Best B2B Digital Marketing Channels (Updated 2024!)

I’m sure you already know how important it is to invest in digital marketing.

But where do you focus your efforts and resources?

Which are the most effective digital B2B marketing channels?

There’s a lot of noise on social media, but which ones offer the real value? And what about SEO? Does it still count?

This article will answer all these questions and more!

Which are the most effective digital marketing channels?

B2B marketing is a complex beast. The sales cycle is longer, the buyer journey is more complicated, and the buyer has more power.

There are thousands of B2B Marketing channels out there but only a handful that actually work.

Here’s a breakdown of the top digital B2B marketing channels that will help you grow your business.

B2B Content marketing

Content marketing is any form of information or entertainment created by businesses to promote their products and services.

It’s more than just blogging — it includes social media posts, videos, photos, infographics, and any other type of media that can be shared online.

This type of content has a longer shelf life than traditional advertising because it’s relevant, useful and interesting to people who might not otherwise be interested in your product or service.

Content marketing involves creating valuable content that speaks directly to your audience can help you build trust with them, establish yourself as an expert in your field and ultimately drive leads and sales for your business.

SEO blogging (Search engine optimization)

Rank your website higher on search engines for questions your prospects are asking.

If you’re a B2B company, you can use this channel to rank for the keywords prospects use to find you (or your competitors).

SEO blogs are also great places to educate prospects on why they should work with your company and how your products or services can help them achieve their goals.

You can use blog posts in tandem with lead magnets to attract leads who are interested in your content and empower your email marketing campaigns.

Here are 12 Benefits of Blogging for Business and Marketing.

B2B email marketing

Email marketing can be an effective B2B digital marketing channel if you’re sending highly relevant emails to your target audience.

The key is to keep your email subject lines short and compelling so that people want to open them.

Once people open your email, you want to make sure they understand what’s inside so that they’ll take action on it — whether it’s a link to a webinar sign-up page or another piece of content that you think would benefit them.

Podcasts to share ideas your target audience wants to hear

Podcasting is a great way to build your brand, especially when you consider the increasing number of people who are spending more time listening to audio than watching television.

According to Edison Research, 64% of Americans listen to podcasts at least once a month, and 57% say that they prefer listening over reading or watching TV.

So why are podcasts so popular?

The answer is simple: Podcasts allow brands to communicate to a captive audience.

In today’s fast-paced world, having the power to have your podcast available on demand allows companies and brands to tell their story anytime or anywhere—which establishes authority in your industry and creates advocates for your brand.

Podcasts can also be used as a powerful marketing tool for B2B companies because they help build relationships with prospects, customers, partners and employees by providing valuable information that helps them make better decisions about products or services they’re considering purchasing from you.

B2B Social media marketing

Social media has become a powerful tool for businesses to connect with prospects and customers, build brand awareness, drive traffic to their sites and generate leads.

B2B social media marketing is a great way for B2B companies to build a community of like-minded professionals.

The idea behind B2B social media marketing is simple: Create content that’s useful, interesting and relevant to your target audience and share it on platforms where they spend time.

This approach has multiple benefits

• Grow your brand’s authority so customers view you as an expert in your field.
• You can engage with potential customers or partners who may not be ready to buy yet but could become customers in the future.
• You can generate leads by asking questions, offering discounts and promoting events that engage your followers.

Youtube and video content

Youtube is one of the most popular platforms where people come to watch videos.

If you’re not using this platform, then you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to reach your target audience.

You can use video content for many things, such as:

• Responding to questions your users are making,
• Create tutorials and explain how your product or service solves their problems.
• To create a closer relationship with your audience and your prospects.

Case studies to prove that your product works

Case studies illustrate exactly how your company helped a previous or current client.

According to Content Marketing Institute, 73% of the most successful content marketers used case studies. Nearly 50% of SaaS companies say case studies drive sales.

You can use them across channels and platforms.

There’s no limit to where you can post your case studies — on your website, social media pages (Facebook, Twitter), YouTube channel and even LinkedIn profile page or company blog.

That means there are plenty of opportunities for people to see them!

Case studies help increase trust with prospects who might not know much about your business, which is especially important when selling complex products like software or complex services.

A survey by BrightLocal found that 64% of consumers trust testimonials from real people over product descriptions and reviews.

That’s why you need to put your best foot forward and make these valuable assets easy for potential customers to find.

Paid search and PPC campaigns

Pay for performance advertising.

Paid search and PPC campaigns can be extremely effective at driving traffic to your website and generating leads for your business.

With CPCs (cost per click) on Google Adwords (Google Ads) starting from just $0.10 per click, it’s affordable for almost any budget!

You can target specific keywords based on what they’re searching for or topics they’re interested in reading about – this allows you to get very granular with what type of traffic you’re trying to generate.

You can also set up conversion tracking to see how many people click through and convert on your website after viewing your ad.

Display and retargeting ads

Display ads, such as banner ads, can be shown to a general audience across the internet; retargeting ads, on the other hand, are displayed only to people who have visited your website in the past.

