When it comes to devising spot-on B2B marketing strategies, it’s essential to have a well-thought-out and optimized strategy. One that goes beyond getting the word out and focuses on driving activity throughout the entire sales cycle. Having a strategic focus will provide more opportunities for success, lead to higher conversions rates, and ultimately more significant revenue.
In this post, we’ll cover 11 B2B marketing strategies that will help you do everything from building trusting relationships with your customers to providing the best service possible. On top of that, each of these strategies contains a few shining examples to help you apply them in your business.
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What are the Best B2B Marketing Strategies?
B2B is short for business-to-business, and these relationships are invaluable to our network as a whole. After all, they’re responsible for 1/3 of all commercial transactions in the United States — and make up 95% of all revenue generated by major industries like manufacturing.
But despite the scale of this relationship, it’s still easy to find yourself intimidated by them. After all, you’re not just competing with other businesses for contracts, but also with brands that want to keep their names in front of customers — and both are more thorough than you might think.
General Rules for B2B Marketing Strategies
B2B marketing strategies are one of the essential parts of building a successful company. Without creating a marketing plan in 2021, you will find yourself in a world of hurt when converting leads and retaining customers. A great B2B marketing strategies system is made up of the following:
1. Define your target market: this means to decide what type of company or person you are looking to reach and where they go for information.
2. Define your value proposition: this means deciding what your product does that other products do not and why people will buy from you instead of the competition.
3. Develop a list of the benefits: those things that differentiate you from the competition and make your product better than others on the market.
4. Identify the different methods to getting to those benefits: this means to come up with ideas of how you want to distribute your product to people.
5. Identify the different lead sources: these are people who can buy your product or service, and you need to decide how they will hear about it and what else is required to work with you.
6. Determine the different customer interactions: this is a list of items that will occur with customers as they use your product, during which you will want to make sure to educate them about your product.
7. Create your sales process: decide your goal for each interaction with a lead or customer and how you want to accomplish that goal.
8. Build your marketing mix: decide what will be done with the different methods you chose.
9. Build your channel strategy: decide which channels you will use to find and distribute your product.
10. Calculate your investment and ROI: determine the amount of money you are spending on each of your marketing activities and the return.
11. Identify new opportunities: this means to look at what markets you’ve not explored, what new products/services you might create, or even ways to expand into new countries.
Top 11 B2B Marketing Strategies
If you’re a small business owner, you’ve probably had some experience handling B2B interactions. However, while these interactions can be lucrative and beneficial to your business, they also pose their fair share of challenges. If you’re looking for ways to make them easier on yourself, we’ve compiled a list that will help!
B2B Strategy#1. Target Millennials
Millennials are the most sought-after B2B buyers, which means that you have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get them on your side. However, many business owners lose touch with this group because they don’t realize their importance.
As it turns out, millennials make up 44% of all American homeowners and 60% of all consumers. Additionally, 2/3 of the population use social media. That means they control the flow of information about your brand.
You see, millennials set the trend for how younger generations perceive your brand, so if you want to reap benefits in the future, you need to invest in them now.
B2B Strategy#2. B2B Referral Marketing
If you think about word-of-mouth advertising, you might think that it’s just for consumer goods. However, referral marketing plays a more significant role in your B2B marketing strategies than you may believe.
According to a survey by TrustRadius, 88% of people trust referrals more than they trust advertisements, and 92% of people expect more referrals from businesses in the future. That means that if you want to capture the attention of potential customers, you need to tap into this strategy right now.
B2B Strategy#3. B2B Website
Your website is one of the first impressions that potential customers will have of your business, so you need to make sure that you impress them. One of the best ways to do this is by creating a B2B website that accurately represents your brand and its goals.
After all, it’s not just important for building trust with potential clients — it’s also essential for getting them to invest in your business. When you make an effective B2B website, you increase customer satisfaction, improve lead generation, and boost your conversion rates.
B2B Strategy#4. B2B Lead Generation
As we mentioned previously, millennials are one of the essential groups for your B2B lead generation. After all, they’re more than twice as likely to buy your product compared to older generations — and will tell their friends about it.
However, sharing information with your friends is only part of the equation. It would be best if you put in the work to attract leads to your business. One of the best ways to do this is by creating a B2B lead generation strategy that provides your tips with real value.
B2B Strategy#5. B2B Content Strategy
While you might prefer focusing on the benefits of your product, people care about how they feel. Research indicates that 90% of purchasing decisions are made based on emotions and not facts.
That means that if you want to sell anything — B2B or not — you need to focus on your audience’s feelings. After all, there’s no better way to do this than by creating a content strategy that focuses on how your product makes them feel.
B2B Strategy#6. B2B Email Automation
In the last decade, we’ve become more reliant than ever on computers and online technology. That means it’s easier than ever for us to automate tasks and reduce the time it takes to complete them.
This automation technology has also improved over the years. For example, we’ve seen email automated so that they are more timely and engaging than ever. That means that you can use this to your advantage by automating your sales and marketing emails to increase response rates.
B2B Strategy#7. B2B Mobile App
If you’re a small business owner, you might not have a massive budget for paying for expensive software tools — which means that you need to find other ways to automate your work.
That’s where mobile apps come in. You don’t have to spend a fortune to create an effective app that will help you automate your business processes and make your life easier. You can usually get started with an app for free or for less than $100 per month.
Also read: Top 5 Smart Marketing Strategies For Small Businesses To Follow in 2021
B2B Strategy#8. B2B Outsourcing
Outsourcing is one of the most popular B2B marketing strategies globally — and it has been for a while now. Most big companies like Google, Apple, and Microsoft outsource tasks to individuals and small businesses.
However, outsourcing can be a tough sell for small business owners — especially when they don’t have the funds for it. You need to make everyone see how in-demand your services are through social media and word-of-mouth marketing.
B2B Strategy#9. B2B Social Media Marketing
As you now know, millennials are essential for your B2B lead generation. LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, and other platforms are filled with influencers. That means that you can convince them to use your product through social media marketing to boost engagement with your audience and increase conversions from potential customers. This is one of the most trending B2B marketing strategies.
B2B Strategy#10. B2B Data Analysis
David Ogilvy once said that every marketer knows “what they thought they knew until someone comes along and shows them what they didn’t know.” That’s precisely how large companies like Google and Facebook became so successful — but you can use the same strategy to your advantage.
After all, there is a lot of data available for free online. You need to go out there and grab it. To be more specific, you need to ensure that you’re collecting data from your customers about their shopping habits and needs and then use it to generate more leads and sell more products.
B2B Strategy#11. B2B Channel Marketing
Your customers have a broad range of demographics, so they’re not going to respond the same way that every other group does. For example, females are more receptive to social media marketing than males are.
However, you could use this to your advantage by creating unique marketing strategies for different demographics. For example, females will respond better to products that appeal to them — whereas males respond better to pictures of product comparisons.
Final Thoughts
Now you know what B2B marketing strategies are. There is always some room for you in the B2B marketing strategies mix, though. These best B2B marketing strategies will help you stand out.
Successful strategies are specific enough to provide direction without being too rigid but flexible enough to adjust as needed. Share your favorite B2B marketing strategies with us!