At its core, B2B – Business-to-business – marketing is the art of promoting one company’s service and product to another. If a company doesn’t sell their products to the average consumer, then their needs to target other businesses whose need profile pairs with its offering. 

But what exactly does B2B mean in marketing and how does it shape your B2B marketing plan approach?

Keep reading to build your knowledge and bolster your tool belt with marketing tactics for B2B marketing success. Here’s a quick look at what’s ahead:

• B2B Marketing Defined 
• How is B2B marketing Different from B2C Marketing?
• Building Your B2B Marketing Objectives
• B2B Marketing: Finding the right strategies for your brand
• B2B Content Marketing Ideas

B2B Marketing, Defined

Several manufacturing, software and marketing companies operate exclusively on B2B market models. This means that the company’s revenue is generated entirely from other business entities and organizations. 

Typically, their entire platform was designed to meet the demands of other organisations by addressing pain spots, increasing efficiency, and strengthening operations.

Here are a few B2B companies you may be familiar with.

• Datalog
• Atlassian
• WeWork
• General Electric
• Slack

If any of these names sound familiar, it’s because you’ve used their product or service at work, not because you bought it straight from them.

How is B2B Marketing Different from B2C Marketing?

The major distinction between B2B and B2C marketing is their respective target audiences. B2B concentrates its marketing efforts on other businesses. B2C marketing, as the acronym suggests, focuses on the consumer.

Another distinguishing feature between the two is the length of the sales cycle. Purchases made on Amazon Prime, where the majority of your shipping and billing information is already kept, can be processed in seconds. In contrast, a B2B sale is typically a much longer, trust-building process.

Here’s a quick review of how the two compare in the areas.  

B2B Marketing:

• Small, niche-based target audience
• Few clients, high volume of purchases
• Buyer purchases fueled by demand and return on investment (ROI)
• Foster long-term relationships between businesses

B2C Marketing:

• Large, widespread target audience
• Many clients, a low volume of purchases
• Buyer purchases fueled by wants
• Often short-term relationships between buyers and seller

Knowing how these two models differ is key when it comes to setting up marketing efforts including your objectives and strategies. 

B2B Marketing Objectives 

On any marketing team, having a clear set of objectives and a mechanism in place for keeping track of performance is essential. Your goals will likely vary depending on what stage in the marketing campaign you’re in.

To that end, in which direction should you focus your B2B marketing approach? Consider a few common objectives: 

• Brand Awareness: Defining your brand and painting a clear picture of your target audience are the primary items on the to-do list in this phase of B2B marketing. The more specific you can be as a marketer about who you’re trying to reach, the better.
• Generate Lead: When developing strategies centred around this objective, remember that B2B marketing tends to have fewer leads but higher purchasing volumes. Go after the right audience and target their primary pain points. From there, you can build the foundation you’ll use to persuade them that your service is an effective solution that will contribute to their efficiencies, growth, and ROI.
• Client Retention: If customer loyalty is your main objective, be sure to gather feedback, keep the lines of communication open, and consider treating faithful customers to a surprise (e.g. free upgrade, small gift) to encourage a long-lasting relationship. 

B2B Marketing Strategies: Finding the Right Fit for Your Brand

There is no one-size-fits-all approach for B2B marketing- nor should be there be- so it’s important to assess your objective and find a combination of strategies that will help your business cut through the noise. 

• Target audience: Defining your target audience is a marketing must for all companies, but it is particularly important for B2B companies, a clearly defined target client base will go a long way in generating quality leads. 

• SEO: When done right, SEO is one of the most powerful tools for galvanizing organic growth in B2B marketing. Doing thorough keyword research and implementing it into your blog content, web copy, or image alt text connects you with users searching Google for a solution that your company can provide. 

• Google Ads: While polishing up your SEO may be a long-term approach to building awareness or driving conversion rates, Google Ads are instantaneous. Set your bit and maximize your reach by targeting the right audience your your brands. 

• Facebook Ads: The businesses you’re trying to reach are likely on Facebook, and so are the people who own them. With more than 2.7 Billion monthly active users, Facebook remains one of the biggest social networks across the globe. Facebook Ads allow you to build effective B2B Campaigns by targeting users based on interests, location, age and more. 

• Email Newsletter: The number of email users around the world is about billion, so it’s safe to say that email marketing is here to stay. Disperse your marketing touchpoints across a series of weekly or monthly newsletters. Keep your marketing leads in the loop about product updates, sales, or new blog content and track performance using campaign insights provided by platforms like Mailchimps. 
• Retargeting: Because B2B sales cycles are much longer than B2B sales cycles, there are many opportunities for retargeting over the course of what stage of the funnel you’ll need to focus on (lead generation, lead nurturing, proposal) and give your potential the nudge they might need to keep moving forward. 

B2B Marketing Content Ideas

B2B content marketing can be a highly effective way of elevating your B2B marketing strategies. When producing content, the value it provides to your target audience should be the driving force behind everything you create.

Not sure what kind of is right for your brand?

Take a few ideas from the list below and integrate them into your long-term marketing to boost brand awareness and drive sales. The key is to produce your brand’s ethos and connect to your audience simultaneously. 

• Blogs: These are like to very ones you are reading now. Consider sharing weekly or monthly posts covering topics sure to benefit and interest your buyer persona. Company updates, technical how-tos and user trends are just a few of bringing in readers and generating leads. 

• Podcast- According to Semrush, people have spent a record-breaking 15 billion hours listening to podcasts so far in 2021. Whether it’s on the drive to work or while cooking at home, listeners often tune in to learn something new. Consider using this platform as a way to educate your target audience about the goods or services you provide. 

• Video Tutorials- Show don’t tell. Instead of telling a potential customer about how effective your product is, put together engaging video content highlighting what sets your brand apart from the rest of the market. Step-to-step video tutorials are an effective way of anticipating client questions and how improving the overall user experience. 
• Product Comparison: Video, audio or text. Pick your preferred format and stack your service up against the competition to highlight the advantages of what your business has to offer. This way, you’ve already done that work that your target audience would have needed to do on its own. With all the facts laid out in front of them, your potential buyers will spend less time researching and more time considering the purchase.
  

Building your B2B Marketing strategy with Axe Digital

Now that you understand the B2B marketing paradigm, it’s time to develop and implement your strategy. Your time and marketing money are valuable, so make sure you’re investing them wisely and in a way that aligns with your business goals.

Axe Digital, like B2B marketing, focuses on trust-building. Long-term commercial partnerships. With a client retention rate of 96%, we have the numbers to back it up. We’d love to help you establish a B2B marketing strategy from the beginning or give your present approach new vitality.

Let’s work together to create growth chances and extend your business marketing using platforms like LinkedIn B2B Marketing.