Why a Robust Multi-Channel Marketing Plan Is Necessary for B2B Companies

So often, we hear terms or phrases thrown around that sound familiar, but we aren’t totally sure what they mean. Multi-channel marketing is a prime example of that – we can guess that it has to do with marketing in more than one place, but is that really it? Yes and no. Multi-channel marketing means engaging your prospects and customers in a combination of channels, both direct and indirect. This can include website, email, social media, direct mail, in-person locations, and much more.

There are a few terms that are often used interchangeably to describe this same concept: omni-channel marketing, cross-channel marketing and even integrated marketing.

If this all sounds familiar, that’s because we’ve talked about it in a few different ways now. Our integrated marketing service takes this concept a little further, ensuring all of these channels are marketed to in a coordinated way. And integrated marketing communications is a key part of this as well. The final step of our “How to Make Your B2B Marketing Not Suck” e-book helps you come up with your marketing engine and thus your marketing plan, which incorporates a wide variety of marketing activities and channels.

The point of all of this? Multi-channel marketing is important because you need to be where your potential customers are. And since we’re not mind readers, that basically means you need to be everywhere. You must put yourself in your customers’ shoes and think about where they’re learning about companies like yours, then be there. It’s all about a customer-centric approach.

Here’s an example. Often, our clients think that they don’t really need to be on social media because they’re a B2B company and social media works best for B2C. But most of the time, that just isn’t true. Simply having a solid presence on Facebook, Twitter and/or Instagram can present your business as in-the-know, one that stays on top of trends. Even if you’re not getting a ton of engagement, it is important to BE THERE. After all, the majority of B2B shoppers do most of their research online before contacting a company, so make sure your presence is known, showing who you are and why you’re good at what you do.

Ideally, someone would see a consistent image of your company at each of these different touchpoints. If you meet a prospect at a tradeshow, you want your salespeople’s message to align with your booth graphics and handouts. Then, when they check you out on online, your website and social media posts should also make sense based on what they already know about you. If you follow up with emails, the same thing goes.

It can be overwhelming to think about all of this at once, which is why you should take the time to think through your marketing plan. Our e-book can help, and so can the Pomerantz team!

If you need someone to guide you through creating an integrated, multi-channel marketing plan, reach out now! Put Pom On It >

How Outsourced Marketing Can Boost Your Company to the Next Level

The answer to that question – “what is outsourced marketing?” – is as simple as it seems. When you don’t have the capacity to handle marketing your business internally (or if you simply don’t want to do it!), you outsource your marketing to someone else who can do it all.

Often, companies will have one or two in-house marketing people who are expected to get it all done. But marketing responsibilities continue to grow and change, and it can feel impossible to keep up. You can’t expect one marketing director or manager to do it all! And it can be really costly and time consuming to build an internal marketing department that has experts in each area, from social media to graphic design to copywriting to website management to email marketing to…it sometimes seems like a never-ending list.

Or maybe your company has recently realized you have marketing needs but don’t have a single internal resource who can handle it. This is when outsourcing all of your marketing can be really beneficial. Hand it over to a team of experts who can get to know your business and handle all of those little details from project start to finish.

If you’ve outsourced one marketing project, why not outsource them all? Maybe you’ve outsourced certain marketing tasks in the past and have seen the quality of work you get back. Imagine the benefits if that stretched across all of your marketing areas. By giving that work to one outsourced marketing team or agency, you’ll eliminate the need to deal with it internally, and you’ll get a team that has a holistic view of your marketing.

Here are some of the many benefits that can come from outsourced marketing:

• Simplify management of multiple providers or employees into one
• Save money by eliminating the need to build your own full-time team
• Eliminate duplicative costs of hiring employees who then outsource some tasks
• Have a strategic plan that reaches across all marketing activities
• Communicate with just one or two people but get an arsenal of experts
• Be quick and nimble in response to business changes with just one point of contact

Instead of piecing things together, find an outsourced marketing agency who can become an extension of your team. If you want to grow your business without investing in the overhead of an internal marketing department, outsourced marketing is the way to go.

Pomerantz is the outsourced marketing engine that makes the marketing magic happen. Put Pom On It >