B2B Marketing

B2B marketing: Building on your company’s unique value proposition

Marketing to businesses requires appealing to a different set of sentiments than when marketing to consumers. The marketing activities must be tailored not only to each target audience, but also to every stage in the buying cycle.

Our Methodology

Market Research

The key to success: Thorough market & competitor analysis

Marketing Mix

Choosing the most effective marketing channels for reaching the campaign goals

Campaign Building

Precise targeting and emphasizing the unique value proposition (UVP)

Data Analysis

Advanced use of analytical tools promoting real time conclusions

Optimization

Constantly improving the campaign based on the lead quality

B2B marketing discipline: Understanding how to attract business leads

Unlike marketing to consumers, marketing to businesses requires a different toolset. When picking your B2B marketing agency, ensure it has:

Ability to design the right marketing mix to support each stage of the buying cycle
Understanding of defining and mapping your target audience
Capability of designing different messaging for each target audience
Knowledge of advanced B2B lead generation tools

Picking your agency is your first step. If you’d like to learn about what comes after, visit B2B lead generation and B2B inbound marketing.

B2B marketing: A discipline of its own

To be able to build an effective global marketing activity that results in B2B lead generation, we need to first understand the 5 key differences between B2B and B2C:

The B2B buying cycle is long, and can take months and even years, depending on the decision making process at the buyer’s organization. Sometimes this process requires an RFP and bidding process in which several vendors are evaluated, which makes the process even longer.
The products and services of a B2B company are complex, with varied pricing, and sometimes require a long implementation at the buyer’s organization.
B2B companies speak to a specific and targeted audience, which amplifies the importance of each potential customer
There is the notion that in B2B, personal connections are not that important. That is absolutely not true! In B2B, personal connections are immensely important to establish successful customer relationships.
In B2B, the marketing channels and message combination need to be refined so they are very precise. It must be absolutely clear what would make a business pick this product or service. In other words, what is the value proposition of what you are selling?

Picking the right B2B marketing mix

One of the roles of your marketing agency is to help you define the most effective way for B2B lead generation, by analyzing your product and studying your company.

A right marketing mix will tie between different parts of your marketing strategy:

Targeting: Bring quality traffic to generate quality leads
Channels mix: Find the right balance between different marketing channels to optimize results and reduce costs
Value proposition: Define the value proposition on which the entire marketing messaging is based upon
Measurement and optimization: Ongoing measurement and optimization for each of the components within your marketing mix

Audience targeting: Who is your potential customer?

The audience targeting process is essential to be able to effectively use your marketing strategy to generate sales. This is done through thorough analysis of the product, services, and the company.

During this process, these key questions are answered:

Which markets are right for the company, product, or service?
Which industries is the company targeting and why?
Who are the buyers and users of the product or services – which roles do they have in their organization?
What geographies is the company targeting and why?
What is the added value of the product or service offered? What is the differentiator between this product or service, and the competition?

Value proposition: The key message that drives to B2B lead generation

After mapping the target audience, it is time to create the marketing messages that are based on the product or service value proposition. After creating the basic message, we will modify it to fit each target audience.

For example, an innovative product that improves a company’s gasoline filling may interest the fleet operations manager because this product is safe, innovative, and saves time. The CFO of the company may also find this product interesting because of completely different reasons – it reduces operational costs and increases productivity. And so, the messaging will be developed to speak to different reasons and sentiments.

B2B marketing using online channels

Since there are so many differences between B2B and B2C, it is evident that there will also be differences between B2B and B2C marketing channels. The world of online marketing has become vast and specialized, and therefore it offers some specific channels that are ideal for B2B marketing: Social media networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube are major channels for B2B awareness and B2B lead generation. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Google Adwords are lead generation channels ideal for localization of marketing campaigns and adapting them to different regions and countries. Not to mention Linkedin, the Mecca of B2B marketing, serving many goals: Awareness, lead generation, and content distribution.

Why is online a perfect fit for B2B marketing?

You can easily find decision makers in specific industries and companies
Your marketing channels can work around the clock in the digital world
You can easily target your audience and then apply the right marketing mix
You can easily network with potential buyers
You can grow your professional network online much faster than any other way
You can create exposure and branding for your company, product or service with relatively lower costs

Devising the right B2B marketing strategy is a key to your sales success. Interested in how to use each channels? Contact us now!