What's the most effective B2B marketing strategies for targeting small, local businesses?

If by networking events you mean How To seminars / workshops then that makes sense. Mind you, it's difficult to get some people that motivated (i.e., to attend). That said, such a filter might help to reduce churn. And pardon me for starting the obvious but testimonials - perhaps even on video - would seem to be essential. That is, I don't want you to tell me you're great, I want you to show me (read: prove it to me). btw, it might help to flesh out how you define "email services". Finally, thanks for the A2A.

Small business is a very broad market and sometimes it is very dependent on the type of small business.  I am in Canada where small business is 1-100 employees and is 90% of the market so would very hard  to pinpoint but as someone who works with small businesses  this is what I find works, but if I help a business who is targeting retailers, this might be very different. You need to have your website targeted at your target market.  Your content needs to be relevant and up to date.  Your website should include proper SEO. Depending on the type of business Social Media is important.  This is not something you set up and do once a week.  The type of social media you use with be dependent on the target market. Email marketing services work as long as people have subscribed but if you are trying to get "NEW" business- spam laws will come into play.  I use email marketing to provide new content to my existing customers or people who are in my network. Google Adwords, LinkedIn/Facebook Ads are another way to target small businesses.  Using a Landing Page with this is advantageous and cost effective. I am not a huge advocate of direct mail for most "service businesses" as it has a very low return.  It works well in retail.  As a business owner myself - I don't read it and usually finds its way to my trash.  You would have to really be creative and have something that jumps out and offer something different than your competitors to get someone's attention.  If you are going to do this - you need a great call to action. Networking is a very good way, but do not expect instant return.  This takes time.  This is something you need to continuously do and is important to be known in your community and market you serve. Find other vendors that offer complimentary services to your own and partner and provide business back and forth.  This is where I do a lot of business. Hope this helps.... the answers might differ a little depending on who you are targeting, but broadly small business in general who is also my market - this is what works for me.

Well, with any advertising the message and market should determine your media. Email only works if you can get the emails, get them to open the emails and have an offer that converts. The same applies to all over forms. So have you 100% nailed down the market? Do you have a strong message that converts? Do you have good enough copy that will get them to read your offer? There are many factors to consider. But the bottom line here is that you need a way to get your message to the decision maker. You need to be sure they will open it and read it. And you must be sure it will sell them. Work on those and the media will work itself out. P.S. Not a fan of networking events. Broke people go to those. You will find plenty of business card pushers and MLMers but not many business owners with money to invest in you.

I second Mark's suggestion about video testimonials. "Best practices" video series might also be useful - each video 1-2 minutes, focus on a key aspect of email marketing, i.e. how to write effective subject lines, CTAs, what analytics to look at, etc. In the video, use screen shots from your own platform (assuming you have one), and any examples from your client base (with permission). Education = value = consideration.

The strategy is always matching the perfect message to the perfect target audience (your list) and using the most effective media to deliver the message. In my opinion direct mail is best. Resist the urge to use email only as deliver-ability rates continue to drop and many entrepreneurs are simply too busy to be scanning email. Too many marketers try to take the quick and easy (an inexpensive) way out yet what you’re looking for are small business owners to invest in your business, so you should also be willing to invest in the future growth and profitability of your business.

- has some good points! went a little further. hope it helps!

"82% of New Business Leads From Networking" That's the findings from a recent report published by Rogers Business division about the effectiveness of b2b networking as a lead generator. All marketing has its place but I've found that local SMB's are often very sensitive to investing in marketing - not because they don't believe in it ... on the contrary - they do ... but because they're overwhelmed and simply don't know how to choose (so they don't.) They do however find the time to network face to face and that is why various networking groups thrive in today's business marketplace. That said ... I too am biased, yes I accept email is a powerful tool, so is social media, but I founded a new model of B2B Networking and grew it very quickly and successfully into the largest independent group in our area. We're many times larger than our local Chamber and we attracts hundreds of business people and new leads to our monthly events. It's called Social Fusion Networking and my new book (Meetupology) explains how we do it. One last thought, any tactic removed from strategic integration will generally fail in the long term. The "trick" is always to use a campaign approach to marketing and not a "home run" mentality.

