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Tag: b2b

  • Diamond-Making Machine For Sale Online: Lab-Grown Gem Growth | Entrepreneur

    Diamond-Making Machine For Sale Online: Lab-Grown Gem Growth | Entrepreneur

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    In 1948, diamond company De Beers launched a marketing campaign with the slogan “A diamond is forever.” Fifty years later, the company created another campaign justifying the price of diamonds with the slogan, “Isn’t two months’ salary a small price to pay for something that lasts forever?”

    Now, De Beers is aggressively cutting prices to bring sales up, and you can buy a diamond-making device for $200,000 on Alibaba.

    It’s a sign that diamond production is democratizing, reports Ars Technica.

    In the past five years, lab-grown gem sales have burgeoned and made the price of mined stones less appealing, according to diamond expert Paul Zimnisky. The lab-grown diamond market was $13 billion last year and is expected to reach about $22 billion by 2031.

    Ankur Daga, CEO of the fine jewelry company Angara, estimated that half of all engagement rings sold this year will have lab-grown stones, a significant jump from 2% in 2018.

    “The diamond industry is in trouble,” Daga told CNBC in June.

    As of press time, natural 1-carat diamonds cost around $4,000 while lab-grown diamonds of the same weight go for around $620.

    How a lab-grown diamond machine works

    The 44-ton device uses high-pressure high temperature (HPHT) technology to take a diamond seed, or a tiny diamond particle that starts the whole process, and transform it into a lab-grown diamond. Alibaba focuses more on business-to-business products, so the machine they have for sale would likely be bought and used by a company with specialized knowledge.

    Related: She Started a Business With $2,000 of Personal Savings — Then Grew It to More Than $100 Million Revenue

    Lab-grown diamonds are up to 90% less expensive than natural diamonds and look exactly the same to the human eye. They can only be told apart with special equipment in a professional gemological lab.

    They also don’t carry the same environmental and social concerns as naturally found diamonds, which have to be mined in unsafe conditions.

    Even with this kind of growth, and machines like the one sold through Alibaba, Zimnisky says that naturally-found diamonds will still have a place in the future.

    “Human desire for rare and valuable objects runs pretty deep within us,” Zimnisky told NPR. “I don’t think that’s going to, all of a sudden, change.”

    Related: This Family-Owned Manhattan Jewelry Shop Struggled to Rebuild After 9/11. Today, 2 Sisters Who Run the 46-Year-Old Business Reveal What It Takes to Persevere.

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    Sherin Shibu

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  • Hacksaw Agrees to Supply Games to JOI Gaming’s JACKS Brand

    Hacksaw Agrees to Supply Games to JOI Gaming’s JACKS Brand

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    Hacksaw Gaming has expanded in the Dutch market thanks to a partnership with a local iGaming leader. As announced by the company, it has now teamed up with JOI Gaming, agreeing to power its JACKS.NL brand with a variety of slot games.

    JOI Gaming is the online division of JVH Gaming & Entertainment Group, a company with decades of experience in the gambling sector. Since its founding 65 years ago, JVH has grown into a leader in the Netherlands and now operates 86 land-based casinos in the country.

    JVH commands a significant 30% market share and is keen on replicating its retail success in the digital sector. JACKS.NL is currently one of the best sites for online gambling in the Netherlands. The partnership with a market leader is in line with Hacksaw Gaming’s strategic effort to strengthen its foothold in the country.

    Hacksaw added that the agreement with a brand such as JACKS.NL attests to the “inspiring and broad-based” products offered by the supplier.

    Thanks to this new agreement, JACKS.NL players will get to experience the best Hacksaw Gaming has to offer. The partnership includes many classics, as well as recent releases such as Beam Boys, Feel the Beat and Fist of Destruction.

    Hacksaw Gaming Is Excited to Grow in the Netherlands

    Hacksaw Gaming expressed its excitement about the arrangement saying that the deal will benefit both companies. Marcus Cordes, the supplier’s chief executive officer, said that the partnership with JOI Gaming is a significant opportunity for his team.

    To be partnering with JOI Gaming means we are able to unearth a new and enhanced gaming experience for the Netherlands – it will be a hit!

    Marcus Cordes, CEO, Hacksaw Gaming

    Sjoerd Kranz, JOI Gaming’s head of gaming and retention, was similarly pleased with the agreement. He said that Hacksaw’s innovative content will be a great addition to his company’s already successful portfolio. Kranz was especially excited about the addition of hits such as Chaos Crew and Wanted Dead or a Wild.

    We are looking forward to build on the strong relationship and give our players an opportunity to play this great content.

    Sjoerd Kranz, head of gaming and retention, JOI Gaming

    In the meantime, Hacksaw Gaming continues to make strides and expand its global footprint. In December alone, the company formed partnerships with leading online casino operators in Ontario, Spain and New Jersey.

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    Angel Hristov

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  • DGC Supplies Content to Caesars Digital in Pennsylvania

    DGC Supplies Content to Caesars Digital in Pennsylvania

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    Digital Gaming Corporation (DGC), a premium provider of iGaming content, has reinforced its existing partnership with Caesars Entertainment’s online casino division, Caesars Digital. Under the expanded agreement, DGC will inject iGaming content into the operator’s Caesars Palace Online Casino brand in Pennsylvania.

    The launch comes soon after DGC supplied premium online slots to Caesars Palace Online Casino in Michigan.

    Under the Pennsylvania-facing agreement, Caesars Palace Online Casino players in the state will be able to try out some of the supplier’s best games. This includes iconic titles such as Assassin Moon, Blazin Mammoth and Thunderstruck Wild Lighting, among others.

    DGC has cemented itself as a “must-have” content provider for American operators thanks to its chart-topping titles. Some of its most popular hits include games like Gold Blitz, Fire and Roses Joker and Squealin’ Riches, among others. All of the provider’s games are tailored to suit the needs of the US players and are designed to exceed gamblers’ expectations.

    Pennsylvanian Customers Will Get Access to New Experiences

    Neill Whyte, the chief commercial officer of DGC’s B2B iGaming Division, commented on the expanded agreement with Caesars, saying that it builds on the already successful partnership between the two companies.

    According to Whyte, the launch in Pennsylvania will provide local players with access to a number of great games, including Gold Blitz and Bison Moon.

    Each of our titles has been developed specifically to hit the mark with U.S. players, and this is why they are so sought-after across regulated states and it’s great to see Caesars Digital extending its partnership with us to ensure its players in Pennsylvania can fire up the reels on the most thrilling slots in the market.

    Neill Whyte, CCO, DGC

    Matthew Sunderland, Caesars Digital’s senior vice president and chief iGaming officer, also commented on the matter. He praised DGC’s content, saying that it has been well-received by Caesars’ players in Michigan. As a result, bringing the supplier’s highly-rated slots to Pennsylvania was a “logical move,” Sunderland said.

    Providing the highest level of content to engage players remains a key area of focus for our platforms and DGC is a partner that knows exactly how to provide thrilling player experiences.

    Matthew Sunderland, SVP and chief iGaming officer, Caesars Digital

    A few days ago, Caesars Digital also signed a content partnership agreement with EveryMatrix.

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    Angel Hristov

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  • FEATURE ARTIST OF THE WEEK: Yolanda Be Cool

    FEATURE ARTIST OF THE WEEK: Yolanda Be Cool

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    In 2010, Matthew Handley and Andrew Stanley came together over their love for multi-cultural music and sounds, combined it with their disc jockey prowess, and delivered us perhaps one of the most iconic debut tracks of all time: “We No Speak Americano.” It was an instantaneous smash hit, selling over 5 million copies and topping the charts worldwide.

    “We No Speak Americano” with DCUP under their label, Sweat It Out, was unlike anything we’d heard in the disco-funk dance world. It sampled the 1956 Italian classic, “Tu Vuò Fà L’Americano” by Renato Carosone and, like all good tracks, made it into its own unique experience. It was the song that won them a 2010 ARIA for “Best Dance Release”, and certified them as exciting beat-makers and collaborators who had loads to offer.

    A once-in-a-lifetime duo, Yolanda Be Cool went on to release albums like
    Ladies + Mentalmen and Je Suis Music, which re-introduced listeners to electro swing mixed with house that made you genuinely want to dance. The pairing stole the hearts (and ears) of fans and new listeners alike by combining all of your favorite parts of EDM- tribal tech, minimalism, house, disco- and blending them seamlessly together.

    They’re industry risk takers, who were so inspired by Chris Lake’s style that they tapped into their craft to create the hit “Segunda” for him. You may see them touring performing B2B sets alongside fellow Australian native FISHER, where attendees rave about the high energy setting and consistent flow of jam-worthy beats. Never slowing down, Yolanda Be Cool continued to take it a step further with their new record label, SWEATRZ.

    After releasing their single “Hip Trumpets” under SWEATRZ, Yolanda Be Cool is gearing up for another massive year. The song is everything you love about Yolanda Be Cool and more. It’s a sign of their growth and confidence as producers and DJ’s, an indication that this pair is not going anywhere. Listen to “Hip Trumpets” here:

    We spoke to them on their live sets, the new label, and much more below! Check it out.

    PD: You both came together over your love of Brazilian music. Can you talk a bit about that story?

    We’ve always just loved quirky music and baile funk is a perfect example of this. Matt lived in Brazil for a year and came back broke and Andy had lots of good DJ gigs and hooked Matt up and then we just started playing together….so you could say Matt’s broke-ness from a year in Brazil brought us together 🙂


    PD: How did that love inspire your big track, “We No Speak Americano?”

    Well…..Americano is obviously in Italian, which is a Latin language, as is Portuguese so there’s that but i think more to the point… we saw the opportunity to take such an iconic original sample from the 1950’s in Italy and flip it in a way that would make sense for modern dancefloors. When we sent it to our Italian DJ friends, they thought it was funny and told us how their grandma used to play the song to them in the kitchen when they were kids.

    PD: You’re under a new label, Sweatrz Records, and you’ve released your new track “Hip Trumpets” with KVISION! Has being under a new label changed anything about your production process or the music you’re making?

    Well….we started SWEATRZ with our buddy Paluma to have an outlet for the more raw underground side of house music. We still have Sweat It Out and Club Sweat and have music coming on both and we also love working with other labels like Black Book and Club Bad. We basically just jump in the studio and make whatever’s inspiring us….and then we think of the label to send it to after based on what labels we think would dig it.

    PD: You created “Segunda” for Chris Lake. What was the collaboration process like between you all?

    Well..we played with Chris in Seattle last year at the Black Book party and we loved how eclectic his set was and set the goal of making a song that was true to our sound, but would go off in his sets. When we finished Segunda we sent it straight to him and he loved it. We worked on the breakdown a bit more off the back of his feedback and then he gave it the greenlight and we were stoked.

    PD: More recently, you’ve been performing B2B’s with FISHER. What can fans expect from those sets?

    Well, we’ve always jumped around with our DJ sets because we love so much music but artists and producers and labels we’re loving right now go from the more minimal tech stuff like Rendher and Kidoo to more house-y 90s kinds stuff like Jansons and Sally C to the more tribally tech stuff from people like Andruss, Harvy Valencia and Marco Lys with labels like Solid Grooves, PIV, Black Book and Hot Creations always providing the goods of course along with SWEATRZ, Club Sweat and Sweat It Out.

    PD: What are your favorite songs to perform live?
    Well, we love playing and testing out the stuff we’ve been working on in the studio. We have a collab with Paluma right now that’s coming out on SWEATRZ soon and it goes off so we’ve been loving playing that. It’s called “Get Into It” and rocks. Also loving Mele’s new single Jozi to the D.

    PD: What’s next for you this year?

    We have a bunch of shows in Aus and the US and stopping by Amsterdam for ADE which is always exciting. Then we have heaps of new music coming on the labels including the single we mentioned with Paluma which we’re really pumped on.

    SEE THEM LIVE:

    Sat, Dec 2 – Confessions Nightclub – MacKay

    Sat, Dec 9 – Pointers – Auckland, NZ

    Sat, Dec 23 – Nice Club (BOYANA) – Canggu, Bali

    Tues, Dec 26 – Northies – Cronulla, NSW

    Sun, Dec 31 – Harbour Party @ Luna Park – Sydney, NSW

    Mon, Jan 1 2024 – Summa House – Brisbane, QLD

    Mon Jan, 1 2024 – Beach Hotel – Byron Bay, NSW

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    Jai Phillips

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  • Unlocking The Secrets Of Online B2B Success | Entrepreneur

    Unlocking The Secrets Of Online B2B Success | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    This story originally appeared on Under30CEO.com

    Consumer-facing businesses get the most attention. After all, that’s what readers are interested in. But company-facing brands often make the most money. Businesses are willing to pay enormous fees to firms that solve their problems. We’re talking millions of dollars per contract.

    However, unlocking the secrets of online B2B success is a mystery to many entrepreneurs. While there are reams of articles and mountains of books exploring B2C success, B2B remains relatively neglected.

    Audience Understanding

    The first step to success as an online B2B entrepreneur is to understand the audience. Many CEOs fail at this hurdle because they don’t do the proper research before jumping straight into making large investments.

    The research process always starts with figuring out who a brand is targeting. Any website needs to reflect the intrinsic needs of the people using it. For business-facing pages, this means providing plenty of content, contact details, and market analysis. Companies need to understand how a particular tool or service is going to help them.

    To facilitate this, many brands split their sites up by stakeholder. Some ask visitors to select their role in the company to determine which content they wind up seeing. Companies don’t want to get into a situation where they are talking to the wrong people and are creating content for individual staff members who can’t make decisions.

    Related: 4 Ways to Make B2B Marketing Less Boring

    Website Optimization

    Website optimization is another secret to online B2B success. Companies need to ensure their pages can cope with the volume of businesses using them.

    Many firms fall into the trap of believing that only a handful of users will ever access a B2B brand website at any given time. However, that isn’t always the case. Websites can find themselves shutting down just as their potential for generating revenue is at a maximum.

    The trick here is to organize websites properly and deal with the backend. The technical aspect of web design is what trips up many entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs find it hard to get to grips with things like page loading times, bandwidth, and encryption. However, all these elements can have a profound impact on sales.

    Website optimization also includes creating proper sales funnels. Businesses need to clearly understand the value proposition and be able to find relevant information.

    Companies that don’t guide business customers through their sales processes are liable to lose revenue to firms that do. It’s a matter of encouraging brands to take the next step and experiment with your product offering. Most B2B websites don’t optimize these priorities.

    Social Media Presence

    Another key to unlocking online B2B success is to build a strong social media presence. Firms that become well-known and respected online are highly likely to thrive. Critically, many B2B entrepreneurs underestimate the level of activity and engagement of other online brands. Firms believe that social media is consumer-facing, but industries also use it because it is such a useful tool. Discussions regularly take place on Facebook and X threads, allowing companies to build rapport and position themselves more effectively.

    Unfortunately, building an extensive social media presence takes time, but even the most uninteresting B2B enterprises can do it if they know and understand their target audience. It’s just about positioning. Companies that get in right are most likely to be the ones that thrive.

    Email Marketing

    Related to social media is email marketing, another powerful tool brands use to build deeper online relationships with business customers. Long-form emails are an opportunity to build authority and give decision-makers in companies more confidence.

    “Email marketing implementations are another essential ingredient of online success,” Bocain Design says. “Companies need to leverage it for better outreach and to reduce their reliance on social media platforms that could shut them down at any time. The main value of email marketing is the ability to build deeper relationships with client businesses. Many companies appreciate product- and service-related literature because it helps them make the case to the board or decision-makers.”

    CRMs

    Naturally, CRMs also play a role in the success of online B2B businesses. Companies that can organize their clients and provide a more seamless service are most likely to win the competition in the marketplace.

    Related: 5 Tips for Targeting Your Ideal Start-Up Customer

    Modern CRMs are helpful because they provide AI-powered assistance. Many tools, for instance, automatically follow up leads at the optimal time and send reminders to agents to pursue a particular path toward conversion. These tools also seamlessly share customer information across agents, meaning company representatives don’t need to keep explaining themselves every time they interact with the B2B company. It makes the entire process significantly more efficient.

    Case Studies

    Finally, case studies are also a potent tool for driving conversions and making sales in the B2B space. It’s something that professional business-to-business web designers implement on their clients’ pages all the time.

    Case studies are an opportunity for B2B firms to display their expertise in their niche. They provide believable, visual examples of what firms can do and how they can help prospective clients.

    You can think of them as a portfolio for service businesses that don’t have any physical things they can show, like newly decorated bathrooms. Case studies give leads confidence because they can always contact the customer and ask if the case study is true

    Case studies also provide insights into the type of results that companies can expect. Unlike consumers, firms often have specific results they need to fit their brand or business model. Case studies provide real insights and examples of the kind of performance companies can expect when choosing the B2B service.

    So, there you have it: some of the secrets of online B2B success. Getting it right requires following best practices and trying many different approaches.

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    Kimberly Zhang

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  • Wazdan Signs Italy-Facing Deal with Netwin

    Wazdan Signs Italy-Facing Deal with Netwin

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    Wazdan, a leading provider of innovative casino content, has teamed up with Netwin, a leading iGaming operator in Italy. Under the agreement between the two parties, the supplier will inject content into the gambling company’s platform.

