How will you develop your B2B marketing strategy this year?
News alert: the “Wolf of Wall Street” attitude might not work that well here.
Marketing your business-to-business (B2B) services can be a challenge. Many B2B services are often intangible, and it is likely you are not the only company providing such services. Unless you have a well-crafted strategy, your efforts in marketing your B2B services may not yield that many good results.
5 Proven Steps to Market B2B Services Efficiently
Here are some marketing techniques for your B2B services that you can adopt to help ensure good returns:
1. Segment Thoroughly
Targeting audiences without adequate research and resources is a waste of marketing dollars. Your marketing strategy can only be crafted once you have done the work to develop a well-segmented target market. For B2B marketers, it is important to understand that attributes used for segmentation of regular consumers will not always apply here. The types of organizations you target often serve different categories of customers and many times, have a variety of agendas to achieve their goals. You should at best use two attributes to classify the type of companies that could use your services.
2. Let Numbers do the Talking
Through your website, service flyers and brochures, and promotional or proposal emails, communicate the numbers that are associated with your service. For example, if you provide a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) service, you must mention the extend of your database, the number of CRM strategies you have implemented, the number of leads you have converted, the average conversion rate, and ratings given by others for your services. Results can act as agents in getting more clients. If you can provide a comparative analysis to an average figure of your competitors, it can give you an edge.
3. Content Marketing is Your Shortcut
Content has become the most important aspect of marketing strategies. Run a blog or a website about your services, invest in quality content, and promote that blog/website heavily. The quality of your content, its reach, and branding will come in handy down the road.
4. Building a Network
Staying online, sending conversion emails, or even using heavy marketing tactics for your website and blog might not be enough. Attend events and shows where you can also find leads. You may not convert them on the spot, but you can establish a connection and lay the foundation for future relationships. These relationships can slowly yield results when they’re shopping for the types of services or products you offer.
5. Analytics and Follow-up
Most of your marketing efforts could be useless without thorough analysis and follow up. After each step of strategy implementation, analyze whether the strategy is beneficial and yielding the kind of results you want. If not, check for deviations and set up a corrective course of action. Your focus should be on continuous evaluation to ensure your marketing strategy is garnering a positive return-on-investment (ROI).
The key to a successful B2B marketing strategy is to create relevant and authentic content, to target the right people, and to focus on opportunities that yield a high ROI. Plan your B2B marketing strategy around these three ideas and you are sure to set your organization up for success.
