B2B Myth of the Week: Simply Having a Website Is Enough
by Emily Swet
The Myth: Simply Having a Website Is Enough
The Truth: How Your Website Is Designed, Written, and Programmed Determines Its Performance
When was the last time you took a critical look at your B2B website design? In today’s market, B2B marketers simply can’t take a “one and done” approach to their web presence. Buyers have become acclimated to today’s standards. Content, searchability, user experience, aesthetics, and responsive design should be the drivers of your site layout. If your website hasn’t been updated in years, or if you haven’t fully fleshed out a recent redesign, we’ve put together a quick cheat sheet to get you up to speed.
5 Essential Building Blocks for B2B Websites
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Killer Content
Creativity and persuasive insights don’t just work for B2C companies. There is a still a person on the other side of your website making purchase decisions every day. The content on your website has the potential to differentiate you from your competitors and lead your prospects further into your sales funnel. Make sure yours is compelling and directive. And more than anything, check your content for clarity, accuracy, and usefulness to your prospects.
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Smart SEO & SEM
B2B marketers are getting savvier with search engine optimization and search engine marketing. And so should you. Since the rules are constantly changing, you can’t expect your site to produce results all by itself. Investing in an SEO/SEM specialist or using an agency to maximize your results based on cost efficiency is one of the smartest moves you can make. Use SEO and SEM to drive customers where you want them to go, then analyze their experience so you can make educated tweaks in the future.
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Intuitive User Experience
Is your site easy to navigate? Where are your visuals placed? Are your call-to-action buttons easy to find? The answers to these questions can mean the difference between a click and a bounce. Your users want to be led, and your user experience dictates where you lead them. A successful user experience follows the natural eye flow pattern across a website. If your site feels clunky or fraught with stopping points, you’re more likely to lose users. Consider a redesign that leads your user to a purchase decision.
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Engaging Aesthetics
The graphic design of your website has the power to elicit an emotional response as it is the first thing your buyer will see. Smart design works seamlessly with your content to convey a feeling, insight, or solution simply through imagery. You can set the tone right on the home page. The colors, fonts, photography, and illustrations you select can all affect those who visit the site. When done well, design can be a major point of differentiation from your competitors.
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Responsive Design
Considering Mashable called 2013 The Year of Responsive Web Design, if your site isn’t by now, you’re woefully behind. Responsive sites “respond to” the type of device they are being viewed on, resizing to a more appropriate layout and view. (Think: desktop vs. laptop vs. tablet vs. smartphone). Why is this important? Because your buyers aren’t on their desktops all the time. If they are on the road or in meetings, and unable to really experience your site on their mobile device, you’re likely to lose them – and fast.
Online presence isn’t something that is created overnight. It takes time, research, and a budget to make a website worth having. Yet the initial effort up front can pay you back in spades for the long term. Your ROI can make it well worth it. So with this in mind, it’s worth repeating: when was the last time you took a critical look at B2B website design?
Continue ReadingB2B Myth of the Week: All Your Salespeople Need Is the Gift of Gab
by MGB2B
The Myth: A Smooth-Talking Salesperson Needs No Tool
The Truth: Even the Best in the Business Should Have Some Tools Up Their Sleeves
In the words of Ben Affleck in the movie Boiler Room, “In every business interaction, a sale is made. Either you sell the client or they sell you on a reason they can’t use you.” It’s a Hollywood notion that the best salespeople can sell anything to anyone with nothing but the art of persuasion.
While there are some salespeople who fit this mold, in this day and age, the more tools they have in their arsenal, the better. B2B brands are seeing a higher demand for content, especially visual content, than ever before. Now is a crucial time for businesses to provide tools and train their sales teams on how to use them. You might think that visual content is a B2C tactic, but as Gary Vaynerchuk says, “behind every B is a C.”
It’s important for salespeople to acknowledge the art of the sale is not just about the pitch, but about how you get them to hear your pitch in the first place.
Here Are 3 Types of Content All B2B Salespeople Should Consider Including in Their Toolbelts:
- Infographics – A Creative Way to Present the Facts. B2B doesn’t have to be all about lists and spreadsheets. Infographics will have a lot more impact on prospects. Start off by creating a few of them (you can do this with a tool like PiktoChart, use an in-house designer, or hire a B2B marketing agency to create them) so that your salespeople have them ready to go. While infographics are often used on social media or email marketing programs, salespeople can also present them to lukewarm prospects as a door-opener. “I thought you might find this infographic on _________ helpful as you go into the New Year.”
- White Papers – Persuading from a Different Angle. White papers can be used in multiple ways. Primarily, they serve an educational purpose. But they also provide salespeople with an interactive and engaging way to provide a counter-rebuttal to the challenges you receive from prospects. White papers should be as colorful, well-designed, and engaging as infographics. Perhaps the most important thing that a white paper can do is give your brand authority and credibility. They might be just the right push to give your prospect reason enough to choose your brand over a competitor’s.
- Video Marketing – The Most Memorable Sales Tool. Marketers everywhere know how important video is heading into 2018. It is one of the most effective and memorable ways to get a point across to sales prospects. Try incorporating video into your sales pitch instead of talking about how great your product/service is. A video can accomplish this in many different ways: from How-To Guides to Live Video Chats to Engaging Case Studies. The level of video production doesn’t have to be on par with a Hollywood movie. Research has proven that content and creativity are important, but the value of the video is what most people remember.
Natural sales talent is important, but it should be complemented by something more substantial. With your competition likely jumping into the content marketing game, it’s important to do it right. Make sure your marketing team and your sales team are working together to create and distribute content in ways that propel the brand forward. Each member of the team should have the tools they need to drive prospects along the sales funnel. The goal is the same for everyone in your organization: conversion.
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