When it comes to marketing partnerships, Timing is everything.
Knowing when to hire a marketing agency can be tricky. Outsourcing your marketing efforts could be a game changer, but it’s not always the right move at the right time. If you’re trying to grow, rebrand or take your company to the next level, partnering with the right agency can help you do so more effectively. But if your business is struggling in other areas or you’re facing an existential crisis, jumping into a marketing investment might not be the best course of action.
Let’s take a look at when you should (and shouldn’t) bring in a marketing agency.
When you shouldn’t hire a marketing agency.
1. Your business is struggling.
If your company is facing a crisis, such as serious financial or operational challenges, now is not the time to invest in a marketing agency. Marketing can’t save a business that’s already in survival mode. If your business is on the verge of closing its doors, it’s better to focus on fixing internal problems first, such as improving your product, cutting costs or streamlining operations. Marketing can be an important part of recovery — but only once the business has a solid foundation and a clear direction.
2. You’re not ready to commit to long-term initiatives.
Marketing isn’t a one-time fix. It’s a long-term effort that requires planning, testing and consistency over time. If you’re just looking for a quick boost in sales, a marketing agency might not be the right answer. Marketing agencies typically work with clients on ongoing initiatives that require time and attention. A quick-fix mentality often leads to disappointment and wasted resources.
3. You don’t have a defined company DNA or clear goals.
A marketing agency can help refine and promote your branding — but if your company’s identity isn’t fully developed, or if you don’t know what you stand for, it’s hard to expect an agency to work their magic. Before outsourcing, make sure you have a clearly defined DNA (or senseof company identity) and concrete goals in place. If you’re still figuring out who you are as a business, it may be worth taking the time to work on your identity before seeking professional help with branding.
When you should hire a marketing agency.
1. You’re ready to rebrand or relaunch.
Rebranding can be one of the most transformative and rewarding steps for a business, but it’s also a big job. If your company has changed — whether that’s through leadership, product offerings or a shift in market positioning — now might be the right time to consider working with an agency. A rebrand is the perfect opportunity to refine your messaging, update your branding and develop a fresh marketing approach that better aligns with your current business goals.
Hiring a marketing agency for this process ensures you have a team of experts guiding the transformation, providing everything from market research to brand design and execution. Plus, agencies can help ensure the rebrand resonates with your target audience.
2. You’ve hit a growth plateau.
If your company is stuck in a rut, hiring a marketing agency can give you the fresh perspective and strategic direction you need to supercharge growth. Agencies, like Design At Work, have experience working with businesses at various stages of growth, so they can help you pinpoint opportunities to strengthen existing relationships and reach new customers through various marketing and advertising channels. They can also help you evaluate the strength of your current messaging and visual branding, as it’s possible outdated materials may be hindering your company’s continued growth.
3. You need specialized expertise.
Marketing covers a lot of ground — everything from search engine optimization and content creation to paid ads, social media and email campaigns. If your team lacks expertise in any of these areas, it’s time to consider hiring an agency. Even if you have an in-house team, they may not have the bandwidth or specific skillset to take your marketing efforts to the next level.
Outsourcing some or all of these tasks gives you access to a whole team of specialized professionals who can handle the complexities of branding and marketing, allowing you to focus on other aspects of your business.
4. Your team is overwhelmed.
As a growing business, your internal marketing or sales team may not have the time or resources to keep up with everything on their plate. If your team is stretched thin — whether due to rapid expansion or just the daily grind of basic marketing efforts — hiring an agency can help lighten the load.
Agencies are great at providing support during high-demand periods, like big product launches or seasonal promotions. They can help manage your content calendar, design recurring content and ensure your marketing stays consistent, while your internal team focuses on other pieces of the marketing puzzle.
The decision to hire a marketing agency should come after careful consideration of your company’s needs and objectives. While marketing can certainly help fuel growth and brand recognition, it’s not a magic solution to internal problems or business struggles.
If you’re looking to enhance your brand, accelerate growth or leverage specialized expertise, working with a marketing agency can help you achieve your goals more effectively. But if your business is facing deeper challenges, it might be worth addressing those first before diving into a new partnership.
Need guidance on whether it’s time for your business to outsource some or all of its marketing? Contact us!
As the air warms and the crack of the bat fills stadiums, baseball season isn’t the only thing getting into full swing. Spring Training focuses on preparation, practice, and fine-tuning skills to help players perform their best when the games count. Businesses can take a similar approach to their marketing strategies, using this time to refine their tactics and build a winning game plan.
In this blog, the experts at MARION will show how businesses can take cues from Spring Training to strengthen their marketing approach, focusing on preparation, practice, and continual improvement. With the right strategy, baseball marketing can be as precise and impactful as a perfectly executed double play.
How to Hit Your Marketing Targets with Spring Training Tactics
Spring Training proves that success is built over time. It takes discipline, consistent effort, and a willingness to adjust when necessary. Businesses that apply these same principles to their traditional marketing strategies will be better equipped to stand out in a competitive marketplace. Baseball marketing isn’t just swinging blindly. It’s having a clear plan and executing it with precision.
1. Preparation: Building a Solid Foundation
Spring Training begins long before the first pitch is thrown, with players and coaches meticulously preparing for the season ahead. Similarly, businesses must lay a solid foundation by conducting thorough market research, defining their target audience, and setting clear marketing goals and objectives.
Much like a baseball team prepares for the season ahead, businesses need a solid foundation to support their marketing efforts. A well-researched baseball marketing strategy can help make sure campaigns hold up against changing trends and competitive pressures.
2. Practice: Consistent Repetition Leads to Mastery
At the heart of Spring Training is the concept of practice — repetitive drills and exercises designed to sharpen skills and build muscle memory. Similarly, businesses must dedicate time and resources to consistent practice in their marketing efforts, whether it’s crafting compelling content, refining messaging, or optimizing marketing campaigns.
Marketing efforts should be tested and fine-tuned regularly. It could be adjusting social media ad targeting, refreshing website content, or improving email campaigns. Repetition and consistency help businesses develop marketing strategies that perform when it matters most.
3. Refining Techniques: Embracing Feedback and Adaptation
Spring Training isn’t just putting in the reps. It’s also taking feedback, identifying weaknesses, and making adjustments. A team that doesn’t learn from past mistakes will struggle when the regular season begins. The same holds true for marketing.
Businesses need to monitor campaign performance, track engagement metrics, and listen to customer feedback to identify what’s working and what isn’t. A successful baseball marketing strategy isn’t set in stone. It evolves based on data, industry shifts, and customer behavior. By making small adjustments and embracing flexibility, businesses can fine-tune their digital content strategies for better results.
