It was so much more comfortable in the past.
Your product range of industrial excavators, mining equipment, and other large-scale machinery took center stage at trade shows.
Prospective customers thronged your exhibit and took keen interest in the capabilities of your products. Your brochures flew off the shelves. And you walked away with a much higher list of potential leads.
What’s more, your existing customers referred others to you. Sales was never a challenge as you continually had leads fall into your sales pipeline. You didn’t have to think about terms like B2B inbound marketing, lead generation, or nurture email tracks.
Now, however, you feel the landscape has changed dramatically.
Trade shows don’t generate the same ROI as they used to in the past.
New competitors have propped up, seemingly out of nowhere. They have sleek, well-designed websites and are eating away at your business with technical whitepapers, informative blogs, and unique case studies.
The quality of your products hasn’t changed, but it seems as if your marketing and outreach efforts lag way behind the rest.
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Has the internet altered the ways of doing business this dramatically?
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Your concerns are correct.
A new wave of millennial B2B decision makers have rapidly disrupted the ways of the past.
According to Google, 90% of B2B researchers use the internet to research business purchases.
Well before they pick up the phone to talk to one of your sales representatives, they have already understood all they needed to about your company and specific offerings.
In fact, on average, a B2B researcher will conduct 12 searches before landing on a specific brand’s site.
Hence, if you’re not doing all you can to ensure a robust online presence, you’re leaving money on the table. Your audience won’t know you exist and your firm won’t get shortlisted for potential vendors.
How Do I Get Started With B2B SEO?
1. Develop Buyer Personas
In the years you’ve spent building and scaling your company, you understand how long it takes to close a B2B purchase.
The first stakeholder in the purchase is usually a senior manager who expresses the need for your product. If, for example, your firm sells forklifts and other warehouse equipment, then it’s likely the head of warehouse operations that will request a new machine.
That’s because they have a crucial problem – improving warehouse efficiency and delivery timelines – that necessitates better equipment.
Said individual start their research (likely on the internet) and set aside a few firms that meet the mark. The list circulates among the C-suite such as the CFO and CEO, who examine each product based on factors like price, efficiency, service warranties, and user reviews.
A substantial analysis follows. And the end decision is made once all stakeholders sign off – which means their concerns are addressed.
In the past, this process took place after lots of face to face meetings, calls, and product demonstrations.
In the age of the internet, however, senior executives no longer need to allocate time for these meetings.
Savvy firms recognize this major transition. That’s why they create content to deal with each stakeholder concern.
The CEO probably wants to understand whether the machine has assisted other firms in improving their operational efficiency and warehouse uptime. The solution? Develop case studies showcasing how the use of these products overcame critical operational challenges.
The CFO is more concerned with cash flow management as they don’t want an expensive product to cripple them, financially. For them, it’s a matter of developing payment schedules and deferred payment options.
Similarly, the COO wants reassurance that the machine has a high product lifecycle and won’t be affected by ongoing maintenance and repair. A technical paper highlighting your product’s features is the ticket.
At the heart of these content assets are your buyer persona examples. These are a fictional representation of all the stakeholders in the B2B purchase decision – but with real questions and concerns, the same that your sales representatives deal with on an ongoing basis.
Only when you’ve fleshed out your buyer personas can you start developing content to answer their concerns. Content and SEO go hand-in-hand — your online presence (in terms of ranking for search queries) necessitates top-tier, in-depth content.
2. Conduct Keyword Research
Your buyer persona is an essential first step, but what comes after is equally necessary.
Keyword research, or the art of analyzing actual search queries used by potential customers, can mean the difference between a top search engine result or negligible visibility.
You might assume that only targeting the search query ‘warehouse forklift equipment’ is enough to propel your online presence.
Google disagrees.
The term ‘warehouse forklift types’ has more search volume. And, as evident from the search results page, specific brand searches are even more prevalent.
You’re going to want to target search terms that drive relevant traffic and, hopefully, convert into leads. Is there any point ranking for non-existent queries?
The start of your keyword research strategy should be done internally through a brainstorming session. Rope in your sales team as they’re intimately aware with the questions potential buyers have as well as recurring concerns.
You can also take this a step further by talking to existing customers to understand their research process.
Social media networks and industry forums such as LinkedIn, Quora, Reddit, Twitter, and maybe even Facebook groups will give you an ear on the ground.
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You might discover specific industry terms that they use as well as the questions they ask one another.
If potential customers are discussing their problems on online forums and social media networks, there’s a high chance that they’re plugging these queries on search engines, too.
Once you’ve come up with an extensive list of terms, queries, and search phrases, it’s essential that you validate your assumptions. One way to do that is by using Google’s autocomplete and ‘searches related to’ feature, which we highlighted at the start of this section.
Another is to use a third-party keyword research tool like Ahrefs.
As you can see, Ahrefs offers suggestions of keywords you can incorporate into your content.
Conclusion
The types of digital marketing strategies for your business might vary, but SEO is one that has withstood the test of time. The internet is now the first go-to channel for all types of research – whether you’re looking for a new cafe to impress your Saturday night date or to solve a key business concern.
And if you think SEO isn’t crucial for your B2B firm, then it’s high time you re-examine that approach.