Marketing is one of the core elements of every business. The success of marketing decides the continuity of a business. If your marketing campaign fails, the life of your business is brought down by a certain extent. It is a game of win or die, in which smart strategies win and carelessly formed strategies surrender the business to its competitors. Once you find the right strategies for your business, execution and evaluation can be easily accomplished. One of the important branches of marketing is Business to Business marketing which aims to sell its products to other businesses.
Handling other businesses is more complex and tougher than handling end-users. It takes quite some time to start reaping the results of a marketing plan. However by the time you realize that your plan is not effective, it would have caused some serious damage to your business. Therefore, you will have to be extremely careful while laying out marketing plans. I have shared below some of the B2B marketing ideas my business friends found to be rewarding.
Find the Right Mix:
B2B marketing includes marketing through email, website, and social media. Every business needs a different mix of these three elements. Social media marketing has become viral these days and the attractiveness of social media has made businesses think that it is the only thing they need to focus on. However, it is not true. Your social media presence is only a way to be where your customers are. There are other things like website optimization, email communication, and so on, to be focused on, too. A business should neither depend too much on nor stay away from social media, in order to be successful.
Lead Nurturing:
Once you execute your strategies, the next step is to generate leads. You are now dealing with other businesses, not individuals. Therefore, you will have to follow an entirely different approach. Businesses are not easily convinced to buy your products. They have different sources of information and a small dissatisfaction will make them find another vendor. If a business clicks on your ads or responds to your promotion mails, maintain light communication in the beginning and gradually send them informative mails about your products. This will prevent your mails from going directly to the trash folder. A properly nurtured lead will convert into a sales transaction.
Emphasis on Quality:
Your lead validating process has filtered prospective buyers and you are designing the e-brochure or by whatever name you call it, to send them. What are you trying to tell them? You will probably include the list of products and their prices, the features, the amount of money they can save if they transact with you, and how much you value the business. These are all important pieces of information to be included but the most important information to be included is what difference your product or service makes. All businesses tell them why their products are superior and if you tell them how you make them superior, you’re doubling the chances of them effecting a transaction with you.
Follow the three Cs:
The three Cs are Categorize, Customize, and Cater. You can’t follow the same tone of communication for all your business customers. You need to categorize the leads based on different criteria (it differs from business to business) and craft different plans to make them your customers. The next step is to customize the promotional materials you will send to different categories of customers. Making a single design, with all the information about your business is the way to destruction. Design different promotional materials for each category of potential customers and send them out with personalized information and messages. Let them know that your business is flexible enough to meet their needs and cater to their small unique needs and changes they expect from you.
Share You Joys:
Sharing your successes with them is the way to make them feel that they are part of your business. As they wouldn’t be your competitors, they would be happy for you. Include them in the newsletters on business achievements and thank them in the mail. Thank them explicitly whenever necessary to make them understand that they are your valuable customers.
My job is all done, and yours starts now. Employ these strategies and achieve new heights!