Play Ball with a Stronger Marketing Strategy
Success in marketing, much like baseball, requires preparation, consistency, and the ability to adjust when necessary. No matter how experienced you are, there’s always room to improve and refine your approach. Take the time to review your strategy, put in the work, and make the necessary tweaks to keep moving forward.
Step Up Your Marketing Game with MARION
Ready to hit a home run with your marketing efforts? Let MARION be your strategic partner in reaching your business goals. From comprehensive market research to targeted advertising campaigns, we have the expertise and resources to help you swing for success.
Local lead generation can be a game-changer for businesses looking to attract nearby customers. But is it the right approach for your business? The short answer: most likely, yes.
Let’s break it down and see why local lead generation is a smart investment.
What is Local Lead Generation?
Local lead generation is the process of attracting and converting potential customers in a specific geographic area. This strategy is essential for businesses that rely on foot traffic, local services, or community engagement.
Examples of Businesses that Benefit from Local Lead Generation:
Home service providers – Plumbers, electricians, and landscapers
Retail stores – Boutiques, furniture shops, and grocery stores
Medical professionals – Dentists, chiropractors, and physical therapists
Restaurants and cafes – Local eateries looking to bring in more customers
Law firms and financial services – Attorneys, CPAs, and insurance agencies
If your company depends on local customers, investing in business lead generation is a no-brainer.
How Does Local Lead Generation Work?
The key to local lead generation is making sure your business gets found by the right people at the right time. Here’s how it works:
1. Optimize for Local SEO
Local SEO helps your business get found when people search for services in your area. Start by claiming and optimizing your Google Business Profile. This is one of the most important steps for showing up in local searches.
Next, make sure your website includes local keywords like “roofing services in Dallas” instead of generic terms. Also, get listed on local directories like Yelp, Angi, and the BBB to improve credibility and visibility.
2. Run Targeted Ads
Paid ads can put your business in front of the right customers fast. Google Ads allows you to target people searching for your services in real time, while Facebook and Instagram ads help you reach potential customers based on their interests and location. If you’re looking for an extra local push, try Nextdoor advertising, which focuses on connecting you with people in your immediate neighborhood.
3. Engage with Your Community
Building a strong local presence isn’t just a marketing strategy. It’s also about real connections. Here are some great ways to get your name out there:
Attend local networking events
Partner with other local businesses
Sponsor community events and sports teams
4. Encourage and Manage Reviews
Customer reviews can make or break your local reputation. The best way to build trust is to ask satisfied customers to leave reviews on Google and Yelp. Most people are happy to do it if you make it easy for them. But reviews aren’t just about word of mouth marketing; how you handle them matters too. Always respond professionally to both positive and negative feedback.
A simple thank-you goes a long way for happy customers, while a thoughtful response to criticism shows potential customers that you care. And make sure you don’t let great reviews go unnoticed; showcase testimonials on your website and social media to build credibility and attract even more business!
Fact: 76% of people who search for a local business on their smartphone visit a business within 24 hours. (Source: Google)
Expert Tips for Better Local Lead Generation
No fluff, no gimmicks – just real strategies that help local businesses get found and get customers.
Tip #1: Be Active on Google Business Profile
Make sure your business profile is always up-to-date with accurate information, such as your hours, address, phone number, and services. Regularly updating this information ensures potential customers can easily find and contact you. In addition to keeping the basics updated, take the time to post weekly updates, promotions, or special offers.
This helps your business stay relevant in search results and signals to Google that your profile is active, which can improve your visibility. Engaging with customer reviews and responding promptly also adds credibility and trust to your profile, encouraging more interaction and conversions.
Instead of “best plumber,” try “best plumber in Austin, TX.” It makes a huge difference in rankings.
Tip #3: Test Different Ad Platforms
Google Ads work for immediate results but don’t sleep on Facebook, Instagram, and Nextdoor.
Facebook and Instagram let you target people based on interests, location, and behaviors, while Nextdoor helps you specifically reach people in your local area. Trying out different platforms can help you find where your ads work best and connect with more potential customers.
Tip #4: Build Relationships with Other Local Businesses
Cross-promote each other’s services. A coffee shop and a bakery? Perfect referral partners. This kind of collaboration not only drives more foot traffic but also strengthens relationships with other local business owners.
Tip #5: Track Your Results
Use tools like Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, and call tracking to measure what’s working. Tracking your results helps you see which integrated marketing campaigns or strategies bring in the most leads, so you can invest more in what’s effective.
Common Questions About Local Lead Generation
Q: How long does it take to see results?
A: SEO and organic efforts can take 3-6 months, while paid ads can generate leads in days.
Q: Do I need a website for local lead generation?
A: Yes. A website builds credibility, improves SEO, and acts as a hub for your marketing efforts.
Q: What’s the best platform for local lead generation?
A: Google Business Profile is essential, but Google Ads, Facebook, and local directories are great too.
The bottom line is: more people than ever are searching online for local businesses. If your company isn’t showing up where customers are looking, you’re losing business to competitors who are actively advertising their small local business.
Final Thoughts: Is Local Lead Generation Worth It?
If you want more local customers, the answer is yes! A well-executed local lead generation strategy puts your business in front of people who are actively searching for your products or services.
High-impact, low-budget methods that drive results.
It’s hard to decide what we love more about the Super Bowl — the game or the ads. Seeing what companies do with massive advertising budgets can provide creative inspiration, a preview of trends for the year ahead and, of course, entertainment.
Here, we give you our playbook for marketing that helps you connect with customers throughout the sales cycle — from first down to touchdown. And here’s the really great news: you can run these plays without a million-dollar budget.
The answer is: you can’t. So, here’s how your business can benefit from email marketing plus a few more ways your email marketing can be more effective and cut through the clutter.
Zero in on your target audience.
When resources are limited, the key to success is focusing on the right audience instead of trying to reach everyone. By understanding who your ideal customers are — where they spend their time, what matters most to them, and how they engage — you can allocate your budget more effectively and ensure your message resonates.
To achieve this, start by exploring the information you already have. Review your social media platforms for insights into engagement. What content do customers engage with the most? What channels do they spend the most time on, and when are they the most active? Investigating your email marketing analytics can also provide useful insights. Focus on data such as open rates and click-throughs, with particular attention paid to the pages of your website they click on the most. It’s also important to understand how customers behave after you’ve guided them to your site. Heat map tools such as Hotjar and Microsoft Clarity can help you to analyze trends and patterns in user behavior — and tweak your website to make it easier to use, if necessary.
Once you have a clear picture of your audience, it’s time to craft messaging and campaigns tailored to their specific needs and interests.
Leverage Social Media (Strategically).
