Nowadays, B2B and B2C organizations use the same channels, yet, the approach to business promotion seems to be different. The main difference appears to be the audience, seriously affecting the marketers’ approach. What are the peculiarities, then?
Read on to know more about the B2B strategies, the channels to use for B2B services marketing, and get the tips that will make your operation more efficient.
What is B2B Marketing Strategies
B2B marketing strategies are the approaches used by the marketing actors to promote, market, and present their services and products to another business actor or group. It is the main point that differentiates the B2B method from B2C. When B2B marketers apply their methods, they reach decision-makers and promote content to interest them and persuade them to start a customer journey.
That way, the potential client is the whole organization that requires the services or products to achieve their business goals and solve issues. In the case of B2C operation, the customer uses it for personal use and deems it to satisfy individual needs.
That’s why any B2B marketing strategy requires a more significant focus on the expertise, value, and cost efficiency that will persuade a buyer that the presented solution is sustainable and preferable.
How to Promote B2B Business
Notably, the differences between B2B and B2C marketing affect the promotion of the business products. Though the channels are the same, marketers should focus on different things. They are to prove that their product supports problem-solving and can be effective in terms of ROI. Besides, it would help if you remembered that you represent the company you are expected to be a specialist and provide insights and advice.
That’s what you need to remember when you use different channels to promote B2B business. The most efficient channels used for the B2B services marketing are the following:
Social media
Social media channels are the best way to raise awareness about your products and engage with the leads. Yet, in terms of B2B marketing strategy, you should consider LinkedIn before other ones. Why? It is a network for professionals to communicate and share their experiences. Notably, around 30% of the decision-makers do research there before purchasing a product.
Moreover, LinkedIn has excellent targeting options, while its Sales Navigator feature allows looking for prospects with filters and insights in mind. Also, if you advance your network enough, you can use tools to gather info and use it for promotion on other channels. For example, you can extract corporate email addresses from the profiles or searches with the following extension: https://getprospect.com/linkedIn-email-finder-chrome-extension.
Email marketing
The particular method is cost-effective and widely used. Almost every business company has its corporate domain for email communication. Also, email marketing allows accompanying the leads during the whole customer journey, from raising awareness and first contact to the retention.
Notably, it is vital for B2B companies to have a healthy email list and helpful content. To get good deliverability, organizations use lead magnets, email verifiers, and contacts databases. On the other hand, the content depends on the content marketers and researchers, able to produce the best solutions to engage with customers and sell products.
Outreach
The particular B2B LinkedIn strategy works great as the one supporting your other activities. In particular, if you want to promote content or start a cooperation, you should use outreach. It allows building relationships with the prospects and helps them develop an interest in your product.
However, it is crucial to use the right communication techniques when approaching people. The good outreach B2B LinkedIn strategy should start with personalization and offer value. You can develop connections, promote ideas, approach influencers, and hire experts with it.
Targeted ads
The typical strategy for B2B business is concerned with targeted ads. It is essential for different stages of the customer journey. It can be used for attention attraction, product presentation, or engagement with the audience. However, marketing for b2b companies via this method can be expensive despite the idea that the response can be quicker compared to other methods.
SEO Link building
Lastly, another popular method among common b2b marketing strategies is link building. Quality link building allows you to distribute your content across different platforms and support the efforts of your SEO team.
It works great as the supporting operation aimed at getting a better ranking in Google. Moreover, the publication of the materials on the right platforms can attract traffic to your website.
B2B Marketing Tactics to Promote Business
As a result, any B2B marketing strategy contemplates using general marketing practice but focusing on the needs and pain points of the businesses. The business actors are more attentive to details and quality, meaning that you should consider these factors when promoting your business to them.
Focus on expertise
To start with, if you have chosen a LinkedIn B2B marketing strategy, you should consider developing an image of the thought leader or an expert. It may apply to any method you choose. Why? The more insights and value you produce, the more followers you will have. At some point, it will lead to the development of high credibility to you, meaning that people can trust you with acquiring a solution for their issues.
Importantly, when you operate on LinkedIn, you should fill all the sections in regard to your experience, education, and skills. It can lay the ground for subsequent actions. Besides, fostering cooperation with experts and writers, producing the content with insights, and sharing your advice are the ways to make your expertise visible and engage with prospects.
Educational content
What are the needs of B2B actors? The business issues. Thus, when you apply content marketing for B2B, focus on the pieces that provide insights. Such articles refer to success stories, real cases, guides, recommendations, or parts of research. Your prospects should learn new information after reading them. What is great, you can share them on social media and via email marketing to engage with the customers.
At the same time, you can create a series of webinars on specific subjects. For example, you can contact a specialist by outreach and invite them to hold a webinar. Such an event makes your brand more visible and bring you some subscribers. Lastly, you can use webinar materials for content generation or making lead magnets.
Integrate videos and infographics
Today, many marketers use videos in their marketing strategy for b2b. They should ensure that in times when the attention span of customers decreases, they would be able to get the attention and intrigue the leads.
In this regard, to produce good video marketing pieces, you may think of applying storytelling and outsource production. It means that you do not just offer the solution; you will be able to show your values, insert humor, be memorable and appeal with high-quality pictures. Moreover, people are more likely to watch a 1-minute video than a 5-minute read article.
At the same time, use infographics in your email marketing and social media. Firstly, it is a great way to present stats, figures, recommendations, or bullet points. Besides, you can share infographics with influencers or writers within your niche so that they share your information and produce backlinks.
Support customer journey
It does not matter which one of the B2B strategies you use; it should align with your goals and the customer journey of the prospect. Thus, make sure that the content you produce reflects the stage the prospects are at. For instance, if you want to interest leads, you should share solutions to the issues and guides (like lead magnets).
At the stage of prospects’ decision-making, you can focus on the products’ advantages and characteristics that differentiate them from other solutions and improve conversation rates. At the retention stage, you can re-engage with the customers by offering promos, discounts, tips, facts or reports. As a result, when starting a B2B marketing strategy, you should understand why you do specific actions and how it relates to the customer journey and sales cycle.
Use personalization when communicating
One of the B2B marketing tactics is using outreach for influencer marketing or collaboration with experts. In this regard, many things depend on how you approach people. That is why you should think of sending personalized messages to them. It usually includes adding their names and commenting on their works. Many B2C brands use software with personalization features to send emails in bulk. You can use it as well.
However, in the case of influencers or just B2B leads, you should consider designing a unique approach to every target. Why? It shows your attitude towards business and the preparedness to create a genuine connection. In the end, everybody loves attention, right?
Build relationships
Last but not least, B2B actors know things about marketing and business processes. They as well favor long-term and sustainable solutions. That’s why your ultimate goal, irrespective of the B2B marketing strategy, is to build relationships. Do not sell instantly.
Decision-makers apply logic and rationality when choosing an option to buy. Thus, interest them first, check their reactions, analyze their behavior and offer a product when they are ready or when they make the first move.
