12June 2023
B2B marketing is a powerful way to grow your business. The key is understanding how to attract and convert qualified leads.
B2B buyers are influenced by different drivers than consumers. They look for efficiency, long-term solutions and ROI value. They also typically need a more rigorous approval process. In order to capture these prospects, you need a robust strategy with effective content at each stage of the buyer journey.
1. Targeting
Businesses need to market their products and services to other businesses. Whether they sell copier paper, sales software, or cloud storage, B2B marketing strategies can help them generate buzz and convert leads.
Developing an effective strategy starts with assessing the market to identify potential opportunities for growth. This includes determining the competition, as well as identifying buyers who may be underserved.
Understanding your customers is critical to B2B marketing success. This means gathering firmographic and psychographic data on business buyers, including their roles, buying motivations, and pain points. It also involves establishing buyer personas to create relevant content for each group. This allows you to focus on specific accounts and deliver personalized marketing messages.
2. Content
In the same way that B2C marketers rely on munchable content to engage their audiences, B2B marketing relies on valuable, innovative, and useful information to generate leads and nurture them through the sales funnel.
This type of content can be found on a company website, in the form of blogs or landing pages, as well as other channels like social media, search engine optimization, and influencer marketing.
B2B buyers are focused on expertise and driven by logic, so content should be informative and engaging. Using humor, brief stories, and conversational writing styles can make it easier for them to read the content. Dry and boring content is more likely to be skimmed than read.
3. Social media
Social media refers to web-based communication platforms that facilitate personal and business networking. They can include blogging platforms, instant messaging, photo-sharing sites, virtual worlds and review platforms.
A strong social media marketing strategy can boost brand awareness and expand audience reach. It can also increase leads and sales.
Social platforms like TikTok can be a great way to generate organic traffic. The trick is finding the right influencers, whether they’re celebrities or subject matter experts.
Many employees have expressed interest in developing their own personal and professional social media accounts. University Communications and Marketing has developed guidelines for its faculty and staff to use when considering creating an account.
4. SEO
B2B marketing is about marketing to businesses and organizations, rather than individual consumers. As such, the strategies used are very different from those of business to consumer (B2C) marketing.
Conducting market research is crucial to understanding your target audience and their needs. This information can then be leveraged to create more human and personalized messaging.
Content marketing is another important aspect of B2B marketing. By regularly publishing educational content on their website and promoting it through social media and other channels, B2B businesses can establish themselves as subject matter experts. This can also help them attract organic search traffic. Additionally, blogging and hosting webinars are great ways to drive organic traffic to a company’s website.
5. Paid search
Paid search, also known as PPC advertising, allows you to show short, specific ads to people who are actively researching products and services that you offer. You only pay for clicks, and a lightning-fast auction system determines your placement – even if you’re not naturally ranking high for certain keywords with SEO efforts.
Companies that have customer-centric visions can see increased ROI with paid search campaigns. However, maximizing your ROI requires time and effort, as well as data-driven plans for improving engagement and lead quality. The best way to increase your ROI is through consistent marketing strategy, not individual tactics. This can only be done by embracing a customer-centric culture.
6. Referrals
Referrals from current customers are one of the most effective B2B growth tactics. They have higher customer lifetime value, faster buying cycles, and lower marketing and sales acquisition costs than other leads. This is why it’s important to identify high-potential referral sources by documenting their results, and systematically ask them for referrals.
Make sure to provide enticing incentives, like discounts or exclusive access to new features. And most importantly, ensure that it’s as easy for clients to share your business with their network. You can do this by providing them with pre-approved email scripts or templates. This step can be done either during your “confirming value” call or at some point down the line, once the relationship has been established.