How to Market to B2B Companies - 5 Things You May Not Have Thought of

However, the key driver you should always bear in mind is your audience.

Understanding your buyer persona and marketing to them correctly is fundamental and will make a bigger difference to your revenue and metrics than any product specification.

Targeted B2B marketing is all about differentiating your B2B branding from the competition, speaking to your customer base in a way they resonate with, and trying different approaches if your conversions aren't meeting expectations. 

Today we'll look at five areas of B2B marketing that you might not have considered and explain why they're well worth incorporating into your strategy.

1. Focus on Millennial Buyers

Countless B2B businesses rely on long-standing marketing tactics and don't realise that the changing demographic within the current workforce means they need to evolve.

Within the next three years, millennials will make up a whopping 75% of the workforce worldwide, with around three-quarters working in decision-making roles within product or purchase departments.

Adapting your B2B marketing efforts towards this growing proportion of buyers will ensure you aren't missing out or engaging with a waning audience who are passing the baton to the next generation.

So, what does great B2B marketing look like to a millennial?

Convenience

Younger adults have grown up with touchscreens, always-on connectivity and digital apps - they don't want to sit in a call queue or wait a few days for a response when they have a query. 

Use fast, efficient communication tools such as Live Chat to ensure you're on hand to provide advice or product information as and when they want it.

Remote Access

Those same buyers often work at least part of the time remotely or from home - it's far less common these days to have a procurement team that sits in the same office from nine to five! 

Advanced apps allow quick, easy mobile experiences, so your buyer can place an order, check on a delivery date or verify a product detail wherever they happen to be. 

Incorporating tools such as geofencing takes things one step further, where your app will tailor the information shown based on your buyer's location.

Social Media Engagement

Most B2B businesses have a LinkedIn page, but that's far from the level of personal, authentic engagement you can achieve with an active social media presence.

While you might not sell products directly through a social media page, you can use your profile to link with business partners, respond to buyer enquiries, establish yourself as an authority in your field, and drive traffic to your website.

2. Improve Automation With AI Technology

Automation software is found extensively throughout B2B marketing. It takes over those repetitive tasks, such as sending an instant acknowledgement of an order or notifying a buyer when a product is back in stock.

If you incorporate AI into the equation, you might be surprised at the results.

It mimics human interactions and intelligence, predicting buyer behaviours, making suggestions and capturing data-driven insights to inform your approach.

For example, you can use AI to improve the personalisation in your marketing communications or create prompts to contact a customer if they have visited the same page several times without enquiring. Think about how you can use AI on your B2B website to increase the number of touchpoints. 

3. Learn How to Market to B2B Companies Emotively

B2B marketers often subscribe to the myth that a B2B product has no emotional response attached to it - that is entirely false!

Sales professionals acknowledge that trust is a primary factor that encourages a buyer to complete a transaction. Think of emotion as a mechanism that helps translate your value proposition into a story your buyer wants to hear.

Buyers that remember your brand, associate it with positive feelings, and buy into your messaging are far more likely to choose you over any other competitor.

Yes, B2B communications tend to have a more professional tone. Still, a buyer needs to have a potentially greater emotional investment to make a purchase - the stakes are higher given the values involved and the potential impact on the company if they make a bad call.

Engaging with your buyers, understanding what matters most and building on those relationships can directly improve your conversion rates.

4. Publish Studies and Thought Leadership Content Based on Quantifiable Data

Thought leadership content and case studies are excellent ways to build credibility and express your expertise in the field, sharing valuable insights, forecasts, reports or analyses that a buyer will find useful.

Whether you choose to create a whitepaper exploring a potential idea, public conference decks or simple blog posts, you can establish your brand as the go-to resource for any relevant subject.

This type of content strategy is a long game but one that can pay dividends.

Using precise data and facts is important since you need to separate opinion from actuality and ensure your buyer knows that when you deliver a statistic, it is reliably accurate.

5. Trial Established B2C Strategies

We often talk about the huge differences between the worlds of B2C and B2B, and that remains correct.

However, knowing how to market to B2B companies is also about leveraging those existing techniques that have proven to be successful and can be adapted to fit the needs of a B2B company.

For example, building social proof by publishing testimonials or working with industry influencers (with an established reputation) can work wonders for brand awareness.

Video marketing, often used by B2C marketers, is an excellent way to break down a technical explainer into a user-friendly, accessible video, which is more digestible for a busy buyer to work through.

Although some B2C marketing strategies aren't relevant to a B2B brand, it helps to be open-minded, learn from past experiences, and adjust tactics to fit your products, services, marketing channels and brand.

By testing opportunities and evaluating the response, you can quickly fine-tune your B2B marketing to integrate those approaches that work and discard the ones that don't. 

It’s so important to be forward-thinking when it comes to your B2B marketing strategy. If you’re looking for a B2B marketing agency to take your lead generation or sales to the next level, get in touch with Tiga Today.