For B2B marketers, digital has evolved to become a major driver of success. One-third of businesses are planning to introduce a digital transformation program, while thirty per cent of businesses have already taken that route.

There are huge opportunities in organic search, and a growing need to focus on paid ads. According to Webbiquity, 71 percent of companies plan to increase their digital marketing spend this year. This is good news, given the number of platforms putting the spotlight on sponsored content. There’s also a more pressing need to invest in high-quality content, particularly in increasingly competitive B2B markets.

Digital marketing services are essential

There are two key reasons why businesses must have digital marketing support.

First, digital marketing gives you the insight you need to customize your content and deliver a meaningful message. We’ve always known that understanding your customers is the most important aspect of marketing to them, and tailoring content is one of the best ways to speak to a customer in a timely and relevant way. You need support to track customers’ journeys and step in at the appropriate time.

The second reason is equally important. When it comes to any form of marketing, businesses need to see ROI. And with digital marketing, we can provide proof. We can set goals, measure results, and drill down to figure out where more work is needed. We can look at each channel in turn and figure out how it’s contributing to the success of the overall strategy.

Key components you need to consider

When you’re looking ahead to digital transformation, or consulting a digital marketing provider, an integrated approach is very important. Selecting the right elements is critical, but so is meshing them together effectively.

• For time-pressed businesses, automation is an obvious route to consider. Marketing automation has moved away from being heavy-handed and potentially spammy, and is now very good at targeting customers based on trigger actions, supporting near-instant delivery of focused content.
• Keeping the brand top of mind is still very important, and this is where content supports lead generation and drives increased sales. Digital marketing is ideal for increasing brand awareness and developing tests that can be used for continual content optimization.
• Finally, don’t forget social media. It’s evolving, but it’s still essential. Likes and shares may be less important, but it’s still critical in developing a dialog with customers and nurturing a relationship over time. According to Social Media Today, just 20 percent of social media content should be geared towards brand awareness. The other 80 percent should generate the conversations and shares you need to connect personally with an audience.

Choosing the right digital marketing partner

Now, you understand the need for digital marketing. You can see the components you’ll have to implement. The last piece in the puzzle is choosing the right partner to deliver results.

We have three specific recommendations.

• A good marketing agency should understand your goals for growth and provide a unique strategy. You may want to increase sales; equally, you may want to raise brand image. Each set of priorities requires a different approach to achieve that upwards trend, and your agency needs to be fully on board with it.
• You’re also going to need an agency that can show you the ROI we mentioned earlier. It’s great to get verbal feedback, but hard figures are the only way to measure success. That means getting data about the cost of digital marketing across your chosen channels, data about how activities are converting, and data that clearly shows where your money is best spent. Can your agency produce these reports, and provide evidence to back up its claims?
• Finally, your agency needs to be honest with you. They need to be a true partner, provide feedback and make suggestions. A really good agency will stop you in your tracks if they have a better suggestion. Remember: this might mean you have to flex your ideas about what digital marketing entails, or be prepared to tweak your budget allocations to support the ways of working the agency suggests.

Position² Can Deliver

Position² is a trustworthy digital marketing agency with a proven track record of results across its entire service catalog. If it’s time to implement your digital transformation project, or re-launch your digital marketing strategy, Position² is ideally placed to provide the results your business expects.