How to Choose the Right Tech Marketing Agency

It’s a tough time for the tech industry. Big Tech continues to experience painful job cuts and layoffs, while players throughout the space are struggling against tight budgets, stagnant growth and thickening competition.

In this environment, marketers are under pressure to drive impact and bolster the pipeline. LinkedIn’s B2B Marketing Benchmark Report found that tech, compared to all other industries studied, is allocating a lopsided share of budget toward generating new business versus retaining existing customers. 

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At the same time, B2B leaders at technology companies are less bullish about their budgets and outlooks than their counterparts. They are more likely to say their budgets have decreased or will decrease. In turn, LinkedIn’s research found that 18% of these leaders felt “uncertain or pessimistic about the likelihood of their marketing team’s efforts to drive revenue next year, higher than all other industries.”

Partnering with the right B2B tech marketing agency can be a critical move to overcome the challenges at hand, and get the most out of your budget. But this too is a significant investment and the stakes are higher than ever. We’re here to help you make the right decision.

5 qualities to seek out in a B2B tech marketing agency

TopRank Marketing is a full-service agency that counts many B2B tech companies among our wide range of current and past clients. Naturally, we’re honored to be considered by any marketing leader looking to elevate their strategy. But through our experience, we also know what goes into creating an effective brand-agency partnership. Above all, we want you to find the right fit.

Prioritize these attributes and qualities as you search for the right B2B tech marketing agency to suit your needs.

#1: Specialization in tech marketing and understanding of the industry landscape.

If you’re in B2B tech, you know that this sector is unique from others in a lot of ways. Solutions are often complex and developed for a specific niche. The tech boom has led to stifling competition and there’s frequently a great deal of parity (at least on the surface) between different offerings. Meanwhile, the tech buying process tends to be laborious, involving a high number of stakeholders and lengthy cycles. 

When evaluating B2B tech marketing agencies, you’ll want to ensure you go with a firm that has experience in this specialized arena. A seasoned agency partner can help your company and its solutions stand out at a time where differentiation is absolutely vital. Research from Gartner found, for example, that more than 70% of buyers consider at least four software providers before making a final purchase decision.

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#2: Track record and case studies showcasing successful tech marketing campaigns.

Not only should your agency partner have experience in the B2B tech space, they should also have results they can share. Explore case studies and work examples from past campaigns to verify that the agency has been able to follow through and deliver for tech clients. 

#3: Demonstrates an ability to stay on top of trends and changes.

It’s no secret: tech is a fast-changing industry. Brand marketers are often busy keeping pace with their own organizational needs. It can be a struggle to closely follow all of the external forces and factors impacting your business category and audiences. 

Agency marketers make a point of staying plugged into these broader trends while incorporating them into their strategic guidance. This outside expert perspective is a key part of the value agencies can offer. Make sure you’re selecting a studious partner who walks the walk by producing timely thought leadership and demonstrating a clear understanding of what’s happening now in your industry.

Again, it comes down to differentiation. Knowing what’s been happening and what’s next in your niche helps agencies partner with you to create something fresh and impactful. Research has found that “content with outdated or oft-repeated information” is the biggest issue negatively affecting buyers’ trust in B2B tech brands.

#4: Brings creativity to the table.

While being able to speak accurately to the details and benefits of your solution is vital, the ability to bring creative and innovative ideas to your marketing strategy is a core agency value prop. Tech buyers are humans just like everyone else and they respond to emotionally resonant content. 

“In a recent LinkedIn study of B2B marketing leaders,” according to The Drum, “more than two-thirds (69%) agree that B2B purchasing decisions are just as emotionally driven as B2C, and 39% said they are increasingly harnessing storytelling, emotion and humor to help make their creative campaigns stick. More than three-quarters (81%) go as far as saying that B2B brands are now producing creative campaigns that rival consumer brands.”

This is an area where specialized agency teams can lend a major assist, giving you access to experienced and exceptional creative talent. These writers, designers and strategists take the lead in developing colorful campaigns that pop and capture attention while also communicating the advantages of your solution to a B2B audience. 

One example of a creative tech campaign from TopRank’s portfolio is the “Fruitful Work” campaign we partnered on with SaaS provider Smartsheet. Incorporating influencers and a fun metaphorical theme, the campaign drove more than 23,000 video views while beating page view benchmarks by almost 350 percent.

#5: Connects marketing activities to business impact and revenue.

This is clearly one of the most urgent areas for tech marketing leaders to welcome expert support. LinkedIn’s research into the tech sector found that B2B CMOs at tech companies were more likely than others to say they are expected to demonstrate marketing impact on the bottom line, and under pressure to prove ROI in less time. Notably, nearly three out of four said they are unable to prove the impact of brand campaigns.

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Choose a B2B tech marketing agency that boasts proven analytics chops and makes data a central part of its culture. Advanced reporting that goes beyond superficial metrics can help you understand and improve business impact, bringing the clarity your C-suite craves.

Elevate tech marketing with an expert partner

These are challenging times for the tech industry, and for marketing leaders, opting to go it alone can be a costly mistake. Conduct an honest and thorough assessment of your needs, and explore partners with the capabilities and track record to deliver on them. 

