Inbound Marketing Insights

In the competitive world of B2B marketing, an integrated digital marketing program is essential for driving growth, nurturing leads, and achieving long-term success. To stay ahead of the curve, businesses must combine various digital marketing tactics into a seamless, cohesive strategy. The goal is to ensure all channels and activities harmonize to provide a consistent brand message and enhance customer experience. In this blog, insights from entrepreneurs, owners, CMOs, and CEOs reveal the secrets behind successful digital marketing efforts. Learn the unique methods these professionals employ to drive success in their marketing programs, including:

1. Build a Network of Partners
2. Leverage Personalized Email Marketing
3. Repurpose High-Performing Content
4. Develop Comprehensive Content Mapping
5. Align Content with SEO and Social Media
6. Provide Valuable Content Across Touchpoints
7. Host Webinars and Virtual Events
8. Adopt a Multi-Channel Approach
9. Establish Authority Through LinkedIn
10. Utilize Retargeting Campaigns
11. Implement EKAP Process
12. Offer Free IT Consulting Sessions
13. Segment Audience by Decision-Making Roles
14. Use Real-Time Data Analytics
15. Integrate AI into SMS and Phone Channels
16. Plan Consistent Messaging Across Channels
17. Leverage the Voice of the Customer
18. Enhance Content with Subject Matter Experts
19. Focus on SEO for B2B SaaS
20. Make Content Central to Strategy

Build a Network of Partners
When we were growing FreeUp, I built a network of 200+ partner businesses in the e-commerce and Amazon space. We collaborated by exchanging guest articles, doing joint webinars, featuring each other in newsletters, and sharing content on social media. This allowed us to tap into each other's audiences without any direct competition.

I consider this approach highly effective because it creates a win-win situation. Each partner gains exposure to a relevant audience that's already interested in similar services, which drives brand awareness and qualified leads. These partnerships led to increased website traffic, improved SEO rankings through backlinks, and a broader network of clients who trusted us because of the mutual endorsements. The tactic worked so well that I replicated it across other businesses like EcomBalance and TrioSEO, consistently seeing the same results.

Content partnerships build trust, extend your reach, and integrate seamlessly into an overall marketing strategy. They're a cost-effective way to grow organically while providing ongoing value to both your partners and customers.

Connor Gillivan, Entrepreneur, Owner & CMO, AccountsBalance

Leverage Personalized Email Marketing
One successful tactic I've employed in building an integrated B2B digital marketing program is leveraging personalized email marketing alongside targeted LinkedIn ads. This combination has been highly effective because it allows for a multi-touch approach that reaches potential clients at different stages of their decision-making process.

Here's why it works: We start by segmenting our email lists based on the audience's interests, job roles, and their position in the buying journey. These personalized emails deliver valuable content tailored to their specific needs, such as industry insights or case studies that speak directly to their pain points. 

Simultaneously, we run targeted LinkedIn ads aimed at decision-makers in the same segment, reinforcing our messaging with complementary content—whether it's promoting a webinar or offering a white paper.

This integrated approach works because repetition and relevance are key in B2B marketing. By reaching potential clients through multiple channels with consistent, personalized content, we've seen an increase in engagement, higher lead quality, and faster conversion times. It builds trust by showing that we understand their challenges and have the solutions they need.

By combining email marketing with LinkedIn ads, we effectively create a cohesive experience for prospects, making it a powerful tactic for B2B marketing.

Lisa Benson, Marketing Strategist, DeBella DeBall Designs

Repurpose High-Performing Content
A successful tactic I've employed in B2B digital marketing is content repurposing. Instead of creating new content for every channel, I repurpose high-performing content across different formats, which helps maintain a cohesive message while reaching a broader audience. For instance, a blog post can be turned into a webinar, infographics, or even a podcast episode. This approach is both efficient and effective in maintaining consistency across platforms.

Repurposing also amplifies the value of your content. For example, we've used an in-depth whitepaper to create a series of short, digestible LinkedIn posts. This helped us engage different segments of our audience—some preferred long-form content, while others were drawn to bite-sized updates. It allows us to cater to different preferences without losing the core message.

This strategy is effective because it maximizes the ROI on content creation efforts while providing various entry points for prospects at different stages of the buying cycle. It also helps reinforce the brand message across channels.

