b2b marketing assignment

B2B Marketing Strategy (Online)

Deploy the right marketing, pricing, sales force, and go-to-market strategies for you and your organization

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April 18, 2024

6 weeks, online 6-8 hours per week

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Create Sustainable Competitive Advantage with B2B Marketing

Success in the B2B market is no longer purely transactional. The recent rise in B2B e-commerce means the rule book is changing. Businesses must be customer centric—anticipating end-user requirements, simplifying transactions, and designing offerings that are value oriented.

Led by Miklos Sarvary, Faculty Lead for the Media and Technology Program at Columbia Business School and a seasoned marketing expert, this program imparts a practical understanding of how to achieve and maintain a competitive advantage through the right mix of marketing, pricing, sales force design and management, and social media tools across every stage of your go-to-market strategy.

$25.65 trillion

Projected value of the B2B e-commerce market in 2028, three times the projected value of the B2C e-commerce market

SOURCE: RESEARCH AND MARKETS

Percentage of B2B sales transactions that will occur between buyers and suppliers through digital channels by 2025

SOURCE: GARTNER

Key takeaways.

By participating in the program, you will be able to:

• Identify the functional, process, and relationship benefits of your B2B brand, giving you the knowledge to discern the value proposition for any B2B brand
• Perceive differences in the B2B and individual decision funnels and use this knowledge to capitalize on the decision-making process to grow customer loyalty for your business
• Select and employ marketing tools across every stage of the go-to-market process to maintain an edge over the competition
• Identify basic pricing strategies and leverage them to control prices
• Harness your marketing strategy to gain a sustainable competitive advantage and use this knowledge to demonstrate to your CEO the value of marketing

Who Should Attend?

• Managers from a technical or manufacturing background who are now responsible for growth or marketing-driven functions
• Product managers and marketing leads transitioning from a consumer domain into a B2B environment
• Account managers seeking to make better customer-relationship decisions specific to B2B marketing
• Experienced and newly promoted product and business unit managers with technical expertise but limited marketing background

Program Modules

Understand how the customer decision-making process impacts marketing mix design and resource allocation in today’s digital environment.

Explore the tools and resources needed to build and maintain a robust B2B brand in a competitive environment. Then, discover how a brand serves as a platform for all other marketing activities.

Learn the essentials of sales force design and management and how to optimize your organization’s infrastructure to reach your customers.

Learn best practices for B2B pricing and explore common pricing challenges.

Learn how to design and introduce a commercial product using value innovation.

Discover how to leverage the B2B marketing process as a long-term strategic resource and learn the fundamental elements of success.

For full curriculum details, please download the brochure.

Program Experience

World-Renowned Faculty

Learn from accomplished faculty, and industry experts whose diverse backgrounds encompass a broad range of disciplines

Guest Speakers

Accomplished academics and experts offer unique perspectives and the opportunity to put learning into practice

Peer Interaction

Stimulating discussions with like-minded global peers expand your professional network and build a supportive community

Case Studies

Through exploratory sessions, examine practical examples and find innovative solutions to strategic challenges

Engaging Assignments and Activities

Hone business acumen and executive skills with try-it activities that help you redefine your potential

Adding Value to Your Experience

Bain & company.

Learn how an established consulting organization secured executive buy-in for a more traditional marketing approach while staying true to their original value proposition that is founded upon customer relationships.

Bloomberg LP

Examine the business model of this financial information organization to determine whether they have what it takes to maintain their market position in a competitive landscape.

Borusan Cat

How does this heavy machinery distributor’s monetization strategy impact their choice of market segment for a new predictive technology?

Maersk Line

In the age of digital connectivity, can this global shipping giant capture ROI and foster long-term growth by seeking “likes” on social media?

Faced with increased competition, changing usage attitudes, the rise of cloud computing, and a shifting regulatory environment, should this secure messaging platform expand beyond the financial services industry?

Hands-On Activities

• Frameworks —Apply frameworks for branding, pricing, and sales force design and management
• B2B Marketing Strategy —Practice building the components of a B2B marketing strategy to grow market share and accelerate your career
• Interactive Hands-On Activities —Conduct a market segment analysis, craft a positioning statement, create a perceptual map, and calculate value-based pricing for a product or service

Capstone Project

Miklos Sarvary

Carson family professor of business, faculty lead for the media and technology program, columbia business school.

Miklos Sarvary Carson Family Professor of Business, Faculty Lead for the Media and Technology Program, Columbia Business School

Certificate

Upon completion of the B2B Marketing Strategy (Online) program, you will receive a certificate of participation from Columbia Business School Executive Education. This certificate also awards two credits towards the Certificate in Business Excellence, which grants select alumni and tuition benefits. Learn More

Your digitally verified certificate will be issued in your legal name and emailed to you, at no additional cost, upon completion of the program, including all modules of the program (online, in person, or live online, inter-module). All certificate images are for illustrative purposes only and may be subject to change at the discretion of Columbia Business School Executive Education.

How do I know if this program is right for me?

After reviewing the information on the program landing page, we recommend you submit the short form above to gain access to the program brochure, which includes more in-depth information. If you still have questions on whether this program is a good fit for you, please email [email protected], and a dedicated program advisor will follow-up with you very shortly.

Are there any prerequisites for this program?

Some programs do have prerequisites, particularly the more technical ones. This information will be noted on the program landing page, as well as in the program brochure. If you are uncertain about program prerequisites and your capabilities, please email us at the ID mentioned above.

Note that, unless otherwise stated on the program web page, all programs are taught in English and proficiency in English is required.

What is the typical class profile?

More than 50 percent of our participants are from outside the United States. Class profiles vary from one cohort to the next, but, generally, our online certificates draw a highly diverse audience in terms of professional experience, industry, and geography — leading to a very rich peer learning and networking experience.

What other dates will this program be offered in the future?

Check back to this program web page or email us to inquire if future program dates or the timeline for future offerings have been confirmed yet.

How much time is required each week?

Each program includes an estimated learner effort per week. This is referenced at the top of the program landing page under the Duration section, as well as in the program brochure, which you can obtain by submitting the short form at the top of this web page.

How will my time be spent?

We have designed this program to fit into your current working life as efficiently as possible. Time will be spent among a variety of activities including:

• Engaging with recorded video lectures from faculty
• Attending webinars and office hours, as per the specific program schedule
• Reading or engaging with examples of core topics
• Completing knowledge checks/quizzes and required activities
• Engaging in moderated discussion groups with your peers
• Completing your final project, if required

The program is designed to be highly interactive while also allowing time for self-reflection and to demonstrate an understanding of the core topics through various active learning exercises. Please email us if you need further clarification on program activities.

What is it like to learn online with the learning collaborator, Emeritus?

More than 300,000 learners across 200 countries have chosen to advance their skills with Emeritus and its educational learning partners. In fact, 90 percent of the respondents of a recent survey across all our programs said that their learning outcomes were met or exceeded. All the contents of the course would be made available to students at the commencement of the course. However, to ensure the program delivers the desired learning outcomes the students may appoint Emeritus to manage the delivery of the program in a cohort-based manner the cost of which is already included in the overall course fee of the course. A dedicated program support team is available 24/5 (Monday to Friday) to answer questions about the learning platform, technical issues, or anything else that may affect your learning experience.

How do I interact with other program participants?

Peer learning adds substantially to the overall learning experience and is an important part of the program. You can connect and communicate with other participants through our learning platform.

What are the requirements to earn the certificate?

Each program includes an estimated learner effort per week, so you can gauge what will be required before you enroll. This is referenced at the top of the program landing page under the Duration section, as well as in the program brochure, which you can obtain by submitting the short form at the top of this web page. All programs are designed to fit into your working life. This program is scored as a pass or no-pass; participants must complete the required activities to pass and obtain the certificate of completion. Some programs include a final project submission or other assignments to obtain passing status. This information will be noted in the program brochure. Please email us if you need further clarification on any specific program requirements.

What type of certificate will I receive?

Upon successful completion of the program, you will receive a smart digital certificate. The smart digital certificate can be shared with friends, family, schools, or potential employers. You can use it on your cover letter, resume, and/or display it on your LinkedIn profile. The digital certificate will be sent approximately two weeks after the program, once grading is complete.

Can I get the hard copy of the certificate?

No, only verified digital certificates will be issued upon successful completion. This allows you to share your credentials on social platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

Do I receive alumni status after completing this program?

No, there is no alumni status granted for this program. In some cases, there are credits that count toward a higher level of certification. This information will be clearly noted in the program brochure.

How long will I have access to the learning materials?

You will have access to the online learning platform and all the videos and program materials for 12 months following the program start date . Access to the learning platform is restricted to registered participants per the terms of agreement.

What equipment or technical requirements are there for this program?

Participants will need the latest version of their preferred browser to access the learning platform. In addition, Microsoft Office and a PDF viewer are required to access documents, spreadsheets, presentations, PDF files, and transcripts.

Do I need to be online to access the program content?

Yes, the learning platform is accessed via the internet, and video content is not available for download. However, you can download files of video transcripts, assignment templates, readings, etc. For maximum flexibility, you can access program content from a desktop, laptop, tablet, or mobile device. Video lectures must be streamed via the internet, and any livestream webinars and office hours will require an internet connection. However, these sessions are always recorded, so you may view them later.

Can I still register if the registration deadline has passed?

Yes, you can register up until seven days past the published start date of the program without missing any of the core program material or learnings.

What is the program fee, and what forms of payment do you accept?

The program fee is noted at the top of this program web page and usually referenced in the program brochure as well.

• Flexible payment options are available (see details below as well as at the top of this program web page next to FEE ).
• Tuition assistance is available for participants who qualify. Please email [email protected].

What if I don’t have a credit card? Is there another method of payment accepted?

Yes, you can do the bank remittance in the program currency via wire transfer or debit card. Please contact your program advisor, or email us for details.

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Is there an option to make flexible payments for this program?

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How can I obtain a W9 form?

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Who will be collecting the payment for the program?

Emeritus collects all program payments, provides learner enrollment and program support, and manages learning platform services.

What is the program refund and deferral policy?

For the program refund and deferral policy, please click the link here .

Didn't find what you were looking for? Write to us at [email protected] or Schedule a call with one of our Academic Advisors or call us at +1 315 387 4431 (US) / +44 203 838 0836 (UK) / +65 3138 4449 (SG)

Early registrations are encouraged. Seats fill up quickly!

Flexible payment options available. Learn more.

4.1 The Business-to-Business (B2B) Market

Learning outcomes.

By the end of this section, you will be able to:

• 1 Define the business-to-business (B2B) market.
• 2 Distinguish characteristics of the B2B market versus the business-to-consumer (B2C) market.

Business-to-business (B2B) is a marketing transaction or business conducted between businesses. It refers to businesses that sell products and/or services to other businesses, such as retailers or wholesalers, rather than to consumers. These transactions can include everything from materials used in manufacturing to office supplies or furniture and everything in between. B2B’s “counterpart” is what’s known as B2C, or business-to-consumer . The focus in B2C transactions is selling products, goods, and services to consumers for personal use.

Many businesses have both B2B and B2C components. For example, consider Office Depot . You may have stopped into an Office Depot store before the semester to stock up on pens, a ream of paper for your printer, or notebooks. That’s a B2C transaction. However, a large law firm or an accounting firm might order hundreds of reams of copy paper, folders, and print cartridges from Office Depot. That’s a B2B transaction.

Characteristics of the B2B Market

B2B markets differ from B2C markets in several ways (see Table 4.1 ). Let’s take a closer look at each of these differences.

• Nature of the buying decision . It may seem a little obvious, but it’s important to remember that B2C buyers generally make buying decisions for themselves or their households, whereas B2B buyers make buying decisions for their companies, which serve either consumers or other companies. When you go grocery shopping, you’re buying a loaf of bread, a gallon of milk, and a dozen eggs for yourself or your household. However, if you are buying food to be prepared and served at a large hospital or a university, the complexity and volume of that purchase will be far greater.
• Fewer buyers, higher volume . Another difference between the two markets is that B2B markets deal with fewer buyers, who purchase a much higher volume than the B2C market. For example, when Barnes & Noble sells textbooks to students, the potential market includes hundreds of thousands of students worldwide. These students purchase one or more textbooks for their semester’s classes. However, Barnes & Noble is just one commercial buyer purchasing those hundreds of thousands of textbooks.
• Direct demand versus derived demand . Another difference between the two markets lies in the nature of the demand for products. B2C markets are driven by direct demand , the demand for goods and services for direct consumption purposes. By contrast, B2B markets are driven by what’s known as derived demand , in that demand in the B2B market is dictated by the demand for consumer goods on the B2C market. For example, as more workers are working from their homes, the demand for computers has risen. As a result, you’ll see derived demand in computer-related products, such as mice, monitors, printers, and so on.
• Longer buying cycles . As a general rule, the higher the dollar volume of the sale and the more complex the product, the longer it takes for the sale to be made. As a consumer in the B2C market, you might buy a desktop computer within a relatively short time after deciding that you need a new computer. In the B2B market, a hospital purchasing a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machine may well be spending millions of dollars, and the sale can take months or even years to accomplish. Not only will there be more people involved in the decision-making process, but the hospital needs to be concerned with many factors, such as safety, reliability, and post-purchase service. A lot of time and effort is typically required to “close the deal” with a big-ticket item like an MRI machine. We’ll be examining the stages in the B2B buying process in depth later in this chapter, but the B2B buying process is typically longer and more complex, not only because of the involvement of different decision makers, but also because these decision makers must consider a wide range of factors when making high-volume or high-dollar purchases.
• Reliance on personal selling . Whereas B2C markets tend to rely more heavily on mass marketing, B2B markets typically are characterized by increased reliance on personal selling. Additionally, B2B purchasing is more likely to involve complex negotiations concerning price, delivery schedules, technical specifications, etc., so personal selling plays a vital role. Typically, because B2B buyers and sellers often need to work together to define problems and implement solutions, they focus on building long-term relationships rather than a one-and-done purchase. For example, it took nearly four years to negotiate the contract, but the Indian government and Airbus finally reached agreement on the purchase of 56 Airbus C295MW tactical transport aircraft from Airbus. 2
• Geographical concentration . Finally, the scope of the market is different. In the B2C market, you have millions of potential customers dispersed throughout a region, a country, or perhaps the world. On the other hand, the B2B market is more concentrated. The B2B market has far fewer customers that are often geographically concentrated in areas based on cost, access, and availability of resources. Detroit (the heart of the US automotive industry) and Silicon Valley (home to many technology-based companies) are prime examples.

Careers In Marketing

If you’re considering marketing for your job, B2B marketing is a career choice. Why would you want to go this path? Read this article from the author of B2B Marketing Strategy . If you’re not entirely sure what a B2B marketer would do, read this article on HubSpot to gain insight into the job role.

If you’re still not quite clear on what B2B marketing is and how it differs from B2C, read this article from Business News Daily to gain more information. Get a sense for what the work looks like by using LinkedIn for B2B marketing .

Knowledge Check

It’s time to check your knowledge on the concepts presented in this section. Refer to the Answer Key at the end of the book for feedback.

• Longer, more complex buying decision cycles
• More rigid product standards
• More reliance on personal selling
• More reliance on mass marketing
• Derived demand versus direct demand
• Fewer customers, often geographically concentrated in areas
• Larger purchases/fewer buyers than the B2C market

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• Publication date: Jan 25, 2023
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by Saunder Schroeder • February 18, 2022

B2B: What Is a Marketing Plan? (+ 5 Marketing Plan Examples)

By Saunder Schroeder

Chances are good that you have seen the initialism B2B before — you may have even read it in a sentence or two. However, the meaning of B2B may still escape you. Business-to-business (B2B) refers to a highly successful business model. B2B companies have some distinct advantages over those that sell to the consumer — not the least of which is that their customers, other businesses, understand the need to spend money in order to succeed. 

Read on if you are still having trouble understanding what the B2B business model is and how it stacks up against other, more traditional, business models. This article should provide you with all the information you need to recognize the benefits of following the business model of B2B companies. 

Understanding B2B Companies: What Is B2B, Exactly?  

B2B is a business model where the focus is on selling your goods and services to other businesses. These companies exist for the sole purpose of providing supportive products and services to other companies. In short, they help other businesses to succeed. 

It may seem that being a B2B business might limit your possibilities. The reality is that in the global marketplace there is almost no limit to the types and demand for business-related products and services. 

