Scaling B2B SEO; AI Content & Programmatic SEO Tactics To Dominate Search Engines & Lower SEM Costs

Of all of the marketing channels available to the modern B2B marketer, SEO in many ways remains one of the most perplexing - In many ways SEO still lives in an earlier incarnation of the internet where links are traded and dubious, hard to measure and hard to gauge tactics were used to try and dominate the SERPS. Yet SEO has vast potential to feed your marketing funnel and lower your SEM investment, whilst letting your brand benefit from the trust that high Google rankings can uniquely deliver.

When you add in that its often perceived that the query volume for B2B terms are too low, SEO falls into the back-burner of the different media approaches available. Yet when many of FunnelFuel's clients are able to invest upwards of $1m per month on paid search, its intriguing that the organic approach still remains such a small part of the bigger picture. Especially when the insights it brings can help with programmatic advertising and delivering content led experiences into the content web based on robust first party data.

The benefits are clear, but what does a modern B2B approach to SEO look like, leveraging AI content creation and programmatic SEO?

Today we're exploring the concept of programmatic SEO for B2B. You'll likely be much more familiar with the term 'programmatic' when it comes to media buying and programatic advertising, but the concept as it pertains to SEO is actually much more one of content generation, and leaning in on the ChatGPT led world of AI-content creation to cover more ground with many more highly optimised pages targeting specific keyword variations.

Therefore, arguable Programmatic SEO is the route to scaling SEO. To effectively expand your SEO, Programmatic SEO could be the answer. "All" you have to do is create a massive amount of pages - occasionally reaching hundreds of thousands - focusing on a single keyword pattern. Clearly this would be so incredibly cost inefficient and expensive in years gone by the tactic would never have even been considered, but again, now we live in a world where AI is making SEO-unique content (if not quite great content) available for pennies in the pound.

Therefore, previously, programmatic SEO was only accessible to organisations receiving content from user-generated sources (UGC), e-commerce vendors (products), or data providers (SaaS) since these companies did not have to produce content themselves. The major obstacle to SEO progression has been the generation of content.

Integrators faced a hindrance in generating content themselves despite being able to produce a plethora of standardised pages. Human written words are costly, human written words that you'd actually want your B2B prospects to read are cripplingly expensive

Content creation bottlenecks can be vastly reduced with AI tools, enabling companies to implement programmatic content effectively, even in the absence of user-generated content, products or data.

Besides boosting traffic, these tools allow companies to conduct SEO split tests on programmatic content, optimise longtail queries and enhance customer acquisition costs through retargeting. Therefore the modern marketer sees this programmatic SEO as a spearhead for their other biddable media channels, meaning an AI written longtail content piece could trigger a marketing cascade and deliver the right to play and address that topic.

Integrators can benefit from Programmatic SEO.

Employing programmatic SEO involves generating multiple pages with a uniform structure, aimed at capturing a particular search pattern.

Betterteam created a plethora of job description pages as an illustration.

Causal provides an extensive library of formulas for Excel and Google Sheets, consisting of a whopping total of 1,000 pages.

Gusto offers a multitude of payroll calculators designed for various states.

All three of these illustrations are not aggregators, but rather integrators. The method for generating content for each programmatic page varies significantly.

The process of generating programmatic content involves five steps that remain consistent.

  1. Establish a specific set of query syntax or patterns that align with your product.
  2. Determine the page elements (such as features) that cater to the users' purpose and those that have proven to be effective.
  3. The writers will then execute the content writing while the engineers may construct a calculator, as needed.
  4. Upon completion, the product will be shipped out for testing.
  5. Proceed with split testing procedures and make modifications accordingly.

The SEO strategy is centered around the product, which integrates the website as an essential component. The emphasis lies on creating landing pages instead of a content-oriented marketing approach that prioritises a content hub or blog.

Programmatic SEO is presented with a pair of fresh obstacles.

