Inbound marketing uses several tactics such as blogs, social media posts, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), etc, to drive the campaigns. The benefit of having prospects discover your business before they are ready to become customers helps develop familiarity and loyalty towards your brand. 

The secret behind a successful inbound marketing campaign is that the customer should not feel that they are being sold or marketed a product. Your marketing content should be information and features driven, and usable to viewers. Inbound marketing is usually done to improve brand preference, increase brand awareness, and generate more leads with less investment.

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Top Challenges in B2B

Here are some of the most intimidating challenges that can affect inbound B2B marketing efforts: 

• Problem with Measuring Inbound Marketing Efforts

One can design a superb marketing strategy, but if it is not measurable, then it is as good as useless. Designing a strategy that will help you measure your Return on Investment (ROI) is essential. It becomes difficult to design and implement such a scalable strategy, but it is a challenge your business has to overcome.

• MarTech

Marketing Technology, commonly known as MarTech, is an essential part of each marketing campaign. Choosing the right technology that will satisfy all the needs of your business can be tricky. It is always better to have a stack of marketing technologies at your hand. CRM, sales management software and consumer-centric websites are a must.

• Strategy

Designing a strategy that can be implemented across multiple channels is a very difficult challenge for most businesses. Having the right marketing strategy has become vital in this era since the consumers are taking control over the sales more than the advertising business themselves. It is important to understand the consumer dynamics and turn data into insights for further use.

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B2B Brands with exceptional inbound marketing

Here are some of the biggest brands in B2B that have a great inbound marketing experience: 

• Nokia Solutions and Networks

Nokia Solutions and Networks made use of SlideShare to showcase their case studies. They made in-depth slide presentations about their products which were also user friendly. The presentations guided the user on how to view and understand the SlideShare presentation, which drew customers.

• Flowcrete

Flowcrete, the flooring specialist company, launched an infographic blog that showed all the customers and prospects the wonders of their product. They created a nostalgic effect that made the customers and prospects engage more with the business.

• Sherwin Williams

Sherwin Williams had one of the most creative strategies when it comes to inbound marketing. They designed an app, especially for Google Glass users, that allows users to record whatever they are looking at and obtain a color palette from the picture. The users can then find the nearest store where they can find the obtained palette.

• Trelleborg

Trelleborg launched an iTunes app for their consumers from engineering backgrounds. This app, O-ring, is designed for people working in remote environments where obtaining quick information is difficult. For all such consumers, O-ring provides sizes and dimensions for several critical applications by inputting a few specifications.

Leading inbound marketing platforms

Mentioned below are the most popular platforms that can help with inbound marketing: –

• HubSpot

HubSpot is an inbound marketing software that offers its users various tools that will assist them in their inbound marketing strategies. Several businesses prefer HubSpot due to its all-in-one inclusive feature. Be it marketing operations, CRM, personalization, landing page building or analytics, HubSpot has it all for you.

• Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a platform developed by Google. It offers its customers an in-depth analysis of their business website. It can also track the recent advances in their niche and their competitors’ performance. The granular data collected by Google Analytics gives amazing insights into customer behavior.

• Unbounce

Unbounce is a special landing page building tool that proves to be an excellent addition to the inbound marketing technology stack. The A/B testing feature of this platform allows the users to conduct thorough testing. The results thus obtained play a vital role in inbound marketing.

• Constant Contact

Constant Contact is a very handy email marketing automation tool with basic and unique features for marketing. It does not require advanced features in the future and is suitable for small businesses. Since email marketing plays a significant role in inbound marketing, this tool is very useful.

Inbound marketing has been playing an important role in the B2B segment. With various new start-ups entering the sector, we can expect to see many interesting developments in the coming years.

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