B2B Marketing Strategies

Updated May 2018

A B2B (Business to Business) company requires a very different marketing strategy compared to a B2C (Business to Consumer) focused company. B2B is generally not aiming for getting “feet in the door” so-to-speak, but rather looks more towards acquiring quality clientele to develop relationships with. Here are a few helpful marketing strategies to pay attention to when figuring out how to communicate with your most profitable audience.

Define Your Ideal Demographic

If you’ve been in business for a minute, you probably have an idea of who your ideal target demographic is. Take the time to create personas for these ideal customers – down to age, income, a name, and even a face. This will help you put yourself into their shoes and make decisions that are more in tune with them.

Ask for Customer Feedback

Find out what exactly your current customers really think about you, your services or products. This can be a gold mine for quickly figuring out what you’re doing wrong, or what may potentially be turning new customers away. Send surveys out to your best, worst, and one-time customers, and tailor the questions to help glean the most valuable insights.

Enhance Your Sales Funnel

A B2B sales process is often more lengthy than a B2C because of the corporate sign-offs required, budget approval, and extra education required to see the benefit of your product or service. Some ways to move this process along include:

• Writing educational content for your website, explaining your products/services
  
• Engaging (and not selling to) your key demographic on social media – Facebook and LinkedIn mainly
  
• Offering webinars that give more value than a sales pitch

Develop a Video

Brand videos, especially featuring higher-ups in the company, help educate your potential customers, and aid in early trust-building for your brand over your competitors. Include your unique factor you offer compared to the industry standard, and how your potential client will benefit.

Breakdown Goals into Milestones

While it’s necessary to create goals, for marketing or running the business in general, it’s often difficult to see exactly how to reach those goals without breaking them down into smaller steps. Follow through with this simple process and make these known to everyone in the company to ensure your business’s success!

Next Steps: Digital Strategy

Your digital strategy is composed of many elements which all work together to increase your rankings on search engines, and ultimately boost your bottom line.

Your website should be the basis of your marketing strategy and must be supported by correct & strategic SEO, and quality/useful content. Learn more about the various elements of SEO.

The next element which can be your greatest asset next to the website is your email list. Implement an email sign up on the site, and create a compelling reason to get website visitors to sign up – free how-to guide, free quality content no one else has, a download for something specific that only someone who would be your best client would download, etc.

The website then should be supported by various external assets. This will include local and niche directories, Google My Business, relationships with complementary businesses that can link to your website from their’s (and vice versa), and social media profiles, which will likely be Facebook and LinkedIn. If you have very visual content, it might be worth it to try Instagram or Pinterest, but those generally work best for B2C.

Get your business featured on a major news website, whether that be local or bigger if you have the connections. While these don’t necessarily have the effect they used to with print, as there is much more content cycling through websites, it can still give you a boost. The backlinks are worth a lot though, especially if it’s a reputable brand.

All of these elements then need to be supported by a paid ad strategy. Without this, it won’t be nearly as effective and your efforts won’t seem worthwhile. Utilize Google AdWords text ads, display if you have product photos or videos, and Facebook ads if again, you have eye-catching visuals.

Improve your corporate marketing strategy today. K-Kom has a vast portfolio as a B2B marketing agency, so feel free to contact us and we’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have.

 

Read Huffington Post’s article for more details on B2B marketing strategies.