally are actively investing in inbound marketing. It has become the de facto way for marketers to attract rather than interrupt their prospects and create productive sales journeys that capture new intelligence and enables successful long-term relationships.
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Why should B2B tech and telecoms companies adopt an inbound marketing strategy?
In the Middle East, B2B marketing and PR has been largely driven by business events and trade shows. Activity has been centred on issuing press releases and supporting in-person meetings rather than using digital channels throughout the year.
When there are fewer events, this approach leads to long gaps between communications and opportunities for engagement. This has been even more evident during the pandemic when many events were cancelled or moved online. Even now, due to travel restrictions, few events are at pre-pandemic levels.
An inbound marketing strategy creates a scalable and efficient way to stay active and present in the industry and in the minds of prospects. It also extends a brand’s reach as there is no limit on the content created or the audience it is potentially shared with. This means brands can reach potential customers in region and around the world with the same digital content.
Accelerating the Buyer’s Journey
Potential customers move through three stages of the buyer’s journey - awareness, consideration and decision. To maximise potential leads, B2B tech and telecoms companies in the region should aim to target all three stages of their audience’s buyer’s journey.
The traditional events-based marketing method in the Middle East usually only targets those who are already in the consideration or decision stage. It is highly unlikely a potential buyer would attend an event if they were not considering the product. This can leave a large gap of prospects in the awareness stage who are not being targeted.
By creating useful content for every stage of your ideal customer’s journey, you can encourage them to visit your website and share their information with you, bringing them into your funnel.
The inbound marketing funnel is a symbolic method where a potential lead moves down the three stages of their buyers’ journey. It’s a great way to not only track where your leads are in their journey but to also evaluate what strategy to use next to convert them into sales.
A good balance of both events and great content will ensure B2B tech and telecoms companies are reaching all potential leads in each stage of the buyer’s journey.
Consistency is Key
Consistently putting yourself in front of your target audience ensures you maintain visibility and relevance within the industry. A steady stream of content ensures you won’t be forgotten.
The foundation of an inbound strategy is to provide something useful, whether that’s by educating, problem solving or entertaining.
If companies in the region provide their target audiences with helpful content this will help build trust and credibility in the long term, which is essential for converting leads to sales.
Saving Time Through Automation
It’s no secret that the Middle East is a leader in digitalisation. The region has been at the forefront of smart cities, Internet of Things (IoT) and digital transformation. Embracing automated marketing techniques for an inbound strategy should therefore be easy in such a forward-thinking and visionary territory.
Inbound marketing strategies can help companies save time and scale-up marketing while reducing overall costs by automating their processes. Many tools and software let you automate repetitive tasks including marketing emails, social media posts and campaign reports.
For example, HubSpot is a marketing automation software which allows B2B tech and telecoms businesses to schedule blog and social media posts, track emails and receive custom reports. This leaves more time for your marketing team to focus on nurturing leads and converting them into customers.
A Sustainable and Scalable Approach
Inbound marketing strategies aim to focus on catering for what prospects are already interested in. By providing educational, helpful and interesting content, B2B tech and telecoms businesses in the region can become thought leaders with a truly global reach.
Creating a strong base of content which is readily available to your audience is essential for new leads. By using an inbound strategy potential leads will be able to view information quickly and make informed decisions. This also increases the quality of your leads.
Utilising an inbound strategy alongside keys events in the Middle East can create a fluid all-year-round strategy with the focus on accelerating growth and maximising leads.
Read our blog 'Borderless PR: Taking Middle Eastern B2B Tech and Telecoms Companies Global' to learn why building a global PR strategy for your B2B organisation is key for local and global growth.
