It’s that time of year again! Spring is beginning to bloom, prompting us all to reach for the “refresh” button on both our personal and professional home pages. After a year of learning and growth from our successes and failures, now is the time to regroup and refocus our efforts. What better way to initiate this process other than an annual marketing refresh? It’s time to change with the seasons!
Aside from the restlessness of Spring, how do you know it might be time for a marketing refresh for your B2B company? Declining or plateaued rates of white paper downloads, social media engagement, and webinar signups are all telltale signs that it’s time to reevaluate your approach to client engagement.
In this article, we will outline specific strategies to include within your marketing refresh that can lead to successful client engagement and clear brand representation.
(Re)Examine your Audience
It’s important to remember that your client base consists of living, thinking, and changing beings, rather than a stagnant population you can define in only general terms. Your initial evaluation and definition of your client base may have started out as something that is wholly different than the reality of people you now serve. This is why it is vital to your company’s success to reevaluate your audience every 3-5 years.
Great methods to reevaluate your audience include the following:
- Conduct customer interviews
- Interview your sales teams
- Conduct thorough buyer research
Mind your Messaging House
There are two important elements to updating your marketing messaging: core messaging and a brand guide. Your company’s core messaging includes how you talk about your company; your brand guide encompasses all elements of how your company looks to others—fonts, colors, logos, etc.
An important note on updating your company’s look: it’s important to stay current with aesthetic trends and to ensure that the way your company looks accurately reflects your messaging; however, it is important to try and only change the company aesthetic every 3-5 years. Changing the look of your company too often makes it nearly impossible for your branding to become synonymous with your name.
Reuse and Repurpose
Recycling and repurposing is an important part of Spring cleaning! Just because you are revamping your content does not mean you have to abandon all the content you’ve previously published. After all, research has shown that SEO can take time to “mature.”
We recommend that you spend some dedicated time and resources strategically updating old blog and social media posts. Be certain to study new keyword rankings and incorporate them into your content to improve search algorithm ranks. Additionally, it is worth the time and effort to spend time link building—replacing old links with more relevant and current information. This will prove to your potential clients that you are abreast of the most current industry technology and trends.
Create a Current Value Proposition
Every B2B company needs an easy and effective way to quickly communicate why they would greatly benefit a potential client. A value proposition is a marketing content tool used to quickly win over your clients. Research shows that, on average, you have seven seconds to make an impression that will seal the deal with a new client.
A successful value proposition will include the following:
- Clear communication of specific results your company can provide
- Explains how your company differs (and improves upon) the competition
- Can be read and understood in about seven seconds
While crafting your company’s value proposition, consider what sets you apart in the industry. Use the information you have previously gathered from customer interviews; consider their complaints and qualms with competition and how you worked to alleviate these concerns.
Refreshing your marketing strategy might seem like an overwhelming project, but we are here to guide you through the process, and dare we say, make it fun? You have put a lot of heart and passion into your business, let’s work together to make certain that this is obvious to your audience.
Are you planning a marketing refresh for your business? Contact Green Apple Strategy today to schedule a consultation.