Social media is a powerful tool for building connections, sparking engagement and amplifying your brand — often with minimal cost. Standing out doesn’t require a massive budget, but it does demand consistency, creativity and intentional strategy. By focusing your efforts where your audience is most active, you can create meaningful interactions that strengthen relationships and grow your presence.
To make the most of social media, share content that resonates with your audience and provides real value. Short videos, infographics, behind-the-scenes glimpses and client success stories are great ways to engage followers and showcase your brand’s personality. By maintaining a steady flow of authentic, relevant content, you’ll build trust and keep your audience coming back for more.
Through giveaways and strategic influencer partnerships, we helped to expose unfamiliar audiences to our client Kountry Boys’ products.
Embrace Email Marketing.
Email marketing remains one of the most effective and budget-friendly ways to nurture leads and keep your brand top-of-mind. Unlike other channels, email allows you to communicate directly and personally with your audience, delivering valuable content right to their inbox. With a well-crafted message, you can build relationships, drive engagement and encourage action — all without the need for a massive budget.
To make your email marketing impactful, focus on delivering regular updates, promotions or thought leadership that resonates with your audience. Use attention-grabbing subject lines, clear calls to action and visually appealing designs that are easy to navigate, especially on mobile devices. By consistently offering value and maintaining a polished, professional format, your email campaigns can strengthen connections and keep your brand at the forefront of your audience’s mind.
Get creative with content Marketing.
Content marketing is a powerful way to build trust and position your business as an authority in your industry. By creating valuable and engaging content — such as blogs, landing pages and case studies — you can educate and entertain your audience while showcasing your expertise. The added bonus? Great content is shareable, helping you expand your reach and attract new potential customers organically.
To make content marketing work, focus on solving your audience’s problems and answering their questions. Whether it’s through blog posts, how-to guides or bite-sized tips for social media, your content should deliver value in a way that resonates with your audience. By staying creative, relevant and consistent, you can stay top-of-mind with your audience and drive meaningful results for your business.
We created informational landing pages — such as this one on the subject of severe autism — to help users searching for information about the condition to connect with our client, Nexus Health Systems.
Be bold and authentic.
The most memorable Super Bowl commercials stand out not because of their big budgets, but because they’re gutsy and authentic. You don’t need millions of dollars to make an impact — just a willingness to tell your story in a relatable, genuine way. When your message feels real, it resonates with your audience and sets you apart from the competition.
Start by leaning into what makes your brand unique. Share your history, highlight customer testimonials or showcase fun, behind-the-scenes content that brings personality to your business. People connect with authenticity, and seeing the faces, stories and values behind a brand builds trust and loyalty. Being bold doesn’t mean being flashy; it means being confident in your business’ identity and the value you offer.
At the end of the day, connecting with your audience doesn’t require the scale of a Super Bowl ad. It takes intention and a focus on what truly matters: building genuine relationships. Because when it comes to marketing, real connection always beats flash.
Ready to make your message heard — without breaking the bank? Contact us to get started.
One of the best ways to ensure you have a consistent marketing strategy is to engage in integrated marketing.
But what is integrated marketing? It’s the process of unifying various advertising mediums in order to seamlessly deliver a cohesive message. This means that whether you visit the organization’s website, browse its social media accounts, or receive its emails, you’ll see similar content that demonstrates the brand’s core values or messaging.
So what does this look like in practice, and what popular channels can be used to accomplish an integrated marketing campaign?
The Effectiveness of Integrated Marketing Campaigns
Integrated marketing campaigns are highly effective for several different reasons. Since you’re using multiple channels to communicate with your customer base, you’ll reach a larger audience than you would with a single channel. Most of your audience will also likely see your messaging on various platforms, which keeps your company top-of-mind for customers who may need your products or services in the future.
Furthermore, an integrated marketing strategy can save you money since you can reuse much of the advertising content you create on different platforms. Minor modifications can keep content fresh and ensure it’s suitable for a particular channel.
Top 10 Integrated Marketing Channels
There are several integrated marketing channels to choose from. Here are ten of the most common that companies rely on.
Email marketing is a time-tested integrated marketing tool that continues to be one of the most effective for driving conversions and building brand awareness. It lets you communicate directly with people who have signed up for your marketing list.
With the right tools, you can tailor your emails to match each customer’s interests and preferences, making your messages more relevant and impactful.
2. Social Media (Organic and Paid)
Social media platforms are powerful tools for displaying ads and content to your audience, including your followers and others who match your target. You can use your social media accounts organically to engage with followers or invest in paid ads to expand your reach. Organic content helps build trust with your current customer base, while paid social media ads are ideal for attracting new followers, increasing conversions, and boosting brand awareness.
A successful integrated marketing strategy includes both organic and paid social media efforts. Organic content can help nurture customer relationships, while paid ads drive wider visibility and more conversions.
Here’s how you can get the most out of social media marketing:
Organic Content: Builds trust and keeps your current audience engaged.
Paid Ads: Helps grow your reach, increase brand recognition, and boost conversions.
Targeted Campaigns: Ensure you’re reaching the right audience through precise targeting.
Content Variety: Use a mix of visuals, posts, stories, and videos to keep your audience interested.
By using both organic and paid strategies, you can connect with customers at different stages in their buying journey and keep your marketing efforts consistent across multiple channels.
3. Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization (SEO) is all about making sure your website shows up when people search for what you offer. It’s like putting your business on the map, but online. By using the right keywords and optimizing your site’s structure, you increase your chances of being seen by potential customers. It’s not an overnight thing, but over time, good SEO builds trust and helps your site rank higher in search results, which means more visibility and traffic.
Plus, it’s a long-term strategy – once you’re ranking, it’s easier to stay there.
4. PPC Advertising
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising involves placing ads where your audience is likely to see them, such as on search engines. While many advertising options require paying for mere placement, PPC only bills you when a customer clicks on your ads. Though its costs can escalate quickly, PPC advertising benefits companies seeking quick sales or other conversions.
5. Content Marketing
Content marketing is all about creating useful, relevant content for your target customers. It’s a way to show that you understand their needs and can offer real solutions. Whether it’s blogs, videos, or infographics, content helps build your credibility in your industry.
In a B2B integrated marketing strategy, content can position your business as an authority, helping you stand out from competitors. By consistently sharing valuable content, you can attract more organic traffic and keep customers engaged across multiple channels – like your website, social media, and email.
Ultimately, content marketing is about building trust and loyalty, leading to more sales and stronger relationships with your audience. It’s a powerful tool that supports your overall marketing efforts and helps you connect with customers in a meaningful way.
6. Direct Mail Marketing
Direct mail marketing is ideal for companies with customers in a limited geographic area. Using this channel, you can mail advertisements directly to clients who fit your target audience and are most likely to need your products and services.
