Internet has changed the way people purchase products, and marketing has had to follow suit. In a world where information and options are at people’s fingertips, they are no longer responding to the traditional marketing methods such as cold calling, direct emails, etc. We’ve all done it, the moment we get an email that is trying to sell us something, we directly send it to the SPAM folder without a second glace.
This has resulted in marketers scrambling for new and innovating B2B marketing strategies that can help them boost their sales. Internet has made the job of a marketer both easy and difficult. It has made it easy by opening up a two-way channel where companies can now directly talk to their clients and get feedback and opinions, but also harder because 10 other companies are now doing exactly that.
According to a Corporate Executive Board study, B2B buyers have already made it through 57% of their buyer journey before they even contact their first seller. And now, marketers have got to figure out how to place themselves into that first 57% of the buyer journey.
Now, with a mix match of different marketing techniques, there is a lot of confusion as to which tactics companies should go for and which ones are worth trying. In this article, we’ve listed different tactics that are easy and useful to help improve your B2B Marketing Strategy. We suggest that you do not simply select one of these tactics, but instead try to integrate a few.
Test out the different B2B Marketing Strategy tactics and see which ones work the best for your business.
1. Website
In today’s world, for a company to have a website is crucial. It directly impacts a company’s trust factor. Websites are no longer an expensive commodity, especially with WordPress and other drag-and-drop website building services that are available online. This is why having a website has become extremely important. It shows exactly what a company believes in and is the gateway between the company and the customers.
According to research, 80% of clients look for a company’s website when looking for service providers. A website is the first step to building any marketing strategy. A good, clean and informative website can help clients in finding exactly what they are looking for even before they start discussions and negotiations.
2. Online Community
Building an online community where your clients and potential clients can share information or ask questions is a great thing. Learn where your customers are – LinkedIn, Quora, Facebook, etc. Once you’ve figured that out, get involved and start interacting with them.
You can also build your own online forum where people are free to come and discuss or ask about questions related to your brand or your products. It will help you build a trusted database of information that potential customers can also tap into in the future.
3. Niche Targeting
When working within a vast field, it is often easy to lose sight of what matters. Niche marketing or targeting a specific sector can help reduce your marketing efforts by fourfold. It is also easier to become an expert and an undisputable leader in your field. Niche targeting can also help distinguish you from your competition.
4. Buyer Persona
Before you can start selling your products, you must first understand who you are selling it to. In this scenario, it is often best to actually do some research on your buyers – who they are, what they like, what they are looking for in a product, etc. These are known as building buyer personas.
In her book, “The Buyer Persona Manifesto”, Adele Revella defines buyer personas as, “an archetype, a composite picture of the real people who buy, or might buy, products like the ones you sell.”
An important thing to remember when it comes to building buyer personas are that they are not necessarily your customers. These personas can also help you understand the difference between who you THINK the customer is verses who the customer REALLY is.
5. Collect Feedback
A lot of companies make this mistake – they often keep making and selling products without considering any input from their customers or potential buyers. Understanding your customer’s wants and needs is a great way to actually learn exactly what products do your customers need and are willing to buy.
One way to do that is feedback, a lot of it. During the research stage, you should ask for your customers to give you feedback regarding your product, services, website, everything. This will help you understand what they liked, what they didn’t, how easy it was for them to find something, and so on. Listening to your clients is one the easiest ways to be the best in the business.
6. Mobile Marketing
Google has already made a huge deal about mobile and the rest of the world is following on its heels as well. According to a study, on average people consume 69% of media on their phones. Mobiles and smartphones are no longer ignorable, they have become potent devices for marketing. Mobiles have already become more common than desktops and almost all other devices and this is why mobile marketing is extremely important.
This is even more important for big time CEOs and Heads that are always busy and work a lot on the go using phones and tablets. This is why having a mobile-friendly website and using apps and other mobile marketing targets is extremely important. Keep an eye on your website, content and apps to ensure that audience is getting the best possible mobile experience.
7. Social Media
While social media has become common in a lot of circles, there are still so many companies and segments that are still not utilizing the power of social media for their business. Studies show that over 60% of buyers commonly check out new service providers on social media before purchasing from them.
Social media can be a powerful tool when it comes to marketing, it can easily help improve your business’ reputation, content, and expertise. Additionally it also helps people connect with valuable contacts and influencers to help make their business more successful.
8. Personal Branding
In addition to company branding, personal branding has become just as important. It helps in pushing the brand as well as the individual forward. Think of Elon Musk, he’s known as an individual as well as the founder of Tesla Motors. He’s become just as popular as his company, sometimes even more.
Previously, executives were more focused on company branding, but now people are more willing to trust company executives that take on roles as influencers or experts in their field, rather than the ones who are unknown.
9. Cross-selling & Up-selling
Cross-selling and up-selling are two tried and true marketing techniques that have been in the business since the beginning. These two allow you to push more products or better products to your clients.
Cross-selling – Cross-selling is a marketing technique that allows you to sell more products that may be related to their purchase. For example, a person buying a Laptop might be asked if they were interested in purchasing in another laptop or a TV or even a desktop. This allows companies to showcase more of their products to the customers.
Up-selling – Up-selling is when you try to sell an upgraded version of the product. For example, a person buying a laptop would be offered the option to upgrade to a bigger screen or a better memory. This allows companies to add on more products and increase the cost of each sale.
10. Referral Programs
Referral programs are a great way to get the word around and it doesn’t even come at a great cost. Offering a small discount or a cash back or even a gift to anyone who refers your products or company to another client can definitely help boost your sales. A lot of people are often looking for discounts on purchases, especially anyone who is looking to make large purchases from the same seller.
Google Tez, now Google Pay definitely made a name for itself using its Referral Program. Google offered a certain cash amount to the referrer as well as the referee for downloading the app and using it. However, it didn’t stop there – they also offered cash and gifts for anyone who made transactions using the app.
11. Marketing Automation
Marketing is a long and tedious process, it not a simple click and submit and finish type of tasks. It requires constant teams spending hours trying to push your products as well as maintain your company’s reputation across the internet. This is where marketing automation tools help!
Marketing automation allows you to assign more repetitive tasks to the tool, freeing up time for working on more creative projects. These tools can take over repetitive tasks such as emails, creating and maintaining databases, etc. It also brings all your online marketing channels into one centralized system for easier management and analysis. It can definitely help streamline the process of repetitive marketing tasks.
Marketing is not a sure science, it is often a hit-and-miss, where what works for one company might not be successful for another one. Building marketing strategies for B2B is even more difficult. It is no longer on a small scale, purchases and money transactions are larger. This is why it is important to put more effort into your B2B marketing strategy.
In this article, we’ve offered a list of 11 different tactics that you can definitely integrate into your marketing strategy to help boost your sales and market presence.