HELLO !!!A B2B, or “Business to Business” company looking to create a small business plan can greatly benefit from affordable online marketing strategies, local advertising, and other cost-effective options Lead generation through effective B2B marketing is very important to stay competitive in the market. If you are not able to getting business leads through your marketing efforts, it means it will become problematic for your business as no revenue will come sooner or later. You don't have to be a big business to reap significant rewards with your SMS marketing campaign. Small retailers, restaurants, bars, services, schools, non profits and other small-scale enterprises have also been able to leverage their success through smart SMS marketing.Text MarketingTry BULK SMS MARKETING , another viable option for B2B businesses. Whether looking to send out updates, promotions, discounts or other alerts, text marketing makes it possible to reach hundreds if not thousands of people instantly. Set up keyword campaigns, improve relationships with other businesses, and otherwise track results. Tracking real-time results makes it possible to tailor text marketing messages as needed. At just cents per text,this form of mobile marketing is both effective and affordable. Why Mobile Marketing is Effective SMS is typically read by 97% of subscribers within an average of 15 minutes after receipt, and responded to within 60 minutes. While 65% of e-mail is spam, less than 10% of SMS (texting) is spam. Mobile has a 97% open rate, as opposed to email which typically maxes out at 20%. Studies indicate that 84% of mobile subscribers are never more than 10 feet from their mobile device A Nielsen study indicates more than half of mobile data subscribers (51%) who saw a mobile ad responded to it by sending a text-message, clicking on it, or calling a specific number. 88% of all mobile subscribers have a text enabled phone. 51% have received SMS marketing messages, and 25% have opted in to marketing messaging from a brand. 200+ million American scarry mobile phones - over half of the country's population Now SMS marketing is simply Short Message Service marketing. Now we know it as texting.We don’t want your SMS platform to turn into a texting nightmare. So basically texting is any time you get – you have a mobile phone and you get a text. This is essentially what SMS marketing is. But the reason why it’s so popular is because it basically has a 90+ percent open rate. People that have mobile phones stay connected to friends, family, co-workers and clients. They’re mobile and they always want to know what’s going on.SMS marketing allows you to deliver a focused message directly to those customers most interested in what it you have to http://say.So SMS marketing is a great tool but whenever you use SMS marketing, make sure you always have new information to provide.check out -http://www.kapsystem.com/freedemo4.phpAt KAPSYSTEM We offer bulk SMS marketing Service in both Promotional & Transactional messages. Our clientele includes business houses, hospitals,schools, construction companies and various other sectorsKAP COMPUTER SOLUTION is the company in india provide bulk sms gateway platform service.KAP Computer Solutions Pvt. Ltd., (KAPSYSTEM) pioneer inBULK SMS Solutions. Our mission is to provide a specialized, reliable, high quality, hassle free sophisticated Services with cost saving.For Free Trial Click on - http://www.kapsystem.com/freedemo4.phpaFor further assistance mail to or if you want to contact me please call on +91 9738012348.

Some tips for you: 1. B2B marketplace,such as : alibaba , http://en.ofweek.com ,made-in-china and so on 2. Build company website and marketing,make sure your company website is well optimized 3. Company blog :write the high quality content in your field 4. Newsletters :get the consumer's email 5. Paid Search (capture marketplace demand) PPC ad campaigns on Google , Facebook and bing. 6. Phone (stimulate demand). Even the most successful inbound marketing companies rely on cold calling to generate new business. 7. Forums and Blogs : Actively participate and interaction 8. Create content.  Tons and tons of content 9. Growth hacking. Where applicable to build incentive based campaigns for referral, increased retention and overall internal growth. 10. Social media : share your content on social networking sites like linkedin and google plus,join the groups and engage with others 11. Posting videos :post videos on YouTube and Daily Motion 12.Emails are the fastest way to generate leads too 13. Organizing seminars and webinars (this can shake loose latent demand). 14. Exhibition : some trade shows in your industry 15. Buy leads from lead generation companies,Customs data 16. Word-of-mouth- Customer support has been crucial for B2B lead generation as happy and satisfied customers often refer their friends which will boost lead generation.