Social Proof is the new buzzword in marketing, and every business is becoming increasingly aware of its capability and power in critical areas of marketing, such as spreading brand awareness and creating demand for specific products or services.
Mark Zuckerberg got it spot-on when he said, “Nothing draws a crowd more than a crowd.”
It is important to be listed on the right directories that cater to your business and industry. This is true even for businesses outside the digital marketing arena. Knowing where your customers are making the buying decisions can make a huge difference to your marketing efforts. Search engines too use these directories to find out about companies that attract rave reviews and are preferred by a large and growing number of customers.
Another huge advantage of these directories is that they do a wonderful job of ranking for specific keywords. You can get amazing traffic by simply putting your site on their pages, without having to deal with the complexities of SEO ranking and strategies.
However, some marketers still question the logic of ranking on B2B directories.
It is generally seen that many marketers target the first page of specific keywords. But this does not always constitute a sound marketing strategy because of three reasons:
- These keywords are highly competitive.
- They are usually dominated by nearly invincible giant posts.
- Even though they generate good search volumes, they are not always qualified searchers – thus making conversions tough.
To leverage the power of these keywords, placing your brand precisely where the conversion-ready users are looking is important. And where is that?
Directory services! Where else?
Every business, including B2B sites, can make a difference to their business prospects by using the right directory services.
Here is a list of the top 8 B2B Directories to drive demand and leads, help grow the visibility of your brand, and produce an impressive ROI.
Relevance.com is acclaimed as one of the top industry publications with expertise in covering Content Promotion News and Insights like no one else. They recently also launched a new digital business/service directory that looks interesting and has all the features needed to deliver results.
Relevance directory is extremely well-organized. They put in lots of effort to provide users with wide-ranging information about contacts. The directory also provides detailed descriptions for more than 1000 distinguished content marketing agencies, tools/software/services, and professionals.
Relevance has smartly segmented its listings based on different types of services. There are different segments for social media management, content curation, video, account-based marketing, and others, and also for the U.S. or International status, thus making the search process easy, quick, and efficient.
When you get your brand or service listed on the Relevance Directory, you can look forward to establishing connections with a large number of marketers and service providers that form the major bulk of the user base of Relevance.
Relevance offers basic listing for free. They charge a sum for the various types of segmented listing options. This type of listing ensures that professionals, as well as agencies, can boost their visibility.
2: Clutch
Clutch is the right digital directory for those who want to connect with B2B businesses. If you are looking for a directory service, it is better to choose the one that can help you in gaining a high ranking for your business. For the search term – Best SEO companies – Clutch ranks an impressive third.
3: Curata
Curata is a clear leader and a top name in content marketing services. They have a good track record in content creation to curation and have done a fantastic job of consolidating and arranging various resource centers for the community. Curata helps companies achieve their objectives by publishing targeted content and directory lists to rank for specific terms. This is an approach that’s different from the one that Clutch takes which involves creating a digital marketing plan specifically for ranking around some keywords.
Curata ranks on page one for the term ‘content marketing services’.
4: Capterra
Capterra is similar to Clutch in many ways and serves as a directory for software business listings and reviews. It enjoys the reputation of a lead generator specialist for many B2B clients, exactly like Leadhub Lead Generation. The easy search feature offered by Capterra makes it easy for businesses in the software domain to find the precise solutions they are looking for.
Capterra ranks for various types of services and has a unique directory for each one of them. This means that listing your brand on this directory service is akin to ranking on a mini SERP.
5: SAP
SAP App Center lists new apps on high visibility pages and also is a great way of getting your app certified so that the chances of generating new, qualified searchers are high. As the majority of clicks and conversions happen on the features apps section, it is recommended that you get your product listed on the featured apps as well.
Software Advice is ideal for those who prefer using different business directories for various types of sub-industries. It is in the same league as Capterra and does a great job of comparison research of various brand names to get more qualified searchers. Software Advice also excels in developing lists for various sub-industries.
Their features also include developing lists for different points in the funnel for each type of industry. For instance, you will be listed in the directory for e-Learning Software or Learning Management System and each listing will target a different stage in the funnel.
7: G2 Crowd
Knowing about the directories your end customers are using is a big advantage for marketers as it can help you in the brand placement process. If you have this crucial information, you will have to pay only for those listings that are generating high quality leads for your pipeline.
G2 Crowd is preferred by software companies and B2B tech firms as a trusted resource as they rank high for terms like best CRM software and many other keywords.
8: ReadySaaSGo
ReadySaaSGo is a niche B2B directory. Don’t expect this listing service to boost your website visibility in terms of demand generation. However, for companies working in the B2B SaaS niche, this directory is the ideal listing destination and can help drive leads impressively.
ReadySaaSGo also segregates the various types of directories on the basis of industry and types of sub-services offered. The listings are not as comprehensive as others as this is a smaller site. However, a big plus point is that you can submit your SaaS Vendor site listing for free. It means the leads you see here will positively boost your general ROI.
9: Alibaba
Any B2B directory service listing cannot be complete without the inclusion of Alibaba. Alibaba offers the entire range of listings that include products and services to aftermarket and more. Alibaba spells comprehensiveness as it offers directories, reviews, forums, and resource hubs. However, it is precisely this kind of breadth that leads to lack of focused conversions on this site. Targeting directories that are targeted to your customers is a practical and commonsense decision. You will have to pay for such listings. This can result in increased costs, especially if you are unable to generate leads from that channel.
It is important to keep focused on your ROI while choosing the directories you want to target. This can help you remain in control of your budget.
The key purpose of B2B digital marketing is generating optimal returns from your most cost-effective channels. To achieve this, you must know the difference between keywords you can rank for and those you cannot. It is futile to waste your valuable time and money as well as resources chasing search engine result pages that these directories are ranking for already.
It is equally futile to invest your money in processes aimed at improving your visibility on search engines like Google and others. It is more important to focus on brand visibility at places where the end customers are already looking. Optimizing metrics that do not really contribute to your brand’s progress is a waste of effort and resources. Focusing on metrics such as ROI is what really matters.