Recently, the Business Marketing Association published a joint study with Omobono, a British marketing firm, to study emerging trends in business marketing strategy. The study reached some interesting conclusions and provides a little direction for businesses of all sizes when it comes to developing, pursuing and modifying business marketing activities.
The importance of business marketing
One of the first observations the study authors made is that most businesses spend the lion’s share of their marketing budget on two channels – email and websites. Not surprisingly, these two approaches are considered to be the most effective among businesses when it comes to their marketing activities.
There are three takeaways in this observation alone: first, the channel makes a difference when it comes to business marketing. Email and website marketing can still be very effective because the reach the right audience directly. If your business marketing plan involves email, and you carefully build your email marketing strategy, your email list could be a figurative gold mine for your business. Using opt-in techniques for building your email marketing list ensures that your list recipients are genuinely interested in your products or services, and they want to hear what you have to say.
The second takeaway from this observation is that your business website is critical. It’s not a set-and-forget channel, like a static advertisement would be. Fresh rich content along with easy navigation and a clear business marketing message can be highly effective in reaching your target audience. Your website is an ongoing marketing concern and it should be treated that way.
The third takeaway is that two is better than one. Multiple marketing channels are more effective at reaching and engaging your target audience than one is. Make your business marketing budget based on the marketing channels that are most effective in reaching your target audience and spend your money there. Take a multiple-channel approach and your business marketing strategy will produce better results than it will if you concentrate your efforts on a single channel.
While it may be tempting to throw the entire budget into one or two print or broadcast campaigns, supporting the channels that put you into contact with prospects strengthens your business marketing strategy and makes the best use of your budget, no matter how big or small it is. Broadcast or print ads may get your business more impressions over a short period of time, but if they don’t reach the target audience, they’re simply not effective.
In my next post, I’ll discuss other findings of the BMA study, and show you how you can put this information to work in your business marketing strategy. In the mean time, if you would like more information on developing an effective business marketing strategy, please contact our Creative Director, Dave Ramsell or give Dave a call at (330) 243-0651 to set up a consultation.
Photo Credit: Svilen001, via FreeImages.com
