B2B marketing strategies behind B2C: yes, but not so much
Posted: Tue Dec 03, 2024 8:43 am
[Opinion article published in Economía 3] It is possible to use the same tools, replicate and adapt models and strategies of B2C Marketing in B2B Marketing… Yes,…but with nuances.
B2B marketing strategies behind B2C: yes, but not so much
When something is taken for granted, by repeatedly hearing and reading the same thing from experts or specialists, the time has come to start questioning it.
It is not about questioning for the sake of it, nor about denying the obvious, but rather about outlining the issue in search of different nuances, of squeezing out the juice that fully connects that truth or new dogma with the reality of our particular case.
Marketing Strategies for B2B Companies
New “unquestionable truth”: In B2B marketing, the algeria whatsapp number data 5 million strategies that work best are increasingly similar to marketing aimed at the end consumer. This statement, without a doubt, is already well reinforced by enough real cases and experiences that rest on an idea that is no less true: Behind commercial relationships between companies there are people. And those people are, for example, on Instagram, and also increasingly (and more) on Tik Tok.
Perfect, we are going to use the same tools, to replicate and adapt models and strategies. Yes, but with nuances . Those people who are supposed to buy from you have a double dimension, the personal one, with their family, children, friends, dogs or cats and the professional one in which their purchase is thoughtful and conditioned by multiple factors.
Let's start questioning some details:
Behind the commercial relationships between companies there are people . Indeed, but those people who are your clients, are not going to buy a pair of €40 shoes, a €15 book or a cheap flight. They are going to spend hundreds or thousands of euros on the purchase of products or services, and they will never ever buy on impulse. In fact, in many cases, from the moment they find out about your best offer, months will pass until they decide that it is the best for them and finally buy from you.
And yes, the economic and energy crisis is the same for everyone, but when you are the owner, CEO, Purchasing Director of an SME and you work with annual budgets distorted by the current economic context, and you suspect that this situation will go from being circumstantial to structural, you are going to think a lot about it before buying.
Rethinking B2B marketing strategy
What do we mean by this? We can summarise it in 3 steps that any b2b company that finds itself in this situation should follow :
1- Review of buyer persona and communication strategy
Given the current situation of spending constraints and uncertainty, the most sensible thing to do is to reorient marketing towards actions that truly impact your ideal customer profile and have the real capacity to generate business opportunities.
That is to say, before any tactical move we must “lose” (or gain?) the time needed to review our strategy and better define our ideal client.
2- Follow Pareto's Law
On the other hand, certain decisions must be made: do we continue to target everyone, or do we focus on the most important ones? Perhaps the most intelligent thing to do is to move towards a “Pareto law” scenario (the famous 80% turnover/20% clients) where, as a preliminary step, we will have to fine-tune our ideal client in the greatest detail.
3- Go deeper from the “buyer persona” to the “typical buyer”
As a next step, it is important to go deeper and advance until reaching a profile of the "typical buyer" based on the ideal client that has already been identified. With this analysis we will be able to understand what problems clients face and what needs they hope to cover with our offer.
Content marketing for B2B companies
And it is at this point that we can generate personalized content and messages. We already know “where” to go, but we need to define the content, the “what” we are going to tell them. Our value proposition must be questioned, not in essence, but by looking for pain points and/or benefits that are capable of attracting our client’s attention and turning their eyes and ears towards us.
And how do we get these messages across? Once again, we have to act with an eye on, if not a direct eye on, the general economic context. Because what we want is to manage as much as possible within the marketing mix (as in B2C), but what the situation requires is a lot of thought to fine-tune which channels to invest in. The whole scenario that B2C marketing presents is very tempting, but reality rules and our marketing budget will surely not increase, so we have to think very carefully about where we invest our money to get the most out of it.
B2B marketing strategies behind B2C: yes, but not so much
When something is taken for granted, by repeatedly hearing and reading the same thing from experts or specialists, the time has come to start questioning it.
It is not about questioning for the sake of it, nor about denying the obvious, but rather about outlining the issue in search of different nuances, of squeezing out the juice that fully connects that truth or new dogma with the reality of our particular case.
Marketing Strategies for B2B Companies
New “unquestionable truth”: In B2B marketing, the algeria whatsapp number data 5 million strategies that work best are increasingly similar to marketing aimed at the end consumer. This statement, without a doubt, is already well reinforced by enough real cases and experiences that rest on an idea that is no less true: Behind commercial relationships between companies there are people. And those people are, for example, on Instagram, and also increasingly (and more) on Tik Tok.
Perfect, we are going to use the same tools, to replicate and adapt models and strategies. Yes, but with nuances . Those people who are supposed to buy from you have a double dimension, the personal one, with their family, children, friends, dogs or cats and the professional one in which their purchase is thoughtful and conditioned by multiple factors.
Let's start questioning some details:
Behind the commercial relationships between companies there are people . Indeed, but those people who are your clients, are not going to buy a pair of €40 shoes, a €15 book or a cheap flight. They are going to spend hundreds or thousands of euros on the purchase of products or services, and they will never ever buy on impulse. In fact, in many cases, from the moment they find out about your best offer, months will pass until they decide that it is the best for them and finally buy from you.
And yes, the economic and energy crisis is the same for everyone, but when you are the owner, CEO, Purchasing Director of an SME and you work with annual budgets distorted by the current economic context, and you suspect that this situation will go from being circumstantial to structural, you are going to think a lot about it before buying.
Rethinking B2B marketing strategy
What do we mean by this? We can summarise it in 3 steps that any b2b company that finds itself in this situation should follow :
1- Review of buyer persona and communication strategy
Given the current situation of spending constraints and uncertainty, the most sensible thing to do is to reorient marketing towards actions that truly impact your ideal customer profile and have the real capacity to generate business opportunities.
That is to say, before any tactical move we must “lose” (or gain?) the time needed to review our strategy and better define our ideal client.
2- Follow Pareto's Law
On the other hand, certain decisions must be made: do we continue to target everyone, or do we focus on the most important ones? Perhaps the most intelligent thing to do is to move towards a “Pareto law” scenario (the famous 80% turnover/20% clients) where, as a preliminary step, we will have to fine-tune our ideal client in the greatest detail.
3- Go deeper from the “buyer persona” to the “typical buyer”
As a next step, it is important to go deeper and advance until reaching a profile of the "typical buyer" based on the ideal client that has already been identified. With this analysis we will be able to understand what problems clients face and what needs they hope to cover with our offer.
Content marketing for B2B companies
And it is at this point that we can generate personalized content and messages. We already know “where” to go, but we need to define the content, the “what” we are going to tell them. Our value proposition must be questioned, not in essence, but by looking for pain points and/or benefits that are capable of attracting our client’s attention and turning their eyes and ears towards us.
And how do we get these messages across? Once again, we have to act with an eye on, if not a direct eye on, the general economic context. Because what we want is to manage as much as possible within the marketing mix (as in B2C), but what the situation requires is a lot of thought to fine-tune which channels to invest in. The whole scenario that B2C marketing presents is very tempting, but reality rules and our marketing budget will surely not increase, so we have to think very carefully about where we invest our money to get the most out of it.