For instance, a local restaurant may use direct mail to advertise its opening day to people within a five-mile radius.
7. Traditional Marketing
Traditional marketing encompasses a variety of advertising techniques, like commercials, print collateral, and billboards. While traditional marketing is losing ground to the popularity and potential of digital strategies, many brands still incorporate it into their integrated marketing plans.
8. Event Marketing
In event marketing, a company showcases its products and services at a tradeshow or another similar event. Event marketing often combines information and learning with product demonstrations.
In this format, it’s common for a company representative to speak at the main event, then later demonstrate the organization’s products on the trade show floor.
9. Public Relations
Public relations includes press releases and public company meetings, like shareholder events. Press releases are ideal when the company introduces a new product or has a significant change they want their clientele to know about. Ideally, news organizations, websites, or journals will pick up these press releases and reprint them, increasing your brand visibility and potentially growing your client base.
10. Word-of-Mouth Marketing
Word-of-mouth marketing has always been the most powerful form of marketing because it gives individuals a chance to spread the word to their acquaintances and give an honest recommendation, usually without the interference of the brand. It’s, therefore, crucial for companies seeking to expand their audience and enhance revenue.
Influencer marketing is a form of word-of-mouth advertising, but it’s less powerful than genuine, organic word-of-mouth. For example, organizations can pay for a partnership with an Instagram or TikTok influencer, using the influencer to promote their products or services to their audience.
It’s difficult, however, to control word-of-mouth marketing enough for integrated marketing strategies. Brands must rely on more involved (and therefore less effective) approaches, such as influencer marketing, to deliver a cohesive message.
Where to Begin with Your Integrated Marketing Campaign: Best Practices
If you’re interested in building an integrated marketing plan, here’s how to get started:
Decide on a universal message you can promote to your target audience
Determine the most suitable integrated marketing channels for your brand
Try your strategy out on a few channels before adopting it widely
Introduce more integrated marketing channels over time
It’s not an easy task, but there’s another solution that can deliver fast, effective results: working with a talented marketing agency.
Grow Your Business with MARION Integrated Marketing
Looking to grow your business? MARION has your back with integrated marketing strategies that work. If you need to boost your online presence, increase customer loyalty, or support your in-house team, we’ve got the tools and expertise to help. Let’s chat about how we can make your web marketing efforts more effective and drive better results. Reach out today!
Contact us today to learn more about our integrated marketing services.
Creating a B2B website can be daunting because you want to convey a lot of information at once in a professional manner without losing the visitor’s interest. This is especially challenging because it takes a lot of work to make technical jargon sound exciting.
What is a B2B Website?
A business-to-business (B2B) website is a company website that intentionally speaks to business professionals. Unlike a straightforward B2C website, B2B websites need to target multiple decision-makers from different levels in a company without losing focus or sacrificing relevance.
What Makes a Great B2B Website?
Not all websites are created equal. A great B2B site has a few key things going for it:
It’s easy to use (no one wants to dig through a maze of menus).
It nails the “why us” message right off the bat.
It looks fantastic on any screen, big or small.
It’s fast — like blink-and-it’s-there fast.
And it knows how to nudge you with just the right CTA.
In need of more design help? The professionals at our web design company in Houston can turn your website vision into a reality.
Balancing all these fine lines can be difficult, but luckily for you, here are some B2B site examples that you can draw inspiration from! See what makes a good business website to help improve the vision you have for your own brand.
Bentobox follows the mantra that “less is more” by letting their copy speak for itself. A minimalist approach is hard to find in B2B industries where companies often bog website visitors down with too much information on the first page.
Bentobox gets straight to the point with a call-to-action button in the center of the landing page that stands out among the other muted colors. A simpler home page also improves page load speed.
A fast-loading site is important because 47% of users expect a maximum load time of 2 seconds, and 40% of visitors will abandon sites that are still loading after 3 seconds.
2. SpareFoot
SpareFoot
SpareFoot manages to get away with the text-heavy homepage by breaking it up with a cheeky image and organizing the options to make it easier for prospective customers to choose what they need. Everything you need is neatly organized and just a click away.
Instead of dryly listing all the options they have, they allow you to search the nearest units near you straight from the homepage for quick ease of use. The playful image ties everything together- without it, the website would look quite monotonous and ordinary.
WeWork uses visually appealing pictures of their workspaces to create pleasing displays on its website and showcase available locations to potential customers. The clean and light design evokes a sort of blank slate for your needs, which follows their business philosophy.
Looking for a visually compelling layout on your new B2B site? The web design veterans at MARION’s website design company in Austin have years of experience delivering stunning end results!
One of the most effective design elements in this B2B website design is the personalized location search that automatically pulls where you are. This simple feature makes it easier for both you and the customer by anticipating their needs and getting them to click the call-to-action that much faster.
Proof Drinks leans into their edgier aesthetic by prominently showcasing one of their example product brands as the hero image. Their copy supports this decision with words like “exciting” and “innovating”.
If you were a brewery looking for a company that supports creativity, it’d be easy to be drawn to Proof Drinks. Overall, you immediately get the gist that this is a unique company that prides itself on their dynamic culture and philosophy.
MOO makes the boring art of business card printing look trendy and fun. Their website is a great example of how to transform a traditionally dull service into an engaging and visually appealing experience. The perfectly curated design pulls you in from the get-go, and the casual, conversational copy shows they’re far from your average printing company. Every detail on the site feels intentional, and it’s streamlined to make the entire customer experience as user-friendly as possible.
They don’t just present their services; they make you want to stick around and explore. From the vibrant visuals to the effortless navigation, everything is designed to engage visitors and keep them coming back. Compared to the traditional cut-and-dry printing companies, MOO stands out in every way. It’s not just about getting the job done; it’s about making the process enjoyable while showing off all the details that set them apart.
Zoom has a no-nonsense and professional website that gets straight to the point. From the moment you land on the page, it’s clear they’re not here to waste your time. The design is clean and professional, making it easy to focus on what really matters. The copy doesn’t beat around the bush — it’s short, clear, and tells you exactly what you need to know without drowning you in jargon or unnecessary details.
The call-to-action is impossible to miss, letting you sign up or start using the company’s services right away. No digging around or jumping through hoops. Everything about their product and service solutions is neatly organized and presented on one page, so you can quickly understand what they offer without endless scrolling or confusion.
What’s even better is that there aren’t any distracting elements pulling your attention away. Zoom’s site is designed with purpose, just like their platform. It’s straightforward, intuitive, and gets you where you need to go in just a few clicks. It’s a no-nonsense approach that makes the process of getting started feel effortless; exactly what you’d expect from a company that prides itself on efficiency and reliability.
