Every marketing campaign is different, but there are a number of factors that can reliably contribute to their success. Whether you’re a SaaS or product-based business, all good campaigns start with a clear marketing strategy. Use your plan to outline objectives, risks, and budgets to ensure your team knows what is expected.

Consider what kind of marketing campaign you’re running—it could be anything from promoting a new service or call router system to raising brand awareness. The key is to nail down your marketing KPIs and goals to build a solid foundation from which to work. 

This will enable you to define what your campaign’s success will look like and pave the way for future projects. You’ll be able to look back at the campaign’s performance and better adjust your strategy for the next project. 

Once you’ve nailed your strategy you can start tweaking your marketing campaigns to drastically increase demand. 

#1: Target the right audience using keywords 

Effective B2B marketing campaigns need to start with a clear vision of their target audience and their content then has to be tweaked accordingly. This means you’ll want to filter out non-fit audiences. This is where the power of keyword research comes in!

Don’t underestimate its value—conducting effective keyword research is key to every campaign because it will direct the focus to your target audience. One of the main areas of importance is search intent; what is your audience’s objective behind the search phrases they use

Understanding the search intent behind terms and phrases will go a long way in creating better results and conversion rates. What you need to know first is which users you’re specifically targeting. As a B2B company, you’ll want to make sure you’re gearing keywords in your copy to other companies or individuals searching for business services and products.

This could be as simple as including the word, “business” in your copy, or focussing on industry-related jargon. If you’re targeting SaaS businesses, for example, you may need to use key phrases such as power dialers or free Skype alternatives.

Once you’ve tackled this, you can move on to understanding your user’s search intent on a broader scale. Are they ready to access your content straight away or are they still in the research phase? Whichever group you want to filter out, be sure to eliminate keywords that trigger their intent in the first place.

#2: Use remarketing data

(Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash)

The most effective marketing campaigns will not only be creative, they’ll be curated. Gearing ads toward specific users is key to acquiring more viable leads and higher conversion rates. Knowing your target audience is fundamental to creating high-quality, curated ads and campaigns. One of the easiest ways to do this is via remarketing data.

Don’t just throw out random campaigns to users that have visited your website. Get behind the scenes and find out what specific pages those users have been on. Personalization is key to getting gains on your campaigns—it’s all about targeting users based on what they’ve been searching for.

Perhaps X number of users visited your page on mobile device management (MDM). Remarket using their data by creating campaigns that speak to your users’ search needs. This could be as simple as creating a campaign that focuses on selling MDM and product lifecycle management software.

So, it’s simple; analyze pages visited by users, gather remarketing data to create ads relevant to their search, and then send out your campaign.

#3: Share content before and after events

When B2B marketers host events, most of their time and energy goes into creation and prep. The timeframe just before and after an event is forgotten, and this is where marketers miss out.
With most businesses transitioning to remote work, it’s more important than ever to ensure you organize virtual events to promote engagement. The digital tools now available can ensure business continuity at a time when most teams work remotely.

Events help provide interaction between you and the user so be sure to take the shift seriously. Online events require a little more creativity to motivate users to get involved so optimization is key. 

(Photo by Windows on Unsplash)

In the days leading up to an event, send out content that will get your audience revved up and interested in the topic you’ll be spotlighting. This could be in the form of blogs, quizzes, videos, or even an updated newsletter. And you can package that content in an event-branded content experience. Not only will this increase your chances of a high attendance rate but it will boost traffic to your site.

Once the event ends, be sure to send out extra content that guides them back to that headspace. Follow-ups like these provide your audience with an opportunity to re-engage with your company at a number of different touchpoints.

The key is to spark prospects’ interest…. Once you’ve got that, you’re more likely to acquire viable leads for your events.

#4: Utilize consumption data

You’re probably already familiar with user engagement KPIs and how they can help you measure website clicks, scroll depth, and bounce rate. It’s simple, but the key to creating marketing campaigns that drastically improve over time is to focus on measuring user engagement with current ads and content.

This means integrating content engagement data into your campaigns so you can better measure your successes and shortcomings. Utilize this consumption data across a variety of campaigns so you can evaluate what performs better or has greater influence on a sale. For ads, you might find that video ads generate more traffic than standard banner ads, or that your target audience favors Facebook campaigns over those sent via email. When it comes to content, you may discover that using a content destination increases the likelihood a buyer will consume more content than sending them to a single content item like a blog. 

Once you’ve gathered data, it’s integral that you apply it to future campaigns. If video ads generated the most clicks and traffic, then be sure to produce more of them. In the same way, analyze your shortcomings and apply this knowledge to the next round. Eliminate any marketing tactics that aren’t propelling you towards success.

This way, you’ll be able to allocate your budget and resources smartly to the ads and content that do the most for you.

#5: Always assess lead quality

Utilizing your consumption data will go a long way toward improving your campaigns over time, leading to higher conversion rates and income from your efforts. The overall picture of your campaign, however, will still be uncertain if you don’t broaden your focus. That’s why it’s so important to assess the quality of the leads acquired your marketing efforts.

An easy way to do this is by syncing your CRM system with your marketing—this way you’ll be able to evaluate whether a campaign has been worthwhile. You might be generating high levels of traffic to a particular campaign, but if it’s not generating any viable leads then you need to reassess your tactics.

You want to focus on marketing efforts that boost sales, so you don’t waste your advertising spend. The more viable leads you have, the greater chance you have of securing paying customers.

Takeaway

Marketing is all about creating opportunities to engage with your customers, so it’s always worth investing more effort to find what can give them more chances to interact with you. 

Remember, too, that the hard work doesn’t stop once you’ve released your campaign! Be sure to continuously monitor your ads so you can keep evolving and get the most value out of your marketing.