Can ToB product marketing also establish a private domain?

ToB is a slow business, which means that ToB marketers often have to learn to delay gratification. Private domain is a long-term investment. Many times people may give up if they don’t see results in the short term. But the key to everything is persistence and finding the right way. "User-centric, process-based and systematic thinking, linking marketing actions will always produce better results than doing things individually."

1.What?

Different from the public domain "paid advertising traffic, self-media traffic, brand influence, etc.", the private domain traffic discussed in this article specifically refers to the traffic that companies introduce from the public domain to channels and platforms they can control (such as WeChat official accounts, mini-programs, corporate WeChat, communities), etc., to directly establish contact with users and communicate and interact.

2. Why?

Why can ToB products also build their own private domains?

We only need to combine the pain points that ToB products are prone to encounter when acquiring/converting customers with the characteristics of private domains to understand its necessity:

Feature 1 Autonomous and controllable

Pain points: Whether obtaining leads through paid advertising or social media platforms, it is easy to be restricted by third-party platforms such as "push algorithms, traffic distribution, account weight, content review, external link violations, etc." Everything must follow the platform rules, and controllability is low.

Private domain: It has autonomous controllability "I'am the king", enterprises can perform user stratification, push content review is less restricted, and external links are friendly.

Feature 2: User stickiness

Pain points: The decision-making process of TOB business is usually long, involving multiple links and decision makers, and the conversion cycle is long. Improving awareness and establishing a trusting relationship between the two parties are key factors in promoting conversion. A single touch of advertising or media information obviously cannot effectively establish user stickiness.

Private domain: User stickiness is high and user churn rate is relatively low. Combined with content marketing (details below) and IP construction, provide high-quality content (case studies, solutions, industry insights, technology sharing, etc.) that matches the product, interact with users more directly and frequently, increase the customer's desire for active communication during the retention period, and stimulate the probability of lead conversion.

Feature 3 Cost-effectiveness

Pain points: With the increase in the number of platforms, traffic is dispersed, and a lot of manpower, financial resources and other resources are needed to compete for general traffic. As a result, the cost of leads and customer acquisition increases, and the difficulty of acquiring accurate users increases. These are problems that many ToBs are facing now.

Private domain: low retention, reach and maintenance costs. Through some methods (described below), public domain traffic is converted into private domain traffic. Through refined and socialized operation methods, the lead conversion rate and user communication and diffusion are improved, thereby helping to reduce the single customer acquisition cost of the business.

Feature 4 Data empowerment

Pain points: Enterprises are usually unable to directly capture user behavior data from public domain traffic, and the platform can only provide some basic tag fields. This means that we cannot conduct in-depth behavioral preference, content/activity preference and other data for target users, and we cannot plan marketing actions based on user preferences.

Private domain: Collect and analyze user data from private domain traffic (need to use third-party digital marketing tools) to conduct more accurate marketing and services. Based on data, you can achieve the desired effect by taking marketing actions that respect user preferences, otherwise users will not play with you. This is why some people always ask "Why are the effects different when everyone's actions are the same?" Data guides marketing decisions. This sentence is not just talk, but should be applied to every marketing plan of yours to achieve "user-centricity".

In general, ToB companies set up private domains in order to control channels independently, build user stickiness, reduce marketing costs, and enable marketing strategy iteration to help the overall business improve lead conversion efficiency.

3.How?

The above is a bunch of empty words and theoretical stuff. I believe that most people know and recognize its role, but still think that private domain is worthless. I guess the reasons are as follows:

• “No one talks in the community, they are all dead groups”
• “No conversions in the short term”
• “There is no long-term supply of content”
• “It is impossible to measure the value of private domains”

…

So how should ToB do private domain?

First of all, let me make it clear that ToB products have different industry attributes, business characteristics, and target groups, which will lead to different results when the same marketing strategy is used on different products. Therefore, this sharing is based on the actual situation of the products I am responsible for, and cannot represent the overall situation of the ToB industry. Don't argue with me, because if you argue, you are right.

To give a brief introduction, I am mainly responsible for data development, governance, and analysis products. These products are aimed at large KAs, have long decision-making links, and have relatively high key KP levels. They are purely technical products and cannot provide free trials to new users. The overall transaction cycle is extremely long, resulting in very high customer acquisition (SQL) costs in the short term.

The biggest reason for choosing to invest in private domains is to activate old leads at zero cost, stimulate stock conversion, and reduce the overall customer acquisition cost. Next, I will share my practical experience summary:

Theoretically, the construction of private domain should run through the entire user life cycle, starting from the user introduction period, attracting potential users into the enterprise private domain pool through various channels (CRM, WeChat community, sales WeChat, WeChat public account, etc.). According to the different stages of users, community operation, content marketing, user services and other means are used to strengthen user stickiness and promote user activity and conversion rate.

Due to the complexity of our product conversion cycle, follow-up links, and personnel, we pay more attention to Leads when doing private domain - SQL side "not greedy for more or less". And based on cost considerations, we further reduced the investment in EDM and SMS to push CRM stock leads, and focused the private domain more on "official accounts, enterprise microblogs, communities, and mini-programs" within the WeChat ecosystem. We sorted out three core issues of concern and made targeted investments.

