Traditional industries such as logistics and agriculture have been slow to adopt new technology and digital marketing, slow to realise their potential as effective means of growth and keeping one step ahead of their businesses. This is slowly starting to change and the businesses in these industries are beginning to see the advantages.

Many of the businesses that are slow to enter the digital age are often selling their products to other businesses (B2B) and frequently do not have a transactional component, often with high value or low volume products and services. The nature of these businesses means there is little emotional engagement with their brand and thus do not see the need for efforts such as social media and the like.  

Many of these businesses are stuck in their ways and in the complacency of “what has always worked will continue to do so,” but as the pandemic has shown us, is not always a guarantee of success anymore.

 

Getting started in digital

The first step in digital has to be creating a website that is modern, user friendly and rich in important details such as contact details, address, product details, USP of the business and information on how to buy. This is the basis to start your digital presence but to really make a statement, the website should be built with SEO at the heart. Mobile searches are continuing to grow even for B2B companies, and your business needs to appear in these search results. With the big companies in most industries already online, you need to find your place.

 

Finding your audience

The use of digital technology can initiate better communication, interaction, and engagement with all audiences. Through using various different platforms that are available, digital marketing opens up a lot of data to the marketing team and the wider business. Data on who, how, when etc about customers visiting your website can help you understand their wants and needs more easily. You can now connect more directly with your customers, and through audience planning tools, audience mapping, and segmented behaviour journeys, you can map customers’ buying behaviour and then create digital strategies to improve the customer experience.

 

Creating digital strategies

Now, this is the fun part, this is where you get creative. Digital strategies can take many forms, it could be creating blogs about your products, written by experts who understand your products and industry and provide more than good SEO content but real, tangible advice. It could be engaging on social media to create a character behind your brand and developing your digital strategies through there. You could also use email marketing, which is still one of the most effective methods for B2B marketers to use. Creating video content is another good choice for B2B businesses, probably the closest digital alternative to direct selling, which B2B businesses have used as their main form of sales and marketing. Speaking the same language as your customers is key here and creating videos that help them understand your product range can be really powerful. Your business will have experts within, and they can help more people in a shorter time.

 

Finding a strategic digital partner

A digital marketing agency that is experienced at working with B2B firms from various traditional industries can help you with all of this, including SEO, PPC (Pay-per-click), website development, social media management and more. At Sierra Six Media, we have this experience and expertise to help you grow your business and make your mark in the digital world. 

 

Rachel Downes, Publisher, Sierra Six Media.