22July 2023
Business to business marketing involves businesses promoting products and services to other businesses. This can include anything from sales software to cloud storage solutions.
The key to success in B2B marketing is understanding your audience. Keeping tabs on competitors and their strategies is important as well. Then you can evolve your strategies to stand out.
Marketing Strategies
B2B marketing strategies are tactics that help businesses market their products and services to other businesses. Many of these strategies are similar to those used in business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing, but some are unique to the business to business model.
A successful b2b marketing strategy starts with assessing your market and understanding how competitors operate in it. You should also determine what your customers’ pain points are and how you solve them with your product. This information will guide your positioning and messaging.
At the top of your marketing funnel, you can employ tactics like social media campaigns or content marketing to make other businesses aware of your company. These include thought leadership blog posts written by your executives to communicate big ideas or by your product marketing team to explain new features.
The middle tier of your marketing funnel includes sales events and lead nurturing using automated email to support leads through the buying process. You can also use this stage to demonstrate the value of your solution by hosting webinars or providing demos.
Lead Generation
One of the most important goals for B2B marketers is to generate quality leads. There are many techniques for doing this, including using lead magnets (content like eBooks and checklists offered in exchange for contact information), creating a Facebook presence and networking with potential customers on LinkedIn.
Another method is to create a quiz on your website that requires visitors to provide their contact information in order to access it. This is a great way to attract qualified leads, as it allows you to collect specific data like industry and job title that can be used for lead nurturing.
Another way to generate leads is to interview successful business people and turn their insights into podcasts, eBooks or articles. This content will not only attract new customers, but also help to raise your company’s profile and build credibility in the marketplace. Sales-qualified leads (also known as SQLs) are those who have progressed through the marketing funnel and are ready to engage with a sales representative.
Brand Exposure
Brand exposure strategies for B2B marketing focus on highlighting the company’s value and mission in ways that set it apart from its competitors. In order to make this happen, marketers must understand their buyers and deliver messaging that aligns with what matters most to each one of them.
A great place to start this process is by agreeing on a clear and consistent brand persona, including values and tone of voice. This information can then be used by the entire organization to develop more personalized messages for each buyer type.
Additionally, utilizing content marketing is another key way to boost brand exposure. Whether in the form of blogs, case studies, white papers, or videos, this core inbound marketing tactic is a smart way to attract and engage potential buyers online. It also helps to include visual content like infographics and high-quality photos in your campaigns, as these types of assets encourage engagement from your audience.
Measuring Results
For B2B marketers, the goal is to drive sales revenue through marketing initiatives. Fortella reports that 82% of marketers plan to prioritize enhancing their ability to measure and report on marketing outcomes, with a clear focus on revenue metrics such as monthly recurring revenue (MRR) by campaign.
An MQL is a potential business customer who has shown interest in your product or service through your marketing channels and generally fits your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). It is important to qualify these leads before handing them over to the sales team for follow-up.
Effectively measuring marketing ROI shows how your efforts are contributing to business revenue and can help you identify your top performing channels. This is what CEOs want to see when they hold their marketing teams accountable for meeting or exceeding their goals. Then, you can confidently invest in marketing campaigns that are likely to yield the highest returns. The results will speak for themselves.