“Know your audience!” It is one of the basic beliefs of marketing and an important key to success. It is also a principle that many marketers often forget. How else can you explain, My Little Pony commercials during football games and auto insurance spots during children’s programming? At the most extreme, not knowing your audience can devastate your brand (just ask the Coca-Cola executives responsible for New Coke in 1985); but, mistakes of that magnitude usually only occur once a generation. Most likely, not knowing your audience results in the wrong people seeing your marketing at the wrong time; basically, a waste of money, resources, and time. Failure to properly assess your target can come in many forms. Today, we are going to focus on the importance of Business-to-Business (B2B) and how it differs from Business-to-Consumer (B2C).
Marketing to a business is a very different experience than marketing to a consumer and requires a different approach in order to be successful. Here are just a few key differences between B2B and B2C marketing:
Market Size
Clearly, there are far more consumers than businesses. In B2C, your reach many to millions of potential customers while B2B market sizes are much smaller.
Different Buyer Mentality
Consumers will often buy things impulsively or because they want them and have the extra money. It is an emotional purchase. B2B sales are driven by what the business needs in order to accomplish their goals. Budgetary and accountability circumstances also come into play which makes them more of a rationale purchase.
More Repeat Customers
Because B2B business is based on needs rather than wants, there will be more repeat customers than in B2C sales. Businesses constantly need services and products to stay in business. They will go with who they know.
Customer Relationship
Once a B2C customer makes a purchase, the relationship completely disappears. Usually, a B2C customer will have a relationship with a brand (like Apple or Nintendo) as opposed to a personal relationship with the person who sold them the goods. Because of the higher costs, repeat business, and buyer mentality, it is easier to develop a more personal relationship in B2B; this can open dialogue which can lead to further business.
With the customer base being so different in B2B, your marketing approach needs to reflect this difference. Try out some these tactics:
Create a Strategy and Use Analytics
Like a swimming pool, look before you leap. Optimizing your B2B marketing is not going to be successful just because you have decided to start paying attention to it; you need to plan it out. So, before you start putting valuable resources to your B2B marketing, plan it out and have a strategy. Use analytics to find out if you are getting results.
Have a Strong Website (That is Updated!)
Amazingly, this is still a conversation in 2017. Most businesses seek out B2B partners through the internet. If you don’t have a website, they are never going to see you. Make sure the website enhances the user experience and contains all information a potential customer would want to know about your company. Update it regularly. With more and more people searching on mobile devices, all your online content should be upgraded.
Mobile Friendly
More people conduct web searches on phones and tablets than desktop devices. According to Google’s former search chief Amit Singhal in 2015 more Google searches were completed on mobile devices than on desktop computers. Anything that can be viewed on a computer should be able to be viewed on a mobile device; don’t alienate that market.
Social Media
Facebook; Twitter; Instagram; Youtube; LinkedIn; Snapchat; you don’t need all of them, but have accounts for the ones that make the most sense for your business. B2B leads are created through social media now and the trend isn’t reversing anytime soon. Keeping these accounts updated is important; don’t just give this responsibility to anyone. It should be someone you trust. Like your web page, never let these accounts go dead.
Turn To The Professionals
B2B marketing is a job on its own. Let professionals take care of it while you devote more time to running your business. Since 2008, Measure Marketing has been creating unique internet marketing solutions for companies in Toronto and the surrounding area. Innovative and knowledgeable, we will create an internet strategy for you that will increase your search optimization and revenues. Our social media experts are ahead of all the trends and will put you on the cutting edge of marketing. Contact us today and find out more.