Ready to work with an agency that checks all the boxes? Contact us today. 

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SEO Website Design: Building a Search-friendly Brand Hub

Your brand’s website design might tick all the visually appealing boxes, but is it stunning to search engines?

Effective SEO website design focuses on creating a user-friendly experience, encompassing aspects like mobile responsiveness, content visibility, and intuitive navigation.

These factors directly impact your site’s SEO performance. Search engines favor websites that deliver a positive user experience, as it indicates relevancy and value to the user’s search intent. On the flip side, a poor user experience can lead to lower search rankings.

Simply put, a website that balances exceptional design with robust SEO strategies is more likely to attract and engage your B2B audience. Let’s dive into actionable steps you can take to improve your SEO design and elevate your brand’s rankings.

SEO website design and user engagement

When you integrate SEO principles into your website design, you’re setting the foundation for better visibility and user engagement. User engagement is a key metric in evaluating the success of your website, directly influencing SEO and overall business outcomes

Engaged users are likely to spend more time on your site, explore multiple pages, and eventually convert into leads or customers.

Search engines recognize and reward websites that offer a high level of user engagement with better rankings, as it indicates the site is providing valuable, relevant content to visitors.

Integrating SEO principles into your website design
Ready to dive into SEO website design? Let’s look at some of the top tactics and best practices.

Prioritize mobile responsiveness

With the majority of online searches now conducted on mobile devices, your website must be mobile-friendly. Google uses mobile-first indexing, which means it predominantly uses the mobile version of the content for indexing and ranking. A non-responsive website can lead to a poor user experience, increasing bounce rates and negatively impacting your search engine rankings.

To optimize your website design for mobile devices, consider the following best practices:

Responsive design: Implement a responsive website design that automatically adjusts to fit the screen size of any device. This approach eliminates the need for a separate mobile site and ensures consistency in content and user experience across all devices.

Simplified navigation: Streamline your website’s navigation for mobile users. A simplified, touch-friendly navigation menu enhances usability on smaller screens. 

Optimized images and media: Ensure that images and media files are optimized for fast loading on mobile devices. Use compression tools to reduce file sizes without sacrificing quality. Also, consider using responsive images that adapt in size based on the device.

Streamline your site for speed

The speed at which your website loads is a critical factor in both SEO and user experience. Users have become accustomed to and expect quick access to information and services. Websites that load slowly are not only frustrating for users but are also penalized in search engine rankings. Google and other search engines prioritize fast-loading websites in their search results, as they aim to provide the best user experience.

To improve your website’s site speed, consider these actionable steps:

Enable browser caching: Browser caching stores parts of your site on a visitor’s browser, reducing load times for repeat visitors. This is especially effective for websites with lots of static content.

Choose the right hosting solution: Ensure your hosting plan can handle your site’s traffic and content. Sometimes, upgrading to a better hosting plan can significantly improve your site speed.

Monitor site speed regularly: Use tools like Google’s PageSpeed Insights to regularly check your site’s speed and identify areas for improvement.

Effective website layout, architecture, and navigation

A well-organized website helps users and search engines easily find information. Use a logical structure with a clear hierarchy and text links. Each page should be reachable from at least one static text link. A well-structured website supports effective indexing by search engines, improving your site’s visibility.

To ensure intuitive and SEO-friendly website navigation, consider these best practices:

Logical structure: Organize your website with a clear hierarchy and simple navigation paths. This structure helps users and search engines understand the relationship between different pages on your site. Each main category should be distinct and relevant, with subcategories that logically flow from the main ones.

Consistent navigation: Maintain consistent navigation across your website. This includes a static, easily accessible menu that provides quick links to the main sections of your site. Consistency in navigation design makes it easier for users to understand how to move around your site.

Descriptive URLs and navigation labels: Use clear, descriptive URLs and navigation labels. Descriptive URLs give users and search engines an immediate understanding of what the page is about. Similarly, navigation labels should be straightforward and indicative of the content they link to.

Image placement and optimization

The strategic placement and optimization of images on your website play a significant role in enhancing SEO and overall user engagement. Images can break up text-heavy pages, making content more digestible and appealing. However, it’s crucial to balance aesthetics with performance. Poorly optimized images can lead to slow loading times, negatively impacting both user experience and search engine rankings.

Here are a few tips on how you can effectively utilize image placement and optimization for better SEO results:

File size and format: Large image files can drastically slow down your site. Compress images to reduce file size without losing significant quality. Use appropriate file formats – for example, JPEG for photographs and PNG for graphics with transparent backgrounds.

Alt text and SEO-friendly image names: Use descriptive alt text for each image. Alt text improves accessibility for users with screen readers and helps search engines understand the context of the image. Naming your image files with descriptive, keyword-rich names helps search engines understand what the image is about and can contribute to better rankings in image search results.

Lazy loading: Implement lazy loading for images, which means images only load when they enter the viewport of the browser. This improves initial page load time, a key factor in both user experience and SEO.

Optimizing video and interactivity features

Incorporating video and interactive elements into your website can significantly boost user engagement and enhance your SEO performance. Videos are powerful tools for capturing user attention, conveying information quickly and effectively, and increasing the time users spend on your site. Interactive elements, like quizzes, calculators, and interactive infographics, actively involve users and encourage them to explore your content more deeply.

