Australian B2b Marketing Outlook

3 years ago, b2b marketing was still relatively unknown in Australia. It was hypothesized by Kimon Lycos (of mihellandlycos.com) that this was due to the significant percentages earned by b2c marketers for each advertisement and the difficulties faced in b2b marketing. Marketing for b2b companies can’t be influenced by catchy jingles, colorful TV advertisements or promoted by famous celebrities, an advantage enjoyed by b2c marketers. B2b marketing relies on the marketer’s own people skills, product knowledge and properly done company research. But b2c marketers should learn from b2b marketers. B2b marketing is generally more targeted compared to b2c. A strategy which is laudable especially when compared to b2c's irritatingly bullish marketing strategies.

Green Hat has conducted a research report that explores b2b marketing in Australia and confirmed suspicions such as more businesses leaning more towards digital marketing and the planned increase in marketing budget for b2b sales leads generation. The B2B Marketing Outlook Australia 2012 research report also points out significant trends in Australian b2b marketing:

1. Significant increase in upsell and cross-sell activities of b2b marketers highlighting emphasis on lead nurturing and lead management programs; 
2.  The need to focus on sales and marketing integration to ensure that sales teams religiously follow up on all sales leads delivered by the marketing teams; 
3.  Further development of social media marketing plans; 
4.  Increase in the significance of measuring marketing ROI to support the need for sales and marketing integration.

The research presents a positive outlook for the future of b2b marketing in Australia. "The good news is that the vast majority of Australian B2B businesses are increasing – or at least maintaining – their level of investment in marketing." - Green Hat

Why Sharing Matters in Lead Generation

There are many tips out there regarding how to do lead generation in the most effective way possible. A more latest study states that it’s when you give something for free, then you can earn more benefits sooner or later.

Turned out that the mere act of sharing has its advantages. If you generate a good noise, for example, if you share some valuable information online for free, people will notice that for sure. It’s only natural for customers to grab anything free if there’s a chance. For the marketers, no one knows exactly how long your sale of 100% off would last, so there’s a tendency that everyone’s going to spread this to their friends also. This can happen fast enough, so brace yourself for a surge of new followers and b2b leads.

Flourishing opportunities for backlinks. If you begin sharing what you know, you will likely to meet others who are practically into the same things. You are on the same level mentally speaking, so all the more reason to take advantage of this chance in order to draw together strong back links. Your subject matter is mostly the same, so building connections can be fairly simple. Supporting each other through backlinking can be a win-win situation for everyone.

Expand your audience. What have you noticed in Twitter and Facebook? From the beginning till now, they’re giving free services. If you ask what they can benefit from it, simple—they captured enormous audience and that’s a potent way to leverage their marketing campaign. They have the access to their users with sidebar ads which attract the other users to purchase. And how much do you think they charge for a single ad which numerous people could publicly view every hour of the day? Well, your guess is as good as mine.

And you can do the same for your company. You got more chances of attaining sales if you have a bigger audience.

Cold Calling: Make the Most of Your 30 Seconds

In telemarketing, there’s a usual 30 seconds for your sales prospects prior to them making that decision. Make use of that very crucial 30 seconds you got since business owners receive many unsolicited cold calls on a daily basis.

During the cold calling process, it’s imperative to be stay on topic and be professional. Calling someone just out of the blue entails researching about your target, discover if they’re still hiring, what their corporate philosophy is, and how big their firm is. Before dialing that number, you must already have that basic info of every company you should call. Various modern social sites such as LinkedIn and Jigsaw can help you in gathering fresh sales leads and business contact details.

Start off with a professional greeting. For now, this is not yet the time to advertise your product, because you’ve no idea if they even have a need for that. Just keep the whole conversation light and easy. Make them feel you’re interested in connecting and building relationships with them.

Express the purpose of your call. For respecting both your time, in just 30 seconds, your prospects must already clearly understood what your product is all about. Just tackle on the 3 major factors on your products’ benefits and features. Giving chances for inquiries at the other end of the line, as this makes them interested.

Thank them. Want to be a step ahead of the competition? If you have the means, then a hand written thank you note sent to them is good. If you know that your prospect has a Twitter account, then thank them publicly. Social media is a great alternative if sending mails is out of your budget.

Establish Reasonable Deadlines When Outsourcing Lead Generation Campaigns

Telemarketing is one of the most well known business processes which entrepreneurs and investors in Australia are commonly outsourcing. Most Australian companies are gradually harvesting the benefits of having their sales lead generation programs carried out by b2b service providers or telemarketing agencies.

Even though not all businessmen attain success in this type of activity, there are still adequate Aussie firms which could guarantee the potency of telemarketing for maximum return on investment.

On the other hand, there are some business establishments in land Down Under which expect so much from these third party services agencies. They sometimes (blindly) trust that the outsourcers are all perfect and foolproof, but the fact of the matter is, these outsourcers got some limitations like all of us.

For those companies is Australia which involve in outsourcing telemarketing campaigns, it’s important to prevent dissatisfaction and frustration when you fail to meet your expectations.

In this aspect, it’s important that you establish a realistic deadline. One main aspect which organisations are really known for is the setting of the respective deadlines. It’s a mistake to think that call centres are operating like flash that they could complete the lead generation campaigns that quick as the client wishes. But this should not be. The outsourcers themselves know the typical time frame which they’ll most likely to complete a certain program. That’s why it will not do any good if you keep on pushing for earlier deadlines which the service providers cannot deliver your mandatory number of sales leads.