AI is revolutionising the way SEO works, as evidenced by one of the aforementioned examples utilising ChatGPT-4 to produce all its content. The success of this strategy has prompted some of my clients to adopt similar tactics, and it's likely that more companies will follow suit.

Nevertheless, there are two fresh obstacles that surface: ensuring high standards of quality on a larger scale and monitoring the traffic generated by less popular SEO keywords. The latter can open up the longtail of traffic but many of these terms will generate a handful of queries per year, so your usual approaches to monitoring their business impact need to reflect this challenge

CNET recently discovered that AI tools are prone to hallucinations and are not always accurate when it comes to simple facts. Although AI performed well, it still got basic facts wrong, which could be attributed to the lack of human quality control. This situation raises questions about the effectiveness of Google's fact-checking algorithms, but the overwhelming truth remains that editing and fact-checking cannot be automated at this time. This becomes a challenge if your objective is to create a LOT of content - the fact remains you cannot simply ask an AI tool to make content, and then simply copy, paste and publish.

When generating numerous pages with AI, whether it's a hundred or thousands, who assures that the information provided is precise and dependable?

Human editors remain the ultimate fix. While they can't comb through all pages, they can at least review a few samples. I believe that more scalable options for fact-checking will soon emerge in the market. In the meantime, plagiarism detectors such as Copyleaks, Unicheck, and similar tools can already offer some much-needed respite.

Some brands may take a more pragmatic approach. Putting the wider content live, with some robust sampling, and then editing, improving an enhancing the pages which start to get SERP traffic could offer a practical solution. If the page ranks, make it better, if it doesn't, leave it be until if/when it does. Circle back in 3 months and look at SEO data to check which pages are getting close to the ranking and traffic driving action, and then improve them.

Achieving better quality outcomes involves dedicating time towards refining the prompt. I've found that several individuals hastily settle for their initial results, without exploring other possibilities. It takes around 10-20 iterations, or sometimes more, to obtain favorable outcomes. When applied on a large scale, thorough testing and modification of the prompt yield significant benefits.

Due to privacy concerns within search console, monitoring longtail traffic has become quite arduous, with over 50% of queries being filtered. A large website belonging to one of my clients, which has hundreds of millions of indexed pages, obtains an excess of unaccounted for longtail traffic, rendering Search Console obsolete. Although the server-side can tackle traffic tracking alone, pinpointing longtail keywords and monitoring their ranking is a challenge beyond solution.

To optimise tracking, it is recommended to divide traffic and rankings measurement. Analyse the channel-based traffic for both organic and inorganic sources and rely on third-party trackers for monitoring keyword rankings. Often, using sound judgement can help determine which query a page is prioritising.

In my humble opinion, AI content has a bright future despite the new obstacles that may arise. Although it may shift search patterns slightly, the benefits of enhancing SEO efficiency through its implementation outweigh the potential drawbacks.

The Ultimate B2B Marketing Glossary Cheat-Sheet: All the Must-Know Terminology

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If you're trying to get into the world of B2B marketing, you may be feeling overwhelmed by all the industry terminology. Don't worry - we've got you covered! In this blog post, we'll provide you with a cheat sheet of all the must-know terminology so you can become a B2B marketing pro in no time. Read on to learn more!

 

Introduction to B2B Marketing Terminology

B2B marketing terminology is an important part of understanding and navigating the world of business-to-business marketing. It's important to understand the various terms and acronyms used in the industry so you can effectively communicate with your customers and partners. Mobile optimisation is one of the most important terms in the B2b glossary, as mobile devices are becoming more and more popular for business transactions. Being mobile-friendly is essential for any business, so understanding mobile optimisation is key to achieving success in B2b marketing. By having an optimised mobile experience, businesses can reach more customers and better engage with them. Ultimately, mobile optimisation is essential for any business that wants to stay competitive in today's market.

