by 
If you are searching for a B2B digital marketing consultant, then you are on the right path to figuring out exactly what kind of consultant you might require based on your needs. As with most things, you need to take a look at your current business, how it operates, and see how it stacks up against the market you are in. This is probably about where you are if you are here.
Whether you need help digitizing internal processes and roles, or if you are looking to take a more proactive digital marketing approach, there are ample opportunities to do so. Particularly, as this conversation revolves around B2B strategies, the approach to engage potential new clients/customers needs to categorically be different than that of a B2C approach.
Beyond identifying your target market, you need to establish what is working and what is not. Where it is working – where it is falling short. Figure out what marketing value propositions are reaping the best return and which are not hitting the mark.
Sometimes opportunities and progress are best identified when looked at critically from the outside, which probably has you here. It can be the slightest shifts in operations that can bring the best results. That said, it can just as easily be a larger revamp needed.
Whether it is understanding how to better leverage the technology you are currently implementing in your business or finding a tech solution that could increase revenue and open up more human capital, there are opportunities to take you internal processes to the next level. Digital marketing is similar to this in the ROI and success of the campaign is rooted in hard numbers, which can be scrutinized and optimized.
What Can a B2B Digital Marketing Consultant Do For Your Business?
A good digital marketing consultant should be able to come in and look at your business from top to bottom and identify opportunities in your business.
After this initial assessment, they should then put together a comprehensive plan with actionable deliverables that outlines the good, the bad, and the biggest opportunities for your business. If it is a matter of building out a more robust, dynamic CRM system, then they should be able to craft a timeline and action plan to do so. Or perhaps you have that covered; they might be able to find that you are lacking in your segmentation and email marketing followup.
They could create marketing systems that not only decrease customer churn but also increase average customer value and retention. If it is a marketing plan, then they should be able to highlight other digital marketing strategies that will bring your business to the next level.
The online marketing plan can be b2b and/or b2c, depending on your needs. These needs go beyond just identifying your target market and potential buyer persona, especially when looking at b2b companies and b2b marketing specifically. In order to improve your b2b marketing, you need to be building a content marketing strategy around high intent keywords that your targets are searching for. Additionally, the content itself needs to be in a language that your prospect speaks in.
Another important differentiator to point out here between b2c and b2b is in b2b, you need to catch the attention not just of the target company/account, but you need to be able to laser target the decision maker for your product or service.
In any event, the marketing plan can have elements like email marketing, google search (Adwords PPC), SEO (search engine optimization), lead generation and lead funnel buildouts, marketing automation buildouts, etc etc. Ultimately, the marketing plan should take into account your needs and your target market and should be crafted to most effectively and efficiently bring the two together.
What Qualifications Should A B2B Digital Marketing Consultant Have?
Depending on the job and the need of the client, there are many different hats a B2B consultant can engage and deliver value.
Most B2B digital marketing consultants, and digital marketing consultants in general, will need experience with the digital marketing mix (PPC, Native, Display, Social Media). They’ll also need a general understanding of SEO principles with the ability to bring in the right SEO experts at the right time, if the ROI can be seen from a keyword analysis standpoint.
Having a working knowledge of web development and tech integrations is something that we would see as essential as well. Experience in digital analytics and tracking software is on the same level of importance. Not having this expertise will not allow for them to identify operational opportunities for you while at the same time limits your ability to construct an effective, trackable marketing campaign when the time comes.
From a website standpoint, you are going to want someone who knows Content Management Systems to best understand how the website operations currently run so they can make recommendations for improvement from a content standpoint, as it trickles to the foundation of SEO and to marketing messaging on the PPC side.
Conclusion
If you’re interested in learning more about how we might be able to work together, we would love to discuss the opportunity. We strive on new challenges and we enjoy taking on clients that have a genuine desire to bring their business to the next level through digital practices.
The right digital marketing consultant is going to truly take your needs into account when putting together a plan. This notion, of course, has its direct implications on how they are going to treat the execution phase for you.