To effectively use video and interactivity on your website, consider these tips:

Optimize titles and metadata for search engines: Use descriptive titles and meta descriptions for your videos. Include relevant keywords and a transcript of the video content to enhance its discoverability and SEO.

Responsive and accessible: Make sure your videos and interactive elements are accessible and responsive across all devices. Users should have a seamless experience whether they’re accessing your site from a desktop, tablet, or smartphone.

Loading speed: While videos and interactive features enhance engagement, they can also slow down your site. Optimize file sizes and consider using a content delivery network (CDN) to maintain fast loading times.

Build your search-friendly brand hub

Optimizing your website design for SEO is an ongoing process that keeps your site aligned with the latest search engine algorithms and user preferences. Regularly evaluate your site and identify areas where improvements can be made that will not only enhance the user experience but also strengthen your SEO performance.

Remember, an SEO-centric website design is a powerful tool in your digital marketing arsenal. It not only attracts more traffic but also engages and retains users, ultimately leading to increased conversions and business growth.

For a deeper dive into optimizing your website design for SEO, learn more about our SEO services. 

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How Should LinkedIn Algorithm Changes Affect Your Strategy?

B2B marketers recognize that the audience on LinkedIn is immensely valuable: more than 1 billion professionals scrolling their feeds with a career-focused mindset. It’s a fantastic platform for B2B marketing activities and the numbers bear that out.

But marketers also recognize that gaining reach on LinkedIn – especially organic reach – can be extremely challenging for brands. If you’ve put substantial effort into creating content for the platform only to watch it fall flat with minimal reach and engagement, you’re not alone. 

The algorithm used by LinkedIn to determine which content shows up on whose feeds is, in many ways, a mystery. But there are plenty of publicly available details and insights to help you shape your content strategy – including recent revelations from LinkedIn itself.

Understanding the LinkedIn algorithm and how it works

LinkedIn uses a complex algorithm to curate and display content to users based on a multitude of factors. Because the ultimate goal is encouraging users to engage, spend time on the platform and return regularly, LinkedIn is highly motivated to ensure members are consistently finding content that is relevant, interesting and valuable to them personally.

This is a good guiding light for your LinkedIn content strategy. In order to better ensure your audience (and by extension, the LinkedIn algorithm) sees your content as relevant, interesting and valuable, there are some proven best practices to follow.

Keys to gaining reach on LinkedIn as a brand

Based on studies, documentation and first-party updates, here are six key approaches and adjustments to help your content gain traction with the LinkedIn algorithm.

Don’t make “virality” a goal on LinkedIn

It’s easy to see the appeal for brands in having a post or piece of content go viral on social media. In reality, the business impact of all this explosive yet ephemeral reach tends to be iffy. And on LinkedIn, aiming for virality can actually be counterproductive.

“LinkedIn is a bit of a different beast in the social network universe,” according to Hootsuite, “because the LinkedIn algorithm is specifically designed to prevent content from going viral.” 

That’s not to say a resonant post cannot drive substantial reach and engagement in a short period, but LinkedIn is very sensitive to viral spam and has significant measures in place to detect and even predict it.

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One of the simplest signals used by LinkedIn to verify authentic and meaningful content is the characteristics of members who engage with it. Evaluating users based on network and activity features, the system seeks to learn: Are these real people genuinely engaging with this content?

With that in mind, it’s great to encourage your employees to interact with brand content shared on LinkedIn (just not the same few employees every time), and to create things that compel engagement from those in your target audience.

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Avoid using outbound links when possible

I mentioned earlier that a primary objective of LinkedIn’s algorithm is keeping users on the platform. This is, of course, at odds with outbound links that take those users off the site. It’s a pesky reality for marketers who would love to direct that traffic to their website or landing pages.

Posts on LinkedIn with outbound links can still get reach, but it will put you at a disadvantage. A study by Hootsuite found that, on average, posts without links got 6x more reach than posts with links. The linkless posts also received far more reactions and comments despite being shared less frequently.

Consider reserving most of your content with off-site CTAs for paid campaigns, where you can buy clicks and dependably drive traffic. For organic content, consider other valuable actions you can elicit rather than navigating off LinkedIn, such as following your brand’s LinkedIn Page or contributing to the conversation.

Prioritize specialized knowledge and insights

A key facet of LinkedIn’s latest major algorithm update, which took place in June 2023, is the increased prioritization of genuine knowledge and expertise. “The platform is looking to highlight more knowledge and advice experts share,” reports Buffer. “For users, the algorithm determines what expertise is relevant by identifying a user’s interests based on their profile info and activity.”

This is a favorable development for B2B brands, which tend to offer focused specialization within a specific category. If you’re creating content that connects with a target audience of buyers and decision-makers, it’s more likely to surface on the feeds of others with similar professional attributes. 

Elevate your employees and executives

The second major component of LinkedIn’s June 2023 algorithm update was an emphasis on increasing content reach to existing connections and followers. This development underscores the value of employee advocacy and executive thought leadership, helping your brand get in front of the networks your team has built throughout their careers.

