Frequently asked questions: The Business Propeller TM

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What kind of results can I expect with The Business Propeller TM?
  • Your prospecting strategy and positioning will be taken care of.
  • Your LinkedIn network will grow.
  • Your LinkedIn prospecting will be taken care of to find more budget holders with a need.
  • Your website will be properly managed and blog content written and uploaded every month.
  • Your website traffic will improve.
  • Your database of decision makers with emails will grow.
  • Your list will receive regular communications.
  • Your list will receive a follow up call to establish whether they have an upcoming need.
  • Your list be educated and nurtured until they know, like and trust you.
  • Our team will become your team and work most days on your campaigns.
  • You will have more conversations with interested prospects.
  • Our team will follow up for you to help get more deals over the line.
  • Our team will bridge the gap between sales and marketing.
  • Your will receive more enquiries.
  • You will convert more sales.
  • You will win more repeat customers and key accounts.
How long will it take to get leads?
  • This is a difficult question to answer as every campaign is different and because we focus on the mini steps to the next stage of the B2B sale.
  • Inbound lead generation:
    • Google Ads campaigns produce leads and web traffic within weeks.
    • SEO campaigns are a slower burn.
  • Outbound lead generation:
    • The first 3-5 weeks of any campaign is typically spent refining your positioning, messaging, targeting, data research and website/landing pages, if applicable.
    • The next 3-5 weeks will be priming the pump on LinkedIn.
    • Your LinkedIn connections will grow at the rate that LinkedIn allows.
    • Typically 20 connection requests sent 5 days every week.
    • Connection acceptance rates can vary from 20% to 60%.
    • All connections will receive a friendly follow up message within a few days of connecting.
    • We are mindful that if we push too hard at this 2nd point of contact the lead will be lost.
    • All interested connections will be followed up on the phone to ask permission to send information by email.
    • We will then add them to the drip feed email campaign.
    • The drip feed campaign will focus on the value you bring.
    • Emails will contain links to your website/landing pages and will increase the quality of the traffic to your website.
    • We will then focus on the follow up conversion phase.
What return on investment (ROI) can I expect?
  • It varies from campaign to campaign.  Higher value goods and services deliver a higher return on investment.
  • ROI is dependent on the client’s ability to convert leads and to follow up once the job has been quoted.
  • Some campaigns have delivered over £100k of quotation value in the first 4/5 months for a monthly spend of £2.5k.
  • Some campaigns have delivered over £1m in quotation value in the first 6/7 months of activity.
  • Some campaigns have taken 10 months to get the first order over the line: It was £50k though. This campaign now consistently generates around £0.5m of new business every year.
What can be done to boost results/speed of enquiries?
  • The Business PropellerTM package will yield the fastest results because it includes multiple prospecting marketing pillars, with a full nurturing process and follow up service. You get integrated inbound and outbound marketing activities working in unison.
  • The Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum plans can also be boosted by doubling up on the number of LinkedIn profiles we are connecting with and by adding Google search marketing activities such as Google Ads and search engine optimisation (SEO).
Which package should I choose?
  • The more you tell the more you sell! The plans with the most effective activities across both inbound and outbound are the most dependable. Multiple pillars are the top of the sales funnel activities that keep on producing leads to then educate and nurture.
  • The Business PropellerTM package will yield the best results as it includes multiple marketing pillars, in combination with a full nurturing process and follow up service. It also includes cold calling to find the budget holders who aren’t active on LinkedIn and is recommended for companies over £1m in sales revenues, that do not have a marketing manager/director.
  • The LinkedIn Gold and Platinum plans are recommended for companies above £500k in sales revenues.
  • The LinkedIn Silver plan is recommended for companies between £250k and £500k in sales revenues.
  • The LinkedIn Bronze plan is recommended for start ups and companies below £250k in sales revenues.
  • Bespoke plans can also be created based on existing activities and an agreed budget.
  • If budget is tight you should go on a smaller plan, but for longer.  Time is a huge factor when it comes to sales conversions.  B2B buyers commit when they are ready and not a moment before.
Should I outsource my marketing and lead generation or hire in house?
  • If you have a large team in-house, you could consider adding a lead generation team.  Telemarketers work better in teams/pairs supported by a modern CRM system.  The issue with cold calling is it should be supported by strong marketing collateral and messaging.
  • Alternatively, you could hire a specialist lead generation agency.  Look for one with sector knowledge/experience and with good integration skills.
  • The elements that work consistently well when integrated include: Organic search (SEO), Paid search (Google Ads),   LinkedIn outreach and nurturing, telemarketing, email drip feed campaigns, content marketing, sales follow up letters, telemarketing follow up calls and appointment setting.  See The Business PropellerTM here
Do marketing agencies offer a money back guarantee?
  • Most agencies do not, but Stratique is different: All of our clients on The Business PropellerTM plan have a money back guarantee.  Once a campaign is up and running and primed, we offer a simple guarantee: If we don’t produce any leads in a given month, we will pay your next month’s fee*. No one else offers this.  You can also reject a lead if it doesn’t meet the agreed criteria and our team will then replace it.  *Please see Ts and Cs on our website for full details.
What marketing should I do first?
  • Always, your proposition first!  Define your value proposition, your target audience, their pain points, and your positioning in the marketplace.  Graphics and design should come after.
  • Make sure your website speaks to your target audience and takes them on a journey from pain to solution.
  • Inbound vs outbound?  Both have their place.
    • Inbound strategies will help to attract prospects with enough pain to be searching on Google for companies like yours. Lead quality may vary.
    • Outbound marketing requires more effort to find the right prospects in the right organisations, make contact with them, educate and nurture the budget holders in the businesses you most want to do business with, who have a regular need.
How do I choose a B2B marketing agency?
  • Choose a B2B agency with the right sector experience.
  • Can they articulate your prospects’ needs and their buying behaviour/journey?
  • Do they understand the language of the sector?
  • Are they activity driven or results led?
  • Have they worked in the sector before joining an agency?
  • Who will be doing the lead generation? Someone with experience or a junior?
  • Do they show their results and case studies?
  • Do they have a proven methodology?
  • Do they have a results based money back guarantee?
  • Who will be your main point of contact?
  • Do they have testimonials?
  • Are they 100% focused on B2B or are they secretly B2C?
How does B2B marketing work and what is a good B2B strategy?
  • Choose a B2B agency with the right sector experience.
  • People buy from people. Even B2B!
  • Articulate your prospects’ main needs and their buying journey.
  • Create website content that attracts visitors searching for your products and services.
  • Create online ads that drive visitors to your website/landing pages who are searching for your products and services.
  • Develop a database of decision makers in the businesses that you would most like to do business with.
  • Contact them directly on LinkedIn.
  • Send them a follow up message, or two.
  • Take the conversation off their personal LinkedIn account and onto the phone.
  • Get permission to market via email.
  • Deliver the right message to the right people at the right frequency.
  • Follow up rhythmically.
  • Stay in contact until they buy, or say goodbye.
  • Review the statistics monthly and optimise the campaigns.
  • Follow up all quotations for feedback.
  • Ask for the regular runners and what would need to happen to become an approved supplier.
What is B2B marketing?

