Many people make the mistake of assuming that a digital marketing strategy is all, well, digital. They assume that it involves tactics that exist entirely online—through social media, websites or email—and that it has no room for traditional marketing activities, like B2B telemarketing. This perspective is misguided. As heavily as B2B customers rely on digital platforms for their purchase decisions, incorporating elements that offer a more personal and tangible experience with your brand will amplify your digital marketing efforts considerably.
Let’s look at exactly how B2B telemarketing can help you get more from your digital strategy.
More data—and more accurate data—will improve your social media advertising, email and PPC campaigns
Market research and marketing data are crucial for shaping a digital strategy. After all, up to 75% of the success of a digital strategy depends on how accurate its data is. Before you plan and execute a strategy, you need to know exactly who you’re targeting, as well as their interests and pain points. The sales team is an excellent source of insight into this—but only if you’re planning a strategy around current customers. When expanding into new channels or markets, you need as much new data as possible. B2B telemarketing can be used to carry out market research when identifying and gathering data about new markets and customer bases. The accuracy and depth of this data will affect the price and efficacy of paid social media advertising, email marketing campaigns, as well as how precisely you’re able to target your audience through regional PPC campaigns.
B2B telemarketing yields more accurate and detailed information, and is faster and cheaper than other means of collecting data
Unlike purchased data, telemarketing offers personalised, two-way communication that extracts more information and is more likely to be accurate. Through B2B telemarketing you can identify key decisions makers within an organisation, the stage at which a business is ready to buy, its relationship with competitors, and much more than would be possible to glean from a database. It’s also far cheaper than commissioning a market report, and information can be gathered in the time it takes to have a conversation. This initial prospect profiling and research phase is vital to the success of a digital campaign, and is also a great way to generate brand awareness during these initial phone calls.
Add value to and build relationships with potential customers during the evaluation phase
During the evaluation phase of their buyer’s journey, your audience has identified their problem and is on the hunt for a solution. The increased complexity and longer time frames of buying decisions give B2B businesses the perfect opportunity to reach out to their target market with educational and value-adding content and messaging. Content in the form of blog posts, webinars and video is brilliant, but can only take a lead so far. In a marketing world of increasing automation, interacting with the human face of a business can be a huge draw factor for a potential customer. With inbound call handling, your brand has the opportunity to answer your future customers’ questions and offer them advice. You’ll also be able to extract even more data about them, which can improve future campaigns, lead scoring and lead nurturing. Remember, this stage of the funnel is all about adding value and building relationships—not selling.
At the decision stage, telemarketing can be used to qualify whether a lead is ready for a sales meeting
Finally we come to the decision phase of the buyer’s funnel. You’ve amassed a pipeline of leads and engaged them with content (and maybe even some B2B telemarketing). Next, you need to determine whether they’re an SQL and ready to make a buying decision. If you’re using a decent CRM system, you’ll know exactly what contact a lead has had with your brand, and their lead score. Through a phone call, you’ll be able to determine how ready that lead is for a sales call or meeting. If they are, a telemarketer can set up a sales appointment. If not, the phone call has still been useful for gathering more information about that lead.
Telemarketing is the second most effective lead generation channel in the digital age. If you’d like to learn how telemarketing can enhance your lead generation efforts, download our guide:
