Making sure your audience feels connected to your company is vital for success, but Gallup recently reported only 31% of consumers feel engaged with B2B companies. Why should that matter to you? Successfully engaging with consumers reaps several benefits, including:

• 50% higher revenue/sales
• 33% higher likelihood of being the consumer’s first choice when doing business
• 64% lower loss of customers
• 32% fewer days before a purchase is complete

If your audience is not already engaged with your company, it’s imperative that you begin fostering that relationship with these three proven methods.

1. Add engagement tools

Marketing tactics that call for audience response  — such as asking questions, creating a narrative or using a customer’s testimonial — help your audience feel more connected. Fostering conversations and emotional connection encourages them to see you as more than just another company.

Use a diverse array of tools to engage with audiences on multiple platforms. That engagement could be designed to stimulate a website visit, an email survey response, a comment on a customer testimony video, or participation in a company-sponsored webinar.

2. Target the right prospects

If your audience is not engaging with your company, you might not be reaching the right audience in the first place. Use proprietary data services like EDA or RigDig to determine your best prospects and develop an account-based marketing plan, which is tailored to individual prospects with a high likelihood of purchasing from you. Leveraging engagement tools with this audience will yield a greater return on investment from your targeted ads.

3. Respond to customers

Making sure you have compelling and informative communications is critical, but it’s only a portion of your engagement strategy. If you want your customers to talk to you, then show them you are there to listen.

Answer questions as promptly as possible, and if a consumer has had a negative experience, all is not lost. Reacting quickly and making things right will refocus the consumer on your excellent service, rather than the issue.

Conclusion

When consumers have seemingly endless choices for their B2B purchases, making sure they are engaged with your company will be what sets you apart from the competition. Leveraging a variety of engagement tools, strategically targeting your best prospects and using responsive customer service will foster a positive relationship and encourage consumers to come to your company for their B2B needs.