B2B sales are booming and will likely continue to grow. The range of B2B services and goods is immense and diverse. It includes everything from paper and other office supplies to software and cloud services. It also includes outsourced IT help, furniture, internet and cell phone services, and many more. Companies like Dropbox, General Electric, WeWork, and Xerox are already using the B2B business model to succeed. There is no reason you can’t, as well. 

Like any other business, B2B companies need to focus on great customer service and offer high-quality products or services. They need to inspire loyalty in their customers by providing something that will genuinely improve the performance of the businesses they sell to. If you can do that, you may be well on your way to running a successful B2B company. 

But who are the companies looking for business-to-business services or goods? Being a successful business demands that you know exactly who your ideal customers are.

What Companies Are in Need of B2B Products and Services? 

The easy answer to that question is almost all of them. Even B2B companies will likely find themselves in need of resources from other B2B companies at some point or another. Defining which industry to cater your business to may be the real challenge. 

Business-to-consumer (B2C) businesses may have the luxury of gearing their message to a single demographic. When marketing a B2B business, you have to take that a step further. It is quite likely that businesses in many different industries could make use of your good and services. Instead of catering to a single demographic based on industry, you need to focus on exactly which companies are going to want your goods or services and who has the power to purchase them. Find the right people and send them a clear and engaging message about how your company can benefit theirs. 

Below are the basic steps you need to take to run a successful marketing campaign for a B2B company. 

Planning for Success: What Are the Best Practices for a B2B Marketing Campaign? 

In general, a B2B marketing campaign must:

• Pinpoint a need
• Prove that the B2B company can fill that need
• Convince the B2B company’s target customers that they can fill that need better than anyone else

The problem is, there are many ways to accomplish those goals and it is easy for your message to get lost in the details. The best way to avoid these pitfalls is to come up with a strategic plan of attack and stick to it. Here are some things to consider when drawing up your B2B marketing plan. 

Define Your Audience 

This is true of any marketing campaign but it is a little more difficult to define when dealing with B2B marketing. Since many different industries could likely benefit from your goods and services, it is best not to cater your message to all of them. 

For better results, try to imagine your ideal customer, one that is successful in its own right, and cater the message to them. Think of these businesses as your core audience. Create a message that clearly shows the advantages you can offer them and those in other industries will notice the success of companies making use of your products and services. 

Know Your Audience 

Once you have determined your core audience, take the time to get to know the industry they are involved in. You can’t sell something to a company unless you understand how they can make use of it. 

Pay attention to the benefits your services offer to your audience and keep tabs on their buying habits. Next, you need to figure out how many layers of blue tape your message will have to travel through before reaching those that have the power to approve a purchase. To hasten the journey, keep your message on topic and short. 

Stress Your Value 

Whatever the goods or services you are offering, chances are good that there are other B2B companies out there offering something similar. To win the battle for their dollar, you need to understand the value you offer the company and get that message out there. 

To send your message and raise your target audiences’ awareness of your brand, spread your marketing campaign through these resources: 

• Highlight positive reviews on social media sites and search engines
• Publish articles on third party sites 
• Publish blogs, articles, and graphics on your site 

Once you have attracted the attention of your audience, it is time to showcase your goods and services. Make is each for your customers to easily access relevant answers to the question on their minds: “What can this B2B company do for me?” 

Tweak Your Message as Needed 

Even if you come up with exactly the right combination of information and salesmanship to start your campaign, you cannot rest on your laurels. Supply chains, resources, trends, and B2B eCommerce are constantly evolving and you need to be ready to adjust your message as needed. 

Make Use of the Power of Social Media 

Social media has become a powerful force in the dissemination of information. Make use of this power to get your message out to those who will best receive it. B2B businesses can generate leads by using sites like LinkedIn and industry-specific connection sites. 

Answer these questions about your marketing campaign to help you decide how to harness the power of social media to boost your bottom line. 

• Who does your message need to go to? 
• What is your brand and how is it different from other B2B companies like yours? 
• Which social media sites best suit your needs? 
• What type of content best showcases your brand and its value? 
• What, specifically, are your goals for this campaign? 
• How will you measure the success or failure of your B2B marketing campaign? 
• What are your competitors doing? How can you outshine them? 

Read on for a list of B2B companies who have used the above-listed techniques to raise their brand awareness and grow their businesses. 

5 Highly Successful B2B Businesses: How Did They Get That Way? 

Below are some examples of B2B businesses that have established themselves as industry leaders. 

What do all the B2B businesses listed below have in common, aside from their success? They all recognized a distinct need across multiple industries and set out to find solutions. Once they had done that, they effectively convinced their potential customers that they could not only solve their problems but also that they could do it better than their competition.

1. WeWork 

Founded in 2010, WeWork sold the idea that remote work did not have to mean working alone. They created workspaces that could be rented by individuals or their employers that provided an environment conducive to working and allowed remote workers from various companies to sill share a sense of community. 

They earned their success by filling a void that many people did not even know existed. Once they created the concept, they sold it very effectively. By continuously evolving and meeting the real-time needs of the companies they serve, they have become hugely successful and will likely continue to be so. 

They also meet the need for office space for startup companies while they grow. 

2. Slack 

Slack provides an easy to access and effective communication platform that allows all aspects of a business to be kept in the loop. It enables communications to the entire workforce or channels can be created to connect team members or those involved with a specific product. 

Slack earned their success by seeing the need for communication, especially as the number of remote workers grew, and providing it in an intuitive and accessible platform. 

3. MailChimp 

MailChimp specializes in automated marketing . It provides its customers with the one thing all businesses need, successful marketing campaigns. 

They earned their success by eliminating the need for expensive marketing teams while still providing their customers with effective marketing campaigns. 

4. Buffer 

Buffer is software that is designed to help its users manage social media accounts. It allows its customers to create a post and schedule a time to have it launched on multiple social media sites. 

For businesses trying to advertise on social media sites, Buffer was a gamechanger. Buffer’s software made it possible for even smaller companies to stay on top of campaigns on multiple sites with ease. 

Buffer earned their success by understanding a specific need of their customers — the need to manage campaigns over multiple social media sites without spending their whole day doing it — and offering them an effective solution. 

5. Pew Research Center 

The Pew Research Center is long-established and well known for the data it collects through surveys and questionnaires. You may think that it does not belong on this list of B2B business success stories, but the fact is that they have a great deal to offer other businesses. The data they collect is an invaluable resource for those looking to find a target audience or stay up to date on the latest trends in any given industry. 

They earned their success as a B2B business by understanding their value to other businesses and convincing them of it.  

Now That You Know About B2B, What’s Next?

Now that you have a better understanding of what B2B companies are and how to achieve success as one, what’s next? First, it is important to remember that B2B companies are not all the same. As such, cookie-cutter marketing solutions may not help you to achieve the success you are looking for. To get help developing the right campaign for your B2B business, contact us at Disruptive Advertising. Let’s start brainstorming and come up with the marketing solutions you need.

Saunder Schroeder

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• B2B Marketing Services – Lead Catalyst Platform
• Trade Show Marketing
• Website Design
• Digital Marketing
• Website Accessibility
• Why You Should Choose A Fully Integrated Marketing Agency For B2B

How to Create an Effective B2B Marketing Plan

• Measuring Marketing Effectiveness: A Guide for Business Leaders
• B2B Email Marketing Strategy That Works
• How to Measure Trade Show Effectiveness
• 15 Tactics to Scale Your Trade Show Marketing Strategy
• Unlock Your Trade Show Success: Get Your Free Essential Marketing Planner & Checklist
• Accessible Web Design Best Practices
• The Benefits of Investing in Custom Web Design
• WordPress vs. the Alternatives
• Is Your Website Losing Conversions?
• Things to Consider Before a Website Redesign
• ADA Compliant Website: The Ultimate Guidelines
• The Complete Guide on Web Accessibility
• Top 5 Tools for Website Accessibility Testing
• A WCAG Digest
• Is Your Website ADA Compliant?
• View All Resources

• Analyze, Adjust and Optimize Your Efforts
• Foster Customer Advocacy
• Conclusion 

Whether you’re a seasoned marketer or a business owner looking to boost your company’s presence, a comprehensive B2B marketing plan can be a game-changer. A crucial element contributing to marketing effectiveness is understanding how your products bring value to your customers’ businesses. It’s not just a statement you are putting out there with well-crafted content but substantiating it. 

To ensure that you can explicitly demonstrate how your products can minimize costs, enhance competitive advantages, or boost productivity for your customers you need an effective plan. Failing to plan, execute and demonstrate the value of your product or service can turn your strategy and brand into nothing more than another marketing gimmick.

In this guide, we’ll discuss what is a B2B marketing plan, discover essential tips for creating one, showcase real-world examples, and provide you with a basic B2B digital marketing plan template to get you started. 

What is a B2B Marketing Plan? 

A B2B marketing plan is a strategic roadmap that outlines the steps a business will take to promote its products or services to other companies. Unlike business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing, business-to-business (B2B) marketing targets a specific audience of decision-makers within organizations. The primary goal of a B2B marketing plan is to generate leads, nurture prospects, and ultimately convert them into loyal customers.

Key Components of a B2B Marketing Plan

Define your marketing goals.

Establish measurable and realistic marketing goals. Whether it’s increasing brand awareness, driving lead generation, or boosting sales. Your goals should align with your overall business objectives. Be specific and realistic about your goals using the (SMART) criteria – specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound to track your progress.

Undertake a Market Analysis

Begin by conducting a thorough analysis of your target market. Identify your total addressable market (TAM) and assess the competitive landscape. Understand potential customers’ pain points and determine how your products or services can address those needs.

Segment Your Target Audience and Create Buyer Personas

Create detailed buyer personas representing your ideal customers. Understand their roles, responsibilities, challenges, and motivations. This will help tailor your marketing messages to resonate with your target audience. Segmentation recognizes that different groups will respond differently to content and messages. First, determine whether segmentation is necessary based on the identified audience(s) and their characteristics. Segmentation is recommended if the audience cannot be reached effectively with the same messages and channels and/or certain segments have significantly different worldviews, needs, and approaches.

Have a Laid-out Marketing Strategy

Develop overarching strategies that align with your goals. This may involve content marketing, email marketing, social media advertising, and influencer marketing. Each strategy should contribute to achieving specific marketing objectives.

Clearly Define Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

What sets your business apart from the competition? Your USP should communicate the unique value your products or services bring to the table. 

Write Content and Choose Your Channels

Dive into the specific tactics and channels you’ll leverage to execute your strategies. This could include creating engaging content, optimizing your website for search engines, running targeted Google Ads campaigns, and utilizing various social media platforms. 

Allocate your Marketing Budget

Allocate resources effectively by establishing a marketing budget. Consider the costs associated with advertising, content creation, marketing tools, and any other expenses related to your marketing initiatives.

Establish a Timeline

Create a timeline that outlines the timing of each marketing initiative. This will help you stay organized and coordinate your efforts for maximum impact. 

Define key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of your marketing activities. Regularly track and analyze metrics like website traffic, conversion rates, and social media engagement to gauge the effectiveness of your efforts.  A successful B2B marketing plan is dynamic and adaptable. Regularly review your performance metrics, gather feedback, and be prepared to adjust your strategies and tactics based on the insights you gain.

10 Tips on How to Create a B2B Marketing Plan 

Creating an effective B2B marketing plan requires careful consideration and strategic thinking. Here are ten tips to guide you through the process: 

Understand Your Target Audience

Knowing your audience is paramount in B2B marketing. Conduct in-depth research to understand the challenges, pain points, and priorities of your target businesses. This knowledge will shape your marketing messages and strategies. 

Align Marketing with Sales

A successful B2B marketing plan aligns closely with the sales process. Collaborate with your sales team to understand their needs, share insights, and ensure marketing efforts support the entire buyer’s journey. 

Understand the duration of your buying process and stay updated when it changes. This awareness allows you to report on these shifts and, more importantly, adapt your strategy to maintain a consistently robust sales funnel. 

Create Compelling Content

Content is king in B2B marketing. Develop high-quality, relevant content that educates, informs, and engages your audience. This could include blog posts, white papers, case studies, videos, etc. 

Utilize Multiple Marketing Channels

B2B buyers engage with content across various channels. Incorporate a mix of channels such as social media, email marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), and offline events to reach your audience effectively.  

Implement Marketing Automation

Marketing automation tools can streamline repetitive tasks, nurture leads, and provide valuable insights. Invest in a marketing automation platform that aligns with your business needs and integrates seamlessly with your existing systems. 

Stay Informed About Industry Trends

B2B marketing is dynamic, with trends and technologies evolving rapidly. Stay informed about the latest industry trends, emerging technologies, and shifts in buyer behavior to ensure your marketing strategies remain relevant. 

Optimize for Search Engines

Enhance your online visibility by optimizing your website for search engines (SEO). Conduct keyword research, create relevant meta tags, and regularly update your content to improve your website’s ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs). 

Measure and Analyze Performance

Regularly track and analyze key performance indicators (KPIs) to assess the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. Use analytics tools to gain insights into website traffic, conversion rates, and other relevant metrics. 

Happy customers can be your most powerful advocates. Encourage and showcase customer testimonials, case studies, and success stories to build trust and credibility within your target market. 

10 B2B Marketing Plan Examples

Now that you know how to plan your marketing, let’s look at some B2B companies doing it right across various industries. 

HubSpot : HubSpot’s inbound marketing methodology focuses on attracting, engaging, and delighting customers. Their B2B marketing plan emphasizes content creation, email marketing, and marketing automation. 

Salesforce: Salesforce leverages a multi-channel marketing approach, combining content marketing, social media advertising, and community engagement. Their B2B marketing plan emphasizes building strong customer relationships through personalized experiences. 

IBM: IBM’s B2B marketing plan revolves around thought leadership and educational content. They invest heavily in creating white papers, webinars, and case studies to position themselves as industry leaders. 

Adobe : Adobe’s marketing plan highlights the power of visual storytelling. They use video content, interactive experiences, and creative campaigns to highlight the capabilities of their software products. 

Cisco: Cisco’s marketing plan focuses on a comprehensive digital strategy. They utilize social media, content marketing, and online communities to connect with their audience and provide valuable insights. 

Mailchimp : Mailchimp’s marketing plan is centered on user-friendly content and community building. They emphasize the importance of customer education through blog posts, tutorials, and engaging events. 

Oracle: Oracle’s B2B marketing plan integrates various channels, including social media, email marketing, and influencer partnerships. Their approach emphasizes the importance of personalized communication and targeted campaigns. 

SAP : SAP’s B2B marketing strategies center around customer success stories and case studies. They showcase the real-world impact of their solutions through in-depth narratives that resonate with their target audience. 

Microsoft: Microsoft’s marketing plan is characterized by a strong emphasis on thought leadership and innovation. They use a combination of events, webinars, and educational content to position themselves as industry pioneers. 

LinkedIn: As a B2B platform, LinkedIn’s marketing plan is built around professional networking and content sharing. They provide businesses with tools for targeted advertising, lead generation, and brand building within a B2B context. 

These examples illustrate the diverse approaches that successful B2B companies take in their marketing strategies. Analyze these cases to draw inspiration for your own B2B marketing plan. 

Best B2B Marketing Plan Template 

Crafting a marketing plan for B2B from scratch can be overwhelming, but having a template can simplify the process. Here’s a basic B2B marketing plan template to guide you: 

Executive Summary 

• Business Overview: Provide a brief overview of your company’s mission and core values. 
• Key Objectives: Clearly state your marketing plan’s primary objectives. 

Market Analysis

• Total Addressable Market (TAM): Define the size and characteristics of your target market. 
• Competitive Analysis: Assess the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors. 
• Buyer Personas: Create detailed personas representing your ideal customers. 
• Unique Selling Proposition (USP) 
• USP Definition: Clearly articulate what sets your business apart from competitors. 

Marketing Goals 

• SMART Goals: Set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound marketing goals. 
• Content Marketing : It is a best practice to outline your marketing tactics for creating and distributing valuable content. 
• Social Media Marketing : Detail how you plan to leverage social media for brand promotion. 
• Email Marketing : Specify your approach to email marketing and lead nurturing. 
• Influencer Marketing : If relevant, explain how you’ll collaborate with influencers in your industry. 

Tactics and Channels 

• Content Creation: Specify the types of content you’ll produce and the platforms you’ll use. 
• SEO Strategy: Describe your approach to optimizing your website for search engines. 
• Paid Advertising: Detail your plans for running paid advertising campaigns. 
• Events and Sponsorships: If applicable, outline your strategy for participating in industry events. 

Marketing Budget 

• Allocations: Break down your budget across different marketing initiatives. 

