Account-based experience, or ABX, marketing is an end-to-end B2B service strategy that focuses on synchronizing all aspects of a B2B customer experience: from marketing, to sales, to customer service. A consistent, high-quality B2B service tailored to each business is the ultimate goal of ABX marketing.

Similar to its predecessor known as ABM (account-based marketing), the idea is simple: each B2B buyer is unique, and a best-in-class buyer experience may look slightly different for each of them. Therefore, a tailored B2B customer experience, or ABX, is the optimal way to target your most important buyers and ensure they’re continuing to receive great service from every branch of your organization.

This targeted, tailored approach is also the best way to eliminate accountability shortfalls within your own organization and build up a great customer service culture.

If you’re interested in adopting an ABX strategy for your business-to-business operations and aren’t sure where to begin, today’s guide will break down the key information you need to help you get started.

From ABM to ABX Marketing

ABM was a revolutionary idea in its own right. The insight that each buyer is unique was not a new one, but the idea that your business should go out of its way to show different faces to different buyers was. It’s a simple but powerful idea: tailor your marketing specifically to the buyers you want more of, and then tailor it even more specifically for individual companies.

The Next Phase of Great Customer Service

ABX is the natural evolution of this: instead of just marketing, why not cater the sales and customer service experience to this individual company as well?

From a customer standpoint, there is nothing worse than the service level dropping off once you’ve given the business your money. ABX seeks to remedy this common problem by directing all available resources within the marketing, sales, and service departments toward delivering consistent, high-quality interactions.

Targeting Your Best Customers

You know who your best accounts are: the companies who buy your most expensive products, have worked with you for years, and have a good working relationship with their point of contact. ABX is a holistic strategy that doesn’t just focus on attaining new great customers but on keeping the ones you already have.

Customer retention is more valuable than acquiring new customers because it’s easier and leads to increased spending from those customers. A solid ABX protocol across all departments of your business will help you target your best accounts and ensure they are always properly managed.

The ABX Cycle

Another interesting way to conceive of ABX is as a customer experience cycle.

B2B buyers learn about you and your products via targeted, engaging marketing that speaks to the needs of their business. Then, a friendly and knowledgeable sales team guides them to the best product and prepares to hand them off to the customer service team. Finally, great customer service after the sale can be seen as a form of marketing. It leads to re-orders and word of mouth that begins the cycle again.

To summarize, marketing opportunities become sales opportunities, which become customer service opportunities, which become marketing opportunities again. Recognizing this cycle is key to harnessing it for your B2B buyer experience optimization.

How to Begin Implementing ABX Marketing

The process of implementing ABX at your company should be handled slowly. It’s a difficult process with many potential pitfalls. The move will require some careful planning and a willingness to fail, so don’t launch the program on too many accounts at once. Remember to hold departments accountable: leadership from all relevant teams should be present when the strategy is formulated, and the initial strategy meeting should be comprehensive with plenty of time for questions and concerns.

Get Started One Step at a Time

Start the program with a small selection of accounts that will be your beta testers. We recommend calling your initial efforts a beta, or soft-launch, or some other term that will make it clear that this is a new process for which mistakes must be expected.

You’ll need to give some breathing room for your departments will figure the new process out, while remaining involved enough to mold the program from the top-down. It’s a delicate process and one that is best managed from multiple angles. Stay in touch with your team leaders regularly, especially those who will be interacting with your B2B customers.

Plan for Shifting Accountabilities

Accountability will be in flux, especially at the beginning of your switch. This means departments that used to handle certain tasks for customers will no longer be responsible for them, and customer experience could easily be impacted if their usual buying flow is disrupted.

Empower Your Best People

Mitigate the problem of disruption by empowering one customer experience manager who will be responsible for smoothing the transition of a particular account, especially for your most valuable customers who may not be happy about any service disruptions.

This person should be up to date on all communications between you and your customers and be gathering information about where desyncs are happening along with suggestions on how to fix them. They are your eyes and ears on the account, so choose someone you trust who knows the ABX plan and the account inside and out. The feedback they generate and receive from your clients will be some of your most important data.

Use a B2B Buyer Experience Platform like Hushly

The path to ABX is clear but fraught with pitfalls and added stress that may make you wonder if the risk is worth undertaking.

At Hushly, we know that world-class ABX is the way of the future, and we are willing and able to help you execute your vision for what that future should look like. We have a proven track record of success in helping companies in diverse industries transfer to ABX to replace their old disjointed sales, marketing, and service strategies.

From tools like self-nurturing content marketing pages which make marketing and sales seamless to account-based microsites, which help you track important clients, Hushly has products that will make your ABX transition easier and more rewarding.

Leverage ABX Marketing Today

Whether or not you call it ABX or choose to implement it for your B2B operations immediately or wait a while longer, sooner or later it will become the standard. A bad experience could lose you a customer forever, but it’s also true that consistently excellent service is the key to loyalty.

The more businesses improve at targeting buyer needs with ABX, the more B2B customers are going to expect this level of engagement as a matter of course. Falling short of this standard will one day be the equivalent of a bad online ordering interface or unreachable customer service – deal breakers for most buyers.

Hushly can make your ABX transition simple with our suite of B2B buyer software. Request a personalized demo.

Taking steps to improve your B2B buying experience will seem daunting at first. There is a myriad of ways you could choose to approach the topic of optimization in this context, and knowing where to begin is not always obvious.

We’ve crafted today’s blog to help you understand what it means to have an excellent B2B buying experience, why it matters, and some important information on where to start.

First, we’ll explain some key concepts you need to know about the B2B buyer experience.

What a Great B2B Customer Experience Looks Like

Consider these core factors when evaluating your own B2B customer experience.

• Enthusiasm: B2B buyers are eager to feel special, understood, and catered to. Match that energy and you’ll leave a lasting impression.
• Delivery: If your company isn’t getting the job done, no amount of soft skills training or preparation is going to keep customers happy.
• Intuition: Your company should be preventing problems before they come up as much as it possibly can. The better you are at this, the more difficult it becomes to evaluate. To start, keep it simple: what are the most common problems that arise and how can you avoid those first?
• Responsiveness: You can’t predict everything. When problems do arise, how quickly is your company identifying and resolving them? How smooth is that process for the buyer? Is your staff willing and able to make it right when a mistake they make costs the customer?
• Change: Your B2B buyer experience program should be flexible. Your market will change, your products will change, and customers will change. Your B2B buyer experience must be adjustable to shifting needs while maintaining a human touch.

6 Ways to Improve the B2B Buying Experience

Let’s get into the six simple, actionable steps you can take to begin optimizing your B2B buying experience today.

1. Identify Your Own Shortcomings

You will make progress by focusing on any step on the list, but you’ll optimize your gains by thoroughly examining your data and business practices to find your weakest points. Targeting the lowest hanging fruit first is the best way to make quick gains with your B2B buyer experience.

