Any B2B small business digital marketing campaign is done to generate sales or revenues for the business. This is the main objective of any B2B small business digital marketing campaign.
Even though there are many B2B small business digital marketing tactics out there in the market, there is one that works for any B2B small business digital marketing plan, and that is “Be at the first page of Google search results”. This is probably the best lead generation strategy for any B2B small business. To be at the first page of Google search results the B2B small business has to do SEO marketing or content marketing.
93% of the B2B buying process begins with an Internet search (Pinpoint Market Research).
To answer the question “what works for B2B small business digital marketing?” the answer is “to be at the first page of Google search results”. You will be there when your prospect customers search for your products and services to satisfy any particular need they might have.
We will try to support this above statement with the following 3 facts: Market surveys, Own experience as a 13 years digital agency, and Google economic report studies in the USA.
Credit: Marko Berndt
Market Surveys
There are several surveys related to the B2B small business digital marketing tactics and tools. We present in the following table some of these surveys results and findings:
| Survey key findings | Source | Website |
| 38% of small business chooses SEO as their preferred digital marketing cannel. | Clutch | https://clutch.co |
| 94% of business buyers do some form of online research | Acquity Group | http://www.accenture.com |
| 88% of B2B marketers currently use content marketing as part of their marketing strategy | Content Marketing Institute | http://contentmarketinginsitute.com |
| 76% of B2B marketers say they will produce more content in 2016 | Content Marketing Institute | http://contentmarketinginsitute.com |
| 66% of B2B marketers report using search engine marketing (SEM), making it the most used paid marketing tactic among B2B companies | Content Marketing Institute | http://contentmarketinginsitute.com |
| 55% of B2B marketers report that search engine marketing (SEM) is their most effective paid advertising method | Content Marketing Institute | http://contentmarketinginsitute.com |
| 85% of B2B marketers say lead generation will be their most important content marketing goal in 2016 | Content Marketing Institute | http://contentmarketinginsitute.com |
| The top 5 local marketing tactics for 2016 are: social media marketing, search engine optimization, mobile-friendly website, Facebook advertising and search engine advertising | Reach Local | https://www.reachlocal.com |
| 57% of local businesses surveyed said they plan to invest in lead generation in 2016 | Reach Local | https://www.reachlocal.com |
| Landing page/content marketing and SEO are the second most effective lead generation tactics after email marketing for B2B business with 44%, 43% and 37% each as most effective. | Marketing Chart | http://www.marketingchart.com |
| SEO (57.4%), PPC (24.8%), and Social Media (17.9%) are the digital marketing tactics with biggest impact in lead generation for B2B small business | Marketing Charts | http://www.marketingchart.com |
| SEO is always at the top 3 most popular lead generation tactics for B2B small business digital marketing | Marketing Charts | http://www.marketingchart.com |
For additional B2B content marketing statistics for 2016 please see the following link:
http://www.toprankblog.com/2015/09/b2b-content-marketing-statistics-2016/
Own Experience
We have been in the digital marketing business for the last 14 years, and we can tell for our own experience as a B2B small business and for our B2B own small business customers that the number one lead generation tactic over the years has been the first page of Google search results. Once the B2B small business gets at the first page of Google search results, whether paid or organic, then you will be getting qualified leads every week during the year. There is no other better digital market tactic for a B2B small business to get qualified leads every week. For us as a B2B small business digital agency, the first page of Google search results is our main lead generation tool. All other digital marketing tactics such as Social Network, Email marketing, Content marketing, Blog, Website, Landing page, AdWords PPC; are used for our agency as a part of the tactics used to get the first page of Google search results. At the end you have to do all digital marketing tactics to get the first page of Google search results, but the desired result is to get at the first page of Google search results, because it is second to none, the best lead generation tool in the digital marketing business for any B2B small business.
Google Economic Report
I will quote what we write in our previous article regarding Google Economic Report:
“Before we begin the math to estimate the campaign ROI, it is relevant to comment on what Google consider to be the ROI of any first page of Google campaign. You can see Google math in the following link:
https://economicimpact.google.com/about/#/?sections_activeEl=methodology
Google says that for every USD $ 1 invested in Google AdWords search, the business will get USD $ 8 return as long as the business is also in the first page organic search results . For Google the ROI is 8X. Google mention the word return, but according to the published information in the above link, it seems to be sales or revenues and not return (profit), so it is sales on investment or revenue on investment, more than return on investment. Even though return on investment is not the same as revenue on investment, because return means profit (sales – cost of sales), and revenues means sales, for the purpose of this article, we will consider ROI as revenue on investment”.
Following a video on digital advertising:
Thanks for reading and thank for sharing. We will see you in the next article.
Is your small business executing a B2B small business digital marketing campaign? Is your small business executing a Google SEO campaign? Is your small business at the first page of Google search results?
This article was written by Julio Sanoja Rial, CEO & Founder of LeAds, a B2B small business digital marketing agency that you can visit at www.msalesleads.com
You can read our previous article in the following link:
https://www.msalesleads.com/digital-advertising-roi-for-b2b-small-business/