Timeline 

• Marketing Calendar: Provide a visual representation of when each marketing initiative will occur. 

Metrics and Analytics 

• Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Define the metrics you’ll track to measure success. 
• Analytics Tools: Specify the tools you’ll use to gather and analyze performance data. 

Adjustment and Optimization 

• Review Process: Outline how often you’ll review and adjust your marketing plan. 
• Establish a system for gathering feedback from your team and stakeholders. 

Conclusion 

• Summarize your B2B marketing plan’s key points and reiterate the importance of its implementation for achieving business success.

What Should a B2B Marketing Plan Put into Consideration? 

In addition to the above elements, here are a few factors that you should include in formulating your marketing plan:  

• A SWOT Analysis: Conduct a thorough analysis of your business’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to inform your marketing strategy better. 
• Customer Journey Mapping: Understand the various touchpoints your customers encounter throughout their journey with your brand, helping tailor marketing efforts at each stage. 
• Competitive Advantage: Clearly define how your products or services offer a competitive edge over others in the market, emphasizing what makes your business stand out. 
• Lead Generation Strategy : Develop a detailed plan for attracting and capturing qualified leads, outlining strategies such as content marketing, lead magnets, or targeted advertising. 
• Sales and Marketing Alignment: Foster collaboration between the sales and marketing teams to ensure a seamless transition from lead generation to conversion, aligning strategies for overall business success. 

Key Takeaways

Creating a robust B2B marketing plan requires careful consideration of your target audience, clear goals, and well-defined strategies. By following the tips, studying real-world examples, and planning ahead, you’ll be well-equipped to develop a successful B2B marketing strategy that drives results for your business.

Transform your business growth with Blue Atlas B2B Marketing Services ! Let’s build your effective marketing plan strategy today – Contact us now!

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Blue Atlas Marketing Accessibility Statement

Accessibility Statement

• www.blueatlasmarketing.com
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We firmly believe that the internet should be available and accessible to anyone, and are committed to providing a website that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of circumstance and ability.

To fulfill this, we aim to adhere as strictly as possible to the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.1 (WCAG 2.1) at the AA level. These guidelines explain how to make web content accessible to people with a wide array of disabilities. Complying with those guidelines helps us ensure that the website is accessible to all people: blind people, people with motor impairments, visual impairment, cognitive disabilities, and more.

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Screen-reader and keyboard navigation

Our website implements the ARIA attributes (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) technique, alongside various different behavioral changes, to ensure blind users visiting with screen-readers are able to read, comprehend, and enjoy the website’s functions. As soon as a user with a screen-reader enters your site, they immediately receive a prompt to enter the Screen-Reader Profile so they can browse and operate your site effectively. Here’s how our website covers some of the most important screen-reader requirements, alongside console screenshots of code examples:

Screen-reader optimization: we run a background process that learns the website’s components from top to bottom, to ensure ongoing compliance even when updating the website. In this process, we provide screen-readers with meaningful data using the ARIA set of attributes. For example, we provide accurate form labels; descriptions for actionable icons (social media icons, search icons, cart icons, etc.); validation guidance for form inputs; element roles such as buttons, menus, modal dialogues (popups), and others. Additionally, the background process scans all of the website’s images and provides an accurate and meaningful image-object-recognition-based description as an ALT (alternate text) tag for images that are not described. It will also extract texts that are embedded within the image, using an OCR (optical character recognition) technology. To turn on screen-reader adjustments at any time, users need only to press the Alt+1 keyboard combination. Screen-reader users also get automatic announcements to turn the Screen-reader mode on as soon as they enter the website.

These adjustments are compatible with all popular screen readers, including JAWS and NVDA.

Keyboard navigation optimization: The background process also adjusts the website’s HTML, and adds various behaviors using JavaScript code to make the website operable by the keyboard. This includes the ability to navigate the website using the Tab and Shift+Tab keys, operate dropdowns with the arrow keys, close them with Esc, trigger buttons and links using the Enter key, navigate between radio and checkbox elements using the arrow keys, and fill them in with the Spacebar or Enter key.Additionally, keyboard users will find quick-navigation and content-skip menus, available at any time by clicking Alt+1, or as the first elements of the site while navigating with the keyboard. The background process also handles triggered popups by moving the keyboard focus towards them as soon as they appear, and not allow the focus drift outside of it.

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How to Create a B2B Marketing Plan: Pro Tips & Examples

Danah Derani

September 14, 2023

Learn how to reach your business’s audience and drive growth through effective B2B marketing strategies and tactics.

Here, you’ll find:

• Definition and benefits of B2B marketing
• How to create a B2B marketing plan
• B2B marketing tactics and best practices
• Examples of B2B marketing strategies

The largest factor of successful marketing is your audience. If you’re not properly targeting your buyer persona, it’s unlikely your advertisements, promotions, and general marketing tactics will thrive.

Target audiences vary greatly between consumers and businesses, though. That is, some companies cater to individual shoppers, while others serve organizations.

Marketing to businesses is an entirely different beast. That’s why business-to-business marketing (B2B marketing) exists. 

Used by companies to sell products and services to other companies, B2B marketing aims to help build, maintain, and expand relationships with other businesses. 

As a seasoned marketing professional, there’s a lot to consider when taking your B2B marketing efforts to the next level. From channel decisions to budget limits to creative demands, effective B2B marketing can be a challenge to get right. 

To help steer you in the right direction, we’ll break down what B2B marketing is, the most effective B2B marketing strategies and tactics, and how you can help tap into and grow your business audience.

What is B2B marketing?

Just like in its name, B2B marketing refers to the marketing of services or products to other businesses and organizations. B2B marketing’s purpose is to attract other businesses, familiarize them with your brand, showcase the value of your product or service, and eventually convert them from leads into customers.

In today’s digital landscape, this means marketing teams need to be able to capture a prospect’s attention quickly — and retain it. There are various tactics to do this, which we dive deeper into below. 

B2B can include various industries and forms: car parts, security solutions, office supplies, restaurant equipment, software-as-a-service (SaaS) subscriptions , and much more. Essentially, B2B marketing campaigns are targeted at any individuals — from entry-level salespeople to C-suite executives — with the ability to take on purchasing decisions.

(Image: Adobe stock)

How does B2B marketing work?

B2B marketing involves nurturing prospects through the buyer’s journey. This journey begins when a business identifies a problem it needs to find a resolution for.

Say your office has been recently renovated, leaving you in need of fresh office supplies and furniture. At this point, you’d research the appropriate products, services, and other businesses to help. Then, you’d evaluate your options, settle on the best choice, and commit to a purchase. 

Ultimately, the goal of B2B marketing is to guide prospects along each step of the buying process. 

So, your B2B marketing efforts should:

• Clearly identify the problems your business can solve
• Showcase how you stand out from competitors
• Provide trials/demos so your customers can better evaluate your products
• Allow for a swift and easy purchasing process

Benefits of B2B marketing

You’re likely wondering how your business will benefit from a B2B marketing strategy. Even with its complexities, B2B marketing provides several benefits to your company, including:

More qualified leads: An extensive B2B marketing strategy — complete with a thoughtful plan and effective tactics — will help place you in front of more prospective buyers looking for your product or service.

Increased traffic: Strong marketing content will drive more traffic to your business and allow relevant leads to become familiar with what you have to offer.  

Nurtured relationships: Once you develop a B2B marketing plan that establishes your business as an expert in your field, you can reduce customer churn by building strong client relationships. This is also known as lead nurturing.

Stronger brand awareness:   Potential clients need to know what your business can offer and how they can work with you. Having a presence on various marketing channels will help with this, ultimately increasing your brand exposure and getting leads to choose your business over another.  

Improved rankings:   You want prospective buyers to easily find you when searching for the type of service or product your business offers. With a successful B2B marketing plan, you can improve both your search rankings and visibility. 

How to build a B2B marketing plan

In B2B marketing, your strategy will inform how you plan to increase brand awareness about your business offerings to potential buyers. This process involves everything from determining your target market and brand positioning to selecting the channels and tactics needed to take leads through their buyer’s journey. 

While there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach that guarantees success for every B2B company, the basic steps of putting together a B2B marketing plan are applicable to all B2B companies. 

Follow these six best practices when building out your plan to ensure it meets your business goals.

1. Determine your brand positioning

First, you’ll want to define your brand positioning in your respective market. Brand positioning is what helps your offering stand out from competitors. This statement outlines the who, when, why, and how of your brand identity — or what makes it unique through the eyes of the customer. 

Think of your brand highlights, including excellent customer service, competitive pricing, ease of use, superior quality, and the like. This essential step is how you’ll maintain a consistent brand image and loyal customer base.

2. Define your target market and target audience

Now that you’ve defined your brand statement, you need to understand and define who you’re marketing to. Since your products or services may be better suited for some types of buyers versus others, you’ll want to make sure your marketing efforts are aimed at the right target audience and target market. Let’s begin with your target market, or the broader group of people who would be interested in your brand. In the B2B world, you’ll identify your target companies with data including:

• Company size
• Company region
• Number of employees
• Company industry

Next up, you’ll define your target audience. This is the specific segment of that broader target market who will also be the focus of your marketing campaigns. To determine these individual prospects, we recommend using demographic data including:

• Education level

Once you’ve gathered this information, you can begin creating buyer personas to help you understand how your potential customers make purchase decisions, as well as which marketing channels they’re likely to use. 

For example, if you’re trying to target entry-level employees ages 18–22 in the entertainment industry, it’s safe to say you can use content on social media platforms to attract them. 

3. Identify the buyer’s journey

Before a potential buyer makes a purchase, they’ll navigate through a process known as the buyer’s journey . This process has three stages for audiences:

• Awareness: The buyer identifies that they have paint points and want to understand more about them.
• Consideration: The buyer begins to look for and compare potential solutions to their problem.
• Decision: The buyer is ready to purchase the best solution that fits their needs.

To help guide your potential buyers through their journey, it’s important to build a trusting relationship with them. So, your B2B marketing plan should meet the following:

• Generate demand using top-of-the-funnel marketing tactics that boost awareness of a problem and spark interest in your offering;
• Generate and convert leads using middle- and bottom-of-the-funnel marketing tactics that convert interest into action;
• Build customer loyalty using marketing tactics that transition one-off customers to returning customers.

After understanding and identifying your buyer’s journey, we recommend creating a customer journey map for your company. This visual tool will help you define your customers’ needs and how they engage with your brand.

4. Choose your tactics and channels

This operational stage is where you’ll begin using different marketing tactics and selecting the channels that make the most sense for both your brand and target audience. 

By implementing inbound or outbound marketing tactics (even a combo), you can generate more leads at the top of the funnel. Then, you can make strategic decisions about things like acquisition, conversion, and retention.

5. Create assets and execute campaigns

Now that you’ve decided on the best tactics and channels to reach both your marketing goals and potential buyers, it’s time to start creating assets. These can — and should — continue to evolve as you test and optimize your campaigns. 71% of B2B buyers state they consume multiple assets to help with their decision-making process before moving on to communicating with a sales team. For many prospective buyers, this is their first interaction with your brand. That’s why it’s essential to create meaningful ones that’ll guide them to the final stage of the buyer’s journey. 

Having a range of attention-grabbing, relevant content will help your brand stand out and prospective buyers see how your product or service is the best option out there. Keep in mind the lengthier B2B sales cycle when it comes to executing and launching your marketing campaigns.

6. Measure and improve

After your content has been published, monitor its performance metrics, collect data, and determine how to maximize its greatest reach. This information will help ensure you’re achieving the best ROI on your B2B marketing efforts and help assess which tactics are the most effective.

B2B marketing tactics (that actually work)

B2B marketing tactics make up the how that you’ll use to serve your overarching strategy. The difference between a B2B marketing plan and a tactics is as follows:

• A B2B marketing plan is the strategy you’ll define to meet your business objectives.
• A B2B marketing tactic is a tool you’ll utilize to achieve the objectives outlined in your plan.

There are two main goals to keep in mind when selecting which digital marketing tactics are best suited for your B2B marketing efforts: generate demand and generate and convert leads .

Generate demand

At the top of the marketing funnel, the main purpose of generating demand is to highlight a problem that potential buyers have and show them your solution.

1. Content marketing

Content marketing is a digital marketing tactic that involves creating and publishing content that’s relevant and valuable to your audience. This is essential for B2B businesses as it has a great ROI and positions you as an expert in your field.

The goal with B2B content marketing is to increase brand awareness, drive traffic to your website, generate leads, and ultimately convert prospects into buyers.

The goal of SEO is to drive more traffic to your website from search engine result pages (SERPs), which should ultimately lead to more buyers. To take advantage of this digital marketing tactic that goes alongside content marketing, you’ll optimize your website and online content with specific, relevant keywords.

We recommend conducting a full content analysis, keyword research, and content audit, followed by implementing link building, page title and meta description updates, and high-value keywords. 

For example, if your company offers SaaS tools to other large companies, you could implement the keyword “enterprise SaaS tools” into your web content. This will help increase visibility and improve the ranking of your web page on search engines like Google and Bing so that more people find your website when they’re searching for information related to your products or services.

3. Paid search/pay-per-click (PPC)

Another effective B2B marketing channel is paid search, or PPC marketing. This tactic involves utilizing Google Ads, Facebook Ads, LinkedIn Ads, and other ad channels to display your ad beside specific keywords when someone searches for them online. B

2B companies can generate a great number of leads and reach potential customers with paid advertising, as it allows them to target specific groups of people who have already shown an interest in your offering. 

Pro tip: Combine your paid search efforts with other marketing activities like email marketing, SEO, and content marketing for the best results.

4. Social media marketing (SMM)

Even though B2B focuses on targeting potential customers within other businesses, those B2B customers still serve as individuals who you’ll be solving a problem for.

With social media marketing , you can interact directly with prospects by learning what they want and getting feedback on your products or services. This tactic is especially important considering 72% of B2B buyers indicate using social media to research solutions, and 84% of B2B executives state using social media as a source for making buying decisions.

Popular social media channels for B2B are Twitter, Meta (Facebook and Instagram), and LinkedIn, with each platform having its own unique features that make it ideal for various audiences. 

Generate and convert leads

Once you’ve used the above tactics to generate demand and reach your target audience, you’ve reached the middle and bottom of the marketing funnel. Your goal here is lead generation — to encourage potential buyers to move to the purchase or decision-making stage of their buyer’s journey.

1. Retargeting

Retargeting is a great opportunity to place your business in front of the prospects who are familiar with your brand and have already taken certain actions on your website. For example, they may have visited your site and added items to their cart, but ultimately left without making a purchase.

Retargeting displays targeted ads for your products or services on different websites, social sites, and SERPs to entice potential buyers to visit again — and hopefully make a purchase.

2. Referrals

B2B referral marketing involves leveraging your existing customers to generate your company’s new B2B business leads. You can do this through a referral program which incentivizes prospects with an offer.

Referrals allow you to increase reach, grow your business without spending money on ads, and help build trust and credibility for your brand.

3. Email marketing

One of the best ways to convert leads into customers is through email marketing. You can use this personalized tactic alongside other types of marketing activities, like social media marketing and content marketing. It allows you to send newsletters, updates about your products or services, invitations to events, and any other brand-specific information you feel is beneficial for potential buyers to learn.

Email marketing lets you engage in a more personalized way with your audience by targeting them with specific messages. The greater your engagement, the more prospects that are likely to come your way. And more prospects mean more conversions, which ultimately leads to increased sales.

4. Marketing automation

This strategic method is commonly used to guide leads throughout their buyer’s journey, particularly at the point when they need a greater level of information and trust in a company before making a purchase.

Once you’ve identified that a user has visited your website or downloaded one of your free resources, marketing automation allows you to automatically follow up with them in hopes of building that trust to choose your brand as the solution to their problem.

B2B marketing examples

Now that you know what to do to get your B2B marketing plan up and running, we’ve put together a list of three successful B2B marketing plans to give you a spark of inspiration ahead of your next campaign.

Roche Diagnostics: Marketing automation

Roche Diagnostics is a leading healthcare company that provides pharmaceutical and healthcare testing solutions to companies worldwide. To help avoid marketing to prospects who may not be a good fit for their specific products and services, the company places a premium on targeting their ideal customer base. This is an especially important consideration for an industry as large as healthcare.

(Image: Roche website)

Roche leverages marketing automation tools to qualify and nurture leads. This also helps them understand where prospects are in their buyer’s journey. Marketing automation also allows them to compare customer data between business units to further increase engagement with existing customers.