    As per the deal, Wazdan will roll out cutting-edge gaming content on Netwin, providing it with many exciting titles that would engage Italian audiences. By enhancing its product offering with new games, Netwin will be able to channel more players toward its platform and retain existing customers.

    By diversifying Netwin’s portfolio, Wazdan will not only help the operator appeal to local gamblers, but will also expand its own presence in Italy. The supplier noted that Italy is a key market for its business and that Italian players have demonstrated a strong appreciation of its gaming solutions.

    Wazdan concluded that it expects the new partnership to “resonate strongly” with Italian audiences, reflecting the company’s commitment to deliver exciting content.

    Wazdan Is Excited to Expand in Italy

    In its official release, Wazdan noted that the new partnership aligns with Wazdan’s mission to continue growing internationally and provide content to players across different markets. Radka Bacheva, the company’s head of sales and business development, further elaborated on her company’s feelings about the new deal.

    Bacheva lauded Netwin as a major Italian online casino operator and highlighted the opportunities that this partnership would provide.

    We are thrilled to join forces with Netwin, a renowned name in the Italian iGaming sector. Italy holds immense potential for us, and teaming up with Netwin will undoubtedly strengthen our position in this dynamic market.

    Radka Bacheva, head of sales and business development, Wazdan

    Wazdan recently received nominations at the EGR Italy 2023 Awards, further attesting to the company’s commitment to providing unparalleled gaming experiences to Italian audiences. According to Wazdan, the nominations underscore its dedication to innovation and quality.

    Earlier this month, Wazdan also expanded its presence in the United States via a New Jersey-facing partnership with Tipico. As a part of that agreement, Wazdan leveraged Light & Wonder’s iGaming ecosystem to supply content to the operator.

    In October, the company also launched its HalloWIN campaign, as well as a sequel to Los Muertos.

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    Angel Hristov

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  • Suppliers prefer digital payments | Bank Automation News

    Suppliers prefer digital payments | Bank Automation News

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    Digital payments are gaining popularity with consumers and suppliers as digital wallets, digital issuance and the overall payments landscape continues to evolve. As consumers look to digital wallet capabilities that extend beyond Apple Pay, a Gartner report released June 28, How Will Digital Wallets Evolve in the Future, explores “Where do we go from here?” […]

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    Whitney McDonald

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  • 5 Key Strategies to Boost Your Content Marketing | Entrepreneur

    5 Key Strategies to Boost Your Content Marketing | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Content marketing for B2B SaaS brands is a leading source of business success. According to ProfitWell, SaaS brands that prioritize content marketing experience a higher growth rate than those that don’t.

    Utilizing content marketing for your B2B SaaS brand can be a profitable venture. But not all content marketing strategies work optimally.

    Good content marketing involves lots of planning to produce desired results for your B2B SaaS business. There are ways to boost the performance of your B2B SaaS content marketing, and you are about to find out how.

    Related: Top B2B Marketing Strategies for SaaS Businesses

    What is B2B SaaS content marketing?

    Content marketing is a brand marketing approach that involves the creation and distribution of relevant and valuable content for your target audience.

    For SaaS B2B brands, content marketing is targeted at satisfying the content needs of target users for every stage of the buyer’s journey in order to generate leads, conversions and customer retention.

    Why is content marketing important for SaaS?

    Reports show that 92% of marketers view content as an integral asset to their business. Good content marketing can generate over 448% ROI for SaaS brands. This is why lots of marketers are utilizing content marketing as a strategy to grow their business.

    Also, content marketing is a cheaper alternative to traditional marketing. Content marketing costs 62% less and generates three times more leads than traditional marketing. This makes it a more cost-effective marketing option.

    More so, content marketing is a great way to connect with your target market. Ninety-five percent of B2B buyers say that content provides a trustworthy parameter when evaluating the business. This means that your content is usually the first or most impressionable point of connection to your brand for your target users.

    The right content gives them an insight into your business and a reason to trust your brand as an industry expert with the right solutions.

    For example, a blog post on how to create beginner-friendly graphic designs by a graphics design brand like Canva can draw in users to the brand and its product services.

    Saas content marketing examples

    Adobe:

    Adobe uses an online magazine and publication site CMO.com as a social platform to engage users. Here, users can learn, share and get help from one another.

    While this content marketing strategy might seem elaborate, it has generated business success for the brand, and the publications are evergreen for specific content needs of users.

    Monday.com:

    Monday.com uses videos in its brand’s content marketing. They create instructional YouTube videos which enhance their organic traffic.

    This clever content marketing style is great for attracting users and getting the best engagements.

    Mailchimp:

    Mailchimp uses brand storytelling through short films and documentaries to deliver relevant content to its audiences. This is a great tool for brand awareness that sticks in the minds of users.

    The outcome of this high-performing content marketing is trustworthiness and brand loyalty for the B2B SaaS business.

    Related: 6 Key Tips to Level Up Your Content Marketing Strategy

    5 ways to boost your B2B SaaS content marketing

    1. Conduct proper research

    Proper research will enhance the odds of high-performing content for your SaaS B2B content marketing. It gives you an insight into your target market and the kind of content that works.

    This involves researching the target buyers, your competitors and the market behavior of your target industry. You can track the market through surveys, trends and engagements as well.

    To get the best outcome out of your research, creating a buyer persona from your research can be useful.

    2. Focus on the buyer’s journey

    The content needs of your target market for every stage of the sales funnel in their purchase journey are different. This is why your content marketing has to expand beyond a single focus.

    For example, an existing buyer will require content that keeps them engaged and loyal to your brand, whilst a prospective buyer needs more persuasive content to attract sales conversion.

    You can use blog posts, newsletters, podcasts, videos or user-generated content like reviews and testimonials for different stages of your buyer’s journey.

    However, every buyer’s journey is different, and this means the type of content that works for them in each stage differs. This is why creating a buyer persona can be handy.

    3. Utilize keywords strategy

    For users to find your content, you have to use the right keywords that are relevant to their search queries.

    For example, content with the keywords “best project management tools” will be relevant to a search query for someone looking for project management tools, and it will appear on the search engine results page (SERP).

    The important thing about utilizing keywords in your content marketing is research and placement.

    Keyword research will help you know what your target audiences are looking for, giving you an idea of what content to create. Also, you can use keyword tools to understand how your audiences want to see the keywords in your content.

    For example, if users are asking “Why is email marketing good for your business?” you may want to add that to your content to improve your chances of ranking on the SERP with related content.

    4. Build content authority

    One of the factors that contribute to your brand’s trustworthiness is the reputation attached to your brand. Content marketing is great for building a reputation as an authority in your industry.

    Whilst this can be done through the relevance and high-quality information that is contained in your content, you can really enjoy the brand authority more if you are referenced by other brands.

    This means you have to create content that can be a data resource for other brands’ content or participate in guest posting to get external links from other sites.

    Also, external links boost your reach because your content is exposed to new and larger audiences that are different from your own audiences.

    5. Use social media

    Social media is one of the most successful ways to reach an audience. However, it is vital to choose a platform with the right demography of users for your business.

    B2B brands generally do better with more professional social media platforms like LinkedIn. Ninety-four percent of B2B SaaS brands use LinkedIn as a distribution channel for their content.

    Related: 5 Steps to Creating a Content Marketing Strategy That Actually Works

    Platforms like Medium, Reddit, Quora and Twitter are great, too. However, you can succeed with your content marketing on social media if you create engaging content.

    For example, videos and trending topics can drive traffic to your content. Also, user-generated content like hashtag campaigns can be helpful for social media content marketing.

    The performance of your content marketing is based on your content marketing strategy. Knowing what to do and how to do it can really go a long way in producing the desired result. It also helps to evaluate your content through regular content audits. You can always update or recreate content when necessary.

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    Toby Nwazor

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  • 4 Strategies for B2B Marketers to Increase ROI During the Economic Downturn | Entrepreneur

    4 Strategies for B2B Marketers to Increase ROI During the Economic Downturn | Entrepreneur

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    Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners.

    As the economy slows, B2B marketers are being challenged with longer sales cycles, lower deal amounts and churning customers. If that isn’t enough, many companies are slashing marketing spend.

    With that being said, CMOs can see significant short-term improvements that will help them power through the forecasted downturn by focusing on these areas of their business:

    Related: 5 Mistakes To Avoid in Your Digital Marketing

    1. Optimizing campaigns for offline conversion events

    Your most important priority should be to integrate your advertising platforms with your CRM or demand-gen platform. This will allow you to optimize your ad campaigns for bottom-funnel conversion events. This is especially important when using Google since you can use Google’s algorithm to optimize your campaigns for bottom-of-funnel events. If you have a sales team that takes inbound calls, make sure to get third-party call analytics software that can track calls by channel and down to the most granular source. Having phone tracking will let you identify which marketing channel is contributing to sales and help you make budget allocation decisions.