Consider setting up a focus group within your organization to go over the information and formulate a plan together. Some actionable items will be implemented very easily, while others will require some coordination across departments. Representatives from all groups who will be asked to make changes should be present when the decisions are handed down.

2. Create a Digital-First Buying Experience

On the B2C front, everyone accepts that the flexibility, convenience, and repeatability of online buying are what makes it so important for customers. B2B customers are no different, and your B2B buying experience should be digital-first.

Consider that 62% of B2B customers prefer to reorder digitally. Since we’re on the topic of a great buying experience, consider that reorders will only happen if your online presence is capable of facilitating them quickly and easily. Without the value added from a great digital buying experience, your effort to impress buyers with customer service won’t matter.

3. Use B2C Buying Techniques

Your B2C customer service techniques will often apply very well to your B2B buyer experience.

As mentioned in the previous section, buyers today expect a smooth, integrated online buying experience that ends with quick delivery and easy follow-up from the company. Issues that arise after delivery should be resolvable through a similarly easy process of feedback with the company.

In other words, curating your systems, policies, and marketing to center the buyer is the most important step you can take, whether they are a consumer or a business.

4. Create High-Quality Content

Content marketing is relatable, easy to access, and captures and holds attention better than other forms of marketing. It’s also a simple way to leverage your digital assets to maximize ROI.

Blogs, social media content, and guides posted on your website are fantastic ways to increase search volume traffic and brand awareness via shares and other forms of customer engagement, like UGC.

Video content in particular has seen a dramatic increase in usage across all forms of marketing. A high-quality video will keep your customer engaged, explain the value behind your product, and accomplish all this in a very relatable and human way which drives trust and increases conversions.

5. Provide Online Learning

Users can’t maximize your system if they don’t understand it. Simple guides, tutorials, and content, which are both entertaining and educational, are an important aspect of a great B2B buyer experience.

When questions arise – and they will – you want customers to come to you to resolve them. If you don’t have the answer they’re looking for, they’ll start branching out, and that’s when you lose control.

Think of it this way: If your customer has a problem, do you want them to get the solution from you? Or from a random internet user who suffers from the same problem and also couldn’t find an answer from you?

6. Create B2B Buyer Personas Specific to an Industry

A buyer persona is a fictional buyer who represents your ideal customer in a given industry. They should represent an individual who makes purchasing decisions, and ideally, be based on a real person with whom your company has a great customer relationship. Your best customers are the ones that spend the most money and have been around the longest.

A persona based on this can provide insight into the kinds of needs your customers will have, where you’re most likely to find them, and how to appeal to them once you’re in contact.

A buyer persona is a training tool that will help build confidence in your sales team. The more they learn to recognize this idealized buyer and how to interact with them, the easier job they’ll have when real-life customers bring up their concerns.

Understanding B2B Buyers Can Be Difficult – Hushly Can Help

B2C buyers are more likely to form emotional connections with a brand, influencing the kinds of purchases they’ll make and when. This kind of impulsivity is generally replaced with a more tepid rationality in B2B customers.

While B2B buyers are human, they are making decisions on behalf of a company and so will have very predictable and practical concerns like ROI, productivity, and the potential pains of implementing your product into their existing infrastructure.

From content marketing to demand capture to sales engagement, Hushly is crafting personalized and optimized solutions for a wide range of companies and industries to solve this dilemma.

An end-to-end buyer experience and conversion platform like Hushly can take the stress of managing your B2B customer service off your hands. We’ll focus on creating an adaptable, scalable, and engaging experience for your buyers so you can focus on delivering value with great products and innovations.

Hushly can help you with every step of the B2B buyer experience. Request a personalized demo and see how the Hushly platform can benefit your business.

Opportunities to optimize B2B buyer conversion happen at every step of the marketing process.

Whether you’re looking to generate more leads with fantastic video content, or ranking leads with automated data analysis, the forefront of technology and sales has never been more complex. This is confounded by the seemingly limitless ways you could approach the concept of optimizing your own buyer conversion strategies.

Marketing leaders looking for some clear road signs might end up with more questions than answers, which is why we’ve crafted today’s guide.

Where to Begin Optimizing B2B Buyer Conversion Rates

A simple change can make a world of difference. Whether the topic is marketing or something else, the concept of optimization is all about squeezing large amounts of gains out of small amounts of effort.

With this idea in mind, the first step to optimizing your B2B buyer conversion rates will be to identify your current strategy’s shortcomings. These will be your priorities.

Don’t ignore the data. It’s the most important tool for identifying your weaknesses and the path to optimization. The exploration phase should include a deep dive into sales, marketing, and lead reports and statistics to gather data that substantiates the changes you’ll need to make.

Once you’ve confidently found the phases of your buyer conversion which aren’t performing as well as you’d like, you’ve also identified the path forward.

4 Ways to Optimize Your B2B Buyer Conversion Rate

While your company will have specific B2B buyer conversion needs that demand tailored optimizations, there are universal steps that can have an impact on any marketing strategy.

We’ve compiled a list of four bedrock strategies that will immediately impact your B2B buyer conversion. These are straightforward avenues to improving your conversion rate at every step of your marketing process.

1. Informative and Frictionless Video Content 

Video content is by far the most important to building trust and human interest in your brand. At every level of the chain of marketing, consumers prefer video content when learning about new products, education, leadership and direction, and explanations of complex topics.

Here are some impressive statistics from Wyzowl regarding video content:

• 96% of people have relied on video to learn about a new product or service.
• 88% say they’ve been convinced to buy a product or service by watching a video.
• 78% say a video has convinced them to buy a product or service before.

Videos are easier and more enjoyable for consumers, which is also why folks are twice as likely to share videos compared to other content.

A well-produced video tells a story that demands and holds the attention of an audience. This means video content is perfect for driving traffic to your website and keeping your brand’s name on people’s minds for longer.

So, what do we mean by frictionless?

Consumers come across your content with a certain intent, e.g., searching for a guide. If they confront a paywall that delays their access to the value they need, this is friction. This kind of roadblock to value is likely to drive away certain consumers who otherwise could have been converted to buyers.

By instead leading with value and putting video content alongside other relevant recommendations and offers, you will keep customer attention longer and drive-up conversion rates.

2. In-Depth Lead Scoring 

Every member of the sales and marketing team knows that when it comes to lead generation, quality can often matter far more than quantity.

When leads are handed off to the sales department and not converted, the question of who is to blame will naturally arise. Sales will feel they converted all good-quality leads, while marketing will feel that some good leads were left unconverted or perhaps not even followed up on.

This type of friction can be detrimental to the entire buyer conversion process from marketing to sales, not to mention your company’s culture. The only way to ensure both sides feel fairly represented is to introduce an objective criterion they each have input on crafting.