Shopify: Content marketing

Content marketing is essential for any B2B company that wants to attract a large customer base. Shopify has invested in almost every type of content marketing, including free business courses and how-to guides, podcasts, and blogs.

(Image: Shopify website)

One aspect of its content marketing roster that stands out amongst competitors is their offering of over 20 free tools. These tools help solve problems for entrepreneurs, including generating a business name, making a logo, or creating a catchy slogan. Queries for these specific types of tools have thousands of monthly searches on Google. In turn, this increases the number of visits to their  overall website. 

IBM: Social media marketing

IBM does an excellent job using social media marketing in a compelling way to reach current and potential customers. The company showcases its legacy in the tech industry by sharing photos and videos on Instagram. Which, of course, builds trust and credibility with their target audience. IBM also shares videos of employees talking about their work experience and what new technologies they’re researching.

(Image: IBM’s Instagram page)

This humanistic approach of storytelling reinforces the brand’s company values around innovation, trust, and personal responsibility, as well as making them a company that has seen repeated success for the last 100 years. 

What is the difference between B2B and B2C marketing?

Now that you understand how to put together your marketing plan, you may be wondering how B2B marketing differs from B2C marketing.

The main difference between B2B and business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing is the targeted buyer. B2B marketing is focused on selling to businesses, while B2C is about selling to individual consumers. 

B2C companies look into the interests and needs of individual consumers who often make a purchase out of desire.  On the flip side, B2B organizations provide a specific solution to another business’ challenge or need. This makes the B2B marketing funnel and sales cycle much longer as there are more decision-makers.

B2B marketing poses some unique challenges that B2C doesn’t have to deal with — all of which are important to keep in mind as you develop your marketing plan. These include: 

Decision-makers

B2C generally has one individual making a purchase decision, while B2B often requires many people. This is because with B2B, purchase decisions are typically sent up the management chain for approval and involve greater effort and team input. 

Longer sales cycle

Since there’s only one decision-maker involved in B2C, the sales cycle is much shorter than B2B. On average, B2B sales funnels take between four and eight months .

Brand strategy

With B2C, branding is all about speaking to and reaching customer emotions. B2B branding, on the other hand, focuses more on customers’ intellect by gathering data and conducting case studies to determine how the service or product is the most reliable solution.

Different platforms

Since B2C aims to reach customers rather than other businesses, they typically use digital platforms  for engagement. (Think Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram). B2B marketing focuses primarily on strategizing efforts in search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, LinkedIn, and email. 

Although B2B is more involved than B2C, and the same strategies won’t work for each of their respective audiences, there’s a lot B2B marketers can learn from B2C campaigns . 

The takeaway

Yes, there’s a lot that goes into a B2B marketing plan. And it should continue to evolve over time. So it’s important to keep track of metrics, try out new methods, channels, and tactics, and continuously optimize your strategy. The marketing tactics outlined above should all be added to your marketing toolbox.

Remember, even though it’s business-to-business marketing, you’re still speaking to other humans. The most effective B2B marketing is thoughtful, conversational, targeted, and relevant. Take action to maintain an understanding of your customers’ motivations, pain points, and what they need most. 

Looking for more insight on how to improve your marketing efforts? We’d love to chat .

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Last updated on April 1st, 2024

B2B Marketing Strategies: Free Templates, Examples & Definitions

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B2B marketing strategies are a plan that is developed by a business selling to another business looking to drive results by influencing their potential customers. It’s the strategic direction that leads to the tactics that will be implemented in the coming months to achieve objectives that align with the overarching business goals.

Whether you’re the size of Salesforce, or you’re still in the early days trying to win your first 100 customers—the primary goal is still the same: Influence your potential customers.

And in order to win those customers and become profitable (or stay that way), your B2B brand is going to need a marketing strategy.

But where do you even begin to create a B2B marketing strategy?

You’ve come to the right place. In this post we’re going to share a 5-step process, tried and tested templates and some examples that will inspire the approach you take for creating B2B marketing strategy that drives results.

Let’s jump in and discuss:

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B2b marketing strategy process:.

• Start with customer research
• Conduct qualitative and quantitative analysis
• Establish key objectives and metrics
• Develop your B2B customer journey map
• Identify executional marketing tactics

B2B Brand Strategies:

• Transparency
• Cause & Purpose Association
• Being The Underdog
• Employee Empowerment
• Launch Free Tools
• Own Your Position Of Strength
• Being Customer-Focused

B2B Lead Generation Tactics:

• Downloadable Assets
• Host Webinars
• B2B Review Sites
• Paid Search Advertising
• Paid Social Advertising

Why you need a B2B marketing strategy

The first question you’re probably asking is this:

Why is a documented and well-researched marketing strategy so important?

Is it really worth taking resources away from executing on marketing tactics and marketing automation to put together this plan—especially when your marketing team is small (or non-existent)?

The answer is:

Absolutely.

And in this post, we’re going to talk about why exactly that is, how you can navigate the process, and share some real-world examples from brands you know (and maybe love).

First, let’s use a simple example to compare B2B to B2C from a marketing standpoint:

For B2B companies, the potential buyer pool is typically smaller and less urgently looking to buy. Everyone needs toilet paper and (almost) everyone wants new shoes, but far fewer people will rush out to buy surface drills, ultrasound machines or a brand new customer support software on a whim.

In other words, if your approach to marketing is “sit back and hope our customers break down the door to throw money at us” — you’re probably going to be waiting for a while.

There’s still power in word of mouth, but many organizations aren’t in a position to let customers find them organically—and typically very slowly.

A B2B marketing strategy dictates how an organization will be proactive in attracting customers, closing sales and remaining on the road to continued financial success.

Having a marketing strategy also allows organizations to iterate on their marketing efforts over time. Experimenting to learn what works and what doesn’t for your customer segment can be valuable, but only if you’re able to capture data you can learn from in the future.

Very few companies have gone completely under from a single bad marketing decision. It’s happened, but it typically happens after the cumulation of several bad decisions, and you want to give yourself every advantage to avoid those pitfalls.

So if you’re sold the why of a B2B marketing strategy , keep reading—it’s time for the how .

How to create a B2B marketing strategy:

Alright, so now that we’ve touched on the *why* behind a documented & research-backed strategy—it’s time to talk about *how* you can do it.

(Hint: It starts with a good amount of research)

1. Start with customer research

There’s something that many marketers agree is incredibly important, and yet many companies don’t do it anywhere near as much as they should:

Customer research.

If you don’t know what your customers’ pain points *actually* are beyond just a wild guess, your marketing decisions aren’t going to be based on research and your chances of flopping are much higher.

Don’t be fooled, either—customer research goes beyond anecdotal evidence that your audience is on a specific channel or is purchasing a certain way.

The best marketers don’t just know more about the latest channel, tool or tactic. They know more about… people. You can find plenty of crafty ways to get your message in front of prospects, but if you want those people to actually pay attention—rather than just ignoring you—you better do your research. — Katelyn Bourgoin , Growth Strategist & Trainer

We have a full post that tells you everything you need to know about how to find your target audience . It touches on identifying what your core offering to your customers is & building customer personas .

Here’s the high level view of the 4-step persona process, but the full post is worth a read if you’re still at the persona-building stage.

The big takeaway that we’ll repeat here is this:

Actually talk to your customers. And if you don’t have any, talk to the customers of your competition.

“Instead of trying to guess what your customers were thinking, you can actually ask them what they were thinking.” — Josh Gallant, Digital & SEO Strategist with Foundation

Before you start planning your marketing strategy , you need to figure out if you’re on the right track—will your efforts create value, or are you trying to fish with dynamite?

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.” — Sun Tzu in The Art of War

But talking to your customers is only the first step in the research process.

It’s not enough to just send a survey, book a few calls, take some notes and call it a day. Your research needs to go deeper than that. And that’s where the qualitative and quantitative analysis comes into play.

2. Conduct qualitative & quantitative analysis

Talked to your customers? Fantastic.

Collecting answers to interview or survey questions from your customers is only the first step.

What you have at this point is data —not insights.

The same goes for having Google Analytics installed on your website (if you don’t, you should). Just because it’s collecting data doesn’t mean you have insights in a bottle.

Next—you need to analyze that data.

• Look at the customer research you’ve collected.
• Look at common behaviours and actions that are happening on your website
• Integrate Google Analytics with your CRM to analyze your most profitable leads
• If you have a sales team, ask them what questions come up the most
• If you have active social media pages , look at what people are messaging you
• If you have a support team, ask them what problems are the most common

And when you’re analyzing this data, remember that you can find insights using two different approaches—qualitative and quantitative.

Qualitative analysis…

Is intentionally open-ended and not necessarily based on numbers. (i.e. asking a customer “What’s one thing that frustrates you the most about ABC product?” to understand what their most common problems are.)

Quantitative analysis…

Relies on questions that can be answered with data, numbers and/or statistics. (i.e. researching which questions are getting the most search volume in Google, and using the findings to prioritize your customers’ most common problems.)

To gain the best possible understanding of the market and your customers, you’ll need both.

Here are two of our favourite methods to put into practice here:

1. Ask your customers what their biggest pain point is.

And leave it as open-ended as you can. If you ask leading questions here (i.e. “Is ABC a major pain point for you?”) you’ll miss out on what their pain points *actually* are.

Ask them the question, let them share whatever they’d like, then compare the responses to look for trends after you’ve conducted a handful of interviews.

2. Use the Sherlock Homeboy Technique to see what’s working best for your competition.

Define what result or metric you want to focus on, then study your competition.

What are they doing marketing-wise that’s achieving that result the best? Don’t be afraid to get specific as well—if they’re creating blog content that’s working, which specific topics are performing the best? Is there a certain *type* of content that’s working best?

The Sherlock Homeboy technique will become your best friend here.

For example: Which HubSpot blog posts are attracting the most backlinks?

#SherlockHomeboy 🔍

3. Establish key objectives and metrics

Every organization is chasing success. But what “success” actually looks like varies wildly from one company to the next, and how “success” is measured varies just as much.

The same is true for B2B marketing strategies—a successful strategy could be one that increases sales, or generates awareness, or attracts more leads, or increases customer referrals , and the list can go on & on.

Our walkthrough on how B2B marketers can identify key content marketing metrics and objectives outlines how to approach this from a content marketing lens, but the same thinking can be extrapolated to other marketing strategies.

• Identify your business goals first—what does success look like?
• Work backwards from that goal to figure out what actions and results will lead to hitting your business goals & achieving success
• Connect these actions to metrics you can track that show progress

And you’ll have a (rough) map of which metrics matter most and how exactly they tie into your overall business goals.

Here’s the thing that we see a lot of B2B marketers get hung up on:

All data can be important, but if you try to measure and analyze everything, you’re going to end up with nothing.

Just because you can track and measure 100 different metrics doesn’t mean you should be tracking and measuring all 100. The key is to prioritize the metrics that best align with your business objectives.

Are click-through rates from Twitter posts impacting your business goal of generating more inbound leads? It’s unlikely, but if they are then it’s something you want to track.

How about click-through rates from your blog posts to your demo request landing page? The impact on your business goal here is likely going to be a lot higher, so it’s a metric you’ll want to pay closer attention to.

Not only does this keep you focused on what matters, it prevents you from being overwhelmed by the sheer amount of data points you have at your disposal.

After you identify which metrics have the most impact on your business goals and which you’re planning to actively track—the next step is setting targets and marketing goals.

Here’s the key:

Make sure your goals are SMART.

Specific : Explain exactly what it’s you’re trying to accomplish.

Measurable : Make sure there’s a way for progress and success to be tracked.

Achievable : It needs to be realistically possible (i.e. “generate 50,000 inbound leads this year” when you only had 200 last year is likely a major stretch)

Relevant : If the goal doesn’t connect to your business goals and won’t directly impact your overall success, it’s not worth setting.

Time-Bound : A goal without a deadline is just a dream.

Let’s say you’ve identified blog post visitors from Google as your highest converting source of traffic and you want to increase the volume here.

Instead of your goal being:

“Get more visitors to our blog”

It would look more like this:

“Since organic blog traffic is our best converting traffic source, I want to increase organic blog traffic from 2,000 sessions to 3,000 sessions per month within 3 months.”

4. Develop your B2B customer journey map

At Foundation, we start every content marketing strategy with a B2B customer journey map .

The customer journey map is an opportunity for you to become familiar with the various touchpoints that are involved in your B2B marketing strategy as customers move through the sales funnel , as well as what influences their decisions and what questions they may have.

This is also a great place to include ideas for content that may answer those questions, how many searches that content might receive based on your research, and what format is best for that content.

This is the template we use at Foundation:

(You can download a copy of your own here)

A nd here’s how you can get started with a journey map:

• Identify who the key stakeholders are (and who needs to buy in) at each stage of the buying cycle
• Outline what’s most likely to influence them at each stage
• Note down the most common questions they’re likely asking (your customer research is going to come in handy here)
• Use a tool like Ahrefs / Moz / UberSuggest to get a rough estimate of the monthly search volume in Google for the commonly asked questions
• Brainstorm a few quick ideas for content that could answer these questions (don’t worry about getting too into the weeds with these ideas)
• Jot down the types of content you’re planning to use at each stage

At its core, the customer journey map helps you understand your different buyer personas and identify opportunities to get their attention.

It’ll also keep your sales team from becoming the annoying sales reps that keep showing up in your inbox with the wrong message at the wrong time.

When you know the specific pains your best customers are experiencing at each stage of their journey, you can reach out with the right message at the right time to help them solve those pains.

5. Identify executional marketing tactics

At this point, you’ll have your customer research, a customer journey map, qualitative & quantitative analysis, and a breakdown of your key metrics and SMART goals.

It’s time to map out what you want to do to reach those goals.

Let’s run with an example… Here’s the details:

• In Q3/Q4 last year, the case studies on your website had 40 downloads
• Of those 40 leads, you were able to close 10—a 25% close rate
• The rest of your downloadable resources only had a 10% close rate, so case studies generated the best results for your business

And here’s the goal you’ve landed on:

“Since our case study leads have the highest close rates, we want to generate 100 total case study downloads by the end of Q2 this year.”

What you need to figure out now is how you’re going to increase the amount of case study downloads this year.

• What tactics are you going to test?
• Which distribution channels are you going to experiment with?
• Are you going to share the case studies directly on these channels?
• Are you going to use content like blog posts & videos to attract people first?

Before you make any decisions, let’s take a look at the common content marketing funnel:

You’re trying to bring in strangers and convert them into leads . In order to do that, you first need to turn those strangers into visitors.

Looking at the funnel, we can see that at the top of the funnel, blog posts, SEO, videos, podcasts, and social media are the most effective methods for doing exactly that.

So it would make sense for a few of your marketing tactics to look like this:

• Publish at least 2 blog posts per month
• Create 1 short-form video for social media each week
• Be a guest on at least 1 podcast per month
• Conduct at least 1 link building outreach campaign per week promoting our new blog posts to improve our rankings in Google

That will help you turn strangers into website visitors.

From there, you want to figure out what you’re going to do to turn website visitors into leads—how are you going to carry them from a blog post or video to your case studies?

Your tactics here may look like this:

• Include multiple call-to-actions in blog posts to relevant case studies
• Launch a retargeting campaign on Facebook/LinkedIn to promote our case studies to blog post visitors and video viewers
• Ask current customers for testimonials & include them on your case study landing pages

Depending on your business and marketing goals, the tactics you outline are going to look slightly different. You may have the most success with TV ads, so your tactics will reflect how you’re going to get more value out of that channel.

Or perhaps your focus is further down the funnel and your goals are to increase your close rates on inbound leads—if that’s the case, your tactics should include ways to improve your email marketing and automations that trigger after a visitor becomes a lead.

Whatever your goals are, make sure your tactics can be directly tied to achieving those goals and alleviating the pain points your customers are feeling throughout their journey.

Developing your B2B brand strategy: Methods & examples from some of the top brands

At this point, you’ll have conducted plenty of research—customer research, industry research, analytics research—to pull out as many valuable insights as you can.

You’ll have set your high-level business goals and connected them to marketing activities and metrics that carry you toward them.

Then used that research and those marketing goals to plan your customer journey map and executional tactics.

You have a plan that’s ready to be implemented.

But before you dive right in, we want to share a handful of examples from the real world. Both from a brand-building and lead generation (further below) standpoint.

Let’s jump in:

1. Transparency

A brand development strategy that more and more companies have been adopting in recent years is transparency.

For Buffer , this has meant making all of their behind-the-scenes data—revenue, workplace diversity metrics, even salaries—freely available to anyone who wants to access them.

