Integrated Marketing

Why Today’s B2B Brands Need an Integrated Marketing Strategy

The B2B buyer journey has changed dramatically. Despite what are often long sales cycles, B2B prospects behave like traditional consumers: They’re doing more web research, consuming more content and contacting companies much later in the decision-making process.

B2B buyers have twisted the linear sales funnel model into a complicated pretzel of digital channels. Prospects now typically interact with sellers between seven and 15 times before even qualifying as a lead. This new buyer journey requires an integrated approach to digital marketing and public relations that constantly nurtures prospects across channels and creates ongoing opportunities for interaction and conversion.

What Does B2B Integrated Marketing Look Like?

To connect with prospects across multiple touch points, B2B brands need an integrated marketing strategy that gets earned, owned and paid media working together in harmony to increase brand awareness, build credibility and drive leads.

Flow chart showing Walker Sands' philosophy for integrated marketing. On the left are boxes representing earned, owned and paid media efforts. These feed into web development and content development in the middle. From there, arrows extend to the right showing how your website and content generate qualified leads as well as prospects that can be entered back into your marketing database. Those prospects will be further nurtured via those same earned, owned and paid media efforts that started the cycle, completing a loop in the flow chart.

Tactics that are often approached separately – such as public relations, content marketing, social media, SEO and your website – must all work together in one integrated marketing framework.

The Benefits of an Integrated B2B Marketing Strategy

An integrated marketing strategy is essential for B2B brands that want to meet their buyers at every touchpoint as they gather information, build consensus and ultimately make a purchase decision.

You will know that your PR and marketing are working together as a truly integrated strategy when you see:

  • A unified voice. From coverage in The Wall Street Journal to remarketing and LinkedIn ads, your audiences hear a familiar voice, know what you stand for, and understand the value you provide customers thanks to a consistently reinforced brand narrative within every channel.
  • More high-quality leads. When your PR and marketing are in sync, you’ll not only record more digital conversions, but your sales team will enjoy higher quality leads who are in advanced stages of the sales funnel.
  • Greater ROI. When you mix amplified awareness and a long-term boost in sales with the efficiencies unlocked by an integrated marketing program, you can pay for the program itself in a matter of months and reap compounded returns over time.

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