B2B Growth Marketing Strategies & Tactics
Six factors for B2B marketers to consider when developing analytics and reporting strategies.
NEED TO KNOW
- Growth marketing is more philosophy than methodology
- Focus on tactics that play to organizational strengths
- Formalize fundamentals like ICP and USP
- Get everyone on board to activate network effect
- Avoid hack dependency
The term ‘growth marketing’ started to get used sometime in the 2000s and is commonly used today, as evidenced by the 500+ job postings on LinkedIn. The B2B growth marketing concept itself is tricky to specifically codify, though Eric Swartzman does an admiral job here. In many ways, B2B growth marketing is more of a philosophy or state-of-mind than a set of structured tools and methodologies. Most of its appeal is borne from its efficacy and that it’s helped companies like Hubspot, Docusign and MongoDB separate from the competitive pack and thrive. Here are six strategies and tactics for B2B managers to incorporate into their growth marketing plans.
1. Play To Organizational Strengths
Growth marketing is all about taking advantage of every available opportunity by marshalling the unique resources of an organization — taking things like budget, skills and intellectual property into consideration. So growth marketing plans aren’t one-size-fits all.
A video-centric strategy might make sense at a company teeming with charismatic, camera-ready executives that make great interviews or webinar presenters. A social media-centric approach could be the right way to go at an organization with a handful of influencers. A thought leadership-heavy plan could work at a firm with a bunch of PhDs and accomplished authors.
Only the most well-funded early stage companies are able to roll out tactics across the entire digital marketing ecosystem, and even they are constrained by a sector’s ability to consume all of its collateral. B2B markets are typically niche, especially in early stages of evolution. There’s a limit to how much marketing can be absorbed.
Pro Tip: Interview CxOs to get their POVs on growth marketing tactics they’ve used elsewhere or consider effective when formalizing plans.
2. Get Everyone On Board
One of the driving forces of growth marketing involves marshalling the resources of the entire organization and that requires salesmanship. Growth marketing-centric organizations foster an environment that celebrates a “we’re all salespeople” ethos and provides staff with tools and training to make valuable contributions to new business acquisition initiatives — from lead generation to brand building and deal closing.
Not everyone will be an enthusiastic participant, and that’s ok. Plans are not dependent on 100% participation rates. Sales and marketing are unique functions within an enterprise and for good reason: not everyone is wired to do sales and marketing.
But most employees are genuinely interested in doing what’s best for their employers and it’s the job of the B2B growth marketing manager to read the room and develop custom plans that accommodate unique organizational dynamics.
Pro Tip: Use both a top-down and bottom-up approach to developing support for enterprise-wide marketing initiatives. The tactics can be intimidating to staff that aren’t digital natives or social media savvy.
3. Avoid Hack Dependency
Everyone loves a good hack. I surely do. My waistline has benefitted in a big way from replacing that daily afternoon soda with a seltzer, which reduces my weekly intake by about 1,000 calories. This translates to 4,000 calories/month and 48,000/year — or about 10 pounds. This is meaningful. What seemed like a small or even marginally insignificant adjustment has yielded big gains for me, personally.
The same principles are applied by successful growth marketers at every opportunity. Realizing 10% improvements in social media engagement, paid media CPC costs, or website traffic can result in dozens of additional inbound leads for B2B companies, and, eventually, a couple of new customers acquired each year. And this can translate to thousands or even millions of dollars in new revenues and profits.
But hacks are also notorious for creating a false sense of security about the long term health of a company’s new business generation capabilities. Algorithms evolve, new competitors emerge and apply innovative tactics, or buyer behaviors change and old techniques just stop working altogether.
Hacks are an important component of growth marketing strategies and should be exploited whenever available but do not offer a solid foundation for long term investment and scaling.
Takeaways: Use whatever hack or platform makes sense for the organization to exploit to aid in its mission, but becoming overly reliant on anything that the company doesn’t control — like email marketing lists or owned media — is going to eventually become problematic. The marketplace is littered with companies that effectively shuttered overnight due to an algorithm update or platform pivot.
4. Don’t Assume Anything
Growth marketing strategy plans are inherently reliant on basic new business and lead generation principles that are sometimes overlooked by even the most experienced leadership teams: what are we selling and who are we selling to?
B2B growth marketing managers and CMOs are well-served by initiating formal, structured conversations around these topics. Many early stage companies are formed based on an ephemeral concept that might not be tethered to market realities. More established companies might be dependent on a couple of customers with unique needs that don’t necessarily scale well.
Don’t assume anything. Do the research and engage with CxOs to have their inputs drive strategic marketing decisions. Formalize ideal customer profiles (ICPs) and unique selling propositions (USPs) with the executive team. Marketing is considered a support function in most B2B organizations and relies on direction from CxOs to identify target markets, audiences, and understand the details of successful outcomes.
Pro Tip: Engage with CxOs, solicit responses to fundamental issues — what are we selling and who are we selling to — document responses, and synthesize the inputs into formal plans.
5. Content Is And Always Will Be King
The driving force of online traffic for the vast majority of companies is content-driven. Yes, some organizations benefit from huge social media followings by one or two employees, but that’s typically the exception, not the rule, for B2B companies. The rest of us need to find ways to attract digital traffic, and the most effective way to do that is through original content and promotion.
The formula is relatively straightforward: do keyword research, create GEO/SEO-optimized content in the form of blog posts/articles/videos/tools, and then promote them via email/social media/advertising.
While not necessarily complicated, content marketing execution can be challenging. The internet is cluttered and noisy. Most sizable B2B companies deploy some kind of content strategy, and jockeying for eyeballs and attention can be a slog.
But that’s what growth marketing professionals do: continuously test different asset types and ways to promote them and get them into the market’s bloodstream. If one asset doesn’t perform well, either tweak it until it does or move on to the next one.
Takeaways: Original, compelling content – whatever the format – is the single most impactful driver of successful growth marketing programs.
6. Embrace AI
There isn’t much new to say about AI at this point. It’s arrived and made its way to the B2B marketing ecosystem in full force and isn’t going away. B2B marketers need to find ways to incorporate the tactic into every possible activity, if for no other reason than because CxOs expect it.
Time will tell if we’re currently at the inflexion point of the AI revolution. Some of its biggest influencers are pumping the brakes in what seems to be an effort to temper expectations, while other indicators suggest the road to AI adoption might be bumpier than initially expected.
Managing expectations in the executive suite is an important task for B2B marketing managers when it comes to AI. Finding ways to incorporate AI into daily tasks and report on efficiency gains is a great place to start.
Takeaways: AI affects B2B growth marketers in two ways: how we get our work done, and how we communicate with prospects, partners and customers. Develop a tight narrative for how your team is using it on both fronts.
RESOURCES & FURTHER READING
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Tim Bourgeois is a B2B marketing consultant at East Coast Catalyst and manages the B2B PPC management practice. Contact him at tbourgeois(a)eastcoastcatalyst.com to discuss how his team can help with B2B digital marketing strategy and lead generation initiatives.