Aiia lets their product speak for itself with an image that takes up the entire homepage. The picture tells the story of their simple tagline, “Original Promotional Products” and shows that their values and products break from the norm.
Aiia’s website proves that sometimes you just need an impactful photo to do all the heavy work. When you scroll down the page, it transforms into a promotional video that showcases their newest and most exciting products.
As one of the most experimental website designs on this list, Rocka highlights their innovation and youthful energy with a unique background image and bold typography. The modern design is a departure from other B2B websites, which works for newer companies.
If you’re not as established as other companies, a dynamic landing page might catch the attention of a prospective partner. New visitors might be intrigued and want to learn more. Even the best B2B websites can lean towards boring, but you can’t accuse this one of being dull!
Pixelgrade’s home page showcases its different themes on the right-hand side in a way that makes it “bleed” down, making you scroll further to discover more and read on. The distinctive color scheme also makes it so that the call-to-action button heavily contrasts against the background without being jarring. All the basic design elements work together to create an engaging website.
It’s not just about function; a little flair goes a long way. Think bold color palettes, layouts that don’t scream “template,” and interactive features that make you want to stick around longer. A well-designed site says, “Hey, we know what we’re doing.”
Quick Tips for Building Your B2B Website
Thinking of revamping your site? Here’s the cheat sheet:
Pick a platform that makes sense for your goals and budget.
Consider working with pros. DIY can only take you so far.
Focus on your target audience. What do they need, and how can your site deliver?
Trust MARION with Your B2B Web Design
If you’re thinking, “Wow, our website could use some love,” you’re in the right place. With over 40 years of marketing experience, MARION has the right team to create a visually engaging website for your brand. The strategic approach of our digital marketing agency marries the best user experience and graphic design practices to deliver a revenue-generating machine.
Reach out to our Houston, Austin, and Dallas web design agency, and we’ll show you how to turn your B2B website into your best salesperson. It all starts with a quick conversation. Let’s talk!
From emails to images, here’s how AI helps to jump-start our workflow.
When ChatGPT burst onto the scene in November 2022, there was a lot of talk about generative AI rendering human creatives obsolete. While we haven’t found a tool that can match the nuanced output of experienced marketers, we do find ourselves using it to supercharge idea generation and speed up mundane tasks.
If you’ve been meaning to incorporate AI into your routine but haven’t found the time to do so, we encourage you to take the plunge. The new year is the perfect time to play around with AI tools and see what works best for you. We promise, you’ll be glad you did.
Here, we share some of the tasks we use AI for — so we can spend more time on the stuff that demands a human touch.
Writing complex emails.
Have you ever sat down to write an email and felt overwhelmed by the complexity of the message you need to convey? Say it’s 4:00 on a Thursday afternoon and you need to update a diverse group of stakeholders on the status of a project that affects each of them in different ways. Rather than writing five different introductions before you find the tone and structure that feels right, you can simply prompt a generative pre-trained transformer (GPT), such as ChatGPT or Gemini, to generate a first draft, then refine the text from there.
90% of SMB leaders say AI has helped streamline and improve their day-to-day operations.1
It’s important to note that the quality of the output you receive is only as good as the level of detail you provide. In this example, you would want to tell ChatGPT what you want to do (write an email), what you want it to say, how you want it to sound and who your audience is. If you have a sample of an email that mimics the style and tone you’re looking for, attach that, too, so the GPT can use it as a template. The more information you input, the better your output will be.
Remember the adage “garbage in, garbage out” when crafting AI prompts. The more detail you include in your instructions, the better the output will be.2
Brainstorming ideas.
Whether you need a new company name or a theme for your next event, AI can help to get the ball rolling. At Design At Work, we rarely experience a “eureka” moment based on the original output, but we have found that AI tools sometimes spark ideas we might not have had otherwise.
98% of senior executives report experiencing at least some benefit from generative AI in improving the volume and speed of content ideation and production.3
Think of AI as a team member you’re inviting into the brainstorm. Even if all its suggestions end up on the cutting room floor, it can still add valuable perspective and get other participants’ juices flowing.
Generating topics.
Looking for ice breakers for an upcoming networking event? Perhaps you want to sponsor a panel discussion at an industry conference, but you’re not sure what topic to cover. With a detailed prompt, GPTs can help you consider your audience and offer suggestions that get you thinking.
“Some people call this artificial intelligence, but the reality is this technology will enhance us. So instead of artificial intelligence, I think we’ll augment our intelligence.”
— Ginni Rometty, Former CEO, IBM
As marketers, we sometimes use AI tools to help us develop prompts or ideas for blogs, eNewsletters and social media. As with brainstorming, the ideas may not be usable as generated, but they can serve as helpful thought starters.
Translating text.
Depending on the word count, translation services can be costly. GPTs can quickly translate large amounts of text for free, or as part of a monthly subscription. As with any prompt, it’s important to provide all the relevant details, including (of course) the source language and the language you want it translated into. Stipulating the persona you want the tool to adopt and how you want it to handle idiomatic expressions will help to refine the quality of the results. For example, do you want the GPT to find an equivalent idiom in the new language, or find another way to express the idea without using an idiom? The more details you provide, the better.
Editing photos.
Generative AI offers a wealth of ways to streamline the photo editing process. Have a product you want to showcase? With an AI photo editing tool such as Adobe Photoshop’s Generative Fill, you can situate images in any context — such as a kitchen, office or worksite — to show your products in their best light and connect with your target audience. If you have an image that’s been cropped in an unhelpful way, AI tools can also expand the image and fill it in with whatever you dictate.
“Although you can AI-generate a great image of yourself, you’re not going to get that confidence and approachability. Those are things that take a trained professional.”
— Zach Dalin, Professional Photographer
While we always recommend using a professional, human photographer for headshots, if you’re in a pinch and just need something that looks polished, GPTs can help. Upload as many photos of the subject as possible, provide instructions about clothing, lighting and background, and you’ll be amazed at what AI can create.
We used AI to generate a concrete chipping robot for an April Fool’s Day eBlast for our client General Chipping.
Why you should incorporate AI into your daily routine.
We know — life is busy. It can be hard to set aside time to familiarize yourself with a new tool, but the long-term benefits are so worth the initial investment of personal resources. One way to start the process is by making a list of the mundane tasks you don’t enjoy. Start with your least favorite and experiment with different prompts in your preferred GPT. Before you know it, you’ll be saving time left and right.
Looking for a crew of efficient marketing professionals to help with your branding and marketing needs? Contact us to learn about partnering with Design At Work.
Marketing emails you’ll actually want to read.
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Sources:
Salesforce, Small & Medium Business Trends Report, 6th Edition, 2025
Forbes, A Guide to Writing ChatGPT Prompts That Work, November 19, 2024
It isn’t news that B2B manufacturing marketing is difficult. After all, your manufacturing marketing strategy has to bridge the gap between you, distributors, wholesalers, and users in an effective and cost-efficient way.