This is called lead scoring, and it can directly lead to higher sales, more consistent conversions, and increased cooperation between your marketing and sales teams.

A great lead-scoring system should have the following traits:

• Simplicity: The fewer measurements needed to determine a good lead the better. An overcomplicated lead scoring system can take more time than it’s worth: too many criteria run the risk of getting bogged down in minutiae.
• Comprehensiveness: Define the steps for nurturing each lead and how the program will affect compensation. There should be no questions regarding the expectations of all involved.
• Modularity: You need to update the lead scoring system as your sales and marketing ebb and flow. Your lead scoring system might not be perfect immediately, and it should be subject to regular reviews and changes.

3. Situational Buyer Insights 

The best buyer experience is simple: one where customers feel the seller understands and meets their needs.

A B2B buyer’s needs may be predictable in some respects, but their approach to business and the direction they plan to take their company won’t be. Buyers are human beings at the end of the day, and the insights, which help in making them feel unique, understood, and comfortable, are the key to successfully converting them.

The ability to make buyers feel relaxed and like the solutions your company offers rests on two important factors that you can optimize via training:

• Pattern recognition: Each sales situation is unique, but they are likely to include some fundamental premises you will encounter in every situation. These types of concerns are where your company’s bread and butter – the salespeople – should be well versed in the patterns that each buyer in your industry will demonstrate, so they can recognize and capitalize on them immediately.
• Empathy: This matters when your buyer feels overwhelmed by the amount of information and choices they face. Easy-to-digest content and a readily available support system are actionable items your sales team should have on hand to walk buyers through every step of the process.

4. Your Buyer Conversion Platform

From content and the generation of leads through the sales process, your conversion platform has a myriad of opportunities to convert sales and keep potential buyers’ attention for longer.

A good buyer conversion platform should be a resource that adds to and enriches your sales process rather than just facilitating it. A great B2B buyer conversion platform should also be a buyer experience platform, which means managing the buyer every step of the way and helping you maximize your B2B marketing strategy from content to account management.

The Hushly platform operates on four key principles: a great user experience, ease of deployability and use, flexibility with existing infrastructure, and consistent generation of verified, high-quality business leads.

At Hushly, we believe we can solve the B2B abandonment problem through constant innovation and a keen interest in the needs of our clients. We work with content marketers and lead generators in a variety of industries to optimize buyer conversion rates and maximize the buyer’s experience, so they keep coming back.

Convert More B2B Buyers Through Optimization

The path to optimizing your buyer conversion process can be clear with the right knowledge, processes, and partners.

By identifying and targeting your shortcomings, you can make easy strides with minimal effort. You can also focus on certain universal improvements which are sure to make a significant impact on your B2B sales conversions.

As your optimization journey continues, the opportunities will be fewer and require more effort. When that happens, Hushly is ready to learn your business’ unique needs so we can grow together.

Request a personalized demo showing what the Hushly platform could do for your B2B buyer experience needs. 

On the hunt for a way to optimize your account-based marketing (ABM) strategy? If so, you’ll want to take a look at your intent data, as it can hold an array of insightful information you can use.

Intent data is one of the most valuable tools a B2B marketer can have in their arsenal. That’s because it can tell you a lot about your potential customers, which will allow you to target them more effectively. Understanding their intent helps to shape your content, ads, and offerings. Not only that, but B2B intent data can also play a major role in developing your ABM strategy.

In this article, we’ll cover what intent data is, how to collect it, and ways it can be factored into your account-based marketing strategy. This way, you’ll be able to set your company up for success.

What is B2B Intent Data?

First, let’s go over what intent data is so you’ll have a clear understanding of what you’re looking for. This particular type of data is information that has been collected about a web user’s behavior. For instance, it’ll include the type of content they’re consuming online, which can provide insights into their interests.

In the B2B world, intent data will also factor in a user’s purchase intent so you can tell if and when someone is considering purchasing your products or services. This can come in handy when you want to generate more ROI and produce sales in your business. That’s because it’ll allow you to focus on nurturing those leads that are most poised to make a purchase.

Now the question is, do you know how to collect intent data? Well, there are a couple of options you can put to use here, including both first-party and third-party sources. First-party intent data is data that you have collected from your website and its content, as well as the terms people are searching to ultimately land on your site. Google Analytics can come in handy here, as it’ll show the most popular pages on your site, how long people spend on the page, etc.

Alternatively, you can use third-party B2B intent data providers that will analyze your site and the sites of your competitors to gather insights. Various tools can assist with this, so you’ll want to do some research to find the one that’s best for you.

4 Ways to Optimize Your ABM Strategy with B2B Intent Data

As mentioned, B2B intent data can be crucial when it comes to your company’s ABM strategy. You just need to know how to use the data once you’ve collected it. If you don’t know how to use it or you simply ignore it, it won’t serve much of a purpose. So, to ensure you’re using this data to effectively optimize your strategy, keep these tips in mind:

1. Know Which Leads to Prioritize

Intent data can help you to better understand someone’s purchase intent. This means you’ll be able to identify and target leads who are more likely to convert to a sale versus those who aren’t. For instance, if someone is repeatedly visiting your website and they’re taking some sort of action, like filling out a form or downloading something, they may be close to buying. Whereas, someone who visits your site once and doesn’t take action probably won’t make a purchase.

With a traditional sales funnel, you’re casting a wide net to attract tons of leads to your business. Then, they’re qualified as they move through the funnel. But with an ABM strategy, you prioritize those who are already close to making a purchase. This way, you simply need to nurture and build those relationships to get them to take that final step with your company.

Going about it this way prevents you from wasting time and resources on leads that are simply never going to convert. When you know someone is close to making a purchase, it’s worthwhile to focus on nudging them closer, as opposed to starting from the beginning with a brand-new lead.

2. Use Website Personalization to Deliver Tailored Messaging

If you’re a B2B company, then you know account retention is key to your long-term success. And one of the best ways to keep your accounts engaged is by delivering tailored content that addresses their specific needs. This can easily be done through website personalization, which is when you display custom content or landing pages based on their individual preferences and interests. Website personalization can also come in the form of interactive chatbots or offerings based on someone’s geographic location.

To create that personalized content, you can’t just guess what someone would be interested in seeing from your company. You’ll want to use B2B intent data to learn about their behavior and their interests. Once you’ve collected that information, you can use it to craft tailored content accordingly.

3. Know What Kind of Content to Provide and When

With the help of B2B intent data, you’ll have a clear understanding of what your prospective customers are searching for. That’s because you’ll see the terms they’re searching for to land on your site. And you’ll see which pages are getting the most traffic, indicating their popularity. This will be a good indicator of their interests and their pain points.

You can then use this data to map out a content strategy that’s aligned with your sales funnel. Then, you’ll have tailored content being presented to them at every stage of the buyer journey. This will make building a connection easier, which is going to ultimately help drive conversions. You need to match your leads with the right content.