The downside is that this change might make it even harder for brand content to reach unfamiliar audiences. To counteract this, work to grow your brand’s organic following and build awareness with paid brand campaigns.

Incorporate multimedia

This one is straightforward and nothing new, but content on LinkedIn will generally be better poised to succeed when it features eye-catching creative. Use vivid imagery, compelling video (with captions!) and varied content formats.

According to LinkedIn, posts with images average twice the comments of those that don’t, while using video drives a 5x increase in engagement.

Use influencer marketing on LinkedIn

Deploying an influencer marketing strategy on LinkedIn helps your brand align with much of what the platform’s algorithm is prioritizing today: expert knowledge, authentic networks, and relatable content. 

TopRank Marketing CEO Donna Robinson wrote for the LinkedIn Collective about why the LinkedIn platform – with its emphasis on content, conversations and connections – is an ideal channel for B2B influencer marketing, and shared tips for doing it well based on our research for the B2B Influencer Marketing Report.  

Stay human and helpful to navigate change

The evolution of LinkedIn’s algorithm is not fundamentally different from the evolution of Google’s search algorithm. Both are intent on prioritizing content that is relevant, high-quality, and shaped by human creativity and expertise. This holds the key to breaking through with your marketing as AI further saturates the content landscape and audiences increasingly demand substance.

At TopRank Marketing, we’ve helped countless clients overcome the challenges of social media marketing. LinkedIn content and strategy creation is just one element of our social media marketing services to explore!

 

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The 6 Fundamentals of an SEO Link Building Strategy

One of the big reasons why Google revolutionized search engines when it launched in 1998 was its PageRank algorithm, which rewarded pages based on how many other websites were linking to them. 

Evaluating links has proven such a reliable method for understanding content quality that after nearly 20 years and hundreds of updates, they remain one of Google’s most valued ranking signals. 

It’s little wonder that link building has been a crucial element of SEO ever since. By taking the following steps to develop your SEO link building strategy, you can put together a plan to grow your website’s authority and drive valuable referral traffic from key sources.

Why is link building valuable for SEO?

To understand how to create an effective SEO link building strategy, you have to know what makes link building valuable in the first place. 

Improved search rankings

The quality of a page’s backlinks is one of the main factors search engines consider when awarding SERP placements. The more relevant, authoritative sites link to your content, the more trustworthy and useful Google will consider it.

Improved brand visibility and high-quality traffic

If you have links on popular sites that are related to your content, audience members on those sites will find your content more frequently and organically. You’ll start receiving more attention from the right people, and those people will start to recognize your brand as an important voice in your category. 

Improved trust and credibility

If trustworthy sites are willing to link to your content, it shows both search engines and your audience that you’re considered credible. The better your backlinks, the more trustworthy your site looks.

Partnerships and relationship-building

To build credibility and brand recognition within any category, you’ll need your audience to understand how you relate to (and stand out from) your peers. Link building is one of the best ways to do this. 

By earning links from other trustworthy sites in your category, you’re also starting mutually beneficial relationships with these sites. By connecting your audience members via links, you can both gain trustworthiness and authority while solidifying the differences between your brands.

What makes a link valuable?

In modern SEO, the quantity of the links you receive matters much less than the quality of those links. An effective SEO link building strategy doesn’t just try to get as many links as possible; it gets the right kind of links from the right kind of websites.

Search engine algorithms evaluate what makes a link valuable using hundreds of factors. Though they keep these factors secret to prevent exploitation, companies like Google have provided generalized explanations of their evaluation process. From those guidelines, SEO experts have extrapolated several of the primary evaluation metrics.

Relevance 

Search engines consider the contextual relevance of the links to your site above any other consideration. The more useful the link to the user clicking on it, the more valuable the search engine will consider it.

For example, if you’re running a site about computer software and you receive a link from a site about something completely unrelated like lawn care, then that link probably won’t count for much. Meanwhile, a link from a highly relevant site like a software review service might prove highly valuable.

When it comes to your SEO link building strategy, consider relevance your main objective. 

Authority

A page’s authority refers to how trustworthy search engines consider it within its category. The higher a page’s authority, the more valuable a link from it is, as long as that site and link are both relevant to your content. 

Search engines like Google also keep the exact calculations they use to determine a site’s authority a secret, but there are SEO tools that can approximate how Google will evaluate a site’s authority, such as Semrush’s Authority Score and Moz’s Domain Authority.

Authority is a great secondary consideration for your link building strategy. Consider relevance first, and then try to find the most relevant sites that also have the highest authority.

6 steps to developing an SEO link building strategy

1. Identify the most relevant link opportunities in your category 

Focus on quality over quantity and start by evaluating relevance. Highly-relevant links are from sites that are well known in your category and directly related to your subject matter.

Consider which sites your ideal audiences visit right now for information related to what you offer, then put together a plan for how you could earn links from these sites.

2. Cross-check authority with relevance

After you put together a list of the most relevant sites, cross-check it by site authority. You can use SEO tools like Semrush and Moz to find the leading authorities in your category. 

Your best opportunities will be highly relevant domains with authority scores (according to Semrush) of 50 or above. Organize these opportunities from highest to lowest to create a backlink “wishlist.”