    2. Marketing channels with short-term CAC payback periods

    Privacy changes have made marketing attribution tools less reliable in the last two years and makes finding winning campaigns more complex. To overcome this, you can ask users on form sign-ups or post-purchase surveys how they found your business. While also not 100% reliable, these self-reported attribution workflows can help you see which channel is driving the most sales. Based on what customers are telling you and what your other attribution tools show, you can then allocate budget by channel based on their relative performance and pause what’s not working.

    3. Your best customer cohorts

    When sales performance starts to drop, investigate your data to see which customer cohorts are underperforming or churning, and exclude them from your ad targeting. This could be unprofitable business verticals, job titles, geographic regions, age or other demographic cohorts. If you have a revenue intelligence platform to listen to and/or transcribe call recordings, analyze the calls that resulted in demos and sales.

    For example, if calls show a spike in Fintech startups that are purchasing your product, test new ad creative with what they say they like about your product and test landing pages with matching messaging. On the media buying front, see if you can improve targeting for this cohort and get more ads to serve it.

    It’s also important to keep track of buyer personas. You can figure out which persona to focus on by running a report on all your customers and their respective job title, and then focus your marketing on the personas with the highest lead count. Make sure to arm your prospects with the metrics they look for — that is, you’ll need to show that the service or solution is an investment, not a cost.

    Related: Digital Marketing 101 for Entrepreneurs

    4. Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)

    Focus on the segments that are driving the most revenue for your business — such as landing pages, product pages and pricing pages. Use a qualitative analytics tool that can view what users are clicking on as they interact with your site. If you are running paid advertising campaigns, it’s important to not run the tests on all your campaigns. Carve out at least 80% of your budget for the campaigns that are carrying your quota and the rest for testing out new ideas.

    Next on your list is improving page loading speed. For every additional second it takes the page to load, conversion rates drop by up to 20%. A good benchmark is a loading time below three seconds. Another time-sensitive indicator to optimize for is lead response times. Ideally, you should attempt to phone, text or email a prospective lead within five minutes. Just doing this will help increase conversion rates by double digits.

    Of course, it takes resources to do these things. But making these changes during a downturn, if done right, will help you improve performance and build a data-driven and winning business.

    Related: How to Adjust Your Marketing to Survive a Recession

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    Tal Shlosberg

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  • How to Create a Winning B2B SEO Campaign | Entrepreneur

    How to Create a Winning B2B SEO Campaign | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Every business that operates online needs a comprehensive and effective SEO strategy to boost organic traffic and visibility. People generally think of SEO in terms of ranking high for popular keyword searches, but for business-to-business (B2B) companies, the strategy moves from a broad audience to a specific one.

    The consumer in a B2B exchange is the end user of a product or service, not a general consumer looking for a regular product. The marketing content with B2B needs to appeal to not one person, but a whole group of decision-makers, including managers, directors, C-suite executives and shareholders.

    Appealing to this group and selling effectively requires a nuanced understanding of how approval and buy-in happens across each decision-maker and channel. The sales cycle for B2B is typically longer, more involved and much deeper than a B2C campaign, so the SEO strategy has to adjust to that.

    What’s the difference? A general consumer tends to make decisions on their own and buy whatever they find that solves their problem. While some purchases may be higher involvement and may need buy-in from others, many consumer products and services require less research and fewer decision-makers than any B2B product or service.

    The campaign has to be adjusted to this understanding to get the payoff in the end. Here’s how to go about it.

    Related: The Secret to Super Successful SEO

    Why is B2B SEO unique?

    Knowing the differences between B2C and B2B SEO is just one part of the equation. Understanding how to manage these differences in planning and execution is key.

    B2B keyword strategies:

    B2B keyword strategies are very different from B2C keyword strategies. With B2B, you’re aiming to target not just the end user, but the collective decision-makers. The line-level employee who may mention the idea to management to improve the organization and processes is helpful, but they’re not the ones making the decision in the end.

    Ultimately, it will be an owner, founder, director or executive who’s searching for a solution that solves a pain point for the company, not someone looking to make work more streamlined at entry level. Their approach will be more precise and focused, which may include low-volume keywords and phrases.

    Understanding the industry language that these decision-makers will use will help you discover the best keywords for your SEO strategy. If they’re lower in search volume, that’s actually better for a B2B strategy. You’ll have less competition and create a place for your brand to stand out and capture attention.

    Bigger effort for conversions:

    Selling to a consumer is often simple and straightforward. A lot of purchases rely on impulsivity, so all you have to do is catch their attention at the right time. They’re scrolling, shopping and buying regularly, so being the one who comes up in their search or feed is not as challenging.

    And in return for that ease, most B2C companies may sell to one-time purchasers, but they make it up in high volumes.

    In contrast, B2B customers typically buy once or once every few years. The purchases are usually much bigger, both in cost and potential impact, so there’s a lot more for them to consider in saying “yes.” These relationships are meant to be long-term, so no one is jumping in impulsively.

    What does this mean for you? You will have to invest more work and research into the content and marketing channels to nurture and earn the trust of a B2B consumer. It’s essential that you communicate your EAT: Expertise, Authority and Trustworthiness.

    • Expertise: Expertise is your knowledge of the industry and product on a deep, practical and relatable level. You have to establish yourself as an expert and show that you can do it better, faster and more easily than others.

    • Authority: Authority is your credibility — your position as a respected source of information in the industry. You not only need to know what you’re talking about but how your products and services impact the industry in its entirety. It’s about knowing what you do and how it affects what your customers do in context.

    • Trustworthiness: A B2B customer has to believe that you can deliver what you say you will. They’re ending their long research process and sales meetings by choosing a brand and shelling out a lot of money for a business investment in hopes that it will pay off and solve their problems. They have to trust you for that to happen, and it’s up to you to make your company and your offerings seem as trustworthy and reliable as possible.

    Focus is shifted to B2B content:

    Authority and trust are paramount to closing the sale in a B2B market. Your website and off-page content should be designed to prove that you’re an authority in the niche and that your company, products and teams are trusted by others to deliver solutions no one else can.

    According to a Demand Gen Report survey of over 200 senior-level B2B marketers, 41% of respondents report consuming between three and five pieces of content before making a connection with a sales representative. That’s a lot of upfront effort for the lead payoff.

    Those same industry experts also said that 68% of them want to see B2B content organized by the pain point or problem it can solve, and they want in-depth, specific content like case studies.

    Leveraging case studies isn’t directly promotional, but they can make your company stand out. You’re showing off some of the process to make them feel at ease with your approach and how you performed with other business customers.

    You can also use customer testimonials, which go a long way toward showing potential customers how you run your business. Choose testimonials that demonstrate real results, such as a customer who had an X% increase in productivity after implementing your software solution.

    Content like this uses hard facts and real-world customers to give your prospects confidence, which is the key to getting them to reach out to a sales representative. Educate your target customers to help them see your value, and more importantly, offer value to them.

    B2B SEO numbers:

    A survey in 2019 with SEO professionals from across the globe revealed that the number one most important element of search engine results page rankings was on-page elements like meta titles and descriptions. The next priority is the depth and accuracy of the content in the results.

    Furthermore, a consumer insights article by Google indicated that:

    • 89% of B2B researchers find information online

    • The majority of decision-makers are C-suite executives, but almost a quarter of the decision-makers are not executives

    • 49% of B2B product research is conducted on a mobile device while at work

    Related: 5 Content-Marketing Tactics for B2B Ecommerce

    B2B SEO campaign strategies

    There are three basic elements to any SEO strategy, and here’s how they apply to B2B brands:

    1. On-page SEO:

    On-page SEO encompasses the actual words and phrases you use on the website and how they correlate with your target keywords. This includes your blog posts, articles, page content, FAQ page and other on-page content.

    Think of this as your first opportunity to leverage your creativity to include keywords in your website content. This not only helps when visitors browse your page, but it shows the search engine site crawlers what your website is and what you do, which impacts the ranking and relevance of your content in the search results pages.

    It’s not enough to just plug in keywords, however. You have to provide high-quality content and accurate information that has value for the customer, which keeps them reading and looking for more information.

    Here’s an outline to optimize your content for rankings:

    • Keyword research: Do your own research based on rankings and low competition. Determine what your B2B customers are searching for and how you can use those keywords to direct them to your website.