To help you get up to speed, here are some of the most common B2B marketing terms and their definitions:

Lead Generation - The process of acquiring new leads for a business through various methods such as direct contact, online campaigns, content creation, or other forms of advertising; Prospecting – The process of identifying potential customers who may be interested in your product or service; Lead Nurturing – The process of nurturing leads throughout the sales cycle by providing relevant information and offers that will help move them closer to making a purchase Moreover, with the introduction of Chatbot technology, lead nurturing has become even easier. Chatbots can be programmed to provide personalized offers to leads that have been identified and qualified as prospects, allowing businesses to engage with potential customers in a more efficient and cost-effective manner. By taking advantage of Chatbot technology, businesses are able to build relationships with prospects and increase their chances of closing a sale.

A-C: Essential Marketing Terms

A/B Testing: A/B testing is a method of comparing two versions of a webpage, email, or other digital asset to measure the performance of one against the other. This helps marketers understand which version performs better, helping them make data-driven decisions about their marketing efforts. Predictive Content and Qualified Leads are also important to understand in the context of B2B marketing. Predictive Content is a method of using trends and insights to serve relevant content to the right customers at the right time. Qualified Leads are defined as prospects who have provided contact information and indicated interest in a product or service, making them a higher value lead compared to an unqualified lead. With the help of A/B testing, Predictive Content, and Qualified Leads, effective B2B marketing strategies can be developed and improved upon.

[button link="https://funnelfuel.io/b2b-web-analytics/" type="big" color="black" newwindow="yes"] Journey by FunnelFuel is a 'central nervous system' for B2B marketing, providing enterprise-class analytics, 24/7 media optimisation and conversion rate optimisation tools, including A/B testing, heat-maps and session recordings. Click here to learn more (opens in a new tab/window to not interrupt your reading of this glossary article)[/button]

Account Based Marketing is a B2B marketing approach which addresses pre-defined accounts and tailors the marketing message to the stage of the funnel that the client is in, including post purchase. Learn more here in our 'in a nutshell' series - what is ABM?

Go deeper: 5 pro tips to win at Account Based Marketing in 2023

Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO): Conversion rate optimisation is the process of improving the performance of webpages or emails so that more visitors take desired actions such as making a purchase or subscribing to an email list. By understanding user behavior and improving conversion rates, marketers can grow their business. Predictive Content, the presentation of content to users based on their interests, can dramatically increase the effectiveness of CRO. Similarly, Qualified Lead generation strategies allow marketers to create meaningful leads which can be converted into customers more quickly. In this way, CRO helps to improve overall ROI and make marketing activities more efficient.

Go deeper: The most advanced conversion rate optimisation tactics for B2B marketers, to help make your website work harder and drive more results 

Call-To-Action (CTA): A call-to-action (CTA) is any element on a website or in an email that encourages users to take an action, such as filling out a form, subscribing to an email list, downloading an asset, or making a purchase. CTAs are essential for driving conversions and achieving marketing goals Thereafter, dynamic creative optimisation (DCO) is a term used to describe the process of personalising a website or email with dynamic content based on user data. By identifying relevant CTAs for each user segment, DCO can help to drive better performance and better conversion rates. Understanding the fundamentals of call-to-action (CTA) is essential for marketing teams who want to take advantage of DCO and all its advantages.

[learn_more caption="FunnelFuel Co-Founders Insight On The Importance Of CTA Optimisation "] Insight from FunnelFuel's co-founder, Mike Harty: Talking CTA texts sounds like an almost stupidly small point in the grand scheme of B2B marketing, but we operate in a highly competitive space where winning ITDM attention is ever-harder. Marginal gains from exploring different CTA messages and text/button colour combinations DOES make a big difference. Interaction movements of 0.5% at scale add-up, meaning if you can optimise the page so 0.5% more people who read it end up clicking your button, then we're talking about 0.5% more prospects turning into MCL's and flowing through your funnel, or 0.5% more sales calls or 0.5% more free trials. Our Journey analytics products anonymously [ie without looking at specific sites, instead pulling all the data to a top level view for analysis] tracks a lot of web based actions on B2B websites, across both pure-play publishing and client sites. Anonymous exploration of this data shows that the clients who use our Journey tools to explore the impact of testing different CTA texts are the ones who are generating the most ROI from their marketing efforts, across both paid media and organic. [/learn_more]