Azam Mohamed Nisamdeen, Founder, Convert Chat

Develop Comprehensive Content Mapping
One highly effective tactic I've employed in building integrated B2B digital marketing programs is leveraging topical authority through comprehensive content mapping. This approach goes beyond traditional keyword targeting to create a holistic content ecosystem that addresses all aspects of a topic relevant to our B2B clients.

By developing in-depth topical maps, we identify content gaps and opportunities across the entire customer journey. This allows us to create strategically interlinked content that establishes our clients as authoritative voices in their industries.

The effectiveness of this tactic lies in its ability to boost organic search visibility while simultaneously providing value at every stage of the B2B buying process. We've seen clients achieve significant increases in qualified leads and shortened sales cycles as a result of this approach.

This strategy aligns perfectly with search engines' increasing focus on contextual relevance and user intent, making it a sustainable long-term approach for B2B digital-marketing success.

Yoyao Hsueh, Founder, Topical Maps

Align Content with SEO and Social Media
One successful tactic is aligning content marketing with SEO and social media efforts. By creating high-quality, SEO-driven content tailored to our target audience's needs and then distributing it across multiple channels like LinkedIn and Twitter, we increased visibility and engagement.

I've applied this tactic successfully in our company and it works effectively because it creates a consistent brand message across platforms, while also boosting organic traffic through targeted keywords. For example, a blog post optimized for SEO and shared on social media not only brought in organic search traffic but also led to higher engagement on social platforms, driving leads back to our website. This holistic approach strengthens the digital presence and supports both short-term lead generation and long-term brand building.

Dewi Saklina, Search Engine Optimization Specialist, Explainerd

Provide Valuable Content Across Touchpoints
The funnel perspective is gone—B2B buyer journeys are now distributed across multiple touchpoints and multiple stakeholders. The goal is to create content for everyone on the buying committee and then leverage channels like LinkedIn ABM advertising, social media, and email marketing to nurture them.

Lana Rafaela Cindric, Sales Growth Associate, RevBoss

Host Webinars and Virtual Events
In today’s fast-paced, digitally driven world, businesses are continually looking for innovative ways to engage their audiences, build relationships, and ultimately drive sales. As more people turn to online resources for information, entertainment, and professional development, one of the most effective ways to do this is through webinars and virtual events. Webinars and virtual events are not only cost-effective, but they also provide unique opportunities for businesses to interact with their target audiences in real time, build brand awareness, and generate qualified leads. 

Incorporating webinars and virtual events into your digital marketing program is not just a trend—it’s a strategy that offers long-term benefits for businesses looking to build deeper connections with their audience, generate leads, and ultimately grow their business. With the right planning, execution, and follow-up, these events can drive engagement, nurture leads, and help establish your business as a trusted thought leader in your industry.

Rich Meyer, Vice President of Marketing, Prism Global Marketing Solutions

Adopt a Multi-Channel Approach
Our go-to tactic is a multi-channel approach. The players in the industry engage with content across many different platforms, so it is important that your brand is present everywhere and ready to offer quality content. It's simple: this way, you cover more ground. We try to produce diverse content. We make use of social media, in particular LinkedIn, email marketing, content marketing on our website, and paid ads on social media and Google. All of these are part of our campaigns, and we even organize virtual webinars, which also contribute to our strategy. 

What you need to keep in mind, though, is that you have to stay consistent across all those platforms. This means maintaining core messaging and a coherent image. This approach helped us increase our lead conversion, especially in the fintech sector, since those professionals engaged with our content on various platforms the most.

Marta Romaniak, VP of Global Branding, Avenga

Establish Authority Through LinkedIn
B2Bs don't exist today if you can't be found online. Being invisible online is a terrible strategy. I've established authority in my space with outbound content via social media to warm leads up. In my experience, B2Bs need to be on LinkedIn so that they can be found. It adds credibility and transparency when you know the people you're meeting and working with know people in common. LinkedIn has become more than an online resume/rolodex; it's the foundation for building trusted relationships in the digital economy. 

Content marketing and thought leadership are great ways to build your brand, increase your visibility, raise your profile, and attract more clients. Activities like hosting podcasts and webinars, writing articles, and building your following on social media all contribute to increasing your awareness with potential clients and building your credibility with a larger community. For many professional service businesses like mine, LinkedIn matters most.