    • Competitor research: Look for search terms that aren’t sponsored, then plug them into your search engine. Check out the top few results for those search terms and see what makes them better or more unique, earning that high ranking. Let that guide your strategy.

    • Create better content: You saw what competitors have to offer, and you know what keywords are most important, so now it’s time to put it into action. Create content that’s better than your competitors — offer more value, use keyword variations, include engaging graphics, and refine until you get it right.

    2. Off-page SEO:

    Off-page SEO is where you boost your credibility and authority. Take advantage of your industry connections to build links, collaborate on groundbreaking content, establish thought leadership and promote your content.

    Backlinks tell the search engine algorithm that other authoritative sources find your content reliable and accurate. The AI bots are more likely to rank your content and website higher if you have approval from another website that they already view as credible.

    Your networking skills can also build strong relationships with other brands to enhance your authority. Consider it a mutually beneficial relationship that serves both of you, not a chance to boost your own company.

    Consider opportunities to guest post on each other’s sites, collaborate on research, start a podcast together, build an online community, or host a virtual summit. These are all powerful off-page SEO boosters.

    3. Technical SEO:

    Technical SEO may seem boring because it’s the code-driven, behind-the-scenes, introverted part of SEO — but it’s essential to your success. Think of technical SEO as facilitating the communication between your content and the search engines, giving the bots all the information they need to put your content in front of relevant searchers.

    Google and other search engines want to provide high-quality results to searchers with a seamless process. For that to apply to your site, you need to get it functioning beautifully and ensure that the content is as good as it can be.

    If you have site issues that impact the experience, such as slow page load times, broken links, excessive or obstructive pop-ups, or a non-mobile-friendly interface, you will lose some of your ranking. The best content in the world can’t make up for a poor website and vice versa.

    Here are a few precautions you can take:

    • Audit page load times: Long page load times make visitors click away. It should only take a few seconds for a page to fully load — otherwise, you’re losing a potential customer.

    • Optimize for mobile: Many B2B customers are searching for business solutions on their mobile devices. Make sure your site is not only fast but optimized to be easy to use on mobile phones and tablets.

    • Test navigation: Is it easy to move around your site and find what you need? If not, consider how you can fix it to make the experience seamless for your visitors.

    • Create a schema or site map: A schema is for the bots and helps them map out your page to learn what you do, what you have to offer and what relevance you have for searchers.

    • Check all links: Check every link on your site, both internal and external, to make sure everything is functioning as it should. If links are broken or changed, replace or remove them.

    This guide gives you everything you need to get started with B2B SEO campaigns. Get started to create a winning B2B campaign that gets you tons of valuable organic traffic.

    Related: Top B2B Marketing Strategies for SaaS Businesses

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    Jason Khoo

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  • How to Develop B2B Partnerships That Grow Your Business | Entrepreneur

    How to Develop B2B Partnerships That Grow Your Business | Entrepreneur

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    I understand what it takes to build a successful B2B partnership. My company’s rollout to B2B was a planned business development step accelerated by Russian military aggression in Ukraine, where our largest research and development center is located — and where Parimatch, my company was born in 1994.

    To step into B2B, we analyzed the market and competitors, highlighted the strengths of our products, identified the pains of potential partners, rebuilt the company, decentralized the marketing department and identified a B2B department.

    Here are some notes that guided us in our successful B2B rollout.

    What are the key features of B2B partnerships?

    • A limited contact pool: In B2B, the number of possible partners is often limited, and the more complex your niche, the fewer potential partnerships you will find. For this reason, you will need to learn how to work especially well with those who are already interacting with you or who are present on the market.

    • Endurance: Companies seek stable partners for the long term, especially in specific industries, so searches are approached thoroughly. If you provide a quality product, your partner will not be interested in third-party offers, and you will likely develop side-by-side for years.

    • A potential partner could be the expert in your industry: In B2B, cooperation is not based on personal preferences or rash decisions. You will need to prove the value of your product or service step by step. For example, my company has partners who know their markets and industry trends well but still need a high-quality online platform to operate — or vice versa. Your potential partner could have ready-made operations and technologies but without a bright, well-developed brand.

    • The decision-making process takes longer: It can be months before you start cooperating, and during that time you need to remind a partner about your product and the value a partnership will bring.

    • The need for delegation of authorities and duties: You will need internal experts who know the industry, your product, the business models of potential partners and the challenges you may face in the future.

    • Strategy: Any B2B partnership should have a plan to track the results of the collaboration.

    Related: Business Development: 4 Ways to Avoid the Formula Trap

    How to find B2B partnerships

    Search channels for partners are highly dependent on the industry. These include LinkedIn pages, thematic forums and business platforms, etc. It could also be the result of implementing digital and content marketing tools. To this list, you can add conferences, symposiums and events organized by industry media. In any case, the primary purpose of these activities is to find decision-makers.

    In B2C, customers are often driven by emotions and make decisions on impulse because it is no big deal to spend money when it is not critical. In B2B, however, the price can amount to millions, and further business development depends on partnerships, so decisions are made cautiously. The number of decision-makers is also increasing, so be prepared to showcase your product strengths from different angles, depending on the expertise of whomever you are addressing.

    The virtue of research

    Before starting communication activities, create a portrait of a partner that best suits the business objectives. The next step is to study the sample of potential customers and filter it based on the necessary criteria. The goal is to arrive at a list of the top 10 or 50, depending on the niche of the business and the number of potential partners. Working with a small segmented list will bring more value than a broad unfiltered audience.

    This approach also fits super-complex niches: we analyze all potential customers and evaluate compliance with the portrait of our ideal partner. Based on the results, we compile a top Х with a brief description of the main aspects of interest.

    The next step is to add each possible partner to the database, collect data about the company and its turnover and look for all available information. This will remove unpromising options, leaving only the target audience. Another advantage of this approach is that you’ll learn many details about potential partners in the process, which will help identify decision-makers, set up contacts and develop a cooperation strategy.

    Related: Market Research: What It Is and How to Conduct It

    The importance of in-person meetings

    We live in an online world. Hundreds of employees at my company work productively from different parts of the world, meeting only on online calls. But to build long-term B2B relationships, it’s essential to meet partners in person, especially in a semi-formal setting because one personal meeting works better than five perfect commercial proposals, which the manager will send your partners by mail.

    Know your partner’s end customers

    It’s a big mistake if a B2B company doesn’t know its partners’ end customers — those who directly use the product or service resulting from your cooperation. And if your offer has any issues or is underdeveloped, you will find out about it from them.

    Our expertise in product development is based on almost 30 years of experience in the entertainment industry. We know the end customers of our services because the teams interview them regularly: We know what they like, what interests them and what they appreciate about our products. To increase demand, we develop new product features, for which we are simultaneously developing the platform’s functionality.

    Knowledge of end customers and experience interacting with them will give you an additional competitive advantage.

    Related: 5 Ways PR Wins at Generating B2B Sales

    Why you need a B2B department

    A dedicated B2B department’s primary functions are communicating with partners, presenting product and development strategies and building cooperation with internal departments, and it deals with operations ranging from strategy to lead generation. The main activity of this team is communication… lots of communication.

    To close one particular deal, a B2B manager must work with representatives from different departments and several decision-makers. Sometimes, companies hire third-party B2B teams because their marketing department doesn’t have enough time, resources or experience to build B2B interactions with partners competently. These teams create the strategy, prepare a detailed roadmap and are sometimes involved in its implementation.

    Related: Here’s What Really Builds Customer Loyalty in the B2B Industry

    What a B2B manager will need to do

    Among the many critical tasks of this managerial role is diving into the specifics of several products and projects at the same time, including:

    • Looking for those business functions that potential partners cannot maintain themselves.
    • Understanding the specifics of the industry and the desires of end customers.
    • Building communication with partners and between company departments.
    • Creating a transparent offer (including a partnership strategy) and presenting it to decision-makers.

    What can you consider a ready-to-go strategy?

    The ready-to-go strategy is a step-by-step guide to action for the long-term partnership. Your strategy could consider delegating some points to your partner, to be implemented together or by your company only.

    • Gathered studies: Carried out for partnership strategy, which may include market analysis, partner business performance indicators and your offer.
    • A complete presentation: This can be a 200-slide “mother presentation” from which the B2B department managers will choose the main slides relevant to each decision-maker. (You will likely use the entire presentation for internal use only.)
    • A project roadmap: A detailed development plan describing all crucial milestones.
    • Price: This should also be included in your project roadmap — the partner must understand exactly what steps are involved and how much it will cost.

    The strategy shouldn’t be just a regular document — it should consist of streamlined processes, budget assessments, presentations and accompanying documents.