Targeting the right decision makers at the right time is a complex task that B2B marketing strategies need to address. Fortunately for you, there are ways to target a highly qualified audience with very granular messaging. How exactly?
Digital marketing for manufacturing companies.
How to Market a Manufacturing Company
Whether you’re relying on a marketing department in a manufacturing company or a marketing agency for the manufacturing sector, your whole marketing plan starts with a strong brand identity. Positioning your business is easier after you engage in research and discovery about your history, process, people, and differentiation.
Being in the manufacturing industry can look very different depending on your product, but can actually be boiled down into five main groups. Use this table to identify which main group and industry sub-group your operation belongs to.
Once you’ve developed your brand identity and decided how to position your company in the minds of your distributors and users, you can begin to set marketing goals. In many cases, your goals will involve financial targets that are closely tied to your mission statement. Then, figure out which strategies you’ll target to achieve those goals.
The rest of this article will cover the five digital marketing tactics that are highly effective for manufacturer growth.
Digital Marketing Strategies for Manufacturers
The most complicated part of a digital marketing strategy for most manufacturers is presenting the right message to decision-makers. Internet marketing for manufacturers helps to effectively target B2B decision-makers with little budget waste.
These five B2B manufacturing marketing strategies can each be used to grow your market share in a cost-efficient manner.
Look at each of the strategies, and decide on which method will best help you realize your goals.
1. Content Marketing for Manufacturers
In a 2018 survey of industrial marketers, 86% of respondents said they were using content marketing. Fortunately for you, only 22% of those manufacturing content marketers considered their organization to be “sophisticated” or “mature” at this skill. This Content Marketing Institute data indicates that you still have time to catch up if you aren’t leveraging the power of content marketing yet.
Content marketing strategies can take many different forms. Whether you’re distributing content through email marketing, social media marketing, or organic search, you can attract the right users by creating valuable content assets for your end users.
For example, a midstream pump manufacturer can use content marketing in Houston to write a blog post about the physics behind torque-speed curves to help midstream users determine how to select the right pump for their next application.
Solving Pain Points Through Strategic Content
The key to successful content marketing for manufacturers is identifying the pain points of your target audience, then building content assets that can ease that pain. If an industrial user isn’t sure how to choose between you and your competitors, put together a comprehensive list of performance factors for your product. If a heavy equipment user is struggling to choose between you and your closest competitor, write a detailed comparison piece to highlight the areas in which you come out on top.
By creating free value-added content for your potential customers, you can position your brand as an authority in your industry.
Manufacturing SEO is the practice of optimizing your website so that you show up at the top of search engine results when users are searching for the products you offer. For example, if you’re a chemical manufacturer, you want your surfactant web page to show up when a potential customer Googles “surfactant suppliers.”
According to a recent study, organic search helps to generate nearly 53% of B2B revenue. This means that successful manufacturing search engine optimization can be the key to meeting and exceeding your marketing growth goals.
The Role of Web Design in SEO Success
Keep in mind that an SEO-friendly web design is paramount to ranking well in search results. If your website looks like it’s from the 2000s, users may hit the back button and visit your competitor’s site instead. It’s like showing up to a business meeting or interview in sweatpants. Doing some competitor research, customer interviews, and user testing will help you develop the best manufacturing website design possible.
Aside from design, the content on your website is highly important to your SEO for B2B manufacturing. Like we mentioned in the first section, by creating content that addresses the pain points of your target users, you can rank highly in the search results and generate more revenue today.
If you’re interested in trusting your organic growth to an SEO agency in Austin or Houston, contact MARION today to schedule a free consultation!
3. PPC Advertising in Manufacturing Industries
Over the past decade, several types of digital marketing campaigns have improved the scalability of manufacturing advertising. Before the internet, manufacturing outfits had to rely on direct mail, cold calls, and costly trade shows to generate new opportunities. While there are benefits to relationship-based selling once the ice has been broken, gaining that initial exposure is difficult.
Today, pay-per-click advertising for manufacturers allows you to target psychographically. You can serve an ad that targets a potential customer’s exact need for mere dollars. This flies in the face of trade events where the barrier to entry can be tens of thousands of dollars.
An Example of PPC in Action
For example, a powder coating manufacturer can run pay-per-click ads that appear when a search engine user looks for “high temperature powder coating.” When an interested potential customer clicks on your ad, it will cost you around $2. Depending on the size of your average sale, the profit margin on PPC for manufacturers can be massive.
If you’re interested in running pay-per-click in Houston or Austin, contact the strategists at MARION today to set up a free consultation.
4. Social Media for Manufacturers
“My ideal customers aren’t on social media.”
Without fail, we hear this from industrial and manufacturing businesses about once per month. As of 2023, there are:
Without a doubt, your target customers are on social media. Whether or not they are in the mindset to buy while browsing social media is a different story. When it comes to social media marketing for manufacturing, the most relevant platform for a high return on marketing investment is LinkedIn.
LinkedIn
50% of Americans with a college degree use LinkedIn. This makes using LinkedIn for B2B marketing a no-brainer. Not only is LinkedIn a great place to post organic updates that your connections can see in their timeline, but its ad targeting capabilities grow more and more advanced each year.
Once you’ve refined your LinkedIn ad targeting options to reach the right decision-makers, you can begin generating a return on your manufacturing social media marketing efforts.
If you’re interested in exploring social media marketing in Houston or Austin, contact MARION to set up a free consultation with one of our strategists today!
At MARION, we pride ourselves on staying ahead of marketing trends to position your brand as an industry authority. Whether it’s designing campaigns that resonate with your audience or optimizing your digital presence to generate measurable results, our strategies are built to help your business thrive.
5. Marketing Automation for Manufacturing
Manufacturing outfits are moving to robotic process automation in an attempt to optimize costs and production. Doesn’t it make sense that your OEM digital marketing strategy makes use of automation too?
How Marketing Automation Simplifies Industrial Marketing
Digital marketing for industrial companies becomes dramatically easier when paired with the right marketing automation platform. Automation allows you to:
Seamlessly track qualified leads.
Identify which marketing messages are most effective.
Score which marketing materials have the best impact on your bottom line.
By identifying which B2B manufacturing marketing materials have the highest conversion impact, you can focus your efforts for compounding returns and overall business growth.
Choosing the Right Platform for Your Strategy
The strategy behind marketing and manufacturing automation will largely depend on the platform you choose. While our sales and marketing teams generally recommend using HubSpot, we can work with several different automation platforms to help you reach your goals.
