The best B2B marketing campaigns understand their audience.
Is your current strategy designed for a business-to-consumer base?
This problem is a common mistake in DIY marketing.
While there are similarities, B2B (business-to-business) customers approach buying differently than regular consumers.
One of the biggest differences is time. B2B customers generally take less time to find a product. Plus, they’re purchasing a product for work, not personal use.
B2B consumers expect technical specifications, while B2C consumers look for benefits. For example, a B2B buyer for a vitamin company would look at manufacturing, ingredients, and wholesale info. A B2C consumer would look for the benefits of the vitamin.
Learn more about various types of marketing for B2B customers.
Information-Driven Marketing
Consumers, whether they’re B2B or B2C, are more empowered than ever to find information on their own. Thus, inbound marketing is now a staple of all marketing plans. However, B2B customers have always been familiar with inbound approaches.
Historically, B2B customers rely on information-heavy materials, like reports, spec catalogs, lab analysis, trends, and other data-rich sources. The biggest change is content delivery.
Before, a B2B customer may receive a catalog in the mail or seek out data from a research company. Now, these consumers have digital channels, from email to websites.
If you really want to appeal to B2B customers, you should include a product catalog PDF on your site. This method is an excellent way of growing your email list too. All you have to do is request that B2B customers provide their email in exchange for the latest product catalog.
You can use the above method to build your list with the following B2B marketing materials:
- industry trend reports
- peer-reviewed research papers
- technical product videos
- data analysis
Remember to brand your technical marketing materials with your company’s logo, colors, and imagery. Settle on a consistent font style too.
A full service creative advertising agency can help infuse branding into your marketing vision.
How the Best B2B Marketing Campaigns Use Social Media
This next part is a struggle for many new B2B marketers. B2B marketers don’t use (nor rely) on social media in the same way as B2C consumers. However, there are notable exceptions when it comes to visual-based sites like Instagram and YouTube.
Remember, your audience is looking for technical specifics and data. Uploading research reports on Whitepaper sites is an excellent idea, especially if you work in science and tech spaces. Facebook is another good idea if you want to get general information out there.
Create a Google business listing for your company. This free strategy will land you at the top of Google for your company’s keyword.
You’ll get a large knowledge card with the following:
- company and product photos
- hours of operation
- contact information
- customer reviews
- company description
You can also integrate “click to call” buttons to make it easier for busy B2B customers.
LinkedIn also makes it easier for B2B buyers to connect with your company to form vendor relationships.
Take an Effective Marketing Approach to B2B
It’s time to center the B2B mindset in your marketing plan.
Consider the role of technical information, email lists, and professional social media networks in the best B2B marketing campaigns.
Take an information-first approach by following as many blogs as possible. Bookmark our site to stay updated on the most relevant topics in your niche.