Business to Business marketing, commonly referred to as B2B marketing, is the act of finding and educating potential buyers in a another business, with the authority to purchase, plus a need.

There are two main types of prospect: Budget holders who are searching for your products and services online. And budget holders who are currently using one of your competitors. People searching online can be targeted through organic and paid digital marketing activities (mainly on Google). And prospects who are not searching online (because they have an incumbent supplier) can be found using LinkedIn, social media, telemarketing, email and direct mail amongst others.

B2B prospects buy from people they know like and trust, and it is therefore important that campaigns are developed to deliver a clear proposition to build trust and rapport and this is where a good B2B website comes into play that takes different prospect types on a specific buying journey.

You can build an in-house team of digital marketing, copywriting and outbound marketing professionals or you can hire a B2B marketing agency to help you.

What is B2B content marketing?

B2B content marketing delivers the right message to B2B prospects.  Content marketing can answer a frequently asked question (like this FAQ) or it can be a more in depth piece, such as a blog, that is usually hosted on a website and would typically include keyword phrases to help attract visitors from search.

Blog content can be repurposed as part of a direct marketing email campaign or as an online article or press release to create a backlink back to a website.

Content marketing can be used for social media, SEO and email campaigns and can be repurposed in a variety of formats, including white papers, website videos, YouTube videos, podcasts, training webinars and many other formats.