Go deeper: How to use A/B testing, heatmaps and session recordings to drive better results from your website within a week 

D-F: Must-Know Concepts

“D” stands for Demand-Side Platform (DSP), which is a type of software used by advertisers to buy ads programmatically. Users of this platform can manage and track ROI, view analytics, and compare different data sources, as well as segment their audience and tailor messaging for particular segments. Audience segmentation is an important tool in the demand-side platform, allowing advertisers to reach their target audiences more effectively. With audience segmentation, they can adjust their ad placement so that their message reaches the right consumers at the right time. The demand-side platform is a powerful resource for any business trying to maximise the impact of their advertising campaigns.

[button link="https://funnelfuel.io/next-generation-b2b-programmatic-marketing/" type="big" color="purple" newwindow="yes"] Learn more about the FunnelFuel ABM DSP - a programmatic media buying platform designed only for B2B. Bringing LinkedIn level targeting to programmatic media, opening up greater scale at considerably cheaper rates for B2B marketers, our DSP enables named-account targeting, dynamic content optimisation for B2B and deep contextual targeting against our 161 level B2B taxonomy. Click here to learn more! (opens in a new tab/window to not interrupt the rest of this glossary article)[/button]

“E” stands for Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). This system helps businesses manage and integrate their many different processes into one central system with the goal of increasing efficiency and decreasing costs. An ERP system provides the structure that business needs to better track and manage data, streamline operations, and improve customer relationships. This powerful tool can be used to track inventory, manage supply chain, and optimise accounting functions, and the best ones integrate back into your marketing stack to ensure that marketing matches the current capabilities of the business. With an ERP system in place, businesses can make quicker decisions based on up-to-date data in order to maximise efficiency and profitability. As such, this tool is invaluable for any business looking to increase their operational efficiency.

“F” stands for forecasting, which is the process of predicting future market trends based on past performance and other factors. To accurately forecast future market trends, businesses must have a solid understanding of their industry landscape as well as customer needs and preferences Thereafter, TOFU and MOFU are important acronyms to keep in mind when applying your forecast future market trends to your current new business led marketing tactics. TOFU stands for "top of funnel", which is the beginning stage of the customer journey when they are just exploring options and getting familiar with their needs. MOFU stands for "middle of funnel" and refers to the customer's attempt to elucidate what they need and determine their buying criteria. TOFU helps with identifying potential customers or prospects, while MOFU focuses on providing targeted information that helps customers make decisions. Forecasting future market trends requires a thorough understanding of TOFU and MOFU, so businesses must have a solid understanding of their industry landscape as well as customer needs and preferences.

G-I: Critical Strategies

G-I critical strategies involve making decisions that are designed to result in long-term success and sustainability by evaluating the risks and rewards of each potential move. Blocklisted IPs are a prime example of such a risk assessment. Blocklisted IPs refer to IP addresses that have been identified as either malicious or suspicious by ISPs or other authorities, or if you're doing named account targeting / ABM using IP targeting, this can indicate that IP data isn't available in a particular environment. As businesses operate in a globally connected environment, it is important for organisations to understand the risks of Blocklisted IPs and put into place strategies to mitigate them. These strategies may include regularly monitoring Blocklisted IPs and enforcing security protocols, such as two-factor authentication, to ensure the safety of data and information.

