How to convert a business audience – top tips for B2B Marketing

How to convert a business audience – top tips for B2B Marketing

But whatever type of professional services company you are; law firm, accountant, logistics, recruitment, commercial interior design, etc., and however complex your offering might be, it’s important to remember you are still communicating with people.

One of the main differentiations for a business buyer is that they take longer than consumers to purchase, they usually have more at stake, and they want the purchase to provide a far-reaching solution.

A business buyer is also more likely to be looking to work with a company they can stick with, who they can trust and help to take them forward in their market.

With all this in mind. Here are our top tips and approaches for successful B2B (business to business) marketing communication strategies that keep your buyer/s front and centre.

1. Buyers are people

Company buyers may make decisions based on logic and long-term solutions to increase revenue and efficiency; but they also make decisions as people. While B2B marketing strategies are different from B2C (business to consumer) strategies, it’s crucial that a B2B approach still speaks to the emotions, wants, and desires of the buyer as a person. It’s likely your lead time will be a lot longer and that you may need to apply the personal touches a lot more.

Consider: when you’re communicating with your audience, think about personalisation as much as possible – how can you ensure you make the most of every interaction? If it’s email,  segment and adapt your comms to suit that segment’s needs and desires. LinkedIn has recently launched a tool that will allow business profiles to control who sees your post, so rather than popping out your content and hoping that the people it was designed for will stumble across it, you can tell the platform exactly who to show it to – for free!

2. How B2B and B2C Marketing differ

In a nutshell, B2C marketing tends to target a consumer’s need for entertainment and the satisfaction of short-term goals, for example, to keep up with a fashion trend, or achieve a domestic or personal task.

B2B marketing is usually about addressing a business goal, for example, achieving growth, reaching more clients, increasing or diversifying market share.

Whilst successful B2B marketing strategies keep the human connection in focus too –  trust, authenticity, reassurance, confidence, and value for money are all just as important.

Consider: There are differentiators, the biggest is likely going to be when considering the scope of the customer journey. Unlike B2C journeys, you’ll likely have a lot more hoops to jump through and a lot more people within the chain to convince as decision-makers may be three or four notches above your lead.

The second biggest differentiator is that more often than not, the decision is based on logic and financial incentives rather than emotion. The goals are often based on increasing expertise and efficiency. And what’s more, a B2B lead will thank you for educating them – whereas a B2C consumer is rarely motivated by this sort of thing.

3. Research, Research, Research

To serve your clients, you need to know them. What are their existing and emerging markets? What goals do they want to achieve? What are the problems they want to make disappear, for them and their clients?

When you’ve found the answers, they enable you to refine your marketing approach. Research into your buyers not only helps you know them but offers insight into how to present your solution and identify what you potentially offer that other companies don’t or how the process can delight them where there is currently frustration in the marketplace.

Consider: Your user experience is a vital place to keep coming back to – make sure your clients and customers don’t ever feel like they have to compromise. A big part of this is how you communicate.

Is there an alignment of values? Do you address a particular niche?

And don’t forget, you need to find out who makes the buying decisions in the companies you are targeting. It could be more than one person, for instance, the buyer and the managing director. You’ll need to alter your messaging or employ a multi-channel approach accordingly so both decision-makers are addressed in the right way.

Research into your market and buyers will give you all the valuable information you need to ground your marketing strategy.

4. Key Channels

So, what should you and your marketing function, whether they’re in-house or external, be doing right now as a minimum?

Below are some tactical efforts that can pay off in abundance.

• There’s no escaping the socials:  B2B marketing must do it all – we know! Did you know 80% of social media leads come from LinkedIn? It’s a whopping statistic that should have you swiftly posting regularly to the platform. Establishing yourself as an authority in your sector is vital for building trust amongst your target audience, as well as reaching out to your business community. LinkedIn is the platform to do it.

• Referral marketing: Interestingly, establishing yourself as a credible voice in the industry, whether that’s through social media, or other content marketing, such as articles and public speaking, has the knock-on effect of achieving ‘referral marketing. Referral marketing is when you’re recommended to a client by someone who has never worked with you but has seen and heard of the good work you do and recommended you as a credible provider.  Never forget the power of word of mouth and consider how to reward these referrals.

• Content marketing: Here’s another stat or two: 68% of buyers research independently online. B2B buyers view at least five 5 pieces of content before deciding to work with you. There’s no getting away from it. Buyers turn to search engines for solutions and people to help. Are you online, with the right, relevant content for them to find you? Being as visible as possible to your target audience and presenting your brand and solution is effectively addressed through content marketing, including an effective website, thought leadership, email marketing, and social media strategy. Which all play a part in increasing your visibility and furthering the customer-nurturing journey.

• SEO: It’s an ever-evolving activity but a vital one; optimising for search should feature strongly in your marketing strategy. Simply put, once an SEO strategy begins to pay off it will be doing so long after pay-per-click campaigns or social media ads are finished. From technical SEO and ensuring your website is fully optimised to off-site link-building SEO strategies to draw in an increasing number of visitors, SEO is never complete. Make sure you prioritise search marketing to ensure your organic, online growth and engagement.

• Get a visible expert: Do you have an expert in your company? Someone who stands out, either academically, or for winning awards? Maybe you have a rising star with the potential to be a guest lecturer or public speaker within the industry. If so, make them as visible as possible. Consider speaking engagements, in-person networking and trade demonstrations. Remember, your customers are looking for solutions and to connect; having a real-life expert in your midst is hugely appealing to those looking to work with the best.

• Use the technology available to you – testing, CRM, analytics:  Get ahead of the numbers and take a scientific approach when it comes to marketing. Instead of leaving decisions down to your perspective or your colleagues, test it, let whatever’s wrong fail quickly and optimise your activity based on what you’ve learned. Tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console are full of gems – there are lessons waiting to be learned around the real success of your marketing campaigns, what queries your visitors have, what they’re really engaging with, and most importantly what’s holding them back. Please, be organised with your lead generation by using a CRM (customer relationship management) system to track and organise. Having this accessible by relevant employees streamlines and synchronises effort, improving the nurturing of and communication with your leads.

The concept of B2B Marketing

All the above should play a part in a thought-through and considered marketing strategy and it may be that you need outside help to deliver some elements, for example, social media management, harnessing the PR opportunities of your visible expert, website build, and SEO.

Increasingly, professional services companies build long-term relationships with their chosen marketing providers to enable them to capitalise on the full range of marketing tools.

Don’t forget, There’s never a one-size-fits-all approach to this. As people, we’re not all the same, and neither are your clients.

You’re likely to have clients in different sectors, who have different-sized businesses and varied customer types. An account- or sector-based approach may take extra time and effort, but it means your marketing actions will be more focused, relevant, and targeted and; therefore, likely to achieve better results.

And our final watchwords…

Don’t stand still. People and businesses don’t, and buyers searching for the best solution for their ever-evolving company don’t. Just like you, they need to stay ahead.

If you want to discuss any of the above, in person – our team would love to hear from you. Get in touch!