Businesses have enjoyed immeasurable success in digitally targeted marketing campaigns up through 2013, especially with social media giants Pinterest and Facebook offering exciting platforms for targeting audiences, and YouTube innovating In-Video marketing campaigns to draw attention to niche video watchers. Investments in mobile applications have grown well over 140% since 2011 while over 60 hours of video being uploaded every minute is a major contributing factor in how $1.8 billion in revenues have been generated since the same time period.
With staggering figures being reported, it comes as an even bigger surprise the inefficiencies which accompany growing branding efforts throughout marketing campaigns around the world. As B2B spending trends head upward, tracking needs to grow equivocally, which it's not. As we sneak our way towards 2014, incremental strategic changes need to be implemented into what we'll dub as B2B lead nurturing strategies for 2014, highlighted below.
Putting Data Out There
Your business, inherently, wants to place viable bits of useful data across the internet, whether locally or globally, so the word about your initiatives is clearly searchable. You'll use PPC advertisements, social media marketing advertisements, email marketing, video marketing and perhaps a slew of other data bits out there. One problem, however, is tracking all of this data from each source as it flows inward and outward. To upgrade your current methodology of segmenting data, perhaps find some method to put data across the wire with an excellent way of collecting feedback, tracking the results of polls and nurturing the data collected simply by integrating better means of putting that data across the wire.
Tracking numerous information sources can be painstaking, time consuming and even financially wasteful; attempt to make 2014 the year which you put information across the world in an easier, more streamlined method.
Finding That Singular Data Source
An extension of above stated need, aggressive marketers will want easier methods of storing and retrieving data, preferably within one location. This is done with a 4000 pound, highly potent yet rarely tested marketing automation plan which can seamlessly integrate numerous inbound data reception points into one place. While many companies have vied for this automatic marketing tool for decades, it's finally taking off, and only the patience and well-planned business strategists are guiding business along for the ride.
By specifying tasks, outcomes and placement of data collected from piloted campaigns, you'll have that singular place where all data can collaborate with your analytics tools to better pitch your marketing plans in appropriate places. The three main areas which comprise of marketing automation include (but aren't limited to):
- Workflow automation, which simplifies the marketing schema altogether;
- Marketing automation, which simply moves B2B customer leads from one campaign to another;
- Intelligence, which is advanced behavioral study to interpret specific actions, habits and purchase demographics to allow measurements for future marketing campaigns to be taken more accurately.
Heading into the next year, it may benefit your business to simplify your data sourcing methods and vie for marketing automation processes to streamline data sets. It also gives your marketing interpretations an easier path for leveraging campaigns throughout all digital points of entrance and exit.
In order to effectively prepare marketing automation tasks, you must prepare to deliver a message to specific groups across numerous platforms in which B2B customer leads collected can be segmented into where the response came from. Companies like Spida Design, the authority on New York web design concepts, will often get their leads from word of mouth - especially when they're people who actually believe in their products.
Expand
Although your business has needs in one particular niche, you may find marketing to be too far outside your comfort zone and pass those responsibilities onto somebody else. If you're already established as an aggressive search marketing professional, perhaps you find data management issues to be well outside your personal boundaries - or cares. If you've set yourself into marketing standards which historically work, perhaps you should expand and cross-implement various stratagems to test marketability, viability and usability.
Case in point, we'll use Aubrey Organics as our prime example for expansion within niche markets. Providing all-natural skin, body and hair care to United States and select worldwide countries wasn't an overnight process; it took experience and dedication to providing something real to men and women seeking organic beauty supplies, and they've nailed it. I believe the devotion by Aubrey Hampton is an awesome example of how lead nurturing happens in the beauty products niche.
Since marketing revolves around catering to specific niche markets, you'll need to encompass all possible avenues within that niche such as adopting automation tactics, find new and easier ways to nurture collected data through content management systems, or even make new strides towards the future of viral marketing via mobile platforms.
Expanding your capacity can only offer improvements; treat setbacks as learning experiences instead of flawed skill. If you're a freelance marketing pro paying homage to only single clients, having the ability to expand channels will increase your own marketability and retain clientele who need digitally astute marketing pros to assist in keeping tabs on data integration and lead scoring.
Look Closely At Display Ads...Again
When the mobile web began growing, the playing field for mobile display ads once again leveled. If you aren't targeting your PPC ads to mobile channels, you're missing out on what will pan out to be immeasurable amounts of traffic in 2014, the year when video marketing meets mobile browser and slams head first into the golden opportunity for display ads to once again prove useful.
The costs should begin tailing off once more companies come onboard with mobile display advertising and in-video marketing. If you've decided to use social media marketing campaigns solely, you'll miss out on those accessing websites via mobile or tablet-based devices.
Video Efforts Are Mandatory
Of all your marketing efforts planned for 2014, it's definitely suggested you work on video integration of any and all marketing campaigns while tracking the analytics behind those who watch your videos. Since pictorial evidence is becoming nearly mandatory to build business-B2B customer trust, you'll definitely find exponential benefit in implementing emails, SMM and SEM using viral videos such as tutorials, testimonials or even something quirky going on around the office.
The B2B customer leads you'll receive could come in the form of commentary, emailing, etc. Making these videos available across mobile and internet-based platforms will more than amicably pull weight for your business while also allowing other marketing angles to naturally run their course.
Always Plan Towards Future
The marketing trends you'll follow today will more than likely be moot next year, and we've seen this on many different platforms such as FFA linking and other unethical marketing practices which used to work. Today's sociological composition requires the businesses of our internet schema actually make concerted efforts in building relationships not links to their landing pages; keep this in mind.
Google has gotten smarter, our future is looking technologically brighter and marketing efforts need to be adjusted to match the growing expanse of internet marketing. Digitally speaking, having your mind on today but your plans prepared for tomorrow will keep you ahead of the digital marketing learning curve, and will also help those who seek jobs find them quicker.