For example, organisations can use G-I strategies to determine what changes should be made to their business operations, marketing tactics, and technology implementations in order to stay competitive over time Next, TOFU (Top of the Funnel) and MOFU (Middle of the Funnel) are two important acronyms that organisations should keep in mind when creating their G-I strategies. As we stated above, TOFU is the initial step in the buying process, while MOFU is where companies can get more specific with their offers and start to build relationships with potential customers. By understanding TOFU/MOFU and how it fits into their G-I strategies, organisations can set themselves up for success in staying competitive over time.

J-L: Crucial Mechanics and Processes

J Curve: A graph that illustrates the relationship between the total cost of a project and its timeline. The ‘J’ shape of the graph is due to the fact that many projects begin with a large investment upfront followed by lower costs as the project develops, before increasing again in its final stages. Not always associated with marketing, but it does have a strong crossover, especially in B2B. It is invaluable to businesses when approaching their marketing efforts, as it can be used to pursue dynamic creative optimisation (requires a full top of funnel to begin segmentation) and for businesses who are launching a new product or service, whereby fast and significant early exposure is key, followed by a strong push to bring nurtured accounts to a close. By plotting out the project timeline and cost, businesses can make informed decisions about their budget and adjust accordingly. The J Curve is a major part of any B2b glossary and essential for successful marketing management.

Kanban: A scheduling system developed by Toyota whereby work is organised and tracked through visual cues such as cards or boards. Kanban helps teams manage their workflow efficiently by providing them with an easy way to track progress, organise tasks, and identify potential bottlenecks in production processes. smart B2B marketers are taking Kanban approaches and applying them to their marketing funnels, using them to apply lead scoring and to drive creative decisioning to make their messages clearer. 

M-Z: The Nitty Gritty of B2B Marketing

Using Marketing Automation to Streamline Messaging: By using marketing automation, you can easily create targeted messages for specific groups and individuals, which increases the effectiveness of your B2B marketing efforts. Marketing automation platforms such as HubSpot, Marketo and Oracle Marketing Cloud enable you to streamline your B2B communication process, allowing you to plan and execute campaigns more efficiently. Marketing automation can also be used to send automated email messages, track website activity and activity on social networks - all of which helps to create a comprehensive view of customer interactions. By automating your marketing outreach, you can quickly segment leads, craft targeted messages and track the success of each message in real-time. This type of targeted messaging helps you build relationships with prospects and better understand the impact of your B2B marketing strategies.

Nurturing Relationships with Prospects: Through the use of well-crafted emails, webinars, and content campaigns, you can nurture relationships with prospects and build trust between your business and potential customers Besides building relationships and trust, utilising a b2B glossary in your email, webinars, and content campaigns can help to ensure that you communicate the correct terminology and accurately portray your message. A b2b glossary of terms allows companies to provide prospects with further details that convey the intent behind their messages. Having a defined vocabulary that is regularly used helps create an understanding between both parties fostering stronger relationships. Employing a b2b glossary is a great tool for nurturing and maintaining relationships with prospects in order to grow your business.

Wrapping up

In conclusion, this B2B marketing glossary cheat-sheet is here to help anyone who’s new to the world of B2B marketing. It’s important to understand the terminology, definitions, and meanings in order to keep up with the industry’s trends and changes. With this cheat-sheet, you’re sure to be a pro in the field of B2B marketing and stay up-to-date with the latest industry terms.

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How to Design a B2B Landing Page That Converts: Best Practices Ready For 2023

A well-designed landing page is a powerful tool that can help you generate leads, close deals, and boost your bottom line. But what goes into designing a B2B landing page that actually converts? In this blog post, we'll explore some of the key elements that you should consider when designing your next B2B landing page.

However before we even address how to lay out your landing page, lets start by addressing the need for speed - or in this case, the need to get your landing page loading rapidly

The Importance of Page Load Speed for Conversions

In the age of instant gratification, website visitors expect a fast, seamless online experience. If your website doesn't deliver, they'll go elsewhere. In fact, 40% of web users will abandon a website that takes more than three seconds to load. And for every second that it takes for your page to load, you could be losing up to 7% in conversions. So, how can you ensure that your website is loading as quickly as possible? Let's take a look.

