If your ideal clients are other businesses, then learning how to market to them correctly is a must if you want your business to thrive. Without a good strategy, your company will struggle.
It’s important to realize that marketing to other businesses often involves a much longer sales cycle and more education, than selling to consumers. Knowing that ahead of time will help you craft a marketing strategy that will set you up for success.
Here are some business-to-business, or B2B, marketing strategies that should be considered as part of your overall marketing plan.
Create Content That Educates
Selling to businesses often means educating your customers before they buy. Whether you sell a product or service, it’s important to create content that provides value and helps potential customers understand the benefits of what you offer.
A great way to do this is through a blog. Having a blog for your business is an excellent way to educate your customers, but it can also give a voice to your brand, establish your business as an authority in your industry, and can help increase leads through website traffic.
Remember to keep your content focused on providing value and educating. No one wants to be sold to all the time. Creating educational articles that tie in the benefits of your product or service will go a long way to building trust.
For many business owners, creating good content can be difficult, especially for small businesses that don’t have the bandwidth to produce quality articles. That’s when it makes sense to hire a writing service to help produce content without tying up valuable resources.
Whether you decide to outsource or keep your content writing internal, make sure to include it as part of your overall B2B marketing strategy.
Become an Authority
Creating content through a blog is a great way to start establishing your business as an authority in your industry, but there are more ways to build authority that should be considered. Some of those ways include:
- Hosting meetups and workshops.
- Speaking at live events.
- Reaching out to local press for potential coverage.
All of these are great ways to quickly position your business as an authority and gain new leads. Hosting an event is a powerful way to become known in the community and bring people together.
Pitching a story idea for your business to the local news outlets can also be a quick way to gain attention and leads. Make sure and have an interesting angle for your pitch to increase your chances of getting featured. News outlets are always looking for great stories.
Speaking at industry events can be a fantastic way to grow your business, especially when marketing B2B. You are immediately an influencer and authority when you stand on stage in front of a group of people.
Take advantage of all the opportunities there are within your industry!
Join Industry Associations
There are many opportunities to market your business within industry organizations. Keep in mind you’ll want to join associations where your customers are also members.
For example, if your business does accounting for dentists, then you’ll want to not only join accounting associations, but you’ll also want to get involved in dental associations where you can learn more about your customer’s needs and have opportunities to network and market your business.
Association memberships can give you access to a large group of people with the same needs and problems that you can help solve through your products or services. Take advantage of this low-hanging fruit!
Attend Events
It’s one thing to join an association. It’s another to actually attend the events and engage with other members.
Sometimes that requires spending a little money and getting on a plane to go to an event in another state, but the payoff can be huge.
Attending events gives you an opportunity to meet other people doing interesting things, gain new inspiration and ideas, and learn about new things that are happening in the industry.
You certainly don’t need to attend every event but try and attend at least one or two a year.
Deliver the Best Service
The best and most important strategy you can implement in your B2B business is good customer service. From the pre-sale conversation to post-sale customer service, deliver the best possible service, and your referrals will grow.
Referral, or word-of-mouth business, is the best kind of business. Customers will refer your business if they have a good experience working with you. And that kind of marketing doesn’t cost you a thing.
It’s amazing how many businesses don’t understand the importance of this marketing strategy. Often, they don’t see it as a strategy at all, but it’s by far the most important.
Take care of your customers, and they will take care of you.
Experiment with Your Strategies
The best way to see what B2B marketing strategies will work best for your business is to try different ones and track the results. Once you know what is working well, put your resources into doing more of it.
If you want effective marketing ideas that speak to your audience, and you want a hassle-free way to regularly get your content in front of your customers, contact Business Marketing Engine to see how we can help you grow your business!