At its core, B2B–business-to-business–marketing is the art of promoting one company’s services and products to another. If a business doesn’t want to sell its products to consumers, it should target businesses with similar needs.
What does B2B actually mean, and how can it influence your B2B plan?
Continue reading to gain knowledge and improve your marketing toolkit for B2B success. Here’s an overview of what lies ahead:
- B2B marketing defined
- What is the difference between B2B and B2C marketing?
- Your B2B marketing objectives: How to set them
- Find the right strategies for your brand with B2B marketing
- B2B Content Ideas
B2B marketing, defined
Many manufacturing, software, and marketing firms operate on a B2B model. The company’s revenues are generated exclusively by other businesses and organizations.
Their entire platform is typically built to serve the needs of another business–solving problems, creating efficiencies, and bolstering operations.
You may be familiar with some B2B companies:
- Datadog
- Atlassian
- WeWork
- General Electric
- Slack
These are likely to ring a bell because you have used their service or product at work and not because you purchased directly from them.
What is the difference between B2B and B2C marketing?
B2C and B2B marketing are different in that they target different audiences. While B2B focuses its promotional efforts toward other businesses, B2C marketing targets the consumer, as suggested by the unabbreviated form of the term business-to-consumer.
The length of the sales cycle is another notable difference. Amazon Prime allows you to make purchases in seconds. This is because your billing and shipping information are already stored. B2B sales, on the contrary, are often much longer and involve a trust-building process.
Here’s an overview of the differences between the two.
B2B marketing:
- Small, niche-based target audience
- Low number of customers, high purchase volume
- Demand and ROI drive buyer purchases
- Promotes long-term business relationships
B2C marketing:
- Large, widespread target audience
- Low volume, but many clients
- Wants to drive buyer purchases
- There are often short-term relationships. ( Note: Some brands focus more on customer retention than others. )
Understanding the differences between these two models is important when setting up your marketing objectives, including your strategies and objectives.
B2B marketing objectives
A clear set of goals and a system for tracking performance are essential to any marketing team. Your marketing goals will vary depending on the stage of your campaign.
Which direction should your B2B approach be focused? Take a look at some common marketing objectives:
- Brand Awareness- The primary tasks in B2B marketing are to define your brand and paint a clear image of your target market. Marketers should be more specific about their target audience.
- Generate leads – When developing strategies around this goal, keep in mind that B2B marketing tends to have fewer leads and higher purchase volumes. Target the primary pain points of your audience. You can then build a foundation to convince them that your solution will improve their efficiency, growth, and ROI.
- Client Retention – If customer retention is your primary goal, gather feedback and keep communication lines open. Consider surprising loyal customers with a small gift or a free upgrade. Free upgrade, a small contribution to encourage long-lasting relationships.
B2B marketing strategies: finding the right fit for your brand
There’s no such thing as a one-size-fits-all approach to B2B Marketing. Nor should it be the case. It is important to evaluate your objectives and combine strategies that help you cut through the clutter.
- Audience- Determining your audience is an important marketing step for any company, but is especially crucial for B2B business models. A clearly defined clientele is important for B2B businesses, given the nature of their products and services.
- SEO When used correctly, SEO can be a powerful tool for generating organic growth within B2B marketing. By incorporating keywords into your content for your blog, website copy, or image alt texts, you can connect with Google users who are searching for solutions that your business can provide.
- Google Ads — While improving your SEO is a long-term strategy to build awareness and increase conversion rates, Google Ads can be instantaneous. Set your bid to maximize your reach and target the right audience.
- Facebook ads- Both the businesses and people you are trying to reach on Facebook are likely to be there. Facebook is one of the largest social networks in the world, with over 2.7 billion users. 1 Facebook ads allow you to create effective B2B campaigns based on user’s interests, age, location, and more.
- Email Newsletters- With over four billion email users in the world, two it is safe to say email marketing will be around for a long time. Distribute your marketing touchpoints over a series of weekly or monthly emails. Track performance by using Mailchimp and Constant Contact to track campaign insights.
- Retargeting — Because B2B conversions are longer, there are more opportunities to retarget over months of modifications. Consider which stage of the sales funnel you will need to concentrate on (lead gen, lead nurturing, and proposal) and what nudge your potential might need to continue moving forward.
B2B Content Ideas
B2B content marketing is a great way to elevate your B2B strategy. The value that your content provides for your target audience is the main driving force in all you do. Learn more about best practices for B2B content marketing.
Unsure of the right content for your brand or business?
Use a few of the ideas below to help you develop a long-term marketing strategy that will increase brand awareness and sales. It is important to create dynamic, authentic content that reflects your brand and engages your audience.
- Blogs — These are the same blogs you’re reading right now. Consider posting weekly or monthly articles on topics that will benefit and interest the buyer persona. You can generate leads by sharing company updates, user trends, and technical how-tos.
- Podcasts According to Semrush’s estimates, in 2021, people will have spent 15 billion hours listening to podcasts. Use this platform to educate your audience about what you offer.
- Video Tutorials- Show, don’t tell. Create engaging video content that highlights what makes your brand stand out from others on the market instead of informing potential customers about your product’s effectiveness. Video tutorials that show the steps to take are a great way to anticipate client questions and improve user experience.
- Compare Products Video, Audio, or Text. Choose your preferred format, and compare your business with the competition. This will highlight your strengths. You’ve done all the research that your audience would need to do. Your potential buyers will be able to spend more time on the actual purchase if they have all the information in front of their eyes.