It gives you the opportunity to show ads to a perfectly primed audience—people who have already visited your site—and nurture them into completing a conversion or coming back to make another purchase.

The folks at connectIO reveal that, on average, retargeting ads are 76% more likely to be clicked on than a regular old display ad.

Influencer marketing: connecting with highly engaged audiences

Influencer marketing has grown in popularity over the last few years as it has proven itself to be an effective way for brands to reach highly engaged audiences at scale.

In fact, according to a recent study by BrightTALK, 92% of respondents said they trust recommendations from influencers more than any other form of advertising (this number rises to 97% among millennials).

This makes influencer marketing an ideal form of content promotion for B2B organizations looking to reach an audience who already trusts them with their money.

Cold email outreach: A smart way to reach out

Cold email outreach is a direct way to reach decision-makers at target companies who may be interested in your solution.

It’s also a useful way to find new prospects and grow your reach within the B2B space.

A well-written cold email can be one of the most effective ways to drive business growth while also providing you with valuable insights into who your target audience really is.

Are any of these B2B marketing channels saturated?

This is a question many marketers ask themselves when expanding their marketing campaigns. It’s also a common question for businesses considering investing in digital marketing for the first time.

The short answer is no — at least not yet.

B2B Marketing channels are still growing and changing every day, but many of them are expected to reach a saturation point within the next few years. 

While some people may be concerned about this, it’s actually a good thing because it means that you’ll have more resources available to explore new platforms.

If you’re looking for a way to differentiate your business from competitors, this is an excellent opportunity to do so by using B2B marketing channels that are currently underutilized or less familiar to consumers.

B2B vs B2C Marketing strategy

B2B and B2C marketing channels are very different. B2C marketers sell to consumers, while B2B marketers sell to business buyers.

The Differences Between B2B and B2C Marketing Channels

Business-to-business (B2B) marketing focuses on logical, process-driven purchasing decisions, while business-to-consumer (or B2C) marketing focuses on emotional buying decisions made by consumers.

In other words, B2B marketers focus on how their products or services can solve problems for other businesses and make them more money. By contrast, B2C marketers focus on how their products or services can solve problems for individuals and make them happier.

This distinction is important because you’ll use different channels when marketing to consumers than businesses.

For example, if you’re selling software to large corporations, you might use digital channels like social media, content marketing, email marketing and advertising networks.

But if you’re selling software directly to consumers, these same B2B marketing channels might not be as effective due to the personal nature of the sales process.

The secret to B2B marketing using multiple digital channels in 2023

The B2B business landscape has changed significantly in the last decade.

On one hand, we have seen an increase in the number of products and services that are available in this sector, while on the other hand, customers have become more demanding and selective.

Due to this scenario, marketers have to adopt new strategies to stay ahead of their competitors and use multiple digital channels for marketing their products or services.

Develop channel-specific strategies

It is essential for marketers to develop unique strategies for each channel they use for marketing purposes.

This means that your marketing strategy should be different for social media platforms than it is for email marketing, or it should be different for paid search ads than it is for organic search results pages (SERPs).

Each channel has its own unique characteristics and specific benefits for your business.

For example, social media channels are great for building brand awareness, while email marketing can help you nurture leads and drive conversions.

Create a channel-specific marketing strategy that aligns with your overall marketing goals and target audience persona(s) to get the most out of each channel

This will ensure that you’re using each channel in the right way and not wasting time on activities that don’t deliver results.

Combine your marketing strategies to gain synergy (multi-channel marketing)

The best marketers understand that a multi-channel approach is the most effective way to achieve success in today’s B2B environment. 

Combining your marketing strategies will give you synergy and help you reach more leads, convert more prospects into customers, and earn new referrals along the way.

The most common form of multi-channel marketing is a combination of email and social media. Social media can help you build brand awareness and drive traffic back to your website or blog, where you can capture leads with an email opt-in form.

Email marketing is also used as part of multi-channel marketing campaigns by sending out emails to customers that link back to landing pages on your website and blog.

You can also use your SEO blog to attract organic traffic from search engines and then retarget them using paid advertising.

Another alternative would be to repurpose your blogs into Twitter threads and LinkedIn articles or use the traffic that arrives to your blog to feed your email list of subscribers.

If you are interested in learning more about this, you may want to read: How to Schedule Your Content for Maximum Synergy Among Distribution Channels

How to win in B2B Marketing

In order to win in B2B marketing, you need to master both the art and the science. 

The art is all about understanding your audience and how they buy. The science is all about optimizing your marketing campaigns for conversions, leads and revenue.

The key is to keep the two sides of business — sales and marketing — working together as one. 

If they don’t work together, you’ll end up with lots of unqualified leads or customers who don’t understand what they’re buying from you.

But what does it mean to market your business to businesses? And how do you get started?

Align your marketing strategy with business goals

• Define Your Business Goals. Make sure you have a clear understanding of what success looks like for your business.
• Set marketing goals that are within your reach. Focus on realistic and achievable goals, rather than setting lofty expectations that are too high to meet.
• Focus on the channels that will help your business grow. Choose the marketing channels that will deliver the biggest return on investment (ROI) for your company and focus your efforts there.
• Measure your results. Use analytics tools to measure how well each channel is performing and identify which ones are working best so you can focus more of your time on them moving forward.
• Analyse and improve. Continue analyzing performance data throughout the year so that if one channel isn’t producing positive results, you can shift resources to another one that might be more effective for your business at this time.