How to Choose a B2B Manufacturing Marketing Agency
Now that you’ve been exposed to several digital marketing strategies for b2b manufacturers, you can choose the strategy or strategies that best match your B2B manufacturing marketing goals. Depending on whether you’re interested in mostly branding, SEO, web design, or outsourced marketing, the following resources will help guide you through the process of choosing a marketing partner:
The general process for choosing a marketing team will follow the same steps.
Determine if the agency understands your business.
Analyze the team and their past success. Do they have a portfolio or case studies?
Do you get along with your future point of contact? This will affect the success of your partnership more than you know.
Does the agency seem to have a curious spirit?
Can the agency adapt to different circumstances?
Are you able to effectively communicate with the agency?
MARION Makes Digital Marketing for Manufacturers Easy
For over 40 years, MARION has been a trusted partner to local manufacturers, helping them navigate the evolving marketing landscape. Our extensive experience in industries like Energy, Chemicals, and Industrial Equipment means we bring unparalleled technical expertise to every project. From contract manufacturers to large-scale industrial operations, our local team understands the unique challenges you face and is equipped to deliver solutions that drive sustainable growth.
Our approach to digital marketing is rooted in aligning sales and marketing efforts to maximize lead generation and customer loyalty. By combining inbound marketing strategies with targeted paid campaigns, we help you attract more website visitors from your target market and convert them into long-term customers.
Ready to see the difference MARION can make? Explore our portfolio and case studies to view examples of our work, then contact us today to schedule a free consultation. Let’s discuss how we can support your goals for lead generation, customer loyalty, and sustainable growth in today’s competitive market!
A guide to marketing major anniversaries, achievements and personnel accomplishments.
In the hustle and bustle of day-to-day business, it’s easy to let important company milestones slip by without taking time to celebrate. Industry recognitions, anniversaries and even prominent promotions can all offer opportunities to draw attention to your company’s growth and experience. At Design At Work, we help clients choose the best ways to mark special occasions — from celebratory design elements to special events.
In this article, we explore a few of the ways you can make the most of your company’s milestones.
Design acelebratory seal that incorporates your logo.
While the age of a business alone is not enough to instill confidence in customers, it does matter. A company’s sustained viability over time indicates that it’s doing something right — whether that’s providing an exceptional product or service or building lasting relationships with clients. One of the simplest ways to publicize your company’s longevity is with a special mark that can be used across a range of digital and print materials.
We designed this seal to commemorate Houston-based Brady, Chapman, Holland & Associates’ 40th anniversary.
How to design an effective anniversary seal.
When designing an anniversary seal, the goal is to honor your company’s brand standards while creating a mark that feels special and distinct from your standard logo. Incorporate your existing logo, icon or company name into the seal while adding other elements, such as the date your company was founded, your company’s years in business or even a short phrase highlighting the achievement or your company’s philosophy.
Where and when to use an anniversary seal.
How you apply your seal depends on your goals, as well as the relative significance of the milestone. If your company is celebrating a 25 or 50-year anniversary, for example, you might consider using the seal in place of your logo on your website and other digital materials for the entire year. If you’re celebrating a smaller milestone, on the other hand, such as a five-year anniversary, the seal might be better used in a targeted campaign.
Throw a party in honor of your milestone.
This one is a no-brainer. Whether you’re celebrating a big company “birthday,” announcing a merger or highlighting a significant change in leadership, events offer an excellent way to bring relevant stakeholders together while emphasizing your company’s achievements. When deciding what type of event to hold, consider which group you want to reach and what message you want to send, then design your party around your guests and goals.
Host an internal event.
If your business has recently undergone a significant change, your team members will likely have a lot questions. Perhaps your company was recently acquired by a larger entity or you’re making a significant shift in your product or service offerings. An internal milestone event gives you the opportunity to frame the change in a thoughtful, positive way that dispels any fears or confusion your team may have. Depending on the size of your company, you might consider a seated dinner, a casual open-air barbeque or a cocktail party. Make sure to choose a venue that allows you to convey your message effectively. If you want to share visual materials or significant amounts of information, for example, you’ll want to host your event in a place that’s outfitted with the necessary audio/visual equipment.
Invite clients to share in the celebration.
If the message you want to convey is relatively simple — you’re celebrating a big anniversary, for example, or you’ve rebranded the look and feel of your marketing — then you may want to use the milestone as an opportunity to connect with clients. The overarching goal should be to deepen strategic relationships while highlighting your company’s longevity and expertise. When it comes to party types and themes, the sky’s the limit — it all depends on your brand, budget, guest list and goals.
These playful print materials were used to celebrate our client The Don’Key’s 40th anniversary.
Generate buzz with a press release.
A press release is a powerful way to celebrate your company’s milestone while spreading the word far and wide. Whether you’re launching a new product, marking an anniversary or announcing a significant achievement, a well-crafted press release can grab the attention of industry media, influencers and even potential customers. To make the most impact, tailor your press release to highlight the significance of the milestone, include key statistics or stories, and incorporate quotes from leadership. Pair the release with complementary efforts, such as social media teasers, email campaigns and media outreach, to amplify your message and maximize visibility.
To commemorate Lane Property Tax Advocates’ 15-year anniversary, we issued a press release highlighting the firm’s mission and plans for the future.
Have a milestone coming up?
Let’s make the most of it with branding, integrated marketing and public relations. Contact Design At Work to learn how we can help your business celebrate its milestone in style.
Marketing to businesses is a different challenge. While we’re all familiar with marketing as consumers, reaching other businesses (B2B) requires a unique approach compared to consumer-focused (B2C) tactics.
B2B marketing is when one business markets its products or services to another business. It’s essential for companies that supply goods or services that help other businesses operate or improve their own offerings.
Some B2B marketing examples include:
An industrial pump manufacturer is attempting to market and sell its products to an oil and gas producer.
A commercial construction company is attempting to market and establish a contract to build out the office space for a law firm.
A heavy equipment dealership is attempting to market and sell industrial equipment to a construction company.
What is a B2B Marketing Agency?
A B2B marketing agency specializes in crafting marketing strategies that effectively connect your business with other companies. These agencies know how to reach key decision-makers and position premium products or services to stand out in the market.
Why B2B Marketing?
B2B marketing is essential because most companies depend on the products or services of other businesses. Rarely does a company handle every part of its production and distribution in-house. For instance, your favorite clothing brand might source materials from various suppliers, and your phone’s components likely come from multiple vendors.
These partnerships start with effective B2B marketing, connecting companies with what they need to function or grow. Plus, B2B relationships often have high revenue potential. Unlike one-time consumer purchases, business partnerships are often longer-term and higher-value. For example, a landscaping contract for a corporate campus may involve months of service and a substantial budget—much more than a single residential project.