There are a number of factors that can affect page load speed, including image size, server response time, and code structure. By optimising each of these elements, you can dramatically improve your page load speed—and your conversion rate. Here are a few tips:

Images: Make sure your images are no larger than they need to be. Resize them before uploading them to your site. And use a tool like JPEGmini to reduce file size without sacrificing quality.

Server Response Time: A slow server can drag down your page speed. Make sure you're using a reliable hosting provider with fast servers. You can also use a content delivery network (CDN) to distribute your content around the world and improve loading times for visitors who are far from your server.

Code Structure: Clean, well-organized code will load faster than messy code. If you're not a coder yourself, hire a professional to help you streamline your code and improve your page speed.

B2B landing Page Design - 7 Best Practices

  1.  Optimise the offer is the first thing that visitors will see when they land on your page, so it's important to make sure that it's clear, concise, and relevant to their needs. Your headline should be specific enough to let visitors know what they can expect to find on your page, but not so specific that it turns them off. A strong offer should be conveyed in the headline to capture intent early. Presenting this in a strong hero image helps graphically to hammer it home
  2. The body copy needs to hammer home your UVP - the body is where you'll really get to sell your product or service. This is your chance to explain why your offering is the best solution to their problem. Be sure to use persuasive language and strong calls-to-action throughout your body copy to encourage visitors to take the next step.
  3. Leveraging micro-conversions to build killer segments, to let you build sub-landing pages that address specific parts of your solution. These are linked to the content, things like opt-ins, trade-offs for the email in return for exciting content and other such enticing angles helps create goals that you can measure in analytics, helping to measure a prospects progression through the funnel. This segmentation is key for driving real results, and the greater the segmentation the more micro landing pages you can build - landing pages which specifically address very precise needs
  4. Find ways to demo without actually demo-ing - demos take time, cost money and are fraught with no-shows, postponements and re-arrangements. This is fine, and part of the game however you need to catch researchers at their moment of intrigue - right now! - and show them the basics of what they are trying to suss out. A good automated demo on the landing page lessons the burden on the actual live demos, and lets prospects come to the real demo's with much greater purchase intent. Don't just chase demos linked to easy to opt-in-to online calendars
  5. Your page should be highly visual, also include images or videos that help communicate your message. People are more likely to remember information that they see, so visuals can be a powerful way to reinforce your key points. Just be sure to use high-quality images that are relevant to your message. Videos are even better, and tracking users who view these videos opens up powerful performance marketing segments to buy ads against.
  6. Let visitors see real results and nail social proof - results sell, and real, credible and independently presented 'reviews' (I appreciate we're talking B2B and not some widget being sold via Instagram ads) but this still matters in B2B. Ensure you have social proof and real reviews that present the solution to the biggest challenges that you solve for clients.
  7. Finally, don't forget to include ONE strong call-to-action (CTA) on your page. Your CTA should be prominently displayed and easy to spot so that visitors know exactly what you want them to do next. Make sure your CTA is relevant to the rest of your page content and includes persuasive language that encourages visitors to take action. This has to be one action and one action only - a good landing page should be focussed on only one outcome and that needs to be very clear in your CTA's.

Conclusion:
A well-designed B2B landing page can be a powerful tool for generating leads and closing deals. When designing your next landing page, keep the following elements in mind: headlines, body copy, visuals, and calls-to-action. By including these elements on your page, you'll be well on your way to designing a b2b landing page that converts.

Ideal Customer Profile; What Is It, 4 Easy Steps To Make Your Buyer Persona & How Do You Use It?

Do you know who your ideal customer is? If not, don't worry - you're not alone. Many businesses don't take the time to create an ideal customer profile, which can lead to a lot of wasted time, money and energy when it comes to growing the business through marketing and sales efforts. Today we're diving into what an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) is, how you make it and what you can do with it.