Here’s a great example from their CEO, Joel Gascoigne:

He talked about how they tried to scale too quickly and had to let 10 of their recent hires go. This type of honest communication simply isn’t common in the business world.

What’s more, he outlined the steps the company was taking to right the ship, starting with a salary cut of 40% for himself and then-COO Leo Widrich.

“It’s more work to be transparent, because you’re sharing the data, the numbers, and you’ve got to explain the context. One of the things I love about transparency is it forces us to do that.” —Joel Gascoigne, CEO of Buffer

Here’s what they share directly on their about page :

Companies are always eager to talk about their successes, but never their failures, even though that’s where the valuable stuff is.

Businesses don’t always talk about the negatives. They’d rather focus in the moment on trying to be successful, assuming there will be time for reflection afterwards.

That strategy may work for some, but the fact is that having transparency as a core value has earned Buffer a ton of attention from the likes of Forbes , The Atlantic , and Fortune .

As a brand development strategy, transparency may be trendy, but open and honest communication with employees and a commitment to providing more opportunities to underrepresented groups will never go out of style.

2. Cause & Purpose Association

Earlier in Slack’s lifetime (before the brand refresh & before the IPO) the company had a storefront on its website called the Slack Shop , which sold items like wooden coasters, shirts, and socks with Slack branding.

Corporate swag is cool, but the real value of the storefront was in charitable giving .

Every six months, Slack selected a new charity to support through store proceeds, with a minimum $10,000 donation.

While the Slack Shop is no longer a permanent fixture (it only appears from time to time), it’s an example of cause and purpose association, also known as cause marketing or cause-related marketing .

Put simply, cause and purpose association is tying your business to an issue or a topic that is more important to the world than your bottom line.

One of the most prominent companies to embrace cause and purpose association is the outdoor clothing and gear company Patagonia .

In 2016, they donated the entirety of their Black Friday sales to environmental groups fighting climate change ($10 million, a 300% increase in sales over the previous year).

“It cost us a bunch of money because it was total revenue. But 60 percent of the customers were new buyers. Sixty percent. It was one of the best business things we’ve ever done.” — Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia

While the initiative got the company a bunch of attention, helping to save the environment is in Patagonia’s DNA.

In 1986, Chouinard committed either 1% of sales or 10% of profits (whichever was larger) to environmental activism, and 10 years later the company started to exclusively use organic cotton.

The culture of cause and purpose association has thrived even without Chouinard at the helm.

Fall of 2018, CEO Rose Marcario donated $10 million (Patagonia’s tax cuts) to environmental charities to protest a tax bill.

Patagonia isn’t in the B2B space, but the same principle applies: One of the most surefire brand development strategies is to stand for something.

Advertising great Bill Bernbach once said:

“If you stand for something, you will always find some people for you and some against you. If you stand for nothing, you will find nobody against you, and nobody for you.”

3. Being the Underdog

Everyone loves to root for an underdog, and many brands have positioned themselves as an alternative to something other companies are or aren’t doing.

In their classic book The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing , Al Reis and Jack Trout write about The Law of the Opposite :

“If you want to establish a firm foothold on the second rung of the ladder, study the firm above you. Where is it strong? And how do you turn that strength into a weakness?”

That’s exactly what Salesforce leadership did in the early days:

They picked an enemy to oppose—their biggest rival, Siebel Systems.

Ahead of a major campaign launch, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff hired actors to pose as protesters at a conference for Siebel. The protesters descended on San Francisco’s Moscone Center with the rallying cry “The internet is really neat! Software is obsolete!”

Another group of actors pretended to be a news crew covering the “protesters” (who were advocating for Salesforce’s cloud-based system).

Because the protest was so realistic, Siebel Systems called the police, and it wasn’t long before actual reporters showed up (ultimately earning Salesforce hundreds of new customers).

“This marketing stunt worked across many fronts: we built Salesforce.com morale, got great press coverage, and brought our competitor’s customers to our event to hear our message. Within two weeks, more than 100,000 organizations signed up for our service; most were introduced to it through articles about the launch. Later, our End of Software campaign was recognized by PR Week as the ‘Hi-Tech Campaign of the Year.’” — Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce

Over the years, Benioff has grown fond of these guerrilla marketing tactics—using the actions of competitor companies to put a spotlight on his own brand.

It’s a tactic that Slack also utilized recently, when it put an open letter to Microsoft as a full-page ad in the New York Times the day the software giant’s competitor, Microsoft Teams, was unveiled.

In that letter, Slack spoke about the lessons it had learned in building its platform, noting that communication software has to be more than a list of features.

With one advertisement, Slack positioned itself as both the underdog and the master.

The company couldn’t fight Microsoft in a battle of resources ( see $1.27 trillion with a “T” market cap ), but Slack’s role as the king of communication meant they weren’t afraid to offer some tips for success to the competitor infringing on its turf.

Naturally, some people loved the ad. Some people hated it.

But that’s the goal, right?

Getting people talking.

4. Employee Empowerment

First of all—what does this *actually* mean?

According to study.com (great domain name), employee empowerment means giving employees a certain level of autonomy and responsibility for decision-making regarding their specific organizational tasks.

As Mike Tanner explored in his book Really Little Wins , when given autonomy and the ability to tackle his tasks in whichever order he desired, he experienced a dramatic increase in job satisfaction and productivity.

One of the best examples of employee empowerment as a B2B marketing strategy was the video campaign the live chat company Drift ran on LinkedIn in 2018 —a campaign that was planned only five days before it was launched, yet generated 3 million views and resulted in the highest single-day traffic in the company’s history.

Dave Gerhardt (Former VP of marketing at Drift) had been running some engagement experiments using LinkedIn video, which was a fairly recent addition to the platform, and found his videos getting thousands of views and a ton of engagement. People he did not know would recognize him as “that guy from the LinkedIn videos.”

Seeing how far his message had spread, he wondered what would happen if a hundred people at Drift posted videos to LinkedIn to promote a new product.

It started with half a dozen people posting videos during their daily commutes, and then things started to get really crazy when one of the product managers posted a video while on vacation:

“She’s literally skiing and … she’s talking about how, you know, ‘Modern email is broken. We built an email marketing platform that actually matches how people want to buy…’ and she’s literally skiing down the mountain. That was when just all hell broke loose, because at that point, then once people saw it, it turned into a competition here internally where everyone started to one up each other.” —Dave Gerhardt, VP of Marketing at Drift

With its super-engaged workforce, Drift is also one of the leaders in employee advocacy.

It’s a strategy where employees share company content to their personal social networks and in turn are able to grow their personal brands.

The company will routinely have employees from different departments create content based on their expertise, such as a customer success manager hosting an informational video about using video in customer success .

5. Launch Free Tools

People tend to love things that help them solve problems.

And they love it even more when that help is free.

Creating helpful tools and releasing them for free is a fantastic way to help your customers solve their problems and build up brand affinity. And one of the best in the industry at doing exactly that is HubSpot.

They’ve created and launched dozens of free tools over the years. The current tally is at 45 different tools available for download—with everything from buyer personas to invoice templates making the cut:

But one of their most well-known tools launched in 2007 (the early days)—the Website Grader .

Visitors type in their email address and the URL of their website, and the Website Grader will measure the site’s marketing effectiveness, generating a score between 0 and 100 based on factors including traffic, SEO and social media. Based on its findings, the grader will also suggest ways to improve inbound marketing efforts.

The user gets actionable insights and suggestions.

HubSpot fills their pipeline with well-populated leads.

HubSpot may be one of the best-known free tool providers, but it’s not the only one.

Over the past few years, Shopify’s also gotten in on the action—creating privacy , refund , and terms of service policy templates for its users (which are bundled with a free trial of the product, of course).

Refrens.com also provides free  online invoice generator  for agencies, small businesses, and freelancers.

Having new stuff to play with online is always cool, but the reason that offering free tools is a great brand development strategy is that it’s all about empowering the customer to do things they wouldn’t be able to on their own.

Consultants to analyze our website are expensive.

So are lawyers that write custom privacy, refund and TOS policies.

If you can give customers the tools to tackle their own problems to a certain standard, they’ll value the experience, gain confidence, and remember that it was YOU that helped them.

And as an added bonus, it’s no surprise that the best free tools are also often the most linked to free tools.

B2B Brands can create a lot of different types of content: How To's, Guides, News, Research, Product Updates, Collections, Round Ups, Stats, Reports, Definitions, etc… But the most *LINKABLE* asset you can create is often times a TOOL. ⚒️What do I mean? (THREAD) — Ross Simmonds (@TheCoolestCool) January 20, 2020

If you can create something that’s helpful for your target users or customers, they’re highly likely to be willing to give you their email address to get access. And the more helpful your tool becomes, the more people will be talking about it.

6. Own Your Position of Strength

Here’s the reality:

There’s little room for humility in marketing.

“Marketing, like war, is a zero-sum game. If you want something you have to take it from someone else. In order for someone to win, someone has to lose. Adam Morgan described it as ‘like a knife-fight in a phone box.’ there isn’t anywhere to hide. There isn’t any place for bystanders. Everyone has to choose.” — Dave Trott, advertising legend

In other words, businesses aren’t often going to succeed by caring deeply about how their competitors might feel.

You need to be willing to own your position of strength. When something great happens to your business, you should use it to your advantage.

This doesn’t mean you need to ship a press release for every single thing that ever happens with your company, but promoting and announcing that your company is top rated SaaS product in your category can affirm your position at the top.

You won’t be at the top of a product or service category forever, but when you say your business is #1 in your vertical or within a certain customer base, that becomes your reputation with customers and competitors alike.

Find out what your organization is knocking out of the park and promote yourself with it.

If the goal of marketing is to persuade the right sort of customers to buy, then promoting yourself as a leader in a specific area is one of the most surefire ways to do so.

7. Being Customer-Focused

It’s easy for a business to say they’re customer-focused.

But this typically means the great service they provide ends with sales and support.

Companies that are truly customer-focused are investing in long-term relationships with their customers. They treat the amount of money they can make as secondary to the personal growth and development of the customer.

Naturally, this focus on helping their customers win is going to lead to the company winning long-term as well.

Plenty of B2B companies host conferences with the goal of helping to educate and inform. HubSpot hosts Inbound , a conference dedicated to marketing, sales, and business. Slack is behind Frontiers , about the intersection of technology and organizational performance.

One of the best conferences is Twilio’s Signal .

It’s a two-day customer and developer conference focused on Twilio’s products, one-on-one engagement with experts, networking and building stronger relationships with customers.

Demonstrating their commitment to their developers and customers, Twilio also hires developer evangelists who can teach others about coding and the world of software development to serve as the public face of the company to local groups around the world.

Another business demonstrating their focus on customers in their marketing is customer success company Gainsight .

They’ve created a Slack community for leaders to share their ideas, discuss industry trends, network and learn from guest speakers.

One of the main advantages of being customer-focused is being able to grow a community of people with similar interests. Those relationships may end up being more valuable than the product or service that is being provided.

What’s next?

For those keeping track at home, that’s seven brand building strategies that the top brands in B2B have used over the past decade to position themselves as industry leaders.

Even if you’re not Slack or Salesforce-sized (most of us aren’t), you can still take inspiration from their initiatives and campaigns and test smaller-scale versions.

Now let’s shift gears a bit.

Let’s talk lead generation tactics for B2B brands.

Creating a lead generation strategy: What works & what do you need?

No matter how you tackle the brand building side of B2B marketing, one thing will almost always be true—you need more (or just better) leads.

Chances are your B2B marketing strategy that’s in the works as you read this post is connected to increasing revenue in some fashion. More customers, better retention, higher quality pipeline—all of these goals have one thing in common: Revenue.

And as you’re working backward from that primary business goal, the almost unavoidable step you’ll hit is lead generation. You need to find reliable methods and tactics that you can use to generate leads on a consistent basis.

In this section, we’re going to share 5 proven methods you can start using right away.

1. Downloadable Assets

Pop quiz: What do the people love?

We’ve already talked about this one—the people love getting things for free.

There’s a ton of value in offering downloadable assets on your website, especially when they speak to problems beyond your product or service.

For example, Stripe offers guides and resources on everything from talent recruitment to using machine learning for fraud detection.

Similarly, Intercom offers downloadable ebooks on product management , customer engagement and even the jobs-to-be-done productivity framework.

Free stuff is great.

And it’s even better when giving away these free assets that help your audience also result in leads for your business.

In exchange for the free template, guide, worksheet or ebook, your future customers will give you their email address (and whatever else you ask for) with a form.

And just like that, you now have the contact information of someone who’s expressed interest in something you offer. And once you have that information, you can start to reach out (manually or with automated email sequence outreach ).

Offering downloadable assets is one of the most common lead generation strategies —and for good reason. It’s because it works. Plain and simple.

2. Hosting Webinars

The humble webinar has long been a staple of B2B marketing.

It’s a training session, product demo and Q&A all rolled into one live and interactive meeting.

However, companies are starting to recognize that webinars are more than just great tools for interacting with and helping to educate current customers—they can also be used to increase customer lifetime value , reduce churn, convert trial users and, yes, even generate leads.

Intercom in particular frequently hosts webinars that feature a well-known guest or business leader sharing their expertise.

Not only does this attract people outside of the company ecosystem, it also increases product and brand awareness and helps build relationships with these guests.

You can also include incentives to convince leads to attend. Things like free strategy calls, templates, extended trials, etc.

While Intercom may talk a lot about the features of their platforms, their public-facing webinars are intended to be as valuable as possible, and that’s what will lead people to poke around their websites and sign up for trial accounts.

Notion takes the same approach.

They run weekly webinars on CrowdCast that just explore the hundreds of ways people use Notion. They’re not *selling* Notion on the webinar—the goal is to show how awesome the product can be, introduce plenty of great ways to get value from it and let the rest take care of itself.

Intercom also allows their trial users to attend product-specific webinars. As a result, trial users learn more about what the platform is capable of and how they might use it better, and have added incentive to become paid users.

And that’s the art of the pitch: Demonstrate the value of a product to a user, showcase how it can make their life easier, and they’ll typically be willing to at least give it a try.

3. B2B Review Sites

One of the most significant trends in the B2B world over the past several years has been the Yelpification of B2B .

Our personal behaviours of looking for social proof, reading reviews, and making judgement calls about products or services have slowly but surely spilled over into the business world.

Some of the biggest adopters of this trend are the business software review sites G2, Capterra and TrustRadius, and as a result they’re getting huge amounts of traffic.

Yelpification Of B2B. The same way Yelp / TripAdvisor is make or break for restaurants — Capterra / G2 are becoming that for B2B software. They already rank: #2 for 70+ branded terms. #3 for 60+ branded terms. #4 for 80+ branded terms. AND… #1 for hundreds of BOFU pages. — Ross Simmonds (@TheCoolestCool) June 9, 2019

All of this traffic, combined with the social proof these sites provide, can act as significant lead drivers for B2B software.

When you visit Capterra and see that Notion has an overall rating of 4.5 stars, tons of glowing reviews, and starts at $4 a month, odds are you’re going to click through to Notion’s product page to at least see what all the hype is about.

4. Paid Search Advertising

We touched on this during the customer journey mapping stage.

Your audience has pain points and questions that they’re asking. Where are they going to ask those questions? That would be Google.

Take a look at the current search market share:

Google = 90.8%

That means 9 out of 10 searches are happening on Google-owned properties.

So if you’re customer has questions, and you have answers—where is it that you need to be? Where they’re asking the questions, of course.

A successful content marketing strategy where SEO is a major part is going to lead to long-term success when executed well, but the other search-related tactic you can start executing right away is Google Ads .

The process is fairly straightforward:

• Figure out what your audience is searching for the most
• Setup a landing page that offers a downloadable resource related to their question
• Build your campaign at ads.google.com and monitor the results as you go

The value of Google Ads is that they will put your company on page 1 for a relevant Google Search. Yet over the last five years, the cost-per-acquisition (CPA) for a Google Ad campaign within most industries has steadily increased. So, many companies use social media ads to build trust and familiarity which can result in a more successful Google Ads campaign . But, Google Ads are definitely something worth testing at the very least.

5. Paid Social Advertising

While paid social ads are similar to Google ads in the sense that you’re paying to reach your audience right away—the stage itself is a bit different.

With Google Ads, your customers are actively looking for something that you offer. You’re just paying to show up at the top of the list.

With social ads, your customers are not actively looking for you. In fact, all they’re looking to do most of the time is figure out what their friends, family, colleagues and favourite celebs are up to.