    Final words

    If you step into B2B, there is still a possibility that you will spend millions on building your brand and won’t get the results you expected. An issue here could be the difference between B2B and B2C: businesses don’t close deals based on subjective preferences or emotions, as it could be in B2C.

    B2B customers should be offered something they cannot produce on their own. It is crucial to initially find out the client’s actual goals and ensure maximum transparency of your offer.

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    Maksym Liashko

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  • 10 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Lead Generation Company

    10 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Lead Generation Company

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    There’s no shame in admitting it: Generating leads is exhausting. It drains your time, resources and patience. But despite its inherent pains, lead generation is integral to growth.

    Unfortunately, there is no metaphorical ibuprofen to make the process any less of a headache. Developing a winning lead generation strategy is all about weathering the droughts and downpours with perseverance. But you don’t always have to go it alone. You can accelerate your growth and avoid unnecessary roadblocks by partnering with an expert.

    Hiring a lead generation company can be a great way to expand your business and bring in new customers, but you have to ensure it’s the right move. To help you make the best decision for your company, here are the 10 questions you should ask before hiring a B2B lead generation company:

    Related: A Straightforward Guide To Effective B2B Lead Generation

    1. What is the company’s lead generation process?

    How leads are generated influences the quality and quantity of prospects in your pipeline. So, it’s important to understand each lead generation company’s process before making a hiring decision. Finding a lead generation company that aligns with your business goals and target audience comes down to the strategies and tactics they implement.

    For B2B, inbound marketing is a great long-term strategy, but if you are looking for more immediate results, outbound is the way to go. Still, you’ll want to avoid those who practice outdated lead generation processes such as single-channel marketing, mass-blast email campaigns and aggressive telemarketing. Modern outbound lead generation relies on precision targeting and multichannel outreach to drive brand awareness and interest to the right audience at the right time.

    Keep in mind that your lead generation partner will represent your brand’s first impression on potential clients. So, go ahead; be as picky as you like when choosing the right lead generation company. Not only will a stringent selection process protect your brand reputation, but you’ll end up with more high-quality leads to convert.

    2. Does the same SDR deliver all touchpoints?

    Lead generation is full of repetitive, time-consuming tasks, which is why many companies outsource this part of the sales process. Efficiency can be lost, however, if these activities are split among multiple sales development representatives (SDRs). Still, some lead generation companies practice the dissection of duties based on the touchpoint type. SDRs will be assigned based on a channel such as email, LinkedIn or phone calls. The trouble is this can cause miscommunication with potential clients, which makes your prospecting methods feel unprofessional.

    If you hire a lead generation company, you will most likely work with more than one SDR. Check how touchpoints are handled through the campaigns, and verify that each SDR has their own lead list to pursue. This will help your company maintain a professional appearance through every step of the prospecting process.

    3. Where is the client-facing team located?

    Outsourcing and offshoring are often synonymous, but when it comes to prospecting, the location of your client-facing team can really make a difference. B2B products and services often involve complex solutions that are difficult to sell. Sales development representatives (SDRs) must be able to communicate efficiently and effectively to build rapport with prospective clients.

    Look for a team based in the same location as your target market. If the SDRs and prospects share the same time zone and language, conversations will flow more smoothly. In turn, sales appointments booked will be beneficial and informative for both you and your prospective clients.

    4. How experienced are the SDRs?

    Chances are, if you are contemplating outsourcing, you are searching for experts to help you move the needle. However, retaining experienced salespeople is not easy. SDR burnout is high, with 50% churning within 12 months. Most lead generation companies control costs by hiring inexperienced workers to fulfill the tasks. As you may expect, such SDRs produce inconsistent results at best and numerous mistakes at worst. While lead generation teams often have a sales manager to keep performance in check, they do not handle the daily activities that directly impact your pipeline.

    Interviewing SDRs from the lead generation companies you are considering can help you get a feel for the experience your client-facing team would be bringing to the table. In addition, the SDRs’ LinkedIn profiles can provide you with the background information you need to verify they have what it takes to produce results.

    5. How are the SDRs compensated?

    As we’ve discussed, hiring SDRs new to the field is one way lead generation companies cut down on expenses. Some SDRs make as little as $500 a month, but these entry-level compensation rates can hurt morale and motivation.

    Take some time to discuss the SDR pay structure with the lead generation companies you are vetting. While you might not have much say over this aspect of the partnership, knowing the incentive model will help determine if you can expect a steady stream of quality leads.

    6. What types of leads does the company specialize in generating?

    Some partners are more general in their experience, but the truth is no two industries are the same when it comes to lead generation. If you hire a lead generation company will little to no background in your field, the ramp-up time and cost per lead will be comparable to running the campaigns in-house, if not more expensive.

    Companies that specialize in generating leads for specific types of businesses have proven strategies in place to streamline prospecting and shorten sales cycles. These experts also have a pulse on the industry, so they can adapt quickly when consumer purchasing behaviors change.

    Make sure the company you choose has experience generating leads that are relevant to your business. Ask for case studies, testimonials or references to see if past performance in related industries matches your expectations.

    Related: Tips to Improve Your Lead Generation Process

    7. How will the company measure lead generation success?

    Clear and transparent reporting will help you track the return on your investment and make informed decisions about the campaign’s success. When outsourcing lead generation, you need a partner willing to translate their results into metrics that measure progress toward your goals.

    Before hiring a lead generation company, ask how success is measured and what metrics are reported. Share your current sales goals and discuss how meeting those metrics will help your company close the gap. By setting expectations upfront, both parties can ensure that objectives and priorities are in harmony, leading to a more productive campaign.

    8. Does the lead generation company exhibit internal growth?

    The number one reason business leaders hire lead generation companies is to accelerate growth. So, it makes sense that one of the number one ways to validate a lead generation company’s capabilities is to assess its own ability to grow.

    However, this can be difficult, especially if the lead generation companies you are considering are not publicly traded. Luckily, platforms like LinkedIn make it easy to evaluate key metrics like employee headcount that provide insight into the company’s overall health. A significant dip in employees could be a sign of layoffs or internal disruption.

    When making your shortlist, look for lead generation companies with strong year-over-year growth. At a time when economic instability is shaking the foundations of businesses around the world, you’ll be more likely to stand firm with a lead generation partner rooted in proven success for both their clients and themselves.

    9. Do you have the resources to handle the additional leads?

    Partnering with a lead generation company will likely result in a significant increase in pipeline activity, so it’s important to have the resources (such as sales staff, marketing materials and customer service reps) in place to handle the additional volume.

    In most cases, lead generation partners handle the first four stages of the sales cycle: prospecting, contacting, qualifying and nurturing. Once an appointment is booked, the internal sales team guides prospective clients through the remaining purchasing process. So, lacking the resources needed to usher leads toward conversion could result in lots of lost opportunities. To maximize the ROI of your partnership, prepare your team to take on a full funnel of leads.

    Alternatively, you can seek out a full-service lead generation firm that offers support throughout the entire sales cycle, from prospecting to closing. Such partnerships can be more cost-effective than scaling your resources before you scale your revenue.

    10. Do you have a clear target market?

    A B2B lead generation company will be most effective if you understand your target market and can provide detailed information about the types of companies and individuals you want to reach.

    With a clear picture of your target market, a lead generation partner can develop ideal client profiles (ICPs) for each decision-maker. These ICPs guide every element of the lead generation process, including list building, content creation and objection handling. Using the demographic, firmographic and technographic data of each ICP, a team of experts can develop a custom campaign strategy designed to convert prospects quickly.

    However, if you are unsure about or have experienced trouble penetrating your target market, don’t hesitate to discuss your current challenges with potential lead generation partners. These specialists have a keen understanding of product-market fit and can walk you through the steps you need to take to identify your most profitable target market.

    Related: Lead Generation Best Practices That Help You Find New Customers

    How to know you’ve found the right lead generation company

    It’s essential to do your due diligence by researching the lead generation companies you are considering. Reviews and testimonials are helpful, but don’t be afraid to ask technical questions about processes, procedures and performance.

    There are hundreds of lead generation companies to choose from, all with their own unique purpose and place in the market. Ultimately, the right partner for you will be the one that most closely aligns with your business needs and goals.

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    Vito Vishnepolsky

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  • 3 Strategies to Respond to the Changes in the B2B Buying Journey

    3 Strategies to Respond to the Changes in the B2B Buying Journey

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    Tumultuous times have a way of altering our approach to many things — especially the decision-making process. Organizations with decades of internal processes built around how to make critical decisions were challenged to change radically during the global health crisis, as the norm has seemed to change nearly every month. And if those decisions involve purchases, it just complicates matters further.