3. Compare your list to competitors’ links

Create a list of your competitors and begin checking their site’s links against your wishlist. Various SEO tools can provide backlink analysis features to make this process much faster.

Identify overlapping link sources with your competitors, adding their successful sites to your wishlist. Evaluate and include any valuable links your competitors have that you initially omitted, and seek differentiation by pursuing links on your wishlist that your competitors lack.

4. Build long-term relationships

The tried-and-true way to earn backlinks is by producing great content and raising your domain authority. Align your content strategy with your audience’s pain points and produce content that is inherently valuable to link to expedite this process.

Consider reaching out to your biggest opportunities directly. You could start a mutually beneficial relationship with these brands or influencers by trading links or even collaborating on future content. 

5. Optimize your internal linking structure

The more easily search engines can find, organize, and index your site’s content, the easier they can deliver the right pages to the relevant SERPs. The more frequently they do this successfully, the more authoritative they will find your content. Smart internal linking structure will also help you pass page authority to the rest of your linked pages.

When optimizing your internal linking, prioritize user experience above all. Make your website as intuitive for someone to navigate as possible by minimizing the number of clicks it takes to get to any given piece of information, clearly labeling all links, and making links easy to find.

6. Maintain and improve over time

Review your SEO link building strategy as frequently as you check on your SEO results. 

Continue to maintain and update your internal linking structure for user friendliness as your site continues to expand. Identify your highest-performing content and determine why it resonated with your audience so you create similar content in the future. Update your backlink wishlist with wins and new opportunities, and continue reaching out to the most valuable sites you identify.

By following these six steps, you’ll be well on your way to creating an SEO link building strategy that helps Google and other search engines find your site, raises your brand’s authority, and puts your content in front of the right people for the right reasons.

Learn more about how SEO fits into a broader B2B marketing strategy. 

The post The 6 Fundamentals of an SEO Link Building Strategy appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

Try These Top B2B Influencer Marketing Tactics

You’ve probably heard about B2B influencer marketing. The strategy has exploded in adoption, with a 2023 Ogilvy study finding that 75% of B2B businesses are leveraging influencers in their campaigns. 

Even if you have a general idea of how and why B2B influencer marketing works, you still might wonder how it plays out in practice. How do brands and influencers collaborate to bring these campaigns to life?

Good news: we have plenty of insight on this subject! Our agency has partnered with brands to create countless B2B influencer marketing campaigns and strategies, so we’ve helped put many of these techniques into action. Not only that, but our original industry research helps shed a broader light on the B2B influencer marketing tactics being used most today.

Top B2B influencer marketing tactics

B2B marketers are using a variety of different channels and mediums to reach audiences with their influencer campaigns. TopRank’s 2023 B2B Influencer Marketing Report found that social media, industry presentations and video top the list.

Note that laying the strategic groundwork for your program – influencer identification, relationship-building, goal-setting, measurement, etc. – is essential before these collaborative campaign tactics can be effective. Learn more about the evergreen fundamentals in our guide.

Social media influencer content

It comes as no surprise that social media is the most popular channel for deploying B2B influencer marketing tactics. Driving organic reach and engagement on these competitive platforms is a perpetual challenge for brands. Sprout Social found that half of all marketers consider elevated engagement rates on social platforms as the most valuable opportunity through influencer marketing.

Here are some examples of tactics you can use to activate influencers as part of your social media strategy:

• Featuring expert insight: Create text-based or multimedia content for the feed that highlights perspectives from industry experts in your influencer mix. Their inclusion increases the credibility and impact of your thought leadership.
• Influencer tagging and mentions: Frequently tagging and @-mentioning the influencers you partner with helps your brand gain visibility and recognition in their social media networks.
• Influencer takeovers: Have an influencer assume control of your brand’s social media account for an hour, or an afternoon, or a whole day. Make sure you’re aligned on values before handing over the reins, of course.
• Influencer promotion of products, features, or assets: When influencers speak knowledgeably about your company’s offerings, or help showcase them, it can help audiences see the value in unique ways. An “unboxing” campaign for social media would exemplify this.
• Employee advocacy: Don’t underestimate the influence your own employees and internal experts can have on your marketing strategy! Making it easy and incentivized for them to authentically advocate on social media is a smart play.

50% of marketers consider elevated engagement rates on social platforms as the most valuable opportunity through influencer marketing. (Sprout Social)

Partnering with influencers for industry presentations

LinkedIn’s B2B Marketing Benchmark report found that events top the list of planned marketing techniques for B2B leaders. Presenting at a conference or industry event provides brands with direct access to an engaged and relevant audience. Involving influencers in your industry presentations helps add greater impact and reach, while potentially unlocking new opportunities. 

Live or recorded influencer videos

The crossover between video marketing and influencer marketing is natural. This is clearly a format that buyers turn to when researching; a Gartner study found that 65% used YouTube to inform recent purchase decisions, more than any other platform listed.

Creating video content with influencers, whether live or recorded, offers an engaging experience for your audience that can also be repurposed for use in many different channels and formats.  

Webinars, interviews, or other interactive content

The most successful influencer marketing programs create a sense of community. Interactive content is a great way to connect the brand, influence and audience around shared challenges, interests or passions. 