Focus 1 How to make more public domain traffic flow into the private domain?

The largest source of public domain traffic for TOB products is SEM/SEO. As the carrier platform for public domain traffic, the official website should do a series of private domain traffic diversion work.

1) Registration link guides "long-term continuous supply"

Before

After

Before we started working on private domains, the registration process on our official website was relatively simple, with the goal of getting the user information right away so that SDR could clean and follow up. After planning to work on private domains, we modified the registration process on the official website, adding guidance on private domains before and after registration:

• Before registration: add WeChat service account and scan the QR code to follow, and become the public account fans to receive subsequent content push;
• Registration completed: Add guidance for adding micro accounts for enterprises, which will increase users’ willingness to actively consult and receive subsequent group message push;

2) Marketing activities guide "bulk centralized supply"

Before

Previously, when holding online or offline marketing activities, exhibition user information was mostly collected in the form of questionnaires, which were then manually imported into the CRM without any retention guidance. First, this would cause data fragmentation between systems. Second, everyone knows that the conversion cycle of event leads is very long. If you only get the leads without subsequent cultivation and outreach, it will be difficult to evaluate and measure the value of the leads from the event.

After

After following the service account through the QR code, a link to leave information will automatically pop up. "Channel sources, behavior records, lead data, etc. are directly mapped to CRM." After success, it will guide you to add the company's micro account to receive the prize. It's a smooth little combo that can be easily mastered.

HOW DOES IT PERFORM?

• The retention rate of the official website’s daily average leads in the private domain “WeChat fans + number of company WeChat additions” is about 40-50%;
• Marketing activities depend on the scale of the conference. In the two large-scale activities, the number of fans of "Rushu Expo" increased by more than 1,000;

Focus 2 How to make the water in the private domain lead pool flow faster?

If you want to make private domain users flow, you can only use activities and content. However, in this process, you cannot take single-point actions, like throwing a few stones randomly on a calm lake, which will at most splash a little water, and you may not even see ripples. Therefore, you need to design a process mechanism to connect marketing actions in a coherent manner in the private domain platform to maximize its effect. Use a "stick" to stir it, so that the water in the private domain pool can "flow";

Before

Before the establishment of private domain, if you want to influence the existing CRM leads, you usually use EDM and SMS to send live broadcast notifications, guide them to leave information and sign up for the video number, and send SMS notifications before the live broadcast. In this link, not only is the data fragmented, but the consistency of message push and the number of live broadcast viewers cannot be guaranteed. The operation is also cumbersome and the labor investment is high.

After

The new live streaming link has made a big change in that it has postponed the retention of information, giving priority to ensuring user experience and delaying satisfaction. The reason is simple. We believe that people who have watched the live streaming are more willing to get the PPT than those who simply sign up to participate in the live streaming (but may not actually watch it). Of course, the data comparison of the two processes also confirmed our guess.

The whole process is very simple:

1) Pre-event promotion: Only use the service account to send live broadcast notices. "How long in advance is up to you. We are very casual. Sometimes it's a week in advance, sometimes it's a day in advance."

2) Dissemination during the meeting:

• Service account template message reminder
• Social media and friend circles guide sharing

3) Leave information after the meeting:

• Enterprise micro-account single point push live PPT to guide information retention
• Live broadcast to audio and publish to Xiaoyuzhou, convenient for killing time on the commute

Through process transformation, users can receive information about the entire activity process only within the WeChat ecosystem, and can participate in the activity with a low threshold. Finally, they will be impressed by the content we share and have the desire to actively consult. This is the real "living water" in the private domain.

PS: We don’t need too many activities, but we need to focus on refined and coherent content. “This involves content planning, which is another topic and will not be expanded here.”

HOW DOES IT PERFORM?

• The number of views of a single live broadcast is 500+;
• The number of existing leads and new leads left in a single transaction can also be over 100;
• Cost: 0 yuan;

Focus 3 How to make users want to learn more

This is a very complex topic. User desires will never change greatly because of our simple actions. Moreover, our purpose is so clear: "to make money". In the process of private domain operation, I simply grasped the following points to create an atmosphere so that users are willing to interact with us:

1. Provide professional content: Whether users follow the official account or the company WeChat account, they will receive a "mini program" that allows them to enter the database to view white papers, industry information, solutions, case studies and other professional content, demonstrating the company's in-depth understanding of the industry;
2. Build trust: Gradually build up users’ trust in you through continuous interaction and provision of valuable information through content and activities;
3. Active response to consultation: All private domain consultations are connected to SDR's online customer service system to ensure that all channel users' active consultations can be actively responded to in the first place;
4. Analyze user behavior: Public and private domain data are connected, and the identity is unified from the touchpoint layer to the operation layer. User behavior preferences are collected through operational actions to summarize high-value customer portraits, and feed back to the strategic iteration of activities and content marketing.
5. Cultivate user habits: After a CRM lead is judged invalid for the first time, set up automated SMS push notifications to guide users to actively add the company’s WeChat account so that they can find us in time to initiate consultations later.

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I believe there are many available methods, and I look forward to learning more and continuing to iterate.