We’ve all heard of marketing before, right? Most commonly we think of the ways that companies advertise their products to customers. However, the term marketing is actually very broad and can look quite different from company-to-company. Today, we’re going to look at a whole different side of marketing, business-to-business (B2B) marketing.
After reviewing the sections below, you should have a thorough understanding of:
What B2B Marketing is
The Differences between B2B and B2C Marketing
How to Create a Successful B2B Marketing Strategy
B2B Marketing Content Formats
Tips that Help you Stand Out from your Competition
What is B2B Marketing?
B2B marketing involves one business marketing its products/services to other businesses. Instead of selling to individual consumers (like in business-to-customer B2C), you are selling to a team of people. With more people involved in the purchasing decision, your marketing tactics must be concise and informative. So make sure you offer product education, explain the product’s value, and how you’ll solve their problems. It’s not that simple though, you’ll want to keep reading to learn how to be strategic in your marketing and how you can stand out from your competition.
To better understand how B2B might look, let’s consider a real life example:
Let’s say that you own a company that creates curriculum for online learning platforms. In this case you would be selling (and marketing) your products to a remote education organization–not directly to each student.
Like any smart business owner, you want to gain more brand exposure and have the chance to personally connect with potential clients. So, you decide to work with a B2B Podcast Partner. In this case, you would accomplish all your goals without worrying about any of the planning. You would network with ideal clients as a podcast guest on your show while building an audience that targets your customer niche.
B2C Versus B2B
B2C (Business-to-Customer) marketing individually targets consumers who are purchasing products/services for themselves (rather than an organization). B2C companies consider a customer's everyday individual needs, interests, and challenges. Customer buying patterns can often be spontaneous, rather than fact-based and waiting on an expected ROI (return on investment).
Just like B2C, B2B marketing aims to attract and convert leads into customers. Of course, the clientele is quite different, as they are selling to people who are making decisions on behalf of their company. The purchasing process is much more calculated, generally involving more people and time, as these stakeholders are considering their ROI. As a result, to target their audience, B2B marketing content is generally straightforward and informative.
Creating a Successful B2B Marketing Strategy:
It is important that you stand out from your competitors. Of course, technology has connectivity benefits, yet it opens customers up to a variety of buying options. So, if you want to attract customers, you need to be strategic and thoughtful in your approach.
We’ve compiled a few crucial steps that B2B companies should follow:
1. Create your Vision and Set your Goals.
You must forecast into the future. Think about what direction you want your company to take? What steps do you need to implement to get there?
Before you start posting content, you must outline your marketing goals. Once you determine what effect you want your marketing to have, it will become clear how to achieve this vision. This planning will ensure that all content aligns with the company’s direction.
2. Distinguish your Market and Customer Profile
Now you must do some research. You need to figure out which businesses could benefit from or may need your product. Consider things from their perspective–what do they value, what would they be thinking or feeling when they see your brand/product pitch?
3. Outline your Value Proposition Research your competition.
Compare your company to them. What makes you different? Focus on these differences in your messaging, give your customers a reason why they should value your products over others.
4. Identify B2B Marketing Tactics
So, you’ve identified your target audience; what comes next? Well, now you must determine how you’ll reach and engage with them. Consider their online patterns (e.g. social media networks), how their competitors communicate with them, and what types of industry events they attend.
- Make sure you check out the section below. We’ve identified popular and powerful platforms where you can market your product.
5. Put your Plan into Motion
Now that you have a vision and a targeted audience, you’re ready to put your plan into action. Be creative and thoughtful with your content! Offer relevant education about your brand and individual products.
Remember that everything you put out is a direct reflection of your company. Potential clients will judge you based on what they see, so keep it clean, sincere, and not too flashy.
6. Reflect and Improve
Practice makes perfect. Or it at least makes things better. Keep in mind–some content will receive more attention than others, not everything will be an immediate success. Do celebrate the wins, but also take the time to determine why they were successful. Don’t be pessimistic about your low-performing content. Instead, use this data as a learning curve, note what could be improved in the future.
Make sure you keep a close eye on the analytics. Take the time to understand and reflect on the engagement and conversion data.
Popular B2B Marketing Content Formats
Podcasts: Over the past decade, podcasting has grown significantly in popularity. Topics related to B2B marketing are regularly consumed by business owners and founders. If you’re looking to start your own profitable podcast but don’t know where to begin, you should consult with a B2B Podcast Agency (they’ll handle everything with the right strategy combining almost all the content formats for business growth).
Social Media: At this point, social media is used by nearly everyone. While some of us are merely scrolling through entertaining videos, business owners are using social media to conduct research. They are analyzing their buying options, determining which supplier fits their needs, and comparing between similar products. As a B2B marketer, you must create content that educates your audience. You should post a variety of content–videos and pictures, a combination of paid sponsorships and free posts.
Blogs: Regularly posting blogs will increase your website traffic–which is never a bad thing! Make sure that you are discussing topics that are related to your products/services and will be interesting for your target audience.
Videos: A picture may be worth 1000 words, but a video is worth even more. Watching a video often feels more personable and informative. Sometimes videos can be easier to watch, rather than reading something extensive. It’s smart to create various forms of content, you want to cater to everyone!
Emails: Email is a free way to gain exposure. Make sure that your message is sincere and personalized to your audience. But keep it to a minimum, no one loves receiving spam–less is more.
Customer Testimonials: When reputable companies have something positive to say about your company, you’ll gain the trust of others. Don’t underestimate the impact that word of mouth can have on your target audience. Post these testimonials on your website or social media, make sure your audience sees them!
B2B Marketing Tips
Before you go off and implement your own marketing strategy, we should set you up with a few tips.
1. Always Use Visuals
Engage your audience with some sort of visual (a photo, video, graph, etc.). B2B marketing depends on educating your audience, so why not use various mediums to get your point across. And seriously, no one loves reading endless paragraphs of writing, so break it up with a few photos, videos, audio tracks, or GIFs.
2. Build a Consistent Brand Image
The way you manage your brand image will impact how consumers perceive your company. In general, people trust and remain loyal to brands that are consistent and transparent.
Decide how you want consumers to perceive your brand, and continuously act in ways that will achieve that.
3. Solve your Customers’ Problems
Consider this an ongoing process. You must constantly prove your worth to customers. They must know what you are capable of and what value you can offer them. Express how your product will ease their operations and will remove all their frustrations.
4. Be Human
Be personable and sincere. Remember, you are communicating with real people. Though business purchases tend to be more rational, people are still driven and moved by personal statements. Your messages should speak to the individuals within a company, rather than the organization itself.
With AI on the rise, it's safe to say that you should avoid sounding overly robotic. Instead, pair logic with emotion.
Well, that’s it. That’s everything you need to know about B2B marketing.
Whether you’re planning to start your own B2B company, or if you are already working in the industry and are looking for inspiration and tips–this article outlines everything you need to be successful in your marketing.
Just as a final reminder:
Have a clear vision and strategy before you start releasing content
When you do start posting, don’t stick to one platform, you must use everything that
your audience uses.
- Make sure you offer product education in a way that expresses sincerity and aligns with your brand identity.
Let me know what you think. Which of these marketing tactics will you start using in your future content?
Written by: Emily Nyikos
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Jony Studios is a content marketing agency specializing in B2B podcasting and audiobook services. They have worked with many clients, from startups to larger organizations such as Penguin Random House, Amazon, University of Waterloo, Freakonomics Radio, and many others.