    As economic and societal uncertainty continues to loom, some businesses are asking realistically, how much money could be allocated to any investment at this time. Is any investment a wise appropriation of funds? Small businesses can certainly attest to this fear, with an UpCity survey finding that 57% cut their spending during the global health and economic crisis. Those that left their spending intact opted for budget reallocation, choosing to devote more funds to salary increases (34%), marketing (28%) or operations management (27%).

    In the past, businesses set approval thresholds to authorize spending up to certain dollar amounts. The decision for larger capital expenditures would naturally be reserved for higher levels in the organization. Certainly, leadership would gather feedback to provide more context on the purchase, but the ultimate decision would be left in the C-suite’s hands.

    However, there has been a shift. It is no longer possible to gather input in the same ways, as remote and hybrid work has become common. A meeting for larger expenditures would need to be scheduled, though doing so can add months to the process. These roadblocks have led some companies to abandon processes that were set in stone for years.

    Related: 6 Fatal B2B Sales Mistakes You Must Avoid

    The changing face of B2B customer engagement

    Firms working with these businesses have been quick to respond, evolving to meet the new many-to-many relationship that has surfaced. An increasing number of people within the supplier have found themselves communicating simultaneously with an increasing number of people at the customer — often across multiple locations and mediums. In many cases, this only adds to the strain on the firm’s internal operations. It takes more time and energy to synchronize with a customer to ensure the quality and consistency of messages, especially because B2B buyers are now going in different directions.

    With the evolution of the multistep decision process, suppliers have had to be prepared to support asynchronous communication. This method of contact has created a new B2B customer experience trend, with buyers requesting information but not consistently. It is up to suppliers to meet them where they are with up-to-date information. All of this is driving significant change to suppliers’ internal operations.

    Internal systems have had to change to address this new style of remote decision-making as well. Video calling, video chat systems and so on are instrumental in getting internal teams on the same page to facilitate consistent communication with buyers. Process-based decision tools are also being rapidly adopted. Slack’s acquisition by Salesforce and Workfront’s acquisition by Adobe illustrate how critical communication and decision-making across distributed individuals has become central to maintaining B2B customer engagement across the B2B buying journey.

    Related: 5 Tips for Developing Your B2B Sales

    Instituting new B2B customer engagement strategies

    B2B customer engagement strategies have changed. There’s no denying that fact. However, you must still resolve B2B pain points to maintain customer relationships and remain in the good graces of your customer base. There are aspects of operations that might require a tweak or two to keep pace with what’s ahead. Here’s what you can do to be prepared:

    1. Get everyone on the same page

    If you’re not on the same page with your team, you won’t be able to provide relevant strategies for customers. Getting everyone on the same page sounds simple enough, but Salesforce found that 86% of business executives believe ineffective collaboration and communication are the two major causes of failure in business.

    Don’t just focus on the tools and systems that facilitate collaboration and communication. Those should already be there. Look at the processes involved. Like B2B pain points, are there obstacles to more effective communication? If there are, now is the time to find ways to internally streamline them.

    2. Evaluate the sequence of communications

    The sequencing of communications with your customers shouldn’t be something you take for granted. Just ask the 82% of decision-makers who believe sales reps are unprepared for meetings, according to SiriusDecisions. A Forrester survey backs up this sentiment, with 78% of executives reporting that sales reps lack essential information. Another 77% believe these reps don’t understand their company issues or the purpose of the product.

    To mitigate these shortcomings, ensure your team members understand where customers are in their B2B buying journey. If a customer is still in the design phase and has yet to establish the requirements, pushing the company to make a decision only sours the relationship. Capture accurate data and clarify your B2B buyer insights to ensure you’re consistently meeting customers where they are.

    Related: Sharing Winning B2B Customer Stories: How to Showcase an Effective Case Study

    3. Embrace the new norm

    By now, you no doubt know that many change efforts fail due to internal resistance and a lack of managerial support. As such, you need to strengthen your internal competency around change management to ensure you can constantly adjust to customer demands and an ever-evolving marketplace.

    The B2B buying journey has forever changed, and it will likely change again in the very near future. Social and economic turmoil has accelerated the adoption of digital solutions and ushered in continual improvements in the way businesses connect. Getting specific aspects of the B2B buying journey right can ensure your team is better positioned to handle whatever the future holds.

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    Scott Webb

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  • American Express launches B2B payments platform | Bank Automation News

    American Express launches B2B payments platform | Bank Automation News

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    American Express has launched business-to-business payments network AmEx Business Link, allowing commercial clients to support several types of payments including card, non-card, domestic and cross-border transactions. The API-based solution connects to a variety of technology platforms and provides buyers and sellers the ability to choose in real time how they want to be paid. “We […]

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    Brian Stone

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  • Here’s What Really Builds Customer Loyalty in the B2B Industry

    Here’s What Really Builds Customer Loyalty in the B2B Industry

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    Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

    During the past couple of years, we’ve all had a front-row seat at the B2B digital transformation, and it has become clear that great B2B ecommerce buying experiences don’t just happen. They require a strategic investment of time and money — and an understanding of the psychological drivers that create experience loyalty in business buyers.

    While experience loyalty has been around the B2C world for decades, the B2B industry is now catching on that delighting customers doesn’t build loyalty. Instead, reducing buyer effort, or the work a buyer must do to get their problems solved, does. For today’s B2B customers, the “problem” that needs to be solved starts with the first purchase: Is it easy to start doing business with your company?

    Related: The Convergence of B2B and B2C: How to Create Epic Experiences in an Experience-driven Economy

    Over half of B2B buyers have switched all suppliers in one year

    Most B2B companies earn a large share of their revenue from ongoing sales to existing customers, making customer retention an important B2B business priority. As human encounters are replaced with digital ones, sellers are challenged to find new ways to keep clients sticky when the competition is just a click away.

    In 2021, 55% of US-based respondents in a global survey said they had switched suppliers for all business purchases in the 12 months preceding the survey. Another 41% said they had switched some suppliers for some business purchases. With nine of 10 respondents switching vendors, one can only conclude that great B2B buying experiences are not happening and likely falling further behind as the digital age progresses. Only a year earlier, in 2020, the comparable percentages were 20% for all purchases and 43% for some purchases.

    Although 2022 numbers aren’t out yet, it’s safe to assume that B2B buyers continue to have rising expectations based on their B2C ecommerce habits. That’s why B2B leaders need to understand that today’s key differentiator is their company’s ability to deliver the best possible B2B customer experience.

    Customer effort matters much more than delight

    Gartner has extensively studied experience loyalty, evaluating whether customer satisfaction can accurately predict future loyalty. Although counterintuitive, their conclusion is “no.” The data revealed that 20% of customers who reported that they were “satisfied” also expressed an intention to buy from someone else. And the delight strategy fares no better: “There was virtually no difference between the loyalty of customers whose expectations were exceeded and those whose expectations were simply met,” the report states. Instead, the true driver of customer loyalty is the amount of effort customers must use to resolve a problem: 96% of customers who had a high-effort experience reported being disloyal compared with 9% with low-effort experiences.

    As business leaders, we don’t want our customers to have problems with our products or services. But it doesn’t take a “big” problem to give a customer the feeling that a company is hard to do business with. Gartner identifies the key sources of customer effort as:

    It’s more likely that a “simple” customer request can reveal whether it’s genuinely easy to do business with your company.

    Related: 12 Golden Rules for Customer Experience Strategy

    B2B payments are complex, but the buying experience can be simple

    In evaluating today’s B2B customer journey, many B2B buyers find the purchase process complicated and time-consuming. It can be hard to select a supplier, and once chosen, the onboarding process can take days (or even weeks, in some industries) adding immense friction at the very beginning of the customer experience. This segment of the customer journey has historically been a manual and paper-based system. In my experience, many companies “digitize” payments by adding online forms, which does not improve or accelerate the manual underpinnings.

    Today’s buyers have much higher expectations and expect B2B ecommerce to be fully automated, instantly responsive and mobile-friendly. Furthermore, corporate customers increasingly want more self-service account options, which require robust portals or apps that allow them to access invoices, make payments, manage disputes and more in just a few clicks.

    Better B2B payments can remove a majority of the friction

    Today, business growth will likely include new digital channels, such as ecommerce, marketplaces and more. And although B2B customers enjoy these new channels, they want to continue purchasing the way they always have, with contracts, purchase orders (POs) and invoices. Why? Because contracts often include special pricing and other negotiated terms, and the POs and invoices are required to manage enterprise expenses.

    That’s why digital channels designed to offer a great B2B customer experience must include all the complexity required by buyers and their organizations. The key is that the complicated plumbing must sit behind a sleek, easy checkout experience.

