The Internet is a very noisy environment. As we talked about in previous articles, content is infinite and you have to find creative ways in order to reach your customers.
But what happens when your customers are other businesses?
In digital b2b marketing there are two stages
- The reaching stage
- The relationship building stage
Now let's explore these two stages in more detail.
The reaching stage
In order to reach your customers you can do many things and implement various strategies.
We will talk about some of them.
Start by searching the targeted market. What businesses are in this market? Find them, and make a list with contact info (emails, phones, addresses e.t.c).
Search for more detailed info about these companies (revenues, clients e.t.c). If this market is an online market( e-commerce sites, e-shop e.t.c), try to find out their power.
In my opinion a great way to see a company’s impact is to search for their social media audience (such as Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn). If the numbers are high then probably the company has good revenues. You can also use a social media report tool to understand the data better.
Sometimes their social media marketing metrics can be fictional too, because maybe this company is implementing a strategy without social media focus. However it’s a start.
The first impression is the most important
So build a nice and factional website. Don’t forget your website is your showcase. Focus on the UX (User experience). Also curate a strong social media marketing strategy and build a presence on the most popular platforms.
Build a nice, pretty and small presentation. Presentations are a visual communication, so make your presentation visual friendly, try to avoid big texts that will never be read. Include engaging photos and visuals, with bright colors.
Never forget that the manager who will see the presentation doesn’t have all the time of the world, so your presentation MUST be small and catchy.
A great visual communication is a video presentation. However you have to be really confident about your presentational skills. Do not forget that this is the first impression of your customer so a bad presentation may be the reason for not making a deal.
Then start sending out your presentation.
Use LinkedIn to reach businesses
An email to an email recipient such as [email protected] 8 out 10 times will not be answered. Maybe you will be lucky and these 2 recipients will answer your mail or maybe they will forward your email to a manager.
So try to find real people that work for the targeted company. An effective way is by using your Linkedin account. Search them and make a list of them. A problem with this technique is when these people are out of your network.
If this is the case then a really effective way is to upgrade your account in order to take advantage of the sales force Linkedin’s feature. If you can’t afford it then you can try to find groups that these individuals are participating in, however that’s not so effective.
Introducing the B2I (Business to Individual) concept
When we are talking about b2b strategies we really talk about building relationships. So a concept of business to individuals is the case.
B2b purchases are not like b2c (business to customer) purchases. There is a lack of impulsive purchase. In order for a business to work with another business, they will first analyze the pros and cons. They will analyze their profitability strategy and then will make the decision making process.
Relationship building stage
Focus on the building relationships issue
The building relationships issue is mainly a p2p (people to people) approach. So try to build a trusted relationship before making any offer for a deal.
You have to introduce yourself and your company. A website and a nice presentation will be the showcase. Try to give them information that they are not aware of. Give them some ideas about strategies and the most important issue is to make them feel as notable.
Try to explain the pros of a deal with your company and yourself. Be polite, and try to use an engaging language to your contacts. Always remind them of your presence, don't forget that these people are really busy.
Make personalized offers that match the company’s impact
The B2i concept is not a strategy but a philosophy. When you are reaching a company you are really reaching some individuals with unsolved problems etc, you have to treat them as such and not as an impersonal company. If you can master this concept then your rewards will be enormous.
