A B2B business model is one under which business trade services and products with other businesses. These companies don’t sell directly to customers. As such, their digital marketing strategies too need to be separate from the common advertising and eMarketing trends we normally see. This is where niche content marketing and B2B digital marketing services come very heavily into play. Lead generation is the primary outcome of this effort, and upto 78% of B2B companies use lead conversion as their performance metric (CMI). Marketing to businesses is not quite the same as marketing to consumers. Which is why B2B marketing is an entirely new field created for helping businesses grow each other.
What is B2B Marketing
B2B marketing refers to a content and marketing strategy that is aimed at other businesses or organizations. The purpose of this is to make your brand name and service value familiar to other businesses, and then convert them to become your customers. B2B companies generally deal in purchases that are significantly large in scale. And for that, the whole decision-making and buying cycle requires more time as compared to a B2C marketing model.
A B2C model deals directly with customers. It addresses the needs and interests of individual consumers who are making purchases for themselves. They require a marketing model that caters much more to their personal preference as well. Here are some significant differences between B2B marketing and B2C marketing.
- Goals – B2B companies generally look to make long-term commitments with their clients, that will result in more contracts and a longer sales cycle. B2C companies are much more interested in quicker purchases, although the goals may vary from company to company.
- Target Audiences – B2B companies target organizations, enterprises, institutions, wholesalers, etc. Essentially, large business bodies. On the other hand, B2C marketing targets individual consumers that are looking to have their immediate needs met.
- Purchase Purpose – B2B clients are generally looking for an outcome of better ROI and efficiency. On the other hand B2C customers tend to be looking for deals and leisure items, either for entertainment or some other purpose.
Best B2B Marketing Strategies
B2B businesses tend to have niche target audiences. As such B2B marketers need specific digital marketing strategies that might make potential buyers convert. To do that, they must first be aware of their target audience, and their awareness of their problems. They also need to analyze how far their brand can help their clients, and whether there will be any cost-benefit or not. These are the primary touchpoints in a buyer’s journey that every B2B marketing strategy must pass. Let us look at some B2B digital marketing strategies that are bound to be helpful in the coming years.
- Identify your Target Audience
You must first find your target audience, or the people that are really looking to purchase the products or services that your brand has to offer. This means you must create a buyer persona for your brand, which will include research of target demographics, their likes and dislikes, and how they make their purchase decisions.
- User-friendly Website
Today, the online experience that a business provides to its buyers can be a very big factor in its success. Nearly 81% of buyers generally visit a website for research before making a purchase (Adweek). That makes it very important to have a modern, well-optimized, and user-friendly website for your brand. You would want your buyers to be able to get all necessary information regarding your products and services from this website.
Your website should check certain parameters too if it is to be successful. Your brand’s vision and philosophies should be immediately apparent through it. The landing pages need to be full of informative keywords, and actually solve queries that visitors may have. It should have a call-to-action that can guide the users through the full buying process. The website must also be mobile-friendly.
- SEO and Written Content
Written content is how you can keep potential buyers updated on the latest developments in your field. It can be used to provide them all the information they might need on their services. And it can also be used to promote the services you offer. Quality written content increases the reliability of your brand.
On-page and off-page SEO can help drive organic traffic to your site by helping it rank better on search engines. On-page SEO involves writing optimized title tags, meta descriptions, and internal linking. Off-page SEO involves promoting yourself outside your own website. A popular form of this is link-building by writing guest posts on other websites and blogs.
- Social Media Marketing
Upto 95% of B2B marketers use social media content in some form (CMI). This makes it the most popular and widely-used form of content marketing in 2022. Social media is a very powerful tool that can help you build brand awareness, and gives your company an extended online presence. It is a great tool to share your content and brand expertise. It is also worthwhile to note that nearly 60% of B2B buyers look up social media conversations as part of the research before making purchases (elevationmarketing).
- Smart Email Marketing
Email marketing is a tried and tested method of reaching not just individual customers, but businesses as well. Upto 93% of B2B marketers make use of email marketing. And 87% of them say that email is their top free organic distribution channel (HubSpot). However, it is also important to send out these emails smartly so that they stand out even in a flooded inbox. This involves using enticing subject lines, sticking to a single call-to-action per email, and segmenting them to reach their most relevant audiences.
Conclusion
Unless you keep your target audience in mind, your marketing isn’t going to be effective. Very few other audiences are as critical, fickle, and temperamental as business customers. However, B2B marketing has a long cycle, and can impact business growth significantly when implemented well. With these strategies, you too should have no trouble implementing your own marketing plan.