stephen's blog

Why Sales Teams are Marketing's BFF for B2B Success

Successful B2B marketing campaigns need strong sales team support.

No exception.

As a marketing leader, you will need a sales team to:👇

1. Provide first-hand customer profile information.
2. Let you know what products or services the customers like and dislike and why.
3. Follow up with leads and provide the feedback.
4. Inform you of the objections from potential customers.
5. Help you identify which value proposition is effective.

The reality is… 

The Old Way is Out: Why B2B Marketing Needs a New Approach

How to do B2B marketing:

Old way

1. Heavily invest in trade shows.
2. No clear ROI measurements.
3. Only sales lead marketing.
4. Ignore marketing.

New Way

1. Sales and marketing work together.
2. Data-driven marketing to build up relationships.
3. Use digital marketing aligned with offline marketing to maximize ROI.
4. Strategically invest in trade shows by measuring ROI.

Marketing + Sales > Sales

99% of B2B Strategies Fail the Long Game

99% of B2B digital marketing strategy I see doesn’t do enough:

* Playing a long game
* Collecting market feedback and data
* Talking to customers

Too much quick win.

Not enough strategic play.

The Overlooked Market Entry Tactic: Brand Partnerships

One B2B marketing tactic most companies often forget when entering a new international market…

You can use brand and product collaboration partnerships to enter a new international market. 

Your company has a unique technology and a well-known brand outside a new international market.

Consider partnering with a local brand in a new international market to utilize your technology in their products.

Yes, just like Intel.

They don’t sell their products to end users.

Expanding Your Horizons: When B2B Digital Marketing Makes Sense

I don’t think every B2B company needs digital marketing. 

If you are in the niche industry and only targeting several accounts…

The truth is you probably don’t need any B2B digital marketing campaigns.

You just need a company website.

You should put more resources into your sales team.

On the other hand, if you are expanding to any new market segments… 

Where many potential clients don’t know you or you don’t know exactly who your potential clients are.

B2B Digital marketing campaigns will come in handy. 

From One-to-One to One-to-Many: Optimizing Sales and Marketing Follow-Ups

Sales is all about follow-up.

Not only sales but marketing is also the process of follow-up.

They are just in different forms.

Sales is a one-to-one follow-up.

Marketing is one-to-many follow-up.

You will need both forms to build up the trust with clients.

More importantly, whether sales or marketing follow-up, you all need to do it more than once…

Probably much more than once.

Entering New Markets: To Cut or Not to Cut Prices?

Your price is high…

When you enter the new international market.

What can you do? 

There are typically four ways to solve this problem:

1. Lower your price

The Secret to 100% Open Rates in China: WeChat Marketing

One thing I wish I had known before… 

I started to outreach B2B potential customers in China.

This method almost guarantees 100% delivery and open rate.👇

What is the primary digital channel to discuss business online in China?

It is not email, text, or Zoom. 

It is WeChat.

Why?

In China, people value convenience more. 

It is more convenient to do everything in one app. 

That is how WeChat becomes a super-app. 

People in China put their personal life and professional life all in WeChat.

The Hard Truth About LinkedIn Networking

Harsh truth here.

Some LinkedIn users only engage with you when seeking new opportunities.

If I don’t have a relationship with them, I am not eager to help them.

Online networking is like offline networking.

It takes time to build a relationship.

So…don’t be active on LinkedIn only when you have needs.

It is too late.

Spend time having a conversation with your contacts regularly.


The best time to network is when you don’t need to network.

 

10X Weekly Leads: Baidu SEO & PPC Success for SaaS AI and AR Company

PERFECT is a NASDAQ-listed leading global SaaS provider. It specializes in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Augmented Reality (AR) solutions for the beauty and fashion industry. 

Due to the global IT strategy, the website is centrally managed from its headquarters in Taiwan, adding complexity to Baidu SEO and PPC optimization efforts. To boost online visibility within Mainland China, PERFECT adopted a strategy involving Baidu SEO and Baidu PPC for online promotion.