I was reading an interesting article in Costco’s September/October 2015 magazine titled, Rethinking social media for business by Marc Gordon. Marc discusses the lack of results social media has driven for many small business owners.

Here are some of the statistics Marc shares (from a report by unruly.co):

• 87 percent of YouTube videos are shared by only 18% of users
• 99% of Twitter posts come from 1% of the subscribers
• Organic reach of Facebook posts is around 2 to 8%

He goes on to discuss how social media is gauged by statistics vs. dollar results. He also provides some suggestions as to what a small business owner can do to improve their results.

Speaking more specifically from a B2B sales and marketing standpoint, I believe his point is correct. An over-reliance on social media and content marketing to make your business successful is the wrong approach and statistics don’t necessarily mean revenue results. Like anything, you need a tailored and more specific approach to selling both through social media platforms and either direct or channel/partner relationships. I think social media is a powerful tool that can be utilized by small businesses but it is just that a “tool”, not a solution to selling. We have found that the most successful solution is a combination of both traditional sales and social media/content marketing. This allows you to focus specifically on getting in front of direct target customers, helps build mindshare in the market and positions you from a search engine optimization standpoint to garner leads through your website and social properties.

We have a client today in the oil and gas space where we provide a direct sales and content marketing solution. We have driven the most leads from a direct selling standpoint with a focus on sales to oil and gas producers, engineering firms and construction companies. Our content marketing work encompassing our social media plans has assisted in bringing in less leads, but really helped to validate our clients’ position as a key player and thought-leader in the market. In one case, a large oil and gas company that we had been cold calling specifically referred to content on our website that they liked and influenced their decision to call us.

Even for ourselves, and it has taken years to build, but the combination of direct sales and social media/content marketing has been very beneficial. If you went back four or five years ago, we saw really no leads from our website – it was all from cold calling and referrals. Skip ahead to today and we garner over 70 leads per month from our website and still actively sell direct. It is the combination of both that really drive success and feed each other.

To make your B2B sales strategy the more effective, a few things to consider are:
 

Focus on a Specific Market or Markets

In many cases, for a B2B business selling horizontally is challenging, selling vertically can be much easier. Carve out a niche and grow from there. We find from a B2B perspective, leveraging social media platforms like LinkedIn are helpful, but should not replace selling directly or through a channel or partner. Ultimately though you need to do your research, understand where your audience is garnering their information from, what your competitors are doing and position yourself accordingly. Focus on the sales method and social media channels that make the most sense.
 

Social Media

When utilizing social media and content marketing as part of the sales and marketing mix, be sure to give yourself enough time to see results. One thing we have found is that there is no such thing as a quick win. Methodical, focussed content shared on your website and over specific social platforms in the long run will give you the greatest chance of seeing results. Be committed to do it for the long haul.
 

Invest in a Sales CRM

To many, small B2B businesses do not utilize a sales CRM when selling and marketing. Building up a database of qualified accounts and contacts may seem simple, but keeping track of your interactions with them and ultimately staying in touch with them is no simple matter. We have found that most sales processes take six to 18 months and you need a way to remember what happened last and stay in touch. A CRM allows you to have an active sales funnel and build an electronic distribution list, like a newsletter, or something like that to help keep you top of mind with prospects and customers.

If you are in need of assistance from a sales and marketing perspective feel free to contact me. I would be happy to see if we can help. Alternatively, if you are simply looking for a source of excellent sales and marketing information, please feel free to sign up for our newsletter or follow us on Twitter.