Another way intent data can enhance your content is that it’ll make it easier for you to conduct keyword research. Google Analytics will show some of the keywords and phrases that people are searching, which led to them discovering your site. You can then use those search terms as keywords for upcoming content. This way, it’ll ensure you have optimized content that stands a better chance of ranking high.

4. Anticipate Future Needs

For your company to succeed, you need to always anticipate the future needs of your customers. This enables you to be there with the right message at the right time. Plus, it’ll allow you to get a head start on your competitors who may not be thinking about the future just yet. And when you’re one step ahead of them, you’ll be more likely to secure the sale.

B2B intent data plays an important role here because it’ll present you with tons of valuable information on your audience. You’ll learn about the topics they’re researching and what they’re most interested in. This can even help you discover what their biggest pain points are, which gives you the chance to develop products and services as a solution.

Use B2B Intent Data to Create a Tailor-Made Experience

How would you like your website to deliver a truly unique experience that allows you to stand out from your competitors? Well, you just need to implement website personalization! This strategy allows you to provide your audience with custom content based on their interests and preferences. Creating a special experience like this will leave your audience feeling satisfied and more likely to come back in the future.

If you want to learn more, schedule a personal demo with the team at Hushly.

The last thing any business wants is to pour time and resources into generating leads, only to fall short of their goals. After all, you’re relying on those leads to convert so you can keep your company afloat. If you aren’t hitting your sales goals, it can cause financial strain when it comes time to tackle your bills.

But in the world of lead generation, there’s a big debate over what’s most important: marketing qualified leads vs. marketing qualified accounts? Now, you may be thinking: what’s the difference between the two? Are they not the same? Nope, they’re not!

In this article, you’ll learn the difference between marketing qualified leads and marketing qualified accounts. And you will discover why it’s more impactful to focus your attention on the accounts that are interested in and engaging with your business.

Marketing Qualified Leads vs. Marketing Qualified Accounts: What’s the Difference?

First things first, we need to get clear on the difference between marketing qualified leads vs. marketing qualified accounts. A marketing qualified lead (MQL) is an individual person that has shown interest in what your company offers and is more likely to become a customer than other leads. However, that doesn’t mean they’re guaranteed to ultimately convert and make a purchase.

This person has engaged with your company in some way, whether it’s by repeatedly visiting your site, filling out a form, using software demos, or downloading something (to name a few examples). This type of lead isn’t lurking on the sidelines because of the actions they’ve taken. They have shown an interest in buying from you by taking that initial step but have yet to take the plunge.

a marketing qualified lead is just one of the types of leads you’ll encounter in marketing. But what should your sales team do with marketing qualified leads to get them to finally convert? It’s all about nurturing them to build a strong relationship. Oftentimes, discounts or free trials will be what gets them to make a purchase.

With a marketing qualified account (MQA), the above still applies. However, it’s the company or owner of the account that has been engaged to an extent that they’re ready to be presented with a sales pitch. So, the primary difference is really that a marketing qualified lead is an individual, while a marketing qualified account is an entire account or an entire company.

Why You Should Focus on Marketing Qualified Accounts

When it comes to marketing qualified leads vs. marketing qualified accounts, which is superior? Well, marketing qualified leads have dominated the marketing field for ages, but it’s time to move on. This practice is rather old school, and it’s better to be focused on marketing qualified accounts instead. However, it’s understandable that you might not see the value in making this switch yet.

To change your perspective, here are a few things you need to know:

1. Teams Making Purchasing Decisions Are Getting Bigger

When you’re in the B2B world, a sole individual is rarely responsible for making the purchasing decisions. Usually, someone on the team may research potential products and services to buy. Then, they’ll have to pitch one of the higher-ups to get them to see the value in it, allocate a budget for it, and ultimately make a purchase. That’s because that one person usually doesn’t have the final say in what the company spends money on.

This means you can’t simply appeal to one individual on the team. You need to appeal to multiple people. In fact, many companies are creating entire buying teams that will have to get on board before a purchase can be made. After all, they won’t be making any decisions on a whim. They’re going to take the time to research and discuss before they choose to make any sort of investment.

If you find yourself in a position to present them with a sales pitch, this is your time to shine. You’ll want to craft messaging that has your ideal buyer persona in mind. This will be helpful when tailoring your message to their pain points and their needs. The more personal you can make your pitch, the more effective it’s likely to be. At the same time, you need to remember this isn’t about you. It’s about your buyer and how your product or service can make their lives easier. Other than that, keep your pitch short and sweet. If you’ve done well, they might commit to a purchase.

2. MQAs Communicate the Interest of the Account Overall

While it’s nice to see marketing qualified leads in business, they’re merely an individual who has taken interest in your company and what it has to offer. But if that individual doesn’t have buying power, it’s not likely to lead to a conversion since they’ll have to jump through hoops to get buy-in. However, with a marketing qualified account, multiple people on the team will be interested. You’ll be in a position where you can present them with a sales pitch that may get them to convert.

As an example, you’ll want to look at how many contacts from a particular account have engaged with your company. A good rule of thumb is to look for accounts that have had at least three people convert on your content. That’s because they’re showing a higher level of interest in whatever kind of solution your business has to offer. Should you have 10 leads come into your business, if three are from the same account, you’ll know to prioritize that one because they’ll be more likely to convert. This is when you’ll want to follow up with personalized outreach.

You may even want to set aside time to create a personalized pitch for this account based on the type of work they do, what their pain points are, and the type of solution they’re looking for. Show them that your product or service is exactly what they need.

3. The Metrics You’re Measuring Will Largely Be the Same

Marketing qualified leads vs. marketing qualified accounts isn’t all that different when it comes down to the metrics. So, if you’ve already been tracking marketing qualified leads, switching your focus to accounts really shouldn’t be that difficult. It’s about prioritizing one over the other moving forward.

You’ll still want to pay attention to actions taken like how frequently someone is visiting your website and how many pages they’re exploring while they’re there. You’ll want to notice when they’re filling out forms, using software demos, or downloading content. All of it shows interest. However, it’s just more impactful when it’s multiple people from the same account, versus an individual. That’s because it’ll be easier to make the sale when multiple people are on board.

Attract More Leads to Your Business With Hushly

Generating qualified leads doesn’t have to be stressful. In fact, here at Hushly, we make it easy to uncover sales-ready leads at a faster rate than before. This way, you can boost sales engagement and increase your company’s profit margins. And what could be better than that?

Interested in learning more? Schedule a demo with us today.

Account-based marketing (ABM) can be an extremely effective way to target and convert leads within your B2B business. But if you’re not familiar with account-based marketing or you’ve used it without success in the past, pay close attention.