    The good news is that the days of building these digital solutions in-house are long gone. Instead, B2B merchants can choose to join an existing B2B payments and invoicing network that is purpose-built to reduce many of the challenges organizations encounter as they strive to enhance experience loyalty. These proven B2B payments providers can provide:

    • Real-time trade credit decisioning in moments, not days, that keep prospective buyers engaged when they have decided to purchase

    • Right-sized corporate trade credit accounts

    • Automated accounts receivable to support new customer acquisition and onboarding

    • Digital invoices in formats that are easy for enterprise systems to digest

    • Fraud detection and mitigation during trade credit decisioning

    Related: The Ultimate Secret of Building a Loyal Customer Base

    A modern B2B payment process can create experience loyalty

    It’s the new reality: Most B2B buyers don’t want help during “the sales process” unless they ask for it. Instead of relying on salespeople to build sticky relationships, companies must grow customer loyalty in other ways. Investing in an easier payments experience is an excellent place to start.

    Many companies view their online payment experience as merely mechanical — it either works or not — and in the past, they were largely correct. But like it or not, today’s digital world is very different. With a world of merchants at their fingertips, buyers know they have choices and are quick to take their business elsewhere. That’s why suppliers that create a customer-centric checkout, designed to give B2B buyers an experience that is neither complicated nor time-consuming, can gain a significant competitive edge. According to McKinsey, B2B companies that transformed their customer experiences saw 10 to 15% revenue growth, higher client satisfaction scores, improved employee satisfaction and a 10-20% reduction in operational costs.

    Companies of all sizes can use this type of technology to their strategic advantage where loyalty-building B2B payments experiences are just a few APIs away. A comprehensive payments solution can significantly reduce the friction that new buyers encounter. Investing in a low-effort onboarding process can create a memorable relationship starter, build experience loyalty and differentiate your company — all the result of strategically investing time and money to create a great B2B ecommerce experience.

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    Brandon Spear

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  • IMS Barter Announces Infrastructure Investment

    IMS Barter Announces Infrastructure Investment

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    Press Release
    –


    updated: May 7, 2021


    NEW BERLIN, Wis., May 7, 2021 (Newswire.com)
    –
    International Monetary Systems, Ltd. announced its second major website upgrade in the last six months to better serve its client base. This investment in infrastructure for IMS clients shows its commitment to continue to be the worldwide leader in business-to-business barter services.

    The website upgrade, launched at the end of April 2021, focuses on the travel industry to help bolster sales across this pandemic-devastated sector of business. Gathering inspiration from other major travel websites such as Airbnb, TripAdvisor, Kayak, and others, the developers at IMS created carefully curated collections of travel properties available throughout the expansive, international IMS network.

    These collections feature properties such as all-inclusive resorts, vacation homes, hunting and fishing lodges, bed & breakfasts, cabins, condominiums, hotels, plus much more, and allow IMS travelers to quickly select and book their stays in the type of accommodation they desire. In addition, the website will suggest nearby activities and restaurants offered through the IMS network to the shopper to improve their overall travel experience.

    “We are looking at innovative ways to enhance the everyday client buying experience and, at the same time, increase the seller’s occupancy levels and market share. This website upgrade accomplishes both,” says CEO John Strabley.

    Recent website updates focused on expanding the IMS virtual marketplace platform where IMS clients list and sell products online. These upgraded features added a shopping experience more like Amazon or Etsy and the update saw an increase in web traffic for IMS by over 500%.

    Founded in 1985, International Monetary Systems (IMS) serves 23,000 cardholders in 52 North American markets. Based in New Berlin, Wisconsin, IMS is the largest barter company in the world. The IMS network allows companies to create cost savings and connect to new customers by incorporating barter opportunities in their business models. Further information can be obtained at the company’s website at www.IMSBarter.com.

    Company Contact:
    John Strabley – CEO
    (800) 559-8515

    Source: International Monetary Systems, Ltd.

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  • IMS Barter Continues to Invest in Infrastructure

    IMS Barter Continues to Invest in Infrastructure

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    Press Release
    –


    updated: May 4, 2021


    NEW BERLIN, Wis., May 4, 2021 (Newswire.com)
    –
    International Monetary Systems, Ltd. announced its second major website upgrade in the last six months to better serve its client base. This investment in infrastructure for IMS clients shows its commitment to continue to be the worldwide leader in business-to-business barter services.

    The website upgrade, launched at the end of April 2021, focuses on the travel industry to help bolster sales across this pandemic-devastated sector of business. Gathering inspiration from other major travel websites such as Airbnb, TripAdvisor, Kayak, and others, the developers at IMS created carefully curated collections of travel properties available throughout the expansive, international IMS network.

    These collections feature properties such as all-inclusive resorts, vacation homes, hunting and fishing lodges, bed & breakfasts, cabins, condominiums, hotels, plus much more, and allow IMS travelers to quickly select and book their stays in the type of accommodation they desire. In addition, the website will suggest nearby activities and restaurants offered through the IMS network to the shopper to improve their overall travel experience.

    “We are looking at innovative ways to enhance the everyday client buying experience and, at the same time, increase the seller’s occupancy levels and market share. This website upgrade accomplishes both,” says CEO John Strabley.

    Recent website updates focused on expanding the IMS virtual marketplace platform where IMS clients list and sell products online. These upgraded features added a shopping experience more like Amazon or Etsy and the update saw an increase in web traffic for IMS by over 500%.

    Founded in 1985, International Monetary Systems (IMS) serves 23,000 cardholders in 52 North American markets. Based in New Berlin, Wisconsin, IMS is the largest barter company in the world. The IMS network allows companies to create cost savings and connect to new customers by incorporating barter opportunities in their business models. Further information can be obtained at the company’s website at www.IMSBarter.com.

    Company Contact:
    John Strabley – CEO
    (800) 559-8515

    Source: International Monetary Systems, Ltd.

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  • She Geeks Out Launches New Corporate Program on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

    She Geeks Out Launches New Corporate Program on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

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    BOSTON, January 16, 2018 (Newswire.com)
    –
    She Geeks Out (“SGO”) announced that applications are open for their new corporate program, The Vault. In this unique program designed specifically for executives, senior leaders, startup founders, venture capitalists and managers, attendees will learn about the historical context of oppression including racism and sexism, current terminology and thinking, and how to apply this knowledge to real-world workplace scenarios. In what is arguably a particularly challenging time for corporate leaders grappling with a heightened awareness of the importance of creating an inclusive and welcoming work environment, this program will provide a confidential space to discuss difficult issues with their peers and be facilitated by experts in workplace diversity and inclusion. The overarching goal is to translate this learning into action by helping attendees move the needle forward toward equity for all within their organization. Upon completion, participants will be more informed, be able to make a strong business case for diversity, equity, and inclusion, and have a better understanding of their own identities and their impact on the workplace.

    The Vault will take place over six mornings beginning early Spring 2018. The public Spring program is open to individuals from various organizations; the program is also available to companies’ internal teams upon request. Each of the six sessions will focus on a different topic: Identity, Terminology, Power and Privilege, Skill Building, Multicultural Organizational Development, and Action Planning. SGO requests that interested parties apply on the SGO website as soon as possible to ensure availability.

    I found The Vault excellent for gaining comfort in the language of diversity, equity, and inclusion. I was able to work with the facilitators and the rest of our group to assess current challenges, create an action plan and immediately begin working toward a more inclusive work environment. I highly recommend this training to anyone passionate about creating healthy, diverse, and inclusive teams.

    Jaclyn Jussif, Recruiting Manager, EdX

    Vault pilot program attendee Jaclyn Jussif from EdX had this to say:

    “I found The Vault excellent for gaining comfort in the language of diversity, equity, and inclusion. I was able to work with the facilitators and the rest of our group to assess current challenges, create an action plan and immediately begin working toward a more inclusive work environment. I highly recommend this training to anyone passionate about creating healthy, diverse, and inclusive teams.”

    SGO offers several corporate training workshops, of which the Vault is the newest. Other trainings include “Unconscious Bias in the Workplace”, “Recruiting and Hiring for Diversity”, and “Retaining Talent Through Inclusivity”.

    About She Geeks Out: SGO’s mission is to educate, promote and support diverse and inclusive companies and organizations, by taking a holistic approach to fostering diversity and inclusion in the workplace. They provide women in STEM an opportunity to network and connect with each other as well as with companies who wish to hire them. At the same time, they support companies in their diversity and inclusion efforts by providing them with the knowledge, skills, and tools to create an inclusive environment, in a safe and welcoming space. Learn more about She Geeks Out at www.shegeeksout.com.

    Media Contact:
    Hannah Lesnik
    Phone: (617) 752-1144
    Email: press@shegeeksout.com

    Source: She Geeks Out

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