If you want to just open up Facebook and launch a campaign to target certain interests or demographics, the audience you’re targeting is going to be quite cold. They probably don’t know you, and they’re probably going to be hesitant to give you their information or swipe their credit card right away—if they even stop scrolling and give you the time of day.

So how should you approach social ads?

Retargeting ads.

First, setup a Facebook Pixel and LinkedIn Insights Tag on your website. This will keep track of who’s visiting your site and what actions they’re taking.

Then, as the pixels collect more and more information, you can launch social ad campaigns that target people who’ve already taken specific actions that indicate they might be interested in what you’re offering.

Cold → Warm

You can narrow it down to target only people that visited your pricing page but didn’t convert, added a product to their cart but didn’t checkout , or just visited more than one blog post.

In 2019 we analyzed 100 Facebook ads from SaaS brands to see what tactics, campaigns, and ad types were working the best—be sure to give that post a read as well if you’re planning to launch an ad campaign in the near future.

Wrapping Things Up

One of the most exciting things about B2B marketing is that there’s always something new to try or experiment with. And while most tactics don’t last, the rules of brand strategy have proven to be far more consistent.

If you’ve made it this far—congratulations and happy to see you at the finish line!

Hopefully you’ve been able to pull some great value from this post. Don’t forget to hit “bookmark” so you can come back to the examples we shared down the road.

Let’s recap what we just covered.

If you’ve made it this far, you’re not like most marketers…

Most marketers aren’t interested in doing hard things like reading a blog post this long.

But here you are.

You’re demonstrating your willingness to do hard things, so how about one more:

We challenge you to take one of the ideas you’ve read about and act on them. Right now. Not tomorrow. Right now. Copy the section and send it to your boss or team and say “we need to think about how we can apply this.”

That’s all it takes.

And with that, we’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments down below. Strategy steps that you’re getting hung up on? Favourite brand building examples? Favourite lead generation tactics? Let’s hear ‘em. 🚀

(Post written with contributions from Matthew Rawle )

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A B2B Marketer’s Guide to Driving Sales and Marketing Alignment

It’s possibly surprising to some, but B2B sales and marketing alignment remains one of the biggest challenges facing B2B SaaS and tech businesses. Yes, as B2B marketers, we’ve sadly become obsessed with metrics like MQLs that push too many poor-fit leads onto sales and distract from what truly matters—driving revenue growth.

This infatuation has damaged the perceived value of marketing efforts among our sales teams. They’ve started seeing marketing initiatives not as a ladder to their targets but as obstacles instead. As a result, this tug-of-war between sales and marketing teams is unfortunately a common story.

Trying to align your sales and marketing shouldn’t make you feel like you’re walking through a minefield. Instead, it should feel like a natural progression towards shared goals. This post will help B2B marketers drive alignment with sales, and start establishing a demand generation dream team. So let’s dive into the steps you can take.

Talk to Sales

It sounds obvious, right? But so many B2B sales and marketing teams don’t engage in regular dialogue. Connecting with your sales team should always be at the forefront. In essence, it’s all about cultivating open communication channels that welcome feedback. This feedback can focus on lead quality or understanding how deals progress. You can then translate these sales insights into messages that resonate with the market for your product or service.

Regular engagement with sales teams paints a clear picture of what is working and areas that need improvement. Notably, it bridges any existing gaps between marketing qualified leads (MQLs) and conversion rates, ensuring both teams are aligned on common goals. Such interactions break down any walls of misunderstanding that might lead to an ‘us vs. them’ mindset. 1

Sales reps are your eyes and ears on the front lines. Tap into their knowledge of prospect pain points and the questions that are asked on calls. Let them weigh in on targeting and messaging for campaigns.

Remember, this isn’t a one-time event but rather an ongoing process requiring regular check-ins. You want to keep the pulse on whether quality sales conversations are increasing and obtaining market insights from their interactions with potential clients.

Get on Sales Calls

When it comes to sales calls, ACTIVE listening 2 can help drive better marketing outcomes. It can do wonders in unlocking the invaluable treasure chest of customer insights. While numbers and charts offer valuable data, real learning begins when you tune into actual sales calls.

There’s much to understand about the pressing challenges driving prospects to you and how your sales teams tell your business’ story, and steer these conversations toward closing the deal.

B2B marketers should earmark some time in their schedules to sit in on these calls. This firsthand experience can offer useful insights about customers’ needs, objections raised, solutions they seek, and how your product or service satisfies them.

Equally important is reaching out to your clients. It’s worth asking why they chose you initially. Have they seen value in areas they didn’t initially expect? Their answers will help uncover selling points that can be amplified in your marketing.

These crucial touchpoints assist in refining your market-message fit and bridging this gap is one of the major steps toward aligning your sales with B2B marketing efforts.

If we view the business landscape as a competitive sport, we exist in an era where individual brilliance is easily outshone by teamwork. In B2B sales and marketing, this shouldn’t be any different. Working together to identify and target high-value accounts is vital for success.

It’s essential to remember that it takes multiple touchpoints (sometimes more than 15!) for a prospect to reach out to you. Therefore, you must use all available channels—email, social media, and search to name a few. Maintaining consistency in messaging is also essential and will increase your chances of engaging potential customers.

This approach not only fosters B2B sales and marketing alignment, but it also fuels efficiency and effectiveness around revenue targets.

Tag Teaming in Practice

Tag teaming in B2B sales and marketing takes the form of consistent, joint effort across both teams. All parties involved must focus on achieving mutual objectives. It starts with open, regular communication to understand and align on the shared goals. Regular meetings can prove beneficial for brainstorming, sharing insights, and discussing progress.

Both teams need to agree on a set of key performance indicators (KPIs) that reflect their combined efforts. This could include metrics such as qualified deals, pipeline added, the number of high-value accounts secured, or revenue growth. 

The tag team approach also involves working together to develop and execute marketing strategies. For instance, the marketing team can use the sales insights discussed earlier to inform messaging and targeting, and in return provide sales with useful intelligence on account engagement, messaging feedback, returning website visitors from key accounts. 

Moreover, a shared CRM system can definitely help all team members stay on the same page. It can provide access to real-time data, enabling both teams to track progress, address issues promptly, and make data-driven decisions. There are many examples of sales working out of one platform like Salesforce and marketing another such as HubSpot — this only creates a disconnect in data.

Gather Useful Intelligence

One advantage marketing has over sales is the ability to rapidly test different messaging with prospects at scale. With data at your fingertips, you can serve as a navigational compass for sales.

Transforming information into action is the key here. By leveraging marketing technology, you can get useful, and actionable data from the various campaigns being run across different target audiences. LinkedIn campaigns, for instance, help you uncover intriguing patterns or trends. Which job titles are most engaged with your content? Which companies too? While LinkedIn doesn’t let you draw a direct line between the two for data privacy reasons, it does mean you can make logical assumptions and craft a hit list for your sales team.

Share these campaign insights with sales to inform their outreach. You can even create customised account lists and messaging tips based on responses. Or take it up another notch by combining website analytics tools. Understand who’s coming back to your site, what pages they browse, and track lead visitors per account. These are all potential indicators of buying interest that shouldn’t be overlooked.

Building shared reports are a great way to highlight accounts to target, key buying team members, and topics resonating with prospects. Act on this market intelligence together to coordinate sales and marketing activity for maximum impact.

Report on Metrics That Matter

According to HubSpot, 41.7% of salespeople believe 3 their marketing team needs to come up with higher-quality leads. Fantastical MQL targets don’t help this misalignment.

B2B marketers should be advocating a shift towards revenue-focused metrics. Quality over quantity isn’t a bad thing if it’s positively contributing towards revenue growth, and the are the types of customers that have a larger lifetime value.

Therefore, it’s essential to review, refocus, and report on metrics that matter from both marketing and sales standpoints. Consider sales conversations as crucial KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). How many meaningful conversations did your marketing efforts lead to? What’s the overall pipeline looking like? And most importantly, what’s the impact on revenue?

Your sales team isn’t concerned if you’re saturating them with heaps of leads. They want quality prospects who are genuinely interested in your product or service and are likely to progress through the buying process. Ultimately, they want customers so they can hit their targets.

Be the Driving Force for Sales and Marketing Alignment

Gone are the days of ‘us vs. them’ in sales and marketing. Use these tips to advocate for alignment around common goals and shared intelligence to start driving better demand generation outcomes. Don’t play the blame game. Sales and marketing alignment is a necessity for success.

Shifting the mindset from lead generation to demand generation isn’t a simple task. If you need support building an effective B2B demand generation strategy that gets sales buy-in and drives growth, let’s talk .

1 Why a culture of us vs them is deadly

2 The power of active listening in business communication

3 Stats that prove the power of sales and marketing alignment

21+ B2B Marketing Examples and Case Studies

• December 8, 2020

It’s tough to create B2B marketing strategies from scratch.

There are thousands of articles on the web about how to craft a B2B marketing strategy – many written by those who have never done it successfully.

You could spend a ton of time reading all of them, but sometimes seeing real-life examples is far more useful.

In this article, we’re going to cover 25 successful B2B marketing examples to inspire your own marketing strategy and growth:

• How HubSpot Generates $271 Million Annually With Inbound Marketing
• How Shopify Increased Their Revenue by 90% in 365 Days
• The Exact Strategy Apollo Digital Used to Grow a BPM SaaS from 0 to 200,000 Monthly Organic Traffic
• Slack’s Secret Sauce for Driving 100,000,000 Website Visitors per Month

And so much more!

So, let’s get started!

#1. HubSpot: $271 Million Inbound Lead Generation Machine

HubSpot is a B2B marketing powerhouse. You can’t be in B2B marketing and not be familiar with them.

HubSpot began as a CRM and marketing automation software but has quickly grown into an all-in-one marketing solution. Not only is their software impressive, but they’ve also become a thought leader in all things inbound marketing.

They quickly grew from 6.6 million to 271 million in annual revenue in seven short years. How did they do it?

• Category Creation: HubSpot essentially created the inbound marketing category. Their co-founder coined it for the first time in 2005 , paving the way for Hubspot to become the ultimate thought leader. This catapulted their brand recognition.
• Community Marketing: HubSpot created Inbound.org, an online hub for marketers to connect, learn, and find jobs. It quickly grew to over 170,000 members within just a few years.
• Content Marketing: HubSpot wrote the book on content marketing. Not only do they dominate SERPs with content that ranks, but they have an insane library of downloads as well.
• Micro-Influencers: HubSpot has nearly 300k followers on Instagram, thanks in large part to their partnerships with micro-influencers. They encouraged HubSpot partners to post original content promoting their software, which skyrocketed their following.

Read the full case study on Hubspot’s market takeover.

#2. Shopify: Increased Revenue 90% in 365 Days

In 2018, they almost doubled their product revenues from $7.7 billion to $15.4 billion. Here’s how they did it:

• Top of Funnel Content: Shopify dominates the top of the funnel on search engines, with over two million ranking keywords (like “ecommerce” and “online store”). Not only do they create great content, they also build awesome free tools.
• A Sticky Free Trial Offer : Their bread and butter is the free trial. Once they have you on the site, they push the free trial hard. Shopify is such an impressive software, it’s nearly impossible for prospects to opt-out after using it for two weeks.
• A Killer Onboarding Sequence: Once you’ve started your free trial, they convert like crazy through persuasive microcopy, timely CTAs, and great subject lines.

Read the full case study on Shopify’s massive revenue growth.

#3 Apollo Digital: 0 to 200K Monthly Organic Traffic

Apollo Digital has worked with many SaaS and B2B companies to achieve huge results through SEO and content marketing .

Last year we catapulted a business process management software from zero to nearly 200,000 monthly organic traffic in just two short years. Here’s how we did it:

• Revamped Content Strategy: Completely revamped their content strategy by identifying content suffering from keyword cannibalization and proposing improvements.
• Fresh Keyword Research : Performed additional keyword research to pinpoint our client’s highest priority keywords and phrases.
• Thorough Outlines: Created thorough and detailed content outlines to ensure writers were creating relevant and optimized content every time.
• Prioritizing User Experience: Optimized all content not just for search engines, but for users as well. Easy-to-read content always wins.

You can find the full SEO case study here.

#4. Slack: 100,000,000 Website Visitors per Month

Slack needs no introduction. They are one of the fastest-growing SaaS platforms of all time, thanks to some brilliant SaaS marketing strategies and tactics. Here’s how they did it:

• Ranking on Review Sites: Instead of trying to rank for competitive terms like “collaboration software,” Slack earned high rankings on the sites that do dominate these keywords like G2 and Capterra.
• Integrations: Much of Slack’s traffic is referral traffic from sites that integrate with Slack.
• Powerful Landing Pages: Slack put heavy emphasis on their landing pages, using persuasive copy and social proof to convert visitors.

Check out the full case study on Slack’s growth here.

#5. Intercom: $50 Million Annual Recurring Revenue

Intercom is a massive software company dedicated to customer experience. It has grown rapidly over the last seven years and boasts more than $50 million in ARR. Not only that, but Intercom continues to grow without spending loads on sales and advertising.

Here’s how they do it:

• Dynamic Landing Pages: Intercom thrives on personalized content catered incredibly well to the user. Their landing pages convert.
• Competitor Analysis: Intercom relies heavily on digging into their competitors’ SEO rankings, strategies, and tactics.
• Semantic SEO: Many of their pages and posts rank for loads of keyphrases rather than just a single target keyword. They achieve this through thorough, semantic B2B SEO efforts.

Check out the full Intercom case study here.

#6. Mailchimp: $400 Million in ARR

Mailchimp has been an email marketing leader for around ten years, but their growth hasn’t always been as rapid as some of our other examples. They spent years experimenting and testing different tactics and strategies.

Now they sit as a marketing automation leader with over $400,000,000 in revenue each year. Here’s how they did it:

• Custom Audiences: A lot of Mailchimp’s traffic comes from Facebook advertising where they use well-targeted custom audiences and personalized funnels.
• Creative Campaigns: A few years ago Mailchimp launched a campaign playing on their funny name. Their multichannel approach resulted in a ton of new brand awareness.
• Effective Landing Pages: Their creative landing pages lead with curiosity and end with a low friction CTA.

View Mailchimp’s full case study here.

#7. GrooveHQ: $5M/Year Business in 3 Years With Content Marketing

GrooveHQ is a customer support and service platform helping businesses deliver standout customer experiences to their client base.

Over the last three years, Groove has become a $5 million per year business by investing exclusively in content marketing. Here’s how they did it:

• Listening to Customers: Questions from customers and prospects is one of the only things that fueled their content calendar early on. They wrote content based on common questions and topics their customers wanted more information on.
• Smart Outreach: Rather than generic link outreach, Groove asked well-known leaders in the space for feedback on their content. This proved extremely effective in earning links and shares.
• Storytelling: Rather than jumping straight into the practicalities of each post, they learned their audience wanted a story. So they lengthened their intros which increased the average time on page by around 300%.

Check out the full case study on how GrooveHQ grew their business with content marketing.

#8. OptiMonk - How iSpionage Increased Blog Referral Traffic by 58% in 1 Month Using Onsite Retargeting

iSpionage is an awesome tool that allows you to download AdWords competitor keywords with the click of a button and monitor competitor PPC landing pages. With the help of Optimonk, they increased blog referral Traffic by 58% in one month using onsite retargeting.

• Exit Intent Popups: They used an OptiMonk exit-intent popup to entice users to check out their main homepage.
• Personalized Engagement: The popup only appeared for readers who had spent a minimum of ten seconds on the blog. And for a better visitor experience, they limited the popup to appear a maximum of five times for repeat visitors.

Check out the full iSpionage case study by OptiMonk here.

#9. G2: 50k to 1 Million Monthly Organic Visitors in a Year

Most people in the world of SaaS are familiar with G2, one of the leaders in the business software review space. Businesses all over the world use G2 to help them choose software for their business.

Starting in 2017, they began investing heavily in content generation, taking their blog traffic from around 50,000 sessions in March of 2018 to nearly 1 million sessions in March of 2019. Here’s how they did it:

• Keyword Research: G2 dug deep into direct competitors’ ranking keywords as well as some non-competitors to get keyword insights (like Hubspot).
• Everyone Does Outreach: Not only did their link building team distribute content, but their writers as well. All hands were on deck for building links.
• A Sound Process: G2 produced a lot of content thanks to solid systems and processes that spanned across the SEO and writing teams.

Check out G2’s full case study here.

#10. SEMRush - 71 Upsells from a Game

SEMRush has been an SEO tool market leader for a few years now. One B2B marketing tactic that skyrocketed their growth was a not-so-standard one: games.