If you want to reach your highest-value leads and get them to close more deals, this is the way to go. You simply need to understand how ABM and lead conversion work together. And then, you need to create a strategy that will help you implement this new practice with ease.

How an ABM Strategy Can Increase Lead Conversions

Account-based marketing is different from a traditional sales funnel in one major way. With a traditional funnel, you’re casting a wider net to attract a ton of leads into your business. Moving through this funnel narrows down those leads by qualifying them over time. Ultimately, you’ll go from this large number of leads to just a few who actually convert. While this is effective, it’s not the best option.

Instead, it’s better to identify and qualify your most valuable leads first. Once you’ve decided who these people are, you can create stronger, more personalized content that speaks directly to them. They can move through your sales funnel as you nurture those relationships and engage with them until they hopefully convert. With account-based marketing, you’re also encouraged to upsell and cross-sell previous buyers, as it’s easier to get repeat customers rather than new ones.

But how does this factor into a lead conversion strategy? Well, you’re already targeting your top leads. These are people who are already familiar with your brand and are poised to buy. All they need is a little encouragement along the way. And you can do that by creating ultra-tailored content in relation to their needs.

ABM and Lead Conversion: How to Make Your Strategy Work

Now that you have an understanding of how ABM and lead conversion work hand-in-hand, it’s time to create an effective strategy. A strategy helps you move forward with purpose, ensuring that you’re staying on track as you work toward your goals and that you’re taking worthwhile actions along the way. Here are a few steps to create your ABM strategy if you want to generate leads:

1. Know Your Goals

First and foremost, it’s important to set your goals. That’s a crucial part of any strategy, as you don’t want to go into it blindly. It’s not enough to know that you want “more leads.” You need to know, specifically, what you’re working toward. A great way to go about this is by setting a SMART goal. This means your goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.

So, exactly how many more leads do you want to generate with your account-based marketing efforts? By what percentage would you like to see your ABM conversion rate increase? Whatever number you choose, make sure it’s realistic to accomplish in the time frame you’ve designated, otherwise, you’ll be setting yourself up for failure.

You may also want to set additional goals, such as launching a new offering or entering different markets. There’s no reason to hold back here. You can set a few different goals and map out a plan that will allow you to accomplish each one with ease.

2. Understand Who Your Audience Is

The next part of mastering your ABM and lead conversion strategy is to get clear on who is in your target audience. In doing this, you’ll need to identify the accounts you primarily want to reach so you can prioritize them. Account-based marketing is all about catering to your most qualified leads. You have to know who they are if you want to target them effectively.

Understanding their interests and needs will allow you to cater your content and your offerings to them. Doing this is a great way to provide the valuable content your audience needs at exactly the time they need it the most. This is applicable when it comes to things like blog posts, email newsletters, and even website personalization. It’s all about creating an unforgettable experience for them. And when you can create tailored content, they’ll feel like you’re reading their minds.

3. Build a Dedicated Team to Implement Your Strategy

Having a dedicated team to handle your account-based marketing strategy will be essential to its success. You don’t want to put just anyone on this task. Rather, you want to have both your sales and marketing teams involved so they can work side-by-side.

As you build this team, consider the strengths of each one of your team members. For marketing, you want someone creative, savvy, and amazing at crafting content. And for sales, you’ll need someone who truly understands the needs of your audience and what they’re looking for when it comes to your content and offerings. They need to be actively talking to your potential buyers and past customers, so they’ll know what needs to be factored into future projects.

4. Select Your Account-Based Marketing Channels

Now it’s time for the fun part: content creation! But before you can dive in, you need to think about which marketing channels are going to be most effective. Again, this goes back to your goals and knowing who your audience is. You want to be where your audience is spending time online. You want to create the types of content that will resonate with them the most.

Luckily, there are tons of options to consider. To name a few: website, blog posts, social media, email, display or search engine ads, direct mail, in-person events, and webinars.

Once you’ve chosen your ideal channels, you can begin planning your content strategy. Think about the topics you’ll want to cover to address the needs and pain points of your audience. Once you’ve got everything planned out, it’s time to execute your strategy!

5. Evaluate and Optimize Regularly

Arguably one of the most important aspects of an ABM and lead conversion strategy is to evaluate the results you’re getting. Have you been able to achieve your goals or are you falling short? If you’ve achieved the goals you’ve set, then you’ll know you’re on the right track. Keep doing what you’re doing and you’re sure to see continued success.

On other hand, if you’re not hitting your goals, something needs to change. There’s no shame in tweaking your strategy. After all, it’s how you learn and get better at what you do. Plus, it’ll only help you create a stronger strategy in the long run. You may want to implement a new marketing channel or cut one out that hasn’t been performing. It’s all about testing and optimizing.

Improve Your ABM and Lead Conversion Strategy

Did you know that attracting and converting leads in business doesn’t have to be a struggle? With the right action plan in place, you can create a major impact with your ABM and lead conversion strategy. And here at Hushly, we help our clients provide account-based experiences so you can generate sales.

Want to boost your lead conversion rate? Contact Hushly today to learn how we can help.

Take a moment and imagine a world where the sales process began by selling directly to those accounts that were the best fit for your business. You’d no longer have to waste time marketing to and pitching unqualified leads that simply aren’t interested. Instead, you can focus on engaging and nurturing those whom you know are right for your offers. It sounds like a dream, right? Well, it can be your reality!

Account-based marketing (ABM) is a fantastic strategy to implement in your business if you’re looking to increase efficiency and boost profits at the same time. If you’re not familiar with this type of marketing or have tried it before with little success, you’re in the right place.

In this article, you’ll learn what exactly B2B account-based marketing is and some of the benefits it can provide to your company. Not only that, but we’re sharing a few B2B account-based marketing examples that will inspire a powerful strategy of your own. Soon you’ll be well on your way to turning profits!

What is B2B Account-Based Marketing?

Before we dive into the examples, let’s first talk about what B2B account-based marketing is.

Odds are, you’ve seen a traditional sales funnel before in which you’re meant to attract, nurture, and then close your leads. With this strategy, you’re first casting a wide net to attract tons of potential leads to your business. Then, you move them through your funnel that way, which qualifies leads as they go. Those who are the right fit will ultimately purchase after moving through the nurture stage.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with this strategy. However, you wind up attracting a lot of people who aren’t necessarily the right fit for you and your brand initially. And it takes time as they move through the funnel and either make a purchase or weed themselves out.

With account-based marketing, you’re not casting that wide net in the beginning. Instead, you’re focused on identifying target accounts and leads first. This essentially prompts you to build backward. So, you’ll determine who your potential leads are, engage them, and ultimately convert them into a customer. This strategy isn’t just about lead generation though. You’re also upselling and cross-selling previous buyers.

