A Website Is Just the First Thing Your Small Business Needs
Q: What happens when you’ve launched your company’s website?
A: Nothing. Well, almost nothing.
Google starts crawling your site and indexing your pages. But really, that’s about it. Otherwise, it’s just crickets.
Customers won’t start coming to your site simply because it’s there. There’s, like, 1.2 billion websites in the world. What are the chances your customers will find yours in that crowd?
If you want your company website to actually ignite some sales, you’ll need to pour some lighter fluid on that bad boy and light a match! Just as firewood won’t catch fire by itself, your website can’t do much on its own. You need a whole marketing ecosystem for it to catch fire.
Okay, I’m mixing my metaphors, but hopefully you get the point.
It takes more than a B2B website to generate sales leads online. It takes a strategic approach to digital marketing — one that includes several types of content, multiple marketing channels, and an understanding of what your ideal customer wants and needs.
Related reading: How to Market Your Small Business Without a Budget
What Should You Have Besides a Website?
So what do you need to generate sales leads, besides a company website? Glad you asked! Here are typical marketing elements you MIGHT need:
A blog
Okay, I know what you’re going to say. Yes, a blog is part of your company website, but every other page on your site is static. Your company blog adds value that the rest of your website can’t provide.
For example, Google wants to see fresh content that’s updated frequently. This is one of the ways it knows that your site is active and has relevant content. Blogs are really big for SEO.
They’re also great opportunities to generate new leads (subscriptions) and drive traffic to your website (by sharing on social media). You can expect about 67% more leads every month if your brand has a blog.
As long as you’re here: 7 Quick Tips to Boost Your B2B Blog’s Performance
Lead gen content
One of the main purposes of your website is to generate new leads. You do that by collecting their email address and possibly other information about them (name, phone number, company name, etc.). When you have their email address, you can start engaging with your new lead one-on-one and nurturing them through the sales funnel.
But no one is going to give you their email address just because you want them to. You’ve got to offer them something of value in return. That’s where lead generation content comes in.
Lead gen content is anything that promises enough value that your visitors will be willing to give you some information about themselves. Typical types of lead gen content include:
- Blog subscription
- Case studies
- Webinars
- Ebooks
- Tools or templates
- State of the industry reports
- Software demos
Email marketing
One of the best ways to engage your leads and nurture them through the funnel is with email marketing. When done well, email is more like a conversation than most other mediums, and it has the feel of a one-on-one engagement (even when it’s automated).
Email marketing is also one of the most effective tactics you can use. On average, companies that invest in email marketing see a whopping 4200% ROI.
On average. No guarantees here. Even so, if your email campaign is only average, it’s hard to complain about those results!
Social media
Social media is another way to engage in a more conversational way. The great thing about social is that you can engage with people who aren’t leads yet — even people who have never visited your website.
Think about that for a sec. If you’re only putting your eggs in your website basket, you’re guaranteed to miss out on an entire population of potential customers.
Social media immediately expands your reach, because your content can get in front of your connections’ connections. Best yet, Almost 90% of marketers say their social marketing efforts have increased exposure for their business, and 75% say they’ve increased website traffic.
SEO
Google pays attention to more than just your website content. If you want to get listed in search results, don’t overlook local listings, review sites, Google My Business, and even YouTube (which Google owns).
Paid ads
If you need to boost your website traffic fast, you might want to consider paid ads on social media. Paid advertising embeds your ad in users’ social media feeds, so that they see your content while scrolling through content on the platform. Social media ad campaigns can be very effective, and produce immediate results, when done well.
Also, this: Create Content That Keeps ‘Em Coming Back for More
What Do You REALLY Need for B2B Marketing?
These are some of the most common marketing tactics that make sense for small B2B companies. There’s also SMS marketing, videos, podcasting, press releases, affiliate marketing, and more.
But you might not need all of these. And the tactics you do need, you might not need right this minute. More than anything, what you do need is a marketing strategy.
A marketing strategy ensures that you’re only investing in the right tactics, and that you’re using them in the right way at the right time, targeting the right audience. You won’t be wasting your time with activities that won’t get you anywhere, but you will be giving your website the spark it needs to ignite your sales funnel.
If you’ve been doing shot-in-the-dark marketing until now, a marketing strategy turns on the lights and makes sense of everything. Rather than adding more complexity, a strategy cuts the chaos. It gives you a marketing plan that’s clear and right-sized for your particular company.
It’s not a question of whether you should have a marketing strategy. Every small business needs a marketing strategy. And the good news is, every small business can get a marketing strategy.
You don’t need a big marketing budget or a big marketing agency. And you don’t need to do it yourself, taking shots in the dark.