In the eighth B2B marketing step we reached the summit of the 15 steps and crafted our marketing strategy. It’s downhill from here, from steps 9 through to 15. There’s still a lot of work to do, but it should feel easier. It should feel like you’re gaining speed as you move downhill, rather than breathing heavily as you climb uphill.

The ninth B2B marketing step is deciding your marketing mix. You know your strategy, so now you need to figure out the combination of which marketing elements will get you there. These are the tools of your trade.

There is potentially one blog post for each of these marketing mix elements – and perhaps we’ll revisit this area in more detail another time – but for now I’m going to list the main elements you need to consider. This list of 10 is not meant to be exhaustive or all-inclusive – there are myriad possible elements – but hopefully I’ve captured the main ones.

  • Public relations. Are you going to use an agency or do it yourself?
  • Influencers. What analysts, influencers or mavens in the space will you leverage?
  • Traditional advertising. Will you pay for space in TV, radio, newspapers, or publications specific to your space?
  • Events. What conferences will you attend, exhibit at, speak at, to build awareness and pipeline?
  • Seminars/webinars. Will you organise your own events or perhaps partner with others to do the same?
  • Email marketing. How will you use email to create demand, nurture demand and create opportunities for your sales and partner sales teams?
  • Direct marketing. What physical items will you send to the places where your prospects work to attract them to you?
  • Digital marketing/social media. What presences, portals, platforms and plans (sorry, the urge to alliterate was irresistible) will you curate to let people find you when they’re at all stages of the buying process – especially the beginning – and / or who are currently invisible to you?
  • Online advertising. What search engine optimisation will you do, and what paid search, banner ads or sponsored opportunities will you adopt to convert browsers into prospects?
  • Collateral. What websites, micro-sites, web pages, landing pages, brochures, ebooks, white papers, data sheets, slide decks, videos, will you produce to reward your customers for their attention, in whatever stage of the buying process they are, and educate them as to how you can solve their business problems?

OK, you’ve got your blend of marketing elements you want to use. Time now to figure out the specific programme of activities that makes up your execution plan.