What is an Ideal Customer Profile?

Creating an ideal customer profile (also known as a buyer persona) is essential if you want to make sure that you're targeting the right people with your products and services. In this blog, we'll show you how to create an ideal customer profile step-by-step, so that you can take your business to the next level.

The ideal customer profile, also known as a buyer persona, is a fictionalised representation of your company’s ideal customer. It goes into detail about your customers’ likes, dislikes, personality traits, behaviours, purchasing habits and more.

Creating a buyer persona helps you to focus your marketing and sales efforts. In this blog post, we'll talk about what a customer profile is and how to write one that is tailored specifically to your business. Creating an ideal customer profile gives you great insight into the wants and needs of any potential future audiences you might want to target. You can then use this information to inform your future marketing and sales strategies.

What questions does your ICP need to answer about your customers? These generally form different types of ICP, some common types of ICP include;

Your ideal customer profile should answer the following questions:

What are the characteristics of my target audience? Once you know who your ideal customer is, you need to start thinking about the characteristics of your target audience. These can be divided into two categories: - Demographic characteristics: these are the facts and figures about your target audience. This includes factors such as age, gender, income, education, location, etc. Secondly we have Psychographic characteristics: these are the psychological factors that influence your target audience's decisions. This includes things like interests, values, lifestyle, etc.

What motivates my audience?

When you know what motivates your target audience, you can use this information to create marketing and sales strategies that will appeal to them. Some common motivators include:

- Need for approval

- Fear of missing out

- Desire for status or recognition

- Sense of belonging

- Curiosity

What locations are my target organisations in? Once you know where your target audience is based, you can start to think about the best way to reach them. For example, if they are located in less populous areas, you might need to focus your marketing efforts more exclusively on online channels such as programmatic, social media and email. Whereas, if they are centralised around a smaller number of say bigger city locations, you might want to consider adding more traditional marketing channels such as print and television, especially now that more modern media buying technologies are catching up with traditional media, such as programmatic connected TV buying.

What is the best way to reach my target audience?

Now that you know where your target audience lives, you need to think about the best way to reach them. There are a number of different marketing channels that you can use, and the best way to reach your target audience will depend on a number of factors, including:

- Their location

- Their age

- Their interests

- The type of product or service you're selling

Some common marketing channels that you might want to consider include:

What type of messaging does my ideal customer engage with?

Your ideal customers might engage with a variety of messaging types, depending on their needs, wants and interests. Some common messaging types include:

- Educational

- Inspirational

- Aspirational

- Product focused

- Solution focused

How does my target audience interact with a business like mine?

Your target audience's interaction with a business like yours will depend on a number of factors, including:

- The type of product or service you offer and its associated sales cycle

- Their needs and wants

- Their buying habits

Some common ways that people interact with businesses like yours may include:

- Researching online; which could be on your owned media or wider research based behaviour in contextually relevant environments

- Speaking to industry peers, potentially now on the 'dark social' networks

- Reading reviews (yes this is still relevant to lots of B2B marketers)

- Going to trade shows or conferences

- Speaking to a salesperson

What type of language does my ideal customer use?

Your target audience might use a variety of language depending on their needs, wants and interests. Different industries have differing levels of jargon and slang, understanding yours specifically can help you dial into the audiences expected forms of content. Some common language types include:

- Technical

- Jargon-filled

- Simple

- Emotive

What type of content does my ideal customer engage with?

Your ideal customers might engage with a variety of content types, depending on their needs, wants and interests. Different job roles can lend themselves to different types of content too. A CTO may prefer educational and technical types of content, whereas an analyst may prefer more detailed long form content like eBooks and white papers. Some common content types include:

- Educational blog posts or articles

- How-to guides

- Lists

- Product reviews

- Case studies

- White papers

- eBooks

Now that you know all of this information about your ideal customer, you can start to create content that appeals directly to them. By understanding what they want and need, you can create content that speaks to them directly, making it more likely that they'll engage with your brand.