But what makes creating an account-based marketing strategy worthwhile? Well, it ensures you have a personalized marketing approach, as you can tailor your message to the customer you’re speaking to. It can even mean shorter sales cycles, which ultimately prevents you from wasting time and resources since you’ll be focused on marketing to a smaller number of accounts. In time, you’ll build a loyal customer base that’s happy to return and make additional purchases in the future.

5 B2B Account-Based Marketing Examples to Help You Build a Successful Strategy

How you choose to approach this strategy in your business will ultimately depend on your goals and what’s going to resonate most with your audience. But luckily, there are plenty of B2B account-based marketing examples that will inspire your very own strategy. And the best part is that you can create your own custom mix based on what works for you. Here are a few ideas to consider:

1. In-Person Events

Account-based marketing events are a great option to consider if you’re interested in meeting with your leads and consumers face-to-face. Sometimes it gets a little dull communicating with everyone over email and video chat, so it’s nice to actually be in the same room with these people for a change. It helps you to better connect with them, as you can shake their hand and look them in the eyes while having a conversation. There’s something so powerful and personal about that which can’t be ignored.

If this sounds enticing, connect with your existing customer base and ask if it’s something they’d be interested in attending. If you get positive feedback, move forward with planning. Choose a venue, create a presentation around your company’s offer, and make tickets available for purchase.

2. Webinars

If you’d rather stick to the virtual world, a webinar is the closest alternative to hosting in-person events. They’re cost-effective for your company since you don’t have to worry about renting a venue, travel, and accommodations. Instead, you simply need to invest in a tool that will broadcast the webinar for you.

Plus, webinars are more affordable for your consumers since the ticket price won’t need to be as expensive as an in-person event. They also won’t have to worry about traveling. They can tune in from the comfort of their own office. And of course, there won’t be a limit on the number of tickets you sell.

Besides the ease and cost-effectiveness of a webinar, they’re also great for providing valuable information that’s been tailored to the specific audience that’s in attendance. You can map out your webinar content based on their interests and needs and even target your sales pitch to them as well.

3. Email Marketing Campaigns

One strategy your business absolutely needs is email marketing! This is one of the best B2B account-based marketing examples to implement because email allows you to stay connected with your audience long after they’ve left your website. Plus, you don’t have to deal with the complicated algorithms on social media. Instead, you can reach them where it matters most: their inbox.

Consider creating a nurture sequence that gets sent out to new leads who have recently discovered your business. But you’ll also want to have a re-engagement sequence that can be sent out to past customers. This way, you’ll be able to stay top-of-mind, so they won’t forget about you for future purchases.

Even better? Segment your email list so you can send exclusive newsletters based on the interests of your subscribers. It’ll give them more reason to stay on your list when they get to enjoy the content that’s tailor-made just for them.

4. Website Personalization

Many B2B companies are turning to website personalization to create incredible experiences for those who visit their sites. You can create a custom, account-specific experience for certain segments of your audience. This will be presented to them instead of a generic web page, which is better because it can be personalized to their needs and based on where they’re at in the customer journey.

5. Paid Advertising

And finally, it’s time to make paid advertising part of your marketing budget. Out of all of these B2B account-based marketing examples, this is one you can’t overlook. For some companies, investing money in ads can feel a little intimidating. How do you know if you’re getting it right? How can you ensure you’re getting your money’s worth?

Well, the good news is that there are tons of resources online that will help you create more effective social media ads. Alternatively, you can hire an expert to tackle the job for you.

Either way, paid advertising is great because you can reach people as they’re scrolling on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc. Not only that, but you can specifically retarget people who have visited your website or who are already within your customer base. Then, you can create tailored ads based on where they’re at in their customer journey with you.

Make Personalization Part of Your Account-Based Marketing Strategy

With so many B2B companies getting on board with website personalization, there’s never been a better time to move forward. You can create a tailor-made experience and present content that’s catered to the interests and needs of your audience. By working with Hushly, we can help you create unique and unforgettable experiences for everyone who visits your site with our user-friendly tools.

Deliver a personalized experience with Hushly by scheduling a demo today.

With the current state of the economy, times have proven to be tough for everyone, including businesses. To survive with everything happening in the world and stand out in a competitive marketplace, it’s more important than ever to focus on B2B account retention.

While this may seem like a no-brainer, many businesses get too caught up in trying to find and convert new customers that they wind up neglecting the ones they already have.

So, if you want to ensure your company thrives and generates plenty of sales, now is the time to focus on B2B account retention. Doing so will ensure your customers stick around for a long time to come.

What is B2B Account Retention, Exactly?

In business, it’s always great to attract new customers. It’s a sign that your audience is growing and expanding to reach even more people than before. But where many businesses fall short is that they focus too much on generating new leads and fail to prioritize connecting with the customers they’ve already obtained in the past. As a result, those customers might not feel valued and could decide to move on to a competing company for any future purchases.

To prevent this from happening, you need to focus on B2B account retention. What this means is that you’re continuing to engage with and satisfy the needs of your customers long after they’ve made their initial purchase. Doing this keeps you top of mind, while also keeping them happy. And it’s those happy customers that will come back to make repeat purchases and will rave about you to their friends, family, and colleagues.

In today’s changing economic atmosphere, many might argue that focusing on B2B account retention is more important than landing new customers. That’s because, with inflation, many customers are hesitant to make purchasing decisions right now. So, if you focus on re-engaging with past customers who were already satisfied with their purchase, they might be more inclined to buy again. Luckily, you can do this fairly easily by boosting your website retention rate.

Why B2B Account Retention is More Important Now Than Ever

Your B2B retention rate allows you to see just how successful your company is at satisfying its existing customers and turning them into repeat buyers. This is a great sign for the longevity of your company. But why exactly is it so important given the current economic state? Here are a few reasons why you need to start focusing on B2B account retention right away:

1. It’s More Cost-Effective to Retain Existing Customers

Did you know that it’s six to seven times more expensive to acquire a new customer than it is to retain an existing customer within your business? It’s true. And that’s because it takes a lot of time and resources to get your business in front of an entirely new audience, move them along your sales funnel, and ultimately encourage them to make a purchase.

When it comes to existing customers, they already know what it’s like to use your product or service. If they’ve had a good experience the first time around, they’ll be more inclined to come back. The best part is that you don’t have to start at the beginning to build a relationship with them. Instead, you simply need to focus on maintaining the relationship you do have.

In return, you’ll see your B2B retention rate increase. And a mere 5% increase in customer retention could boost your company’s revenue by 25-95%. Not only is it going to save you money to focus on your customer loyalty and retention strategy, but it can generate more money in the long run.

2. It’s Easier to Retain Customers Than to Acquire New Ones

As if the financial aspect wasn’t enticing enough, another reason B2B account retention is worthwhile is that it’s easier to turn someone into a repeat buyer than it is to acquire new buyers. As mentioned above, when someone is just discovering your business, it’s going to take them some time to move through the sales funnel.