In 2017, they created an Easter-themed game that encouraged users to expand what SEMRush features they used, leading to 71 upsells. Here’s how they did it:

• Familiar Design: The games they designed didn’t only look good, they were familiar. There was no learning curve to play them, which led to high engagement and shares.
• Holiday-jacking: You may be familiar with newsjacking (creating content around big news stories). SEMRush created their game around the Easter season, increasing their chances of going viral.
• Post-Campaign Nurturing: After the game launched, they created email sequences to follow-up with customers who played the game. This led to further engagement and some conversions.

View SEMRush’s full case study .

#11. Stanley Black and Decker - 30% reduction in sales cycle length

Stanley Black & Decker is an 11-billion dollar global provider of diversified tools, storage, and security. In addition to selling tools directly to customers, they also sell franchises. But unlike the B2C side of their company, they lacked customer data and strategy to engage with their end-users.

Implementing Pardot (a B2B marketing automation platform) helped them grow their market share and reduce the length of their sales cycle by 30% within one year. Here’s how they did it:

• List Segmentation: Stanley Black & Decker had a lot of customer email addresses. But instead of sending out generic mass emails, they segmented their lists for personalized messaging.
• Dynamic Content: They used dynamic content on their landing pages to extend the personalization of their email workflows.
• Blending Sales and Marketing: A single platform for sales and marketing automation allowed them to align their teams for better collaboration and more closed deals.

Read Stanley Black and Decker’s full case study .

#12. BrightEdge - 994% Organic Lead Growth for Payroll Software

Paycor, a payroll and human resources software, needed help scaling their SEO efforts. Their small team didn’t have the resources to make the huge leaps they wanted.

During a big site migration, Paycor got help from Brightedge’s toolset to increase their site visits by 308% year-over-year. Here’s how they did it:

• On-Page and Technical Optimization: The Paycor team started with foundational optimizations to set the stage for serious growth.
• Updating Content: The team evaluated high performing content to identify new opportunities post-migration.
• Focus on UX: Paycor used Brightedge’s Autopilot tool to assist in offering users an overall better UX when finding relevant content.

Read the full Paycor case study here.

#13. BuzzSumo: $2.5m Annual Revenue in its First Year

Buzzsumo is a platform that helps marketers discover content ideas, uncover platform insights, identify relevant influencers, and much more.

They launched in 2015 and posted $2.5 million in revenue that first year. Here’s how they did it:

• The Freemium Model: BuzzSumo mastered the freemium model in its first year, ending it with over 160k free users.
• First Class Influencers: They gained respect and publicity from some big marketing names (like Rand Fishkin, Larry Kim, and Neil Patel) very early on.
• Unique Content: They generated a lot of compelling content in their first year. And it wasn’t just any type of content either, they shared industry-leading research and told compelling stories through data.

Check out BuzzSumo’s full case study .

#14. Document360: $20k MRR Through SEO

Document360 is a knowledge base software that helps growing companies create support documentation for users.

The company was founded in 2017 and has already grown to $20k MRR. Here’s how they did it:

• Sales-Focused Content: When you read Document360’s blog, you won’t find content with a few CTA’s here and there. They speak about their products’ features and benefits all throughout their blogs – even those that are more generic and top-of-funnel focused.
• Seamless Onboarding: The product’s new user onboarding experience is incredibly smooth, which proves the product’s value immediately and increases the chances of converting free trial users.
• An Authority Podcast: Document360 hosts a niche podcast on knowledge bases and regularly hosts other leaders in the field. This expands their reach and increases their brand authority.

Check out the complete case study here.

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#15. Buffer: 3x Reach and Engagement on Facebook

Buffer is one of the most popular social media scheduling and engagement tools on the market. In late 2016, their marketing team dramatically changed its Facebook posting strategy.

Their change resulted in tripling their monthly reach and engagement. Here’s what they did:

• Less Posting: They began focusing less on frequency and more on quality, only posting entertaining or educational content.
• Curated Content: Instead of constantly posting original content, Buffer found that curated content from other publishers can perform just as well.
• Boosted Posts: It doesn’t cost a ton to give your posts a little bump and see huge increases in reach. Buffer spent around $40/day on boosting their posts.

Check out the full case study from Buffer.

#16. ActiveCampaign: How They Grew to Over 50,000 Customers

ActiveCampaign has emerged over the past few years as a market leader in the email and marketing automation space. But this hasn’t always been the case.

They grew rapidly in 2016 and 2017, taking them over 50,000 customers by early 2018. Here’s how they did it:

• Clear Target Personas: ActiveCampaign is very clear on who they’re targeting. They have fantastic landing pages for each vertical they’re going after.
• An Effective Conversion Funnel: Not only do they have a free trial to get users in the door, but the next step in the funnel after a free trial is a $9/month subscription. There’s no big jump to hundreds per month, allowing users to move through the conversion funnel with little friction.
• Software Review Pages: Their pages on software review sites like G2 and Capterra rank really well thanks to loads of positive reviews – a reflection of their great product.

Check out the full case study here.

#17. MeetEdgar: $144k MRR After 11 Months in Business

MeetEdgar offers automated social media marketing solutions to businesses of all shapes and sizes. After only 11 months in business, they grew to $144k MRR.

Here’s how they did it:

• Low Commitment CTA’s: Their primary CTA’s early on were built around free trials and used low commitment copy like “Get Your Invitation” as opposed to those that required a little more work like “Start Your Free Trial.”
• Consistent Content: It’s not the sexiest tactic, but they’ve focused on publishing consistently, resulting in solid organic traffic.
• Leading with Story: Much of MeetEdgar’s sales content focuses on their story, making their company more personable and relatable to prospects.

Read the full case study here.

#18. Zapier: Zero to 600,000+ Users in Just Three Years

Zapier is a major player in the automation world, allowing marketers to easily integrate apps and software without being familiar with APIs.

Zapier grew to over 600,000 users within three years of its launch. Here’s how they did it:

• Paid Beta: To get their first users, Zapier charged $100 for access to their first beta. They didn’t necessarily need the money but wanted their users to commit to using the product.
• App-to-App Landing Pages: Their marketing team created landing pages for every integration Zapier offered, capturing a ton of search traffic and often converting.
• Co-Marketing: Zapier took advantage of their 100+ integration partners to get help promoting their product through their partners’ marketing channels.

Read the full Zapier case study here.

#19. ConvertKit: A Long Road to $1.7m MRR

ConvertKit is a SaaS web application helping creators build audiences and market to them. Founder Nathan Barry had a slow start in building his product, but it took off in 2016.

ConvertKit now boasts $1.7 million in MRR. Here’s how they got there:

• A Narrow Niche: In the early days, the software was trying to do too much. In 2015, they narrowed their niche and began focusing primarily on bloggers.
• Partner Webinars: ConvertKit reached out to many of their partners pitching co-marketed webinars. Many took them up on it, expanding their audience big time.
• Adding a Freemium Model: They added a freemium model to their plans, not only to upsell these users but also to earn referrals and exposure through them.

#20. Drift: A Multi Million Dollar Brand Built on Content Strategy

Drift revolutionized B2B marketing with the invention of a new category: conversational marketing. Their vision is to end forms for lead generation and replace them with conversations through chatbots.

Since their founding in 2016, they’ve been trusted by over 50,000 businesses to help them align sales and marketing through their product. This is largely in part due to their content marketing strategy. Here’s how they did it:

• 6 Star Content: Many in the marketing world are familiar with “10x content,” but Drift’s marketing team went after 6 star content. They sought to create content significantly better than everyone else’s in the market.
• Diverse Content Mix: Although most of their content is focused on top-of-funnel topics, they also have a healthy amount of case studies, product features, branded content, transcripted podcasts, and more.
• Co-marketing: Drift regularly features other companies in their content, giving them a healthy boost of exposure and brand awareness thanks to the reach of their partner companies.

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#21. Bonjoro: How They Grew To Over 40,000 Users With Earned Media

Bonjoro is a platform dedicated to helping users improve customer engagement with personal videos.

Their focus on earned media helped them grow to over 40,000 users. Here’s how they did it:

• Podcasts: Bonjoro pitched hundreds of podcast hosts on having members of Bonjoro’s team on, leading to being featured on over 100 podcasts.
• PR Outreach: Bonjoro earned a ton of press through releases and pitching queries on Help a Reporter Out.
• Webinars: Bonjoro’s CMO partnered with companies in similar niches and earned exposure through many co-marketed webinar events.

Read Bonjoro’s full case study here.

#22. Chris Von Wilpert - The Ski Slope Strategy for $100,000 Per Month

Chris Von Wilpert wanted to create a system of compounding traffic in order to scale a small startup. To achieve this, he used a tactic he coined himself called The Ski Slope Strategy.

This content marketing strategy helped him grow to over $100,000 in MRR fairly quickly. Here’s how he did it:

• Build Topic Clusters: The first step to the ski slope strategy is to create topic clusters to capture new organic opportunities. Rather than one-off blog posts, he created clusters of related posts for each topic.
• Marketing Promotion: Once he captured traffic with topic clusters, he ran promotions to convert his traffic and capture emails. These included giveaways, discount offers, courses, and tools.
• Case Studies: Once he began driving traffic and capturing emails, he heavily pushed case studies in order to push leads over the edge and convert them to customers.

Read more about Chris Von Wilpert’s case study here.

Work with a B2B Marketing Agency

Hopefully these B2B marketing examples have inspired you to accelerate your own business’ growth!

But rest assured, most of these tactics and strategies are not quick fixes or easy hacks. They require time and effort.

And unless you’re a B2B digital marketing expert, it’s going to take you a while to get your growth marketing to work for you.

Want to partner with a company that’s been there, done that?

Apollo Digital is a full-service B2B digital marketing company. We’ve worked with over a dozen B2B companies spread through multiple industries, and we can help you too!

Touch base with us today for a free consultation call.

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The complete guide to writing compelling B2B case studies

• Netta Kivilis

This post is part of our series  Marketing Now , about marketing activities that will always serve you well, regardless of market conditions and external factors. We believe that “right now” is always the time to invest in marketing initiatives that will serve you in the short and long term.

Sign up below to receive an email update whenever we publish a new post in the series, and read all other posts in the series  here .

Case studies are a valuable asset for a startup. They’re “social proof” that highlights your wins and the value you create for customers. If you’re talking to a large US retailer and you send them two case studies of other large US retailers, that’s a huge credibility boost right there.

Here’s our guide for creating an effective B2B case study, including our case study interview question list and case study template .

Case study creation process

• Identify the right stakeholder: your champion or your buyer, someone intimately familiar with how your product is being used.
• Set up an interview with her, and send her the interview questions in advance. Here’s our list of case study questions . Set up a 60-minute meeting – the interview will probably be shorter, but better be on the safe side (and allow some time for chitchat).
• Record the interview (after asking for permission). Video is best.
• Using the interview materials, create the case study draft, including a quote from your interviewee (whether lifted directly from the interview or one that you draft for them). Here’s our case study template .
• If you’re not a writer or a native English speaker, have a professional writer edit your draft.
• Send the customer the draft for editing, review, and approval.
• Design the case study in various formats: 1-pager PDF people can download or share via email, a shortened web version (few paragraphs), and a 1-paragraph summary.
• Publish! A new case study merits a marketing campaign – see our checklist for making the most of it.

Case Study examples

Here are a few examples of case studies we created or were involved with:

• Dig Security + HiBob
• Blue Seedling + Dig Security
• Tamnoon + Zinnia
• OpenLegacy + AIG

Case Study Frequently Asked Questions

When should I ask a customer for a case study? Timing really is everything with case studies. Too early and you have no results to share. Too late and your champion might have moved on, or the customer might be asking for more and no longer happy. Try to time it so that you just completed a project milestone, you have some quantifiable results to share, and the customer is super happy.

How should I ask for it? Make sure to mention those recent successes or milestones. Use Positive Framing and present what’s in it for the customer.

Who should write the case study? We believe you don’t have to be a professional writer or content marketer to write a case study. Even technical founders can take a stab . That said, make sure you run your case study draft by a pro writer or copyeditor before you send it for your customer to review, and before you publish the final version.

How long should a case study be? Aim for a 1-pager (about 500 words, single spaced). We also recommend creating a 3-4 paragraph version for the web, and a one-paragraph version for email / social media, and for documents that include a few case studies.

Consider incorporating images as well: a screenshot from your software, key graphs or other data visualization, photos of the factory or product if applicable.

How long does it take to complete a case study? Anything from a few weeks to a few months. Interviewing your champion and writing up the draft is usually quick: 1-2 weeks, depending how busy you both are. The rest of the time is customer revisions, and getting the case study approved for publishing… more on that in the next question.

What if I don’t get approval to publish? First off, don’t give up. We have threads of 50+ emails trying to finalize approvals for a case study. In the end, having an approved case study with a killer quote is worth it. That said, if you’re being told you won’t get an approval (maybe your champion left, or the company tightened its policy), don’t despair. We recommend fully anonymizing the case study for external publication. That way, the story and benefits will still be there. And during private sales conversations you can hint or mention the actual company in the case study. Yes, an anonymized case study isn’t nearly as powerful as a full one. But it’s better than nothing, not to mention all the hours you invested in creating it.

Should case studies be gated (behind a lead generation form)? A common question is whether case studies should only be accessible after a lead submits their contact information. Some say they should be gated, like any other content. Some say they shouldn’t, because they’re much more sales-y and bottom-of-the-funnel compared to top-of-the-funnel educational content. Our recommendation? Somewhere in the middle. Create a shortened version of the case study to post on the web, and let leads who are interested access the full case study by submitting their contact info. That way, you ensure that everyone is exposed to the “win” described in the case study, and those with a particularly strong interest self-qualify themselves by submitting their details.

How many case studies should I write?

There’s no such thing as “too many case studies.” Capture all the wins that you can. Every case study is an opportunity to appeal to similar leads. For example, a Japanese regional bank will appreciate a case study of another Japanese regional bank, much more than a case study of a European regional bank. Case studies are also pretty much evergreen, so they will serve you for years to come. It’s a worthwhile investment of time, and a negligible investment of direct $.

Resources in this post

• Case study interview question list
• Case study template

More “Marketing Now” posts

• How to be boring: Our guide to high-performance, low-creativity marketing campaigns
• Our guide to effective market research for B2B startups
• Our guide to building your marketing database from 0 to 5000 leads

Netta is the founder and CEO of Blue Seedling. She loves third wave coffee, thin crust pizza, and B2B marketing.

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5 Steps to Create an Outstanding Marketing Plan [Free Templates]

Published: January 04, 2024

Do you take a good, hard look at your team's marketing strategy every year?

You should. Without an annual marketing plan, things can get messy — and it's nearly impossible to put a number on your budget for the projects, hiring, and outsourcing over the course of a year if you don't have a plan.

To make your plan's creation easier, we've put together a list of what to include in your plan and a few different planning templates where you can easily fill in the blanks.

To start, let's dive into how to create a marketing plan and then take a look at what a high-level marketing plan has inside.

In this article, we're going to discuss:

• What a High-Level Marketing Plan Includes

How to Create a Marketing Plan

• Marketing Plan Templates You Can Use
• Simplified Marketing Plan Template
• Plus — Social Media Plan Templates

Free Marketing Plan Template

Outline your company's marketing strategy in one simple, coherent plan.

• Pre-Sectioned Template
• Completely Customizable
• Example Prompts
• Professionally Designed

You're all set!

Click this link to access this resource at any time.

Fill out this form to access a free marketing plan template.

Marketing plan outline.

Download This Marketing Plan Outline for Free

The above marketing plan outline will help you create an effective plan that easily generates buy-in from stakeholders and effectively guides your marketing efforts.

Marketing plans can get quite granular to reflect the industry you're in, whether you're selling to consumers (B2C) or other businesses (B2B), and how big your digital presence is. Nonetheless, here are the elements every effective marketing plan includes:

1. Business Summary

In a marketing plan, your business summary is exactly what it sounds like: a summary of the organization. It's essential to include this information so that all stakeholders, including your direct reports, learn about your company in detail before delving into the more strategic components of your plan.

Even if you’re presenting this plan to people who’ve been in the company for a while, it doesn’t hurt to get everyone on the same page.

Most business summaries include:

The company name

Where it's headquartered

Its mission statement

Our marketing plan outline also includes information on marketing leadership, which is especially helpful for companies with large marketing teams.

2. SWOT Analysis

Your marketing plan's business summary also includes a SWOT analysis , which covers your business's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It’s essential to include this information so you can create targeted strategies that help you capitalize on your strengths and improve upon your weaknesses.

