Five ways to work best with your B2B digital marketing agency

No shock… B2B sales and, as a result, B2B marketing pose us all challenges.

80% of B2B sales interactions between suppliers and buyers will occur in digital channels - and up to 70% of the decision-making process will happen before a prospect even engages with sales.

Marketing materials must move with the multiple decision-makers (averaging between 7 and 8 people) on their journey, each interaction with your brand taking them a step closer to a sale.

Tricky, then.

But despite the strategy and creativity needed to execute B2B marketing well, time-poor teams often dismiss it as admin or relegate the week's social post to a junior.

Even the most enthusiastic comms, without a strategy, are simply white noise.

Misaligned departments, siloed marketing, C-Suite stress trying to decipher what's going wrong: this is not how it should be.

We have got the steps you need to take to find the fix… our Tribe's tips for each stage of plugging a digital marketing partner into your business - forging a partnership that enables you to punch at the weight you deserve.

Our 5-point guide takes you from selecting and onboarding a digital marketing agency to working with them to get the best from the partnership and, finally, what you need to analyse to know the collaboration is delivering returns.

A new world of agency partnership awaits: let's start your journey. Ready, Set, Go.

1) Why you don’t need B2B content marketing… (you need a B2B content marketing agency)

Excellent content marketing takes strategy, consistency and creativity. It takes experts who are prepared to roll up their sleeves, dig into who your buyers are, and engage them in conversation about how your product or services overcome their challenges.

As 95% of buyers buy from someone who gave them content at each stage of the buyer's journey, it should be a concern that 65% of sales reps say they can't find content to send to prospects.

Time-poor teams can't deliver the complex and creative marketing ecosystem you need to move the needle…

If you've been telling yourself, you don't need professional B2B digital marketing…

Here's our Tribe's rationale for why you do - read on.

2) How to choose a great B2B content marketing agency… (and what to ask them to make sure they are.)

In a survey of businesses, nearly half say they expect their organisation will contract content producers in 2023, with 25% planning to bring on content marketers.  

If you're among those exploring a partnership with a B2B digital marketing agency to grow your Tribe, this piece walks you through the following:

1. What a content marketing agency worth its salt should actually do
2. The considerations you should have when choosing an external partner
3. Poses the questions you shouldn't be afraid to ask the agencies on your shortlist

Read on here

3) How to get to work with your content marketing agency...if you want to make sure your content marketing actually works.

B2B decision makers spend more than 70% of the purchase cycle engaging with content before ever reaching out to sales representatives. They're looking for something more than a repetition of a well-worn sales pitch. But how do you ensure your new partners have the fuel to set your marketing campaigns alight?

Content comes from communication and collaboration - an agency is not a bolt-on for your business but a professional plug-in needing nourishment.

Here we explain how to ensure they get the fuel to feed your organisation's growth - Read on here.

4) Why content marketing doesn’t count (unless you put quality first)

Despite what they'll tell you, content is not king by divine right. It has to earn its status.

The B2C customer experience index scores between 65% and 80%, yet the B2B score? Below 50%.

B2B buyers are grumpy: they're sick and tired of wading through self-serving content that fails to serve them as individuals.

Your audience, therefore, doesn't care about your content: they care about its value to them.

Here's our advice on working long-term with your content marketing agency partners to ensure they can sustain the production of on-point pieces that amplify your brand and move your business forward - read on here.

5) Why your digital marketing agency should stop creating content… (and start analysing how effective it is)

Diving deeper into data sets will reveal the true story of your content marketing's successes. But stats on a month's Twitter follows or email click-throughs are only useful to you with forward motion from their analysis - the role of a great B2B content marketing agency is not only to provide this data but to unpick what it reveals and take action accordingly.

Data tells a story, but actions define where you go next. As Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn, puts it: "Data really powers everything that we do."

Our final blog walks through the stats to track the trends you want to see - read on here.

We hope these guides help you find the perfect agency fit. If not, drop us a line. We're friendly folk, super happy to advise.

And what about us? We deliver B2B marketing with tech, aerospace, aviation and renewables expertise. We're a holistic service, strategy and systems partner - here to connect marketing and sales if that's something you need.

Keen for more B2B content marketing insight to act on? Let us send you The Buzz: our monthly B2B marketing mailer.