Types of Business-to-Business Marketing
Here are three core B2B marketing techniques to consider. Think about how each might fit into your strategy, and then check out what your competitors are doing to see if these approaches could work in your industry.
Digital Marketing for B2B
Digital marketing is a scalable way to get your products or services in front of the right people. A digital marketing campaign makes it easy to track ROI, and you can use granular targeting to reach decision-makers.
For example, LinkedIn ads can target individuals with certain job roles so that you can directly target a purchasing manager or executive. If your ideal customers are searching for your products or services online, you can use an SEO company to make sure your web pages are at the top of the search results.
Traditional Marketing for B2B
Traditional marketing strategies for the business-to-business market casts a wide net and tends to be expensive, but it helps build brand equity. You can use radio, television, or print ads to grab the attention of your potential customers and remain top of mind. You’ll be in the running when those companies are looking for a new vendor.
Personal Selling for B2B
Personal selling is one of the oldest and most effective B2B marketing methods. Personal selling leverages face-to-face networking and relationships to get deals inked. This is the least scalable way to market your business to other companies, but it has the highest conversion rate.
Personal selling is frequently paired with digital marketing. Digital campaigns generate leads that are followed up in person by a salesperson.
9 Examples of How to Do B2B Marketing (That Actually Work)
When it comes to B2B lead generation, business marketing companies often use nine core strategies. These tried-and-true B2B marketing tactics can help drive growth and increase sales.
Successful B2B marketing starts by researching what your customers need. Just because you’re offering a product or service doesn’t mean customers will come running. Find out what drives the demand for your product/service and how you can stand apart from the competition.
One way to better identify your customer needs is to form customer user groups. Similar to focus groups for a new product, customer user groups leverage the people who are already benefiting from your offerings. For example, after interviewing your customer user group, you may find that marketing for IT companies is more effective when you focus on the pain point of cloud security. Identifying these pain points can go a long way when tailoring your marketing message.
User groups can be conducted in person, or you can build surveys that uncover the unique pain points that customers experience before searching for your solution.
Other research methods include doing keyword research to discover organic search demand or leveraging existing data about your industry.
2. Prioritize Reviews, Testimonials, and Case Studies
One of the most effective B2B marketing strategies is leveraging reviews, testimonials, and case studies from existing customers. This builds credibility in the eyes of potential customers who need to know your products or services can deliver.
Case studies are helpful the closer you get to a purchase decision. For example, when customers have a list of potential product/service providers together, they’ll want to see how you’ve performed in the past. Having a case study of a similar customer might be the proof your prospects need to see before making a big purchase decision.
3. Use B2B SEO
Search engine optimization is a valuable asset to your B2B online marketing. Prospects need to make informed decisions, so they conduct preliminary online research. If you’re not a top result for the product or service you’re selling, you might not even be considered a potential vendor.
One way to improve your SEO is by leveraging content marketing for your business website. Content marketing helps position your brand as an authority to both search engines and users. In fact, content strategy has proven to have a major role in B2B manufacturing marketing and manufacturing web design. Both of these work together to improve SEO for manufacturers and drive organic search traffic. By regularly publishing highly educational content, you show your subject matter expertise and help users make more informed decisions.
By combining B2B online marketing strategies like reviews and content marketing, you can dominate the search results for your products/services. Not only will business prospects find you in search results more often, but your reviews will help prove that you’re a trusted provider.
4. Use Social Media for Business
Simply put, being active on social media isn’t optional anymore. Business buyers often check social channels to get a sense of your company’s reputation and culture. In fields like marketing or professional services, your social presence can be especially influential. But with organic reach on the decline, standing out may mean setting aside a budget for paid social media ads.
5. B2B Advertising
Your B2B internet marketing should include paid spend on search and social media. These paid B2B marketing services can generate great ROI if done correctly.
Learning how to successfully advertise on social media can help you meet your prospects where they already spend their time. The decision-makers and purchasing managers that you’re targeting represent businesses, but they are just people at the end of the day. They spend time on social media channels, and you can use the advanced targeting features of today’s popular social channels to reach them.
Paid search is also a great way to target relevant prospects. The difference between organic vs. paid search is that you can jump the line and appear at the top of the search results without having to pour time into SEO.
Paid search targets your prospects for their exact interest at the exact moment they’re interested. Traditional marketing often relies on user demographics for targeting. This is why many business to business marketing strategies prioritize digital over traditional.
6. Set Up a Customer Referral System
Referrals are a great way to drive new business but are often overlooked in favor of digital methods. Set up a process for gathering referrals by checking in with satisfied clients regularly.
For example, a commercial lawn care company might send out a six-month email for feedback and kindly request referrals from happy clients. For even more traction, consider offering incentives, like a small discount or credit for each new referral, which can create a steady revenue stream with minimal cost.
7. Use Marketing Automation
Marketing automation helps you connect with leads, nurture prospects, and streamline all your marketing channels. For instance, if someone downloads a case study, an automated follow-up email could share more tailored insights, maximizing engagement from each contact. Just ensure you don’t overwhelm your contacts—too many emails or overly personalized messages can lead to unsubscribes.
8. Use Influencer Marketing
Partnering with influencers can be a very effective creative marketing strategy for B2B businesses. It makes the most sense to leverage this if there are well-known public figures for the industry you’re targeting.
Going back to our commercial construction example, if your construction firm is trying to get contracts for restaurant build-outs you could partner with a public figure that most restaurant owners follow. Sponsoring a promotional article about your restaurant designs on Gordon Ramsay or Guy Fieri’s blog could be a great way to generate leads.
There’s a good chance you know about local influencers in your target industries. If you’re operating a local business, these local influencers are probably a relevant and cost-effective way to improve your business to business marketing effectiveness. Learn how to advertise a small business locally.
9. Track Your Campaigns and Use Reports
How will you know if your B2B marketing strategies are effective? Before you implement any digital content strategy, develop a system for tracking its effectiveness.
If you’re engaging in B2B SEO, what will you use to measure rankings, organic traffic, and conversions? If you’re advertising on social media, do you have to correct pixels installed so that you can trace marketing ROI back to its source?
If you’re using forms of traditional marketing for B2B, they might be more difficult to track. However, just because something’s difficult to track doesn’t mean you should avoid measuring it. If you want to improve your marketing effectiveness over time, you’ll need to track and regularly review reports about the marketing KPIs that matter most to your business.
Let MARION’s Experts Handle Your B2B Digital Marketing Strategy
At MARION, we have over 40 years of experience with B2B marketing in Houston and Austin, Texas. Our marketing team consists of digital marketing, graphic design, and traditional marketing experts with proven track records.
Contact us today to schedule a consultation and discover how we can help your business grow!