Determine what KPIs to track

To understand when your efforts yield the desired effects, you need to know how to track the KPIs relevant to your business goals.

This way, when you find that your efforts are not producing the results that you want — i.e., no increase in site traffic or sales— it’s time to make changes accordingly.

To determine what metrics to track and how, consider these questions:

• What is the ultimate goal of each channel?
• What do I want people who visit my website do after they land there?
• What do I want them do before they leave?
• How do I know if they actually did those things?
• Which metrics can help me track those things?

Automate your processes with digital marketing tools

Digital marketing is a great way to automate specific processes in your business. If you don’t want to spend all day manually creating content or managing your social media accounts, then these tools can help you out.

• SurferSEO: If you want to increase website traffic, you can use surferSEO to optimize your content. This tool will analyze your site and determine what needs improvement so it ranks higher in search engines like Google and Bing.
• Ahrefs: You can also use Ahrefs to find competitors and learn what they’re doing right or wrong so that you can improve on their tactics. This will give you an edge over other businesses in your industry that aren’t using this tool.
• Buffer: This is another great tool for automating some tasks related to social media marketing. You can use Buffer to schedule posts across multiple platforms, including your blog, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram, so they go live at specific times each day.

Analyze your competition

The first thing you should do is analyze your competition.

Use ahrefs to see what topic categories bring traffic to your competition and start writing.

See what type of content they publish on social networks or youtube. Try to find the ones that generate the highest amount of engagement to double down on what’s working well for them.

Remember, success leaves trails: find out what kind of strategies work best for your competitors and replicate them, but execute them even better!

Optimize your digital presence

According to a recent study by Aberdeen Group, social media channels are the most important channels for B2B marketers. In fact, social media is now the top channel for lead generation among B2B marketers.

Make sure your profiles are updated and well presented across social media channels (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter).

This includes your profile image, banner image, bio and other information that’s displayed on each channel.

A well-designed profile makes it easier for potential customers to find you and learn about your business.

It also helps make your company look professional and trustworthy — two important qualities when trying to develop a relationship with potential customers online.

Make sure your website:

• It’s mobile-friendly and that it loads fast. It’s important to be easy to reach and find on the internet.
• It’s well-designed, easy to navigate and provides valuable content that keeps visitors coming back.
• Has a blog with posts published regularly. This helps build trust with visitors and provides fresh content for search engines to crawl.

Invest in search engine optimization (SEO) so you can rank higher in search results for key terms related to your business category and industry verticals

Determine your brand positioning

B2B brand positioning is about more than just ensuring your website looks good or has an easy checkout process — although those things are important too.

It’s about creating a clear picture of who you are as a business, what you do and why customers should buy from you instead of one of hundreds or thousands of other companies doing the same thing (or offering similar products).

Your brand positioning is the foundation upon which your B2B marketing strategy is built. It’s what makes your business unique and helps you stand out from competitors. It’s also the way you communicate who you are and what you do to potential customers.

This definition may seem simple enough, but it can be difficult to nail down exactly what your brand positioning should be in terms of content strategy and messaging.

The most effective way to do this is by using a tool like the Brand Positioning Statement Builder from the Marketing Profs website.

This tool will help you answer questions about your target audience and what you want them to think about when they think of your company.

Identify your target audience

The first step in any successful campaign is identifying your target audience.

• Who are they?
• What kind of personas do they represent?
• What are their pain points?
• Where do they hang out online?
• How can you reach them?

Knowing your target audience will also help you determine which B2B digital channels are best for your business and tailor your message to their needs.

B2B Marketing Trends to Watch in 2023 [New Data]

B2B marketers are optimistic about their future and plan to increase their investments in digital marketing.

In a new survey of more than 1,000 B2B marketers, we found that more than half (51%) expect to increase their budgets in 2023. Another 21% expect no change, while 28% say they will decrease their spending.

The majority of B2B marketers plan to increase their investments in influencer marketing (67%), social media advertising (60%), search engine marketing (57%) and paid search ads (53%).

More than half (56%) say they plan to increase their investment in email marketing over the next year, while 43% say they will spend more on content marketing.

Marketers also plan to spend more on mobile-friendly websites with mobile-first design capabilities (55%), live video streaming capabilities (52%) and virtual reality/augmented reality experiences (50%).

Hiring a digital marketing agency to handle your B2B digital marketing strategies

The best marketing channels are the ones that work for your business.

B2B companies have different needs and goals than B2C companies, and so their digital marketing strategies should be different, too.

A good digital marketing agency can help you determine which channels are right for your business and how to best use them.

The time is now to hire a digital marketing agency to handle your B2B digital marketing strategies.

If you’re looking for an agency that can help you develop a strong online presence and drive more leads, sales, and revenue for your business, look no further. We can help.

Get started with our free blog audit.