Want the specifics on B2B marketing? Read on for all the details. Time to get on board!
Consumer power is internally combustive. It’s a crazy, competitive world, and many entrepreneurs are steering away from the consumer sector and going after businesses as customers. Marketing to businesses, however, is radically different from marketing to individual customers.
One of the biggest differentiators between B2C marketing and B2B marketing is the purpose of the purchase. For consumers, the purchase decision is based upon emotion. Businesses, on the other hand, make their purchases based upon logic.
Businesses are on a constant quest to streamline the buying process and minimize the costs associated with that process. Often, this can mean less human intervention (ask a sales guy how hard it is to get an appointment with a decision-maker.) For this reason, marketing materials should be as informative as possible in order to ease the purchasing decision.
Here are a few great B2C strategies that can easily be implemented as B2B.
- Consumer marketing is all about educating consumers: with pictures, graphs, videos, etc. The same can be applied to business customers. Self-education functions as the preliminary step to making the sale.
- The buying process, in the case of a consumer product, is extremely simple. In B2B marketing, the simpler the process, the quicker the decision to sign the proposal. There are several secure options available online that businesses can implement in the purchase process.
- Freebies work. They work with consumers, and they work even better with businesses. Freebies develop loyalty and build up serious buzz. Free trials, free upgrades, free consultation sessions—all of these tactics establish credibility and get you one step closer to a signed proposal.
- Focus your marketing efforts upon the things that matter to businesses: efficiency, profitability, and cost-cutting.
Here are five global trends worth keeping an eye on:
- Online searches are now scrutinized by the quality and relevance of copy rather than over-the-top explanatory text. Carefully select keywords that make your business pop. You want these words to grab attention and create a memorable impact.
- The use of visuals definitely gets you more airtime with the attention span of your potential customers. Spark their attention and keep their interest with a story-based version of your business. There’s a reason why infographics are gaining popularity—they simplify the most complex concepts, and ease the overall purchase.
- The sales cycle is slowly changing. Customers have already made most of their decision to buy by the time they approach you or your sales team. Engaging with customers with a strong online presence works in your favor as a crucial sway factor. An up-to-the-minute website that provides all of the information required represents a considerable asset.
- Nobody can deny the power of mobile devices these days. Here’s a staggering figure: 25% of search inquiries are now performed on mobile devices (BIA/Kelsey whitepaper, April 2014). Optimizing web presence for mobile devices will give you that added advantage. Make sure to allocate sufficient time and resources to mobile access.
- Find out how long it takes your sales team to respond to an inquiry, and halve it. Once you’ve mastered that new time constraint, halve it again. Customers are now expecting instantaneous follow-up and support. Once you’ve exceeded the time they have set for you, you’ve lost them.
B2B Marketing may well be the next big thing. Be ready for it!