Paige Arnof-Fenn, Founder & CEO, Mavens & Moguls

Utilize Retargeting Campaigns
We have experimented with different tactics for building an integrated B2B digital-marketing program. The most successful one so far has been retargeting campaigns. These campaigns leverage the data that we have on users who have previously engaged with our shipment-tracking platform or brand content without converting.

Retargeting campaigns have been successful because they fit in well with the B2B sales cycle, which by nature is long and involves several decision-makers. With these campaigns, we can entice the prospect with other offers, such as a free product demo or case studies on similar businesses.

When sent at the right time, they can help address these prospects' pain points and nudge them toward trying our solutions. We have converted 30% of prospects we have retargeted with such campaigns.

Steve Yang, CRO, TrackingMore

Implement EKAP Process
We use a process called EKAP.

1. End – We begin with the end in mind. What problem is our customer trying to solve? Their journey begins with a web search. Based on what we know, we reverse-engineer the 20+ search queries our potential leads type into the search bar.
2. Keywords Mapping – We drop all the keywords into a spreadsheet and analyze them across (a) buying intention, (b) competition, and (c) search volume. All of this data is free on www.trends.google.com. Based on this information, we rank the keywords favoring high-intention/high-volume/low-competition searches.
3. Alignment of Content – Next, we identify the types of content that best align with our keywords. If the keyword is informational (low intent) such as "how to put my dog on a diet" then we focus on how-to articles or blog content. If the intent is transactional, such as "best organic dog food," then we publish infographics and comparative content extolling our features, benefits, and price.
4. Placement – Placing the right content on the right marketing channel informs the marketing budget. If ranking is easy based on a lack of competition, we focus on SEO or organic search by building out our website and acquiring backlinks. If ranking is difficult due to competition, then we will focus on paid ads such as Google Ads, LinkedIn, or will implement social media campaigns on LinkedIn or X.

Nick Fraunfelder, CEO, Sure Oak Marketing

Offer Free IT Consulting Sessions
One successful tactic I've employed in building an integrated B2B digital marketing program is the use of a lead-magnet strategy. Specifically, we offered a free IT consulting session as our lead magnet, where we would help potential clients solve a specific problem at no cost. This approach was highly effective for several reasons.

First, it provided immediate value to the target audience, positioning our business as a trusted expert right from the start. By addressing their pain points during the free session, we built trust and credibility, making it easier to nurture leads into paying customers. Second, this strategy encouraged engagement with our brand, giving us valuable insights into their needs and challenges, which we later used to tailor our solutions and marketing efforts.

Lastly, offering a tangible service as a lead magnet helped us differentiate from competitors. It wasn't just a downloadable resource—it was a personalized experience that allowed us to showcase our expertise and build stronger relationships. This ultimately led to higher conversion rates and long-term business partnerships.

Shubham Ahuja, Digital Marketing Manager, BigOhTech

Segment Audience by Decision-Making Roles
We segmented our audience based on their decision-making roles. Instead of a broad approach, we tailored content and messaging to speak directly to different stakeholders—whether CEOs, finance teams, or operations managers. Each group had specific concerns, and addressing those made our campaigns more relevant.

For example, when we targeted CFOs, we focused on cost-efficiency and ROI. For CEOs, it was more about long-term growth and security. This way, the message hit the right note with the right people. This was a key driver in increasing engagement because the content resonated with their priorities.

This approach's effectiveness is due to its simplicity: just tweaking the existing message. You take what you already have and shape it to fit the audience's concerns. It's a quick win that brings measurable results, like higher open rates on emails or better responses to ads.

If you want to improve your B2B marketing, focus on relevance. Understanding who you're talking to and what matters to them makes a huge difference. It's not enough to have great content—you need to connect it to the right people at the right time.

Kate Donskaia, Marketing Manager, WealthProtector

Use Real-Time Data Analytics
I've embraced strategies that some might consider audacious, yet they've proven remarkably effective. One successful tactic we've implemented is the aggressive use of real-time data analytics to not only understand but also predict customer behavior and preferences. This approach allows us to tailor our B2B digital marketing efforts with unprecedented precision.

By leveraging data to its fullest, we sidestep traditional, slower marketing methods, sparking debates on privacy and data-use ethics. This method has not only accelerated our sales cycle but also positioned us as a daring leader in digital marketing. Our results speak loudly, proving that in the digital age, data dominance is not just an advantage—it's a necessity.