A candid interview between your executive and a subject matter expert in the field, or a panel discussion that invites open Q&A, are great ways to bring the experience closer to your audience. 

Podcasting is another highly engaging content marketing tactic that is perfectly suited for influencer integration.

Blogging with B2B influencers

Blogs are not the core atomic unit of content marketing that they once were, but they remain key for driving organic traffic to your company website. Bringing influencers into your blogging strategy supports this goal. 

Influencers can help promote your posts, and their presence within the content can help your pages perform in search. Including unique, authentic views and insights from experienced experts differentiates your content from AI, while aligning to Google’s E-E-A-T quality-rating guidelines.

There are plenty of ways to incorporate B2B influencers into your blog, including guest posts, quotes and round-ups. It’s an easy win, and the fact that only 28% of respondents in our survey are using blogging as an influencer marketing tactic strikes us as an opportunity.

Influencer marketing is versatile and vital

As this list illustrates, B2B marketers are using influencer marketing in combination with many different tactics, and we’ve really only scratched the surface here. There’s no limit to the places your B2B influencer marketing strategy can go as digital channels expand and content consumption preferences constantly evolve. 

Taking a test-and-learn approach, informed by audience research and an understanding of your influencers’ strengths, will help you continue to innovate and improve your tactical mix. 

Learn about TopRank Marketing’s world-class B2B influencer marketing services and find out how to put these tactics into action for your brand.

 

The post Try These Top B2B Influencer Marketing Tactics appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

The State of Digital Transformation in B2B In 2024

For B2B companies, digital transformation is not a destination; it’s an ongoing journey. Marketers must continuously assess and adapt their marketing technology stack to remain competitive, meet evolving customer expectations, and seize new opportunities in the digital landscape. 

As digital transformation continues to reshape the fundamentals of B2B marketing, businesses need to prioritize creating and delivering valuable, human-centered content. By doing this in a timely and accessible way, they are better positioned to meet the expectations of increasingly self-service-oriented buyers. 

Let’s take a look at where digital transformation stands in B2B marketing and what it might portend for the rest of 2024. 

Marketing technology has taken hold

According to recent research from Gartner, 68% of businesses have been replacing software more frequently since 2021. This signals that digital transformation has reached a high level of maturity, since companies have been using digital tools long enough to know what works and what doesn’t. The software replacement trend is indicative of a growing awareness that staying at the forefront of digital innovation is essential for long-term success.

That same study found that approximately 70% of businesses planned to increase their software investments in 2023. This demonstrates a commitment to harnessing the power of technology to enhance their marketing efforts and overall business operations. 

As the business world continues to embrace digital tools and technologies, it’s clear that the market for these offerings has reached a high level of maturity and is poised for ongoing growth. 

Marketing skills are digital skills 

LinkedIn’s 2023 B2B Marketing Benchmark reveals a telling trend: digital skills are seen as the bedrock of success for B2B marketers at every level. 

According to the report, marketing technology and data analytics mastery have emerged as top priorities for CMOs, with 49% emphasizing its importance in 2023. Looking ahead, an even larger proportion, 53%, anticipate these skills to be pivotal in the coming years. 

B2B marketers lower on the org chart have an even higher stake in digital skills, with 61% of prioritizing these skills in their current roles.

Taken together, these trends underscore the pivotal role data and technology play in crafting targeted, effective, and measurable B2B marketing campaigns. This is a clear indicator that marketing technology and data-driven decision-making will play an ever-increasing central role in shaping strategies throughout the marketing function. 

Content marketing continues to be relevant 

One main component of the modern B2B marketplace is the preference for self-service. Buyers are looking for answers to specific questions, and they don’t want to wait around for a sales representative to schedule a call to answer those questions. In fact, 77% of marketing decision-makers confirm that buyers expect immediate answers. 

And buyers are turning to content marketing to help get those answers. Recent research from Demand Gen Report shows that, within the last year, 71% of B2B buyers downloaded and read multiple assets to help guide their purchasing decisions. About the same amount said they shared those assets with their colleagues, expanding content’s reach beyond the initial reader. 

Here in 2024, content marketers should feel confident. This same research finds that 46% of respondents said they plan to increase the amount of content they consume in the coming year. 

Digital channels remain in flux

After the implosion of X, formerly known as Twitter, and Instagram’s Threads’ inability to fill the power vacuum that was left behind, there isn’t a clear picture of how—or whether—to continue investing in these social platforms. 

Brands need to be careful about their association with an erratic platform like X, where misinformation and bots seem to have taken hold. But at the same time, brands need to find ways to be where their customers are, and, according to HubSpot, that may very well continue to be X. 

Research from HubSpot also finds that 25% of marketers are abandoning podcasts and other audio content. That same research shows 23% of marketers aren’t going to continue with their VR/AR initiatives. While not exactly a mass exodus, it’s a significant trend away from promising new arenas. (And maybe an opportunity for others to fill the void.)

Overall, marketers seem to be taking a more conservative wait-and-see approach to their channels of choice in 2024. 

Generative AI is a must-have in digital marketing 

The newest addition to everyone’s martech stack last year was a wealth of generative AI tools. From Midjourney to ChatGPT, there are more than enough tools to suit every marketer’s needs, bringing newfound efficiency and innovation to B2B strategies. 

