At AITOM, half of our marketing projects come from the B2B sector. That is, sectors where you offer services or products to other companies rather than to end customers. We had high hopes for the talk. And although we have a fair amount of experience of our own, we picked up a few tips from our colleagues that we plan to incorporate into our own strategy.
How companies differ from end customers
Generally speaking, the B2B segment is less seasonal. Even in seasonal sectors, marketers often plan a year in advance. For example, the conference industry thrives even in winter and doesn’t significantly alter its offering, whereas fashion manufacturers must launch new products every quarter.
Customers are much more valuable in B2B. This is for several reasons; they usually spend many times more with you, even on a single purchase. A good example is our corporate purchases at stationery shops. Corporate customers are also more loyal. This makes sense from a human perspective too. Companies already know that working with you went well and that you delivered high-quality work on time. Who would want to risk looking for a new supplier?! Alternatively, they may not even be able to find a new supplier, as they have invested time and money in your services.
On the other hand, however, they are more demanding customers from a customer care perspective. They expect a higher level of service, even beyond what is offered. In our industry, this means, for example, consultations, which we must view as an investment on our part. Because you simply cannot charge for every phone call. You should pay particular attention to the quality of service.
Companies are asking you for services they don’t fully understand. If you don’t look after them, they can easily get the impression that something is wrong. It’s worth regularly asking customers for feedback. Our account director, Dan, checks in with our customers from time to time to see if and how satisfied they are.
It pays for companies not to focus so much on the final price, but to monitor the return on their marketing investment. What does it matter if a PPC click costs you 100 CZK, when the customer then spends tens of thousands with you?
How to do marketing aimed at business customers
It may be companies making the purchases, but there’s a person sitting behind the screen who has their own concerns and expectations. That’s why it’s good to include emotional appeals, albeit to a limited extent. An employee selecting several suppliers is undoubtedly looking for a guarantee of quality and a good price, but their personal preferences will also influence their choice.
My tip: Always carry out a VPC analysis of your customers before you start with B2B marketing. Thanks to this analysis, you’ll be able to include topics in your communication that, whilst not directly related to the choice of service, are personally important to customers.
When it comes to PPC, make sure your ad copy clearly indicates that you cater exclusively to businesses. This will save you from clicks by end customers who wouldn’t use your services anyway. A copywriter can handle the ad copy for you. Also, ensure you regularly exclude irrelevant keywords.
It is a good idea to monitor the bounce rate in Google Analytics
for both SEO and PPC. In PPC, this insight will help you exclude irrelevant keywords, and in SEO, you will be able to adjust your landing pages to guide users further down the funnel.
Generally speaking, building a backlink portfolio is more challenging, so focus on the quality of technical SEO
(i.e. meta tags, semantics, indexing, and so on). Carry out an internal audit at least once every three months and optimise everything based on the results of the analysis.
My tip: B2B marketing is time-consuming. One person cannot manage PPC, writing a blog and social media, and still handle PR. Choose the channels that make sense. And don’t do the rest, or delegate the tasks to external specialists.
B2B marketing doesn’t sell, it builds a brand
B2B marketing, if you don’t have an e-shop, is more about building a brand and its reputation. This is, of course, harder to measure; conversions often take place offline and cannot be linked to online promotion.
Many of your business customers won’t even go through the enquiry process on the website. Customers prefer to ring us and ask in person. The website is a source of initial information for potential customers, so try to make a good impression.
Find out how they shop with you. Want to make a good first impression? Analytical tools such as HotJar can help, showing you how users behave on the website. If you find that they often get lost, carry out user testing to understand where the problem lies.
The most valuable tip from the talk: In your PR, promote not only the brand but also your salespeople. You can list them as authors of articles or quote them in press releases. Your customers will then recognise the people they’re dealing with from the media (which will make an impression).