A B2B web presence should be at least a collection of: targeted, integrated, interlinked, ongoing interactions.
For a B2B Consultancy to stand out from the masses and warrant a premium price, the company must stand out. Be it for: knowing the most, offering the best service, consistency, innovation or quality. And their Online presence should express this, be it at a corporate level, or extended to that of its associates, alumni and fans.
The tools are there – PDF thought pieces, ebooks, quick email updates, in depth analytic material or tools, insights into current market developments, events, forums, networking groups, surveys and web-casts. The hard part being creating themes and learning paths to take your clients down – something that engages the client and links to their interactions with their account manager/consultant. Something that rings home with their current issues and the wins they’re after.
A plan might roll out something like this.
- Marketing translates and polishes great though pieces into quick to market, well thought out, easy to digest (and share) nuggets.
- Events are booked to discuss the emerging themes.
- LinkedIn groups form post event, and webcasts or one to ones are booked for further dissection.
- Collections of nuggets are turned into publications for distribution and sent with Deep Insights to clients to devour offline.
- A full record is kept of client interactions preferences, consulting, thought pieces received and the events they have attended – even what they browse, how much they read and what’s their favourite topic.
- Marketing augments client engagement and supports Account Managers with “your clients may like this – please forward or add them to our distribution”.
- Possibly networks of clients and consultants form, discussing relevant themes, formulating areas of interest and shaping a companies offerings.
And harking from my Rework chapter today (37 signals) – Who knows, the company may even start to think like a famous chef, and publish their best recipes for all – knowing that even if a competitor tires to do what they do – only they know how to really mix the ingredients.
Nick Allen - Marketing, Growth & Running 