Building your ICP; a 4 step process

Step 1: Define why you’re doing consumer profiling

Ask yourself: what outcomes am I looking for from this buyer persona? The answers to this question will determine what factors you focus on when creating your persona. For example, if you’re looking to improve customer acquisition rates, you might want to focus on factors like age, income, and location.

Step 2: Focus on one or two variables at a time

These are two variables you should expect to polarise your sector. For example, in the B2B industry, you might focus on brand vs. feature buyers.

Step 3: Mutual exclusivity

The two variables need to be categorically different. You can't change CRM solution every year and also be in market every month for example.

 

Step 4: Dial in the personas and personify them with demographic and psychographic elements

Coupled with your own behavioural and psychographic questions, demographics like age, gender or location can help to build a more rounded view of your persona.

Now you have outlined your Ideal Customer Profile/s, what do you do with them?

Having customer profiles helps you plan your business’s future strategy and product roadmap, driving business direction and unlocking new sources of growth.

Your ideal customer profile can help you:

- Develop targeted marketing plans and strategies

- Optimise your product or service offerings

- Create sales enablement tools and processes

- Improve customer success rates.

Ideal Customer Profiles are also a great tool for new business development, as they provide a framework for you to assess new market opportunities against. By understanding your ideal customer’s needs, you can more easily identify other markets and industries where your product or service would be a good fit.

Finally, ideal customer profiles help you build better relationships with your customers. By understanding their needs, wants and interests, you can develop a closer bond with them, leading to improved customer retention rates.

If you want to learn more about ideal customer profiles and how to create them, get in touch with us today and book your free evaluation session with one of our B2B marketing experts.

In A Nutshell: What is Account Based Marketing

Account based marketing (ABM) is a strategic approach to business marketing in which an organisation focuses its efforts on a clearly defined set of target accounts. It is a methodology that has been gaining popularity in recent years, especially among B2B companies.

With account based marketing, the goal is to develop targeted campaigns that are specifically tailored to each individual account. This approach differs from traditional marketing strategies, which tend to be more generalised and less focused on specific accounts.

ABM requires a high level of coordination between sales and marketing teams, as both departments must work together closely to identify and target key accounts. Once target accounts have been identified, the sales and marketing teams need to develop custom strategies for engaging with these accounts.

The 5 main benefits of ABM

There are several benefits that can be gained from using an account based marketing strategy.

First, ABM can help improve the efficiency of your marketing efforts. By targeting specific accounts, you can ensure that your campaigns are more likely to reach their intended audience and have a greater impact. This can save your company time and money by reducing the need for mass advertising campaigns that have little chance of success.

Second, ABM can improve your company’s relationships with its customers. By taking a personalised approach to each account, you can build stronger relationships with your customers and improve customer satisfaction. This level of personalisation is key to performance in 2022, driving higher ad engagement rates and general customer response.

Third, ABM can help you generate more qualified leads. By targeting specific accounts that are more likely to be interested in your products or services, you can generate leads that are more likely to convert into customers. By building a target audience list (TAL) that matches the buyer persona of your product or service, we can ensure that we’re only investing in marketing to prospects who match your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)

Fourth, and maybe most importantly, ABM can help you close more deals. By tailoring your sales pitch to each individual account, you can increase the likelihood of closing a deal.

Finally, ABM can help you better understand your customers’ needs and wants. By engaging with customers on a personal level, you can gain insights into their pain points and needs. This information can be used to improve your products or services and make them more appealing to potential customers.

Conclusion:

Account based marketing is a strategic approach to business marketing in which an organisation focuses its efforts on a clearly defined set of target accounts. This methodology has been gaining popularity in recent years due to the numerous benefits it offers businesses, especially those in the B2B space. If you’re looking for a way to improve the efficiency of your marketing efforts and generate more qualified leads, then account based marketing may be the right solution for you.