We know that getting effective B2B marketing strategies right is tricky. People make huge mistakes which often make them lose money. Guess what? You won’t be making any of them after reading the best B2B marketing strategies we’ve brought to you.
Before moving further, let us explain what is B2B marketing. B2B or business-to-business marketing is businesses promoting their products to other companies. Here are a few examples:
- Apple promoting their phones to Walmart.
- A farm promoting their vegetables to Subway.
- GPA (a leather manufacturer) promoting their leather to Gucci.
In B2B marketing, you wouldn’t have hundreds of thousands of customers. But since they buy in bulk, turnover will be huge. Read further and use this guide to B2B marketing to grow your business.
Things NOT To Do In B2B Marketing
B2B marketing trends have evolved in past years. The customers can gain more information now. So as a business selling to business, your strategies must follow new trends. Remember, old is not gold when it comes to marketing.
Dealing With Rejection Wrongly
The number one mistake salespeople might commit is wrong answers to rejection. If a client says, “I’m not interested.” do not go in asking them for a reason. If you ask why to them, it might seem like an argument. It does to some people. What you can ask instead of that is, “I understand. May I ask you a question? Next time you’re searching for a ‘your product,’ can I be the first person you come to?” Then don’t send them emails daily. Once or twice in a while is enough.
Sending Bulk E-mails
Another mistake people make is sending bulk e-mails. You have to understand that in B2B marketing, you have a close relationship with the clients. They know you personally. Use that close relationship while promoting your product.
Not Making It About Your Client
Many people might approach a client, telling them their company’s history. It might be a little hurtful that the client doesn’t want to know about all the efforts you made, but it is what it is. What your company does is important but only in relevant places.
Here’s what you can do instead. Tell the client the benefits they will get. Why and How would your business make their life easier? And how will your business bring more customers to them? Business owners are always in search of something better than what they have. If your company benefits them more than the supplier they’re already in business with, congratulations! You’re going to get a new client.
Treating B2B Marketing As Advertising
B2B marketing is way different from advertising. Know the differences. Here’s a weird fact about marketing: you do it to sell your products or services. But if you’re too sales-y you lose potential customers.
A client wants to buy, but the moment they feel like they’re being sold to, they’ll be pushed away.
Targeting The Wrong Audience
Targeting the wrong audience can result in a loss of money. Understand that not everybody will like or want to buy your product. Identify your target audience. Then market to them, not advertise.
Here are a few tips which can help you identify your target audience.
1. Create a client profile. Note down what people would like to buy your products. You can involve some characteristics as well. Age, business location, gender, and income level play a major role.
2. Research your market. Conduct surveys, interviews, and go to groups of people that fit your client profile with your questions.
3. Look at the products or services you’re offering. Identify which product features may encourage and discourage potential customers from buying from you.
4. Look into your competitors and learn from them to compete against them. This can save you a lot of work. Analyze which of their strategies are attractive and how you can implement those. Explore the pain points of their clients. That way, you can introduce your products or services to your target audience as an easy solution to their problems. Problem-solving is a hectic task. One way to earn clients is by solving their problems.
B2B Marketing Strategies You Need To Implement Now
We’re going to give you the best inside B2B marketing strategies we have.
1. Run Facebook Ads
If you’re thinking, “what’s new about that?” you’re right. It’s the era of technology, and there’s nothing new about running Facebook ads. We’re not telling you to run Facebook ads. We’re here teaching you how to do it right.
In 2022 Facebook ads cost $5 to $6 CPM (cost per thousand impressions) on average. Run Facebook ads right now! Before they go up to $20-$30 CPM. If you don’t have enough information, research. Know everything yourself. Knowledge is just a few Google searches away.
Facebook allows you to target people very specifically. You can even target people based on age, location, gender, job titles, etc. You need to go after the employees of the company you’re targeting.
We’re not done here. You need to know who in that company needs to see your ad. Start your ad’s content targeting them. No, we don’t mean their name. Highlight their position in the company. For example: “Does your CTO know…?” or “Every CIO must know …”
Not only will that person stop and look at your picture or video, but many people will also be forwarding that to them. That is how you get your word to a company through Facebook ads. This strategy is not only limited to Facebook. Step up your game and run ads like this on other platforms, such as Linkedin or Instagram.
If you don’t have a website, your business needs it. After looking at your ad, the first thing interested people might want to do is to go to your website to know more. Don’t worry about the cost of it. Strikingly won’t charge you for a website. Don’t have any coding experience? No problem. Strikingly offers modifiable templates drag-and-drop features.
Over 12 million Strikingly users are growing their business from websites they built using our platform.
Image taken from Strikingly user’s website
Don’t believe us? Hear it from our users.
Image taken from Strikingly website
With Strikingly you can build and publish your website in just a matter of 15 to 20 minutes.
Image taken from Strikingly website
2. Run a Super Bowl Commercial
According to the CEO of VaynerMedia Gary Vaynerchuk, one of the best B2B marketing strategies is running a super bowl commercial.
Running a super bowl commercial might sound insanely expensive. If your company can afford it and you can get it right, only then go for it. A 30-sec commercial will get you the attention of over 112.3 million people. After that, it’s your job to convert them. Research everything, and be creative. Researching is the key. Because there are a million ways, an advertisement can be messed up. We’re sure no company would be okay with losing over $6 million.
3. Build Your Brand
This B2B marketing strategy is great for your business's long-term growth. You can build your brand in over six months by providing your audience with valuable content. You can start a podcast or convey other valuable information to your potential clients through YouTube channels and other social media platforms.
If we’ve still not convinced you to apply this strategy, ask yourself a question. Would you buy shoes from Nike because a link taking you to their page or because they’re a huge brand?
4. Search Engine Optimization
Ask yourself if you want to buy a book or hire a book writer, where would you go? You probably thought of Google or any other search engine. Almost everyone does that nowadays as they’re aware that buying a service or product is just a few Google searches away.
As a B2B company, take advantage of this technology. Search for keywords related to your business. In the beginning, go for low-difficulty keywords. You can use paid tools such as Semrush or free tools such as Google trends.
Once you have the keywords, incorporate them into the content you provide to the audience through your website, YouTube channels, or other social media platforms. Remember, never use keywords that are searched frequently and can rank you but are not related to your content. That way, it won't benefit you even if you catch people’s attention. Because that would be targeting the wrong audience, and targeting the wrong audience doesn’t help in any way.
When implying strategies, remember that B2B marketing trends change over time, and if one strategy works now, it doesn’t mean it will in the next few years. Don’t wait for anything and apply B2B marketing strategies now before they lose the charm.