Before making a purchase, they’ll need to build the Know, Like, and Trust Factor with your company. To do this, it’s important to present them with content that’s catered to their needs. They’ll need to see you as an expert and an authority in your field. And they’ll probably want to see some social proof so they know you’ve been able to deliver results for previous customers.

On the other hand, someone who has already purchased from you has been through this stage. They don’t necessarily need to go through your sales funnel again. All they have to do is reach out and connect with you and purchase for a second time.

3. You’ll Get Free Word-of-Mouth Advertising

There are tons of ways you can spread the word about your business. For instance, you can create blog content that’s been optimized for search engines. You can invest time and money into social media marketing. However, nothing is quite as satisfying as word-of-mouth advertising. It feels great when customers rave about you to others because you know you’ve served them well. Plus, it speaks highly of your company when someone recommends you because it means they believe in your services.

When you satisfy the needs of your customers and prioritize B2B account retention, you’ll keep them coming back for more. And in turn, they’ll potentially become free advocates for your company. After all, people love to rave about the great experiences they’ve had with B2Bs. Even more important than that, 92% of people trust recommendations they’ve received from friends and family over any other type of marketing.

4. Past Customers Are More Inclined to Pay Premium Prices

With the current state of the economy, all anyone seems to be talking about is inflation. As a result, it’s led many people to be a bit more cautious with their money. Instead of spending frivolously, some are choosing to cut back on their expenses and even put off making bigger, more expensive purchases. It’s not surprising many are doing this with the costs of everyday items skyrocketing.

But what does that mean for B2B companies? It means many are making the move to raise their prices. Since they’re seeing fewer sales, charging premium prices helps to keep profit margins relatively the same. After all, many companies can’t afford to see a dip in profit since they need to make money to keep the doors open and pay employees. Luckily, past customers are often more inclined to pay those higher prices since they know you’re dependable and trustworthy.

Besides that, many consumers will associate a higher price with a higher quality product or service. Everyone wants to get their money’s worth, now more than ever. So, if you’re needing to raise the prices on your company’s offerings, it’s likely your past customers will be more inclined to buy.

Improve B2B Account Retention With Website Personalization

Wouldn’t you love to offer an unforgettable experience that’s tailor-made to your consumer? Not only does this make them feel like you truly understand them and their needs, but it’s perfect for encouraging B2B account retention since past customers will want to come back for more.

Schedule a personal demo to learn more about how Hushly can help you create a personalized experience.

It seems inflation is all anyone talks about these days, but it’s for good reason. Increasing prices are impacting everyone, from regular people to B2B companies, and everyone in between. It’s gotten to a point where it’s simply too hard to ignore. And instead of just accepting that this is the state of the world at the moment, businesses should be proactive about turning things around.

Understanding the effects of inflation on consumers will allow you to get your business in a positive position so you’ll be more inclined to handle the changes that may come your way. And one of the best ways to do that is to prioritize building trust so you can easily attract new and returning business.

The Effects of Inflation on Consumers

Inflation is the sustained increase in the price of goods and services. The main driver of inflation is supply and demand. In many cases, there’s an increased demand for a good or service, but limited supply. As a result, prices typically skyrocket.

Businesses wind up struggling to keep up with the demand from their consumers and sometimes have to raise prices to keep profit margins up since they’re generating fewer sales. In turn, many consumers become hesitant to make buying decisions, particularly when it comes to more expensive items. Since they’re spending more on everyday necessities, they’re more cautious when it comes to money. Ultimately, this becomes a challenge for businesses that are relying on sales to stay afloat.

Although the effects of inflation on consumers may seem rather dire, it doesn’t have to be. Your business can still make it through these challenging times and continue to turn a steady profit.

5 Methods to Build Trust and Encourage New and Returning Business

To combat the effects of inflation on consumers, you need to prioritize building strong, trusting relationships with your target audience. Doing this can create a sense of loyalty, prompting them to want to buy from you now and again in the future. It’s essential for attracting new and repeat business. But the question is, how do you build that level of trust? Well, here are a few tips:

1. Focus on Creating High-Quality, Valuable Content

There are several benefits to having a content marketing strategy in place for your B2B company, one of them being that it can help establish trust. When you consistently show up and provide valuable, high-quality content for your audience to consume, it showcases your expertise and positions you as an authority within your field. This is great for attracting people to your company over a competitor because it shows they can count on you to deliver a great experience every time.

In our article about lead nurturing tactics, we mention how important it is to have content for every stage of the sales process. This allows you to slowly build a connection, establish trust, and lead potential buyers toward making a purchase. You need to consider what everyone needs at each stage of the journey, whether they’re a new or returning customer. Then, you can create content, such as blog posts or videos, which moves them along through the sales funnel. This is more important than ever when you consider the effects of inflation on consumers and how many are hesitant to buy right now.

2. Create a Strong Social Media Presence

These days, it’s pretty uncommon for a brand to not be on social media. That’s because it’s a powerful tool for creating valuable content as part of your content marketing strategy. However, it’s also effective for building a relationship with your target audience. If you want to attract people to your business, you need to be where they are – and they’re on social media. So, it’s more important than ever for you to be there engaging with them so they can form that connection with your company.

To put it simply, don’t be that brand that goes on social media just to broadcast content. Social media is meant to be social, so use it to your advantage by having conversations. Start discussions with people. Participate in conversations already taking place. And use social media as a way to answer questions and address concerns from those in your online community.

3. Be Sure to Share Social Proof

Sometimes the best way to build trust is to show what you’ve been able to do for others. What kind of results has your B2B company gotten for its clients? What sort of transformation has your product provided to those that purchased it? Don’t be afraid to showcase those results so people can see the value of your offerings. One of the negative effects of inflation on consumers is that they’re afraid to spend when prices are skyrocketing around them. However, you can’t afford to let sales dip.

When you showcase reviews and testimonials, it offers some solid social proof because it communicates the benefits of working with your company or purchasing from your company. Make sure to feature them on your website and social media. This way, whenever someone is contemplating making a purchase, they may see a positive testimonial that could seal the deal and encourage action.

4. Implement Website Personalization

When you’re in a rather saturated market, it can be hard to differentiate yourself from your competitors. However, you need to stand out to attract new and returning business. One way you can do that is by offering a personalized experience whenever they connect with your brand via your website.

This is where website personalization comes in. It’ll allow you to present custom content based on different factors, such as location. Those accessing your site will feel special as they check out what you have to offer because it’ll feel like everything is tailored to them. It’ll feel like you’re speaking directly to their interests and needs. This cultivates a more powerful experience overall that will set you apart from the competitors in your industry who have yet to implement this practice.

You can even take it a step further and implement personalized chat experiences, email personalization, and more. Essentially, you want to create an experience for your consumers that’s both unforgettable and irresistible, so they’ll want to become repeat customers.