And these tools are being used across the board. According to LinkedIn’s 2023 Benchmark, about three-quarters of marketing leaders report that they have either started using or increased their use of generative AI tools this year. 

But these tools aren’t just a fad. They have real implications for how effective marketers can be, especially as uptake has solidified and the tools have matured. McKinsey estimates that generative AI tools may increase the marketing function’s productivity anywhere from 5% to 15%. 

It has become a bit of a cliche in marketing circles this year, but it remains true: AI won’t replace you, a person using AI will. Marketers who don’t integrate generative AI into their workflows—and do so responsibly—are at risk of falling behind. 

Digital transformation keeps driving B2B marketing

Feeling lost amid the constant churn of digital transformation in B2B? Our B2B marketing resources have the insights and expert guidance you need to navigate every aspect of digital marketing. 

The post The State of Digital Transformation in B2B In 2024 appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

SEO Content Strategy: From Basic to Advanced

Just about everyone knows what SEO is these days, and nearly every professional brand has at least a basic content strategy in place to rank for relevant keywords and attract organic attention. The more crowded the internet becomes with these competing brands, however, the more difficult it has become to stand out.

Gone are the days when keyword stuffing and writing consistent blogs once a week were enough to get your website noticed. If you want to earn high SERP rankings and drive the right audiences to your content in a digital environment where everybody’s churning out content like there’s no tomorrow, you’re going to have to find a way for your content to rise above the rest.

That isn’t necessarily as difficult as it may sound. Leveling up your SEO content strategy won’t require you to devote your entire budget to producing Spielberg-quality videos or going viral on TikTok. Instead, getting your content noticed in a crowded market is mostly about learning how to make what you’re doing right now a little more targeted, contextually relevant, and informed by data. 

To demonstrate, here are some examples of the qualities that differentiate a basic, keep-the-lights-on SEO content strategy from a more advanced and sophisticated form capable of driving much more powerful results. If you’d like to learn more about elevating your own strategy, we welcome you to explore our SEO services.

Keyword targeting

Basic: Targeting primary keywords only

In a basic SEO content strategy, the primary focus is on targeting high-volume primary keywords. This approach often involves identifying a few generic keywords related to the business or industry and creating content optimized around those terms. 

What makes this strategy ineffective is how it overlooks user intent and fails to capture the diversity of search queries. By targeting only the broadest, highest-level keywords, you have no way to connect your content with users who are searching for something specific. 

We share an example of how this approach can fall short in our SEO content guide, Marketing with Intent: 

“For a very long time, raw keyword volume ruled SEO. This mindset became ingrained over the years, to the point where a B2B campaign will target a keyword like ‘what is digital transformation’ on the premise that it receives very high search volume and is relevant to their tech solution. Both technically true! Unfortunately, it’s an impossibly competitive term because it’s relevant to every tech solution.”

Advanced: Topical clusters and intent-driven long-tails

An advanced strategic approach for targeting keywords involves more nuance. Instead of solely targeting primary keywords, emphasize building topical clusters to deliver a breadth of focused coverage. 

In practice, this might take shape as a hub-and-spoke of sorts, with high-volume topics at the center and longer-tail keywords or variations branching out from it. This intent-driven content can explore different facets of the topic through the lens of your buyer’s journey. 

Matching search intent is one of the most significant ways you can capture relevant search traffic. 

Content quality

Basic: Shallow coverage and a focus on robots

A basic SEO content strategy emphasizes quantity over quality. Content tends to provide superficial coverage of topics, lacking in-depth research and insights. The primary goal may be to meet a specific word count or number of blog posts per month without necessarily adding substantial value to the reader. 

Content is often created with the sole purpose of satisfying what you think the search engine robots are looking for. Maybe a robot even wrote it! This can lead to a disconnect between what you’ve created and what users find valuable.

Not all content is valuable! Crowding your website with low-quality pages threatens to have a negative effect on your overall search authority and visibility.

Advanced: Comprehensive coverage written for humans 

In contrast, advanced content strategy prioritizes quality over quantity. Instead of aiming for a specific word count, the content is meticulously researched and comprehensive in its coverage of topics, regardless of total length. This builds on the concept of topical clusters: by writing thoroughly and clearly on each of the subtopics within a cluster, content strategists ensure they’re fully addressing each topic and providing valuable information to their audiences. 

Advanced SEO content is also written for people first. In light of Google’s 2022 “Helpful Content” update, you are more likely to rank well if your content is helpful to the person reading it. Ironically, the best way to give search engines the content they want now is to focus less on what they want—and prioritize your actual audience instead.

Strategic alignment 

Basic: Content and SEO silos

A basic content strategy will often involve treating SEO and content creation as separate entities with minimal collaboration. The content creation process may be informed more by intuition and whims than by data-backed SEO insights. This is often the result of a lack of coordination between the teams responsible for SEO and content, or a lack of resources dedicated to both.

In other instances, companies may have a lower-performing strategy as a result of viewing SEO input as a one-time task, focusing on on-page optimization and neglecting the broader strategic alignment with other marketing activities. 