In my experience, you need a lot of patience when doing a SWOT analysis; it requires market research and competitive analysis to become truly accurate. I tend to revisit this section periodically, adjusting it as I discover more information about my own business and competition.

3. Business Initiatives

The business initiatives element of a marketing plan helps you segment the various goals of your department. Be careful not to include big-picture company initiatives, which you'd normally find in a business plan. This section should outline the projects that are specific to marketing. You'll also describe the goals of those projects and how those goals will be measured.

Every initiative should follow the SMART method for goal-making . They should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. For example, a broad goal might be something like, "Increase my Facebook following." But a SMART-ified version of this goal could be, "Increase my Facebook following by 30% by June." See the difference?

4. Customer Analysis

In this part of the marketing plan outline, you get plenty of space to share all the data you collected during your market research . If your company has already done a thorough market research study, this section of your marketing plan might be easier to put together. Either way, try to do your research before synthesizing it in a shareable document like this one.

Ultimately, this element of your marketing plan will help you describe the industry you're selling to and your buyer persona . A buyer persona is a semi-fictional description of your ideal customer, focusing on traits like:

Personal challenges

Triggering event

5. Competitor Analysis

Positioning

Market share

Our marketing plan template includes space to list out the specific products you compete with, as well as other facets of the other company’s strategy, such as their blogging efforts or customer service reputation. Keep this part of your plan simple — your full competitive analysis should be done separately. Here are a few competitive analysis templates to get started.

6. Market Strategy

Your market strategy uses the information included in the above sections to describe how your company should approach the market. 

For instance, when I'm filling out this section, I always pull insights from my SWOT analysis, my competitive analysis, and my general market research. This helps me write targeted, effective descriptions of my strategies.

Here's an example: if you found that one of your competitors employs stronger social media marketing strategies , you might add "We'll post 3 times per week on our social media profiles" under "Promotion."

In our full-length marketing plan outline, the market strategy section contains the "seven Ps of marketing" (or the “ extended marketing mix ”):

Physical Evidence

(You'll learn more about these seven sub-components inside our free marketing plan template, which you can download below.)

When I created my first marketing plan, I made the mistake of confusing the marketing budget section of my plan with my product's price and other financials.

Here's a better way to think of this section: it should describe how much money the business has allotted the marketing team to pursue the initiatives and goals outlined in the elements above.

Depending on how many individual expenses you have, you should consider itemizing this budget by what specifically you'll spend your budget on. Example marketing expenses include:

Outsourcing costs to a marketing agency and/or other providers

Marketing software

Paid promotions

Events (those you'll host and/or attend)

Knowing the budget and doing analysis on the marketing channels you want to invest in, you should be able to come up with a plan for how much budget to invest in which tactics based on expected ROI. From there, you'll be able to come up with financial projections for the year. These won't be 100% accurate but can help with executive planning.

Remember: Your marketing plan only includes a summary of the costs. We recommend keeping a separate document or Excel sheet to help you calculate your budget much more effectively. Here’s a marketing budget template to get started .

8. Marketing Channels

Your marketing plan should also include a list of your marketing channels. While your company might promote the product itself using certain ad space, your marketing channels are where you'll publish the content that educates your buyers, generates leads, and spreads awareness of your brand.

If you publish (or intend to publish) on social media, this is the place to talk about it. Use the Marketing Channels section of your marketing plan to map out which social networks you want to launch a business page on, what you'll use this social network for, and how you'll measure your success on this network.

Part of this section's purpose is to prove to your superiors, both inside and outside the marketing department, that these channels will serve to grow the business.

Businesses with extensive social media presences might even consider elaborating on their social strategy in a separate social media plan template.

9. Marketing Technology

Last, but certainly not least, your marketing plan should include an overview of the tools you'll include in your marketing technology (MarTech) stack . These are the tools that will help you achieve the goals you outlined in the previous sections. Since all types of marketing software usually need a generous investment from your company’s leadership, it’s essential to connect them to a potential ROI for your business.

For each tool, describe what exactly you’ll use it for, and be sure that it’s a strategy that you’ve mentioned elsewhere. For instance, we wouldn't recommend listing an advertising management tool if you didn’t list “ PPC Advertising ” under “Marketing Channels.”

• Conduct a situation analysis.
• Define your target audience.
• Write SMART goals.
• Analyze your tactics.
• Set your budget.

1. Conduct a situation analysis.

The first step I take when creating a marketing plan is conducting a SWOT analysis. It helps me uncover the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats facing my business.

Additionally, I need a good picture of the current market. How do I compare to my competitors? Doing a competitor analysis can help.

In doing so, I can identify the gaps (and opportunities) in a competitor's approach. What are they missing? What can I offer that'll give me a competitive advantage?

Answering questions like this should help you figure out what your customer wants, which brings us to step number two.

2. Define your target audience.

If your company already has buyer personas , this step might just mean you have to refine your current personas.

But if you don't have a buyer persona, you should create one. To do this, you might have to conduct market research.

Your buyer persona should include demographic information such as age, gender, and income. However, it will also include psychographic information such as pain points and goals. What drives your audience? What problems do they have that your product or service can fix?

Once you have this information written out, it'll help you define your goals, which brings us to step number three.

3. Write SMART goals.

My mother always used to tell me, "You can't go somewhere unless you have a road map." Now, for me, someone who's geographically challenged, that was literal advice.

However, it can also be applied metaphorically to marketing. You can't improve your ROI unless you know what your goals are.

After you've figured out your current situation and know your audience, you can begin to define your SMART goals .

SMART goals are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. This means that all your goals should be specific and include a time frame for which you want to complete them.

For example, your goal could be to increase your Instagram followers by 15% in three months. Depending on your overall marketing goals, this should be relevant and attainable. Additionally, this goal is specific, measurable, and time-bound.

Before you start any tactic, you should write out your goals. Then, you can begin to analyze which tactics will help you achieve that goal. That brings us to step number four.

4. Analyze your tactics.

At this point, you've written down your goals based on your target audience and current situation.

Now, you have to figure out what tactics will help you achieve your goals. Plus, what are the right channels and action items to focus on?

For example, if your goal is to increase your Instagram followers by 15% in three months, your tactics might include hosting a giveaway, responding to every comment, and posting three times on Instagram per week.

Once you know your goals, brainstorming several tactics to achieve them should be easy. That said, you may not be able to pursue every tactic on your list (unless you have an unlimited budget, which, if so, jealous ) — which brings us to step number five.

5. Set your budget.

Before you can begin implementing any of the ideas that you've come up with in the steps above, you have to know your budget.

For example, your tactics might include social media advertising. However, if you don't have the budget for that, then you might not be able to achieve your goals.

While you're writing out your tactics, be sure to note an estimated budget. You can include the time it'll take to complete each tactic in addition to the assets you might need to purchase, such as ad space.

Now that you know how to create your marketing plan, let's dive into creating a marketing campaign outline that will help you reach the goals outlined plan.

Marketing Plan Timeline

Rolling out a new marketing plan is a big lift. To make sure things are running smoothly with all of your projects, you'll want to create a timeline that maps out when each project is happening.

A marketing plan timeline allows your team to view all projects, campaigns, events, and other related tasks in one place — along with their deadlines. This ensures everyone on your team knows what’s due, when it’s due, and what’s up next in the pipeline. Typically these plans cover marketing efforts for the entire year, but some companies may operate on a bi-annual or quarterly basis.

Once you’ve completed your analysis, research, and set goals, it’s time to set deadlines for your assignments. From new blog posts and content initiatives to product launches, everything will need a deadline. Take into account any holidays or events taking place over the course of the year.

While setting deadlines for the entire year may seem daunting, start by estimating how long you think each task will take and set a deadline accordingly. Track the time it actually takes for you to complete similar types of projects. Once you’ve completed a few of them, you’ll have a better idea of how long each takes and will be able to set more accurate deadlines.

For each project, you’ll want to build in time for:

• Brainstorming : This is the first phase where your idea comes to life in a project outline. Decide what you want to achieve and which stakeholders need to be involved to meet your goal. Set a due date and set up any necessary meetings.
• Planning : This can include determining the project’s scope, figuring out how much budget will be allocated for it, finalizing deadlines and who is working on each task. Map out any campaigns needed for each project (social media, PR, sales promotions, landing pages, events, etc.).
• Execution : This third phase is all about your project launch. Decide on a date to launch and monitor the progress of the project. Set up a system for tracking metrics and KPIs.
• Analysis : In this final phase you will analyze all of your performance data to see whether or not your marketing efforts paid off. Did you meet your goals? Did you complete your projects on time and within budget?

All projects and their deadlines should be in a central location where your team can access them whether that’s a calendar like HubSpot's tool , shared document, or project management tool.

One-Page Marketing Plan Template

As demonstrated above, a marketing plan can be a long document. When you want to share information with stakeholders or simply want an overview of your plan for quick reference, having a shorter version on hand can be helpful. A one-page marketing plan can be the solution, and we’ll discuss its elements below.

Include your company name, list the names of individuals responsible for enacting the different stages of your plan, and a brief mission statement.

2. Business Initiatives

3. Target Market

Outline your target audience(s) that your efforts will reach. You can include a brief overview of your industry and buyer personas.

This is an overview of the money you’ll spend to help you meet your marketing goals. Create a good estimate of how much you'll spend on each facet of your marketing program.

5. Marketing Channels

List the channels you’ll use to achieve your marketing goals. Describe why you're using each channel and what you want to accomplish so everyone is on the same page.

Free Marketing Plan Template [Word]

Now that you know what to include in your marketing plan, it's time to grab your marketing plan template and see how best to organize the six elements explained above. The following marketing plan template opens directly in Microsoft Word, so you can edit each section as you see fit:

Download your marketing plan template here .

Marketing campaign template.

Your marketing plan is a high-level view of the different marketing strategies you’ll use to meet your business objectives. A marketing campaign template is a focused plan that will help achieve those marketing goals.

A marketing campaign template should include the following key components:

• Goals and KPIs: Identify the end goal for each of the individual campaigns you’ll run and the metrics you will use to measure the results of your campaign when it ends. For example, conversion rates, sales, sign-ups, etc.
• Channels: Identify the different channels you’ll use to enact your marketing campaign to reach your audience. Maybe you run a social media campaign on Twitter to raise brand awareness or a direct mail campaign to notify your audience of upcoming sales.
• Budget : Identify the budget you’ll need to run your campaign and how it will be distributed, like the amount you’ll spend on creating content or ad placements in different areas. Having these numbers also helps you later on when you quantify the success of your campaign, like ROI.
• Content: Identify the type of content you’ll create and distribute during your campaigns—for example, blog posts , video ads, email newsletters, etc.
• Teams and DRIs: Identify the teams and people that will be part of enacting your marketing plan from start to finish, like those responsible for creating your marketing assets, budgets, or analyzing metrics once campaigns are complete.
• Design: Identify what your marketing campaigns will look like and how you’ll use design elements to attract your audience. It’s important to note that your design should directly relate to the purpose of your campaign.

Digital Marketing Plan Template

A digital marketing plan is similar to a marketing campaign plan, but, as the name suggests, it’s tailored to the campaigns that you run online. Let’s go over the key components of a digital marketing plan template to help you stay on track to meet your goals.

• Objectives: The goals for your digital marketing and what you’re hoping to accomplish, like driving more traffic to your website . Maybe you want to drive more traffic to your website, or
• Budget : Identify how much it will cost to run your digital marketing campaign and how the money will be distributed. For example, ad placement on different social media sites costs money, and so does creating your assets.
• Target audience: Which segments of your audience are you hoping to reach with this campaign? It’s essential to identify the audiences you want to reach with your digital marketing, as different channels house different audience segments.
• Channels: Identifies the channels that are central to your digital marketing campaign.
• Timeline: Explains the length of time your digital campaigns will run, from how long it should take to create your assets to the final day of the campaign.

Many people use social media in their digital campaigns, and below we’ll discuss some ideas you can use for inspiration.

Social Media Marketing Plan Templates

As your marketing department grows, so will your presence on social media. And as your social media presence grows, so will your need to measure, plan, and re-plan what types of content you want to publish across each network.

If you're looking for a way to deepen your social media marketing strategy — even further than the marketing plan template above — the following collection of social media marketing plan templates is perfect for you:

Download 10 social media reporting templates here .

In the above collection of marketing plan templates, you'll get to fill in the following contents (and more) to suit your company:

• Annual social media budget tracking
• Weekly social media themes
• Required social media image dimension key
• Pie chart on social media traffic sorted by platform
• Social media post calendar and publish time

Below, let's review the social media reporting templates, and what you'll find in each one.

1. Social Media Questions

This template lists out questions to help you decide which social media management platform you should use.

What We Like

Once you know what social media tactics you're going to implement in your marketing plan, it's time to figure out what channels are right for you. This template will help you do that.

2. Facebook Live Schedule

If Facebook Live is one of the marketing tactics in your plan, this template will help you design an editorial calendar. With this template, you can organize what Facebook live's you want to do and when.

Once you've decided on dates, you can color-code your FB calendar and coordinate with your editorial calendar so everyone can see what lives are running in relation to other campaigns.

3. Instagram Post Log

Are you going to begin using Instagram regularly? Do you want to increase your following? With this template, you can organize your Instagram posts, so everyone on your team knows what posts are going live and when.

This is more than just a content calendar. You can use this doc to collaborate with your team on messaging, landing pages linked in your bio, and campaign rollouts.

4. Paid Social Media Template

With this template, you can organize your annual and monthly budget for your paid social media calendar.

With this spreadsheet, all you need to do is plug in your numbers and the formulas will do the works for you. I recommend using this in conjunction with your marketing plan budget to make sure you are not overspending and funds are allocated appropriately.

5. Social Media Audit

Conducting a social media audit? You can use this template to help you gather the right analytics. Tracking the results of your marketing efforts is key to determining ROI.

Use this template to track each of your campaigns to determine what worked and what didn't. From there, you can allocate funds for the strategies that deliver the results you want.

6. Social Media Editorial Calendar

With this template, you can organize your social media editorial calendar. For example, you can include social media posts for each platform, so your team knows what's going live on any given day.

This calendar makes it easy to track activity across every social media platform, since each platform is assigned a specific color. 

7. Social Media Image Sizes

With this template, your team can have the latest social media image sizes handy. This template includes image sizes for all major social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Having a resource like this readily available for your team ensures that everyone is on the same page regarding image sizes and prevents delays.

8. Social Media Marketing Proposal

With this template, you can create an entire social media marketing proposal. This will outline the social media goals, the scope of the work, and the tactics that you plan to implement.

This proposal functions as more of a deep dive into the marketing channel section of your marketing plan. It's relatively straightforward and contains all the essential sections of a proposal.

9. Social Media Reporting Template

With this template, you'll gain access to a slide deck that includes templates for social media reporting.

If you plan to implement social media in your marketing plan, these reporting templates can help you track your progress. If using the social media audit above, you can add all of your data here once it's been collected.

10. Hashtag Holidays

If you're going to lean into social media in your marketing plan, you can use hashtag holidays to generate ideas.

These holidays are a great way to fill out your social media publishing schedule. With this template, you'll get a list of all the hashtag holidays for the year. Once you've come up with content ideas, you can add them to your social media calendar.

Simple Marketing Plan Template

Of course, this type of planning takes a lot of time and effort. So if you're strapped for time before the holidays, give our new Marketing Plan Generator a try.

This tool simplifies yearly planning by asking prompted questions to help guide your process. You’ll be asked to input information about:

Try our free Marketing Plan Generator here .

• Your annual marketing mission statement, which is what your marketing is focused on for the year.
• The strategy that you’ll take with your marketing throughout the year to accomplish your marketing goals.
• Three main marketing initiatives that you’ll focus on during the year (i.e., brand awareness or building a high-quality pipeline) metrics you’ll use to measure your success.
• Your target goals for those marketing initiatives like generating 100 leads per week.
• Marketing initiatives that are not aligned with your current strategy to stay focused on your goals and activities that will help you be successful.

Once you input all information, the tool will spit out a table (as shown in the image below) that you can use to guide your processes.

Pro Tip: If the tool doesn't work, clear your browser's cache or access it in incognito mode.

Start the Marketing Planning Process Today

The best way to set up your marketing plan for the year is to start with quick wins first, that way you can ramp up fast and set yourself (and your team) up to hit more challenging goals and take on more sophisticated projects by Q4. So, what do you say? Are you ready to give it a spin?

Editor's note: This post was originally published in December 2016 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Don't forget to share this post!

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