5. Be Transparent About Your Values

With so much going on in the world today, many consumers want brands to take a stand. They want to know which values their favorite brands hold close. They want to know where they stand on important political and social issues. That’s because they want to know where their money is going when they purchase a product or service from a company. Instead of just giving any company their money, they want to support ones whose beliefs are aligned with theirs.

Now, many brands are hesitant to speak up on these topics because they can alienate a segment of your audience that disagrees with your views. However, not speaking up and being silent is sometimes seen by consumers as even worse. For that reason, you have to decide if your brand will be one to take a stand on important issues. Will you be vocal about these things? If you do, you may lose some customers, but others will love and support you even more for speaking up.

Mitigate the Effects of Inflation on Consumers by Building Trust

If you truly want to build trust with your consumer, make it personal! Website personalization is a fantastic way to cater to the needs and interests of the visitors to your website. It’ll allow you to speak directly to them, presenting them with the exact content they need the most. It shows you’re paying attention and that you understand them. And when you present them with an offer, they’ll be more inclined to buy.

If you’re curious about how the Hushly team can help you incorporate B2B personalization into your business strategy, contact us today to schedule a demo.

Inflation is a hot topic these days. You may have seen it mentioned on the news or social media, or perhaps you’ve overheard conversations at work. With prices skyrocketing, it seems to be all anyone is talking about. For the average person, this means they’re shelling out more on everyday items, whether at the store or the pump. And it’s causing a lot of stress.

But what does it mean for B2B companies like yours? Is paying more for supplies, tools, etc. the only thing you need to worry about? Or are there other ways inflation can take its toll?

In this article, we’ll discuss what inflation is and look at the impact of inflation on economic growth. By understanding what’s going on in the world and how everything around us is directly impacted by inflation, we can be better prepared for what’s to come soon.

The Impact of Inflation on Economic Growth

Before we go any further, we need to first talk about what inflation is. Many people hear that word and have a general idea of what it means, but few fully understand the concept of inflation.

Well, inflation is the sustained increase in the price of goods and services that are available in an economy. The main drivers of inflation are the supply and demand for those aforementioned goods and services. Demand will outpace the available supply, which causes prices to increase.

We’re partly dealing with this as a result of the shutdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. When manufacturers had to close their plants or scale back on production, it hurt the supply chain. Now, as the world has reopened, many are scrambling to return to the production levels they were once at.

When it comes to the impact of inflation on economic growth, the only concern isn’t that everyday items become more expensive. With costs increasing, it reduces the purchasing power of consumers. That’s because they become unable to afford the same level of goods and services they did before. It can also lead to higher interest rates, as the cost of borrowing money increases.

Although inflation creates a lot of challenges, it’s important to remember there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel. Some experts believe there are positive effects of inflation, feeling it can ultimately help drive the economy forward. Only time will tell how things turn out for the U.S. this time around.

4 Impacts of Inflation on B2B Companies

Now the question is, how does inflation affect businesses? The obstacles it presents for you will likely be different from how it impacts the average person. But by familiarizing yourself with any potential challenges, you can begin preparing for them now, so it’ll be easier to deal with when the time comes. Here’s what you should be aware of moving forward:

1. Running a Business Has Become More Costly

It should come as no surprise that rising costs have made it more expensive to run a business. While the impact of inflation on economic growth increases the prices of everyday items, it also creates new challenges for businesses. You’ll likely find yourself spending more on daily operations with the costs of your usual supplies and tools skyrocketing. If you have a physical location, even rent may have increased.

Not only that, but The Great Resignation has led employees across the country to leave their jobs in search of higher pay. With life becoming more expensive, we could continue to see this happen. As a B2B company, you’ll either be forced to adjust salaries, or you’ll wind up spending more time in the hiring phase as you work to replace any employees who choose to resign.

To combat this, take some time to review your monthly expenses. Is there anything you can cut out to save money? Are there any changes you can make in favor of more affordable options? And finally, talk to your employees about their inflation concerns. Make sure they’re happy and show them you value their hard work, so they’ll be more inclined to stick around.

2. Marketing Budgets Are Shifting Across the Board

If you’re reconsidering your marketing budget right now, you aren’t alone. The COVID-19 pandemic prompted some B2B companies to shift how they were spending their marketing dollars. Initially, research featuring 450 companies showed that many would keep their budgets relatively the same despite the ongoing pandemic. 72% of B2B marketing budgets would increase, stay the same, or decrease moderately. Those planning to decrease their budget said it would only be by 20% or less.

However, one month after that study was conducted, McKinsey & Company asked the same question. They surveyed over 3,700 companies across 11 countries. At this point, 62% of those global brands surveyed had already reduced their marketing budgets. In the U.S., only 57% scaled back.

So, with the state of the economy, could it be worth adapting your marketing strategy? Perhaps! Inflation is prompting many businesses to cut back on or eliminate certain expenses. While you don’t want to forgo your marketing budget entirely, you could temporarily scale back to save money. Or you could ramp up spending to drive more leads in a time when sales are slow.

3. CEOs are Rethinking Their Pricing Strategy

With the cost of everything increasing, many consumers have become hesitant to make purchasing decisions. They’re afraid to spend money on anything but the absolute necessities. As a B2B company, this can’t be ignored. If you sit back and do nothing, your profit margins could greatly decrease.

Because of the impact of inflation on economic growth, many CEOs are now rethinking their pricing strategy. This could be worth looking at if you want to keep your business afloat. With people feeling hesitant to make purchases, could you lower your prices to ease their concerns? Or would it be better to increase your prices to accommodate for a decrease in buyers?

No matter what you decide, it’s a good time to consider the cost of your offerings. It’s also worthwhile to be completely transparent with potential consumers about why you price things the way you do. When they can see and understand your reasoning for the prices you set, they’ll see the value in what you offer and may be more inclined to purchase from you instead of a competitor.

4. Inflation Can Strengthen Your Brand Presence

During these challenging times, it’s the perfect opportunity to go back to the basics. Ask yourself if your B2B brand truly has a strong presence among consumers. Why? Well, brands that have already built a loyal community will be more inclined to stick around and support their favorite companies long-term, no matter what’s going on in the world.

If they love who you are and what you do, you won’t have to worry about them choosing you over a competitor. That’s because people are often unlikely to change their preferences. Prioritize content creation and engaging with your community to build strong relationships that will last for a long time, and you’ll be grateful well into the future.

Fight the Impact of Inflation on Economic Growth With a Strong Business Strategy

When your business has a firm foundation, you’ll have a better chance of withstanding just about anything that comes your way, even economic difficulties. Here at Hushly, we are committed to helping our clients succeed in business. We offer solutions for content marketing, customer engagement, and more. We’re here to help you attract potential leads and convert them into paying customers so your business can stay afloat.

Schedule a demo today so you can see Hushly in action.