Advanced: Strategic, holistic integration

An advanced strategy prioritizes integrating the work of the SEO and content teams into a holistic, always-on marketing approach. Data-backed SEO insights inform the content strategy from the outset, ensuring that content is not only optimized for search engines but also aligned with broader business goals and audience needs.

A fully mature SEO content strategy has SEO and content teams collaborate closely, sharing data, insights, and goals. Content creation is guided by a comprehensive understanding of target audiences, keyword research, and overarching marketing strategies. The content serves as a valuable asset in supporting various stages of the customer journey.

Because the internet never stops, neither does a best-in-class SEO content strategy. Analytics and reporting for these two functions should be intertwined, enabling SEO insights to continually shape content planning, optimizations, and decision-making.

Ready to build an advanced SEO content strategy? Discover everything you need to know in our guide, Building an SEO Strategy in 2024.

The post SEO Content Strategy: From Basic to Advanced appeared first on B2B Marketing Blog - TopRank®.

The Growing Importance of Social Media in B2B Marketing

From MySpace to Meta, social media has been through more evolutions than a deck of Pokémon. Today’s platforms offer a multimedia-rich ecosystem, ultimately shaping modern digital culture and commerce.

Customer behavior has grown in tandem with these platforms as users vote with their views and clicks. People around the world spend an average of nearly 2.5 hours a day on social media, making it the most effective global marketplace for brands who want to offer their customers a more personalized and interactive experience.

B2B marketers who wish to optimize their social media spend should first invest in understanding the intrinsic link between these platforms and their users. First, let’s take a look at where B2B social media marketing stands today.   

The state of B2B social media marketing

2023 saw a 20% increase in social media marketing investment by B2B marketers. And even as paid content distribution decreased overall (a drop of 14% from 2022 to 2023), the vast majority (85%) of those dollars went toward paid social media.

Perhaps the most compelling statistic we’ve found is from Insider Intelligence, which shows that 60% of B2B marketers named social media as the most effective channel for driving revenue. 

And businesses aren’t just using social media to market their products and services. McKinsey has identified four primary ways in which brands use social media: monitoring, responding, amplifying, and influencing customer behavior.

That final point, influencing customer behavior, underscores the importance of social media in B2B marketing. 

Understanding B2B customer behavior

Understanding your customers as individuals is crucial for building out an effective B2B social media marketing strategy. Modern buyers crave more than just a transaction; they seek a seamless, personalized experience. This involves:

• Multiple channels: Today’s B2B buyers are not just sticking to email or direct sales. They engage with brands through webinars, social media, and even chatbots. 
• Convenience: Time is money. Features like one-click reordering, quick customer support, and easily navigable platforms can make or break a deal.
• Personalization: Customization is key. From tailored email marketing to curated product suggestions, giving buyers what they specifically need keeps your brand top of mind.

How social media can influence customer behavior

Influencing buyer behavior hinges on crafting a well-rounded strategy that integrates content and engagement. Your content should be informative, insightful, and relevant to the pain points and needs of your target buyers. It serves as the foundation upon which you establish yourself as a trusted resource and thought leader in your industry.

But content alone is not enough. Engagement is essential to gaining mindshare and building relationships with your audience. This involves actively listening to them, responding to their questions, and participating in conversations. It’s how you humanize your brand, making it relatable and approachable. 

Customers reward an omnichannel strategy

Data increasingly supports the adoption of omnichannel strategies in B2B. This doesn’t mean just being present on multiple platforms, but integrating them for a unified customer experience. 

A recent study by McKinsey found that “B2B companies that provide the best omnichannel experience are improving their market share by at least 10 percent annually.” It’s a clear indicator that adapting to modern buyer behavior is not just a good idea; it’s essential for sustained success.

Social media: A key touchpoint in B2B marketing

Online communities offer more than just a platform for ad placement. They enable opportunities to connect with your customers through sharing thought leadership and other compelling content, which in turn drive highly targeted traffic back to your website. 

The benefits don’t stop at content distribution. These platforms are where people go to talk, offering a wealth of insights into your target audience’s needs, challenges, and interests. Actively participating in these conversations not only enhances your brand’s credibility but also serves as a rich source of market intelligence.

Your audience sees social media as a great source of intelligence as well. McKinsey has found that B2B buyers lean heavily on social media as a source of brand and product information. 

What’s next for B2B social media marketing

The future of B2B marketing is increasingly intertwined with strategic investments in social media. With advances in data analytics tools, the ability to pinpoint the ROI of social media efforts has never been more accurate. Social media is no longer a “nice to have” component of your overall B2B strategy. It’s vital to ensure that your social media efforts align with and amplify other elements of your marketing mix.

Looking ahead, several trends are poised to shape B2B social media marketing. Video content, particularly live-streaming, will continue to gain traction. Expect to see more companies leveraging live video for Q&A sessions, product launches, and webinars. AI and automation will play a more significant role as well, offering advanced levels of personalization and customer journey mapping. 

In short, the future holds ample opportunities for those willing to adapt and innovate in their social media strategies. Being proactive, rather than reactive, will help you gain that competitive edge.

Learn more about how TopRank Marketing can help you develop a B2B social media marketing strategy that grows your business. 

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