Dionne Jayne Ricafort, Marketing Manager, CSO Yemen

Integrate AI into SMS and Phone Channels
Integrating AI into our SMS and phone channels has revolutionized our B2B digital marketing programs. By connecting our CRM with the latest language models, we're able to have real-time conversations with prospects over SMS and voice, loaded with the most recent information about our offers through FAQs. This has significantly improved our speed-to-lead, ensuring that prospects receive immediate and consistent information across multiple channels. 

As a result, appointment bookings have increased by 60%. The AI integration not only enhances the customer experience but also streamlines our communication process. This approach has made our outreach more effective by combining personalization with efficiency.

Ralph Tommaso, Vice President Marketing, First Choice Debt Solutions

Plan Consistent Messaging Across Channels
It's more in the planning and less in the execution. We use simple planning templates to finalize consistent messaging and presentation across all channels. This drives the creative direction for the various channel-specific assets and ensures the delivery of consistent messaging. It simplifies the production process and makes it go more smoothly with fewer questions and less back-and-forth.

In the upfront planning, we also set the metrics and KPIs for measurement, so we know what we're tracking and reporting on during execution, and we know what success looks like.

David Howard, VP of Marketing, BuzzBoard

Leverage the Voice of the Customer
The most important tactic in B2B marketing is leveraging Voice of the Customer (VoC) to develop a deep understanding of the marketplace's needs.

While you may be trying to win a company's business in B2B marketing, the reality is that you are ultimately still marketing to human beings—with feelings, concerns, and questions.

That is why it is critical to get in front of your prospect audience—in person—to hear directly the pain they are experiencing in the market.

Without a deep understanding of the pain points of your target audience, you will always struggle to match your solutions and value propositions in a way that meaningfully relieves that pain.

As one of the greatest marketing minds in history, Brad Davis, CMO, always says, "When in doubt, talk to your customer. They have all the money and all the power."

Sean Swentek, VP Marketing, Omnidian

Enhance Content with Subject Matter Experts
One successful tactic I've employed in building an integrated B2B digital-marketing program is leveraging in-house subject matter experts (SMEs) to enhance content creation and engagement. By working closely with these experts, we developed high-quality, insightful content that resonates with our target audience. This content became the foundation of social media campaigns, positioning our brand as an authority in the field.

To maximize impact, we integrated the sales team into the process to drive a cohesive account-based marketing (ABM) strategy. The team helped identify key accounts, which allowed us to create highly targeted email sequences tailored to the pain points and needs of those prospects. This was further supported by paid advertising on LinkedIn, ensuring our messaging reached decision-makers in a space where they're most active.

Additionally, we incorporated geofencing campaigns around key industry events and competitor locations to drive awareness and engagement. This multifaceted approach not only increased lead generation but also nurtured stronger relationships between marketing and sales, making the entire campaign highly effective in driving results.

Cameron Cross, VP, Marketing, Courtesy Connection

Focus on SEO for B2B SaaS
As past president of SEO.com, I oversaw many B2B marketing campaigns, and now specialize in providing B2B SaaS companies with SEO campaigns. SEO became the most important channel for the majority of our B2B clients because they were able to generate organic, inbound leads while developing both their brand recognition and authority in their industry. SEO is particularly effective for B2B companies because the average contract value tends to be high enough to get a great ROI from your campaign, which is much harder in retail or for local brick-and-mortar businesses.

Alexandra Lin, Founder, Just Ask Alex

Make Content Central to Strategy
One of the best tactics for building a successful B2B digital marketing program is making sure content is central to every strategy. By creating valuable, targeted content that connects with each stage of the buyer's journey, you're not just marketing—you're guiding your audience.

Here's why it works: content allows you to personalize on a large scale. Whether it's a blog post, targeted email, or whitepaper, each piece helps build trust and strengthen relationships with potential clients. But it's not just about creating content—it's about getting it in front of the right people. By coordinating efforts across SEO, social media, and email marketing, you make sure your message reaches the right audience at the right time.

This approach doesn't just attract leads; it turns them into loyal customers. I’ve seen it drive consistent, measurable results, helping businesses establish themselves as industry thought leaders while increasing conversions.

Deepak Shukla, CEO, Pearl Lemon