B2B Marketing: What is it and what are the strategies?

What is B2B Marketing? By definition, B2B marketing, or business to business marketing, is where one company sells its products to another company and not directly to an end consumer. In other words, the services created by a given business are consumed by other companies, which provide them to end consumers, on a one-to-one basis, in a second transaction. There is no direct sale, but rather there are intermediaries between those who make the product and those who finally consume it. There are notable differences between B2B marketing and B2C marketing, which is the one that focuses on a direct sales relationship between the company and the consumer. They are two markets that have many aspects in common, although there are some discordant points. These are the following:

What are the best B2B marketing strategies? Reinforce your brand identity Companies with a strong corporate image are more likely to be able to do business with other companies. You can do charity events, improve the conditions of your employees, define your company's values or any other action to gain notoriety.

Increase your online presence If you increase your online presence, your company will be better known to others. You can do SEO campaigns, SEM or improve your content marketing with a blog or by improving your website.

Work on e-mail marketing campaigns Email marketing campaigns are segmented so that you can reach the companies you are interested in doing business with. Use targeted tools and send personalised mailings to people who may be relevant.

Create a database of contacts With a good database you will be able to access the potential customers your company is most interested in. You can target them at trade fairs or company events so that you can target a more specific audience.

The B2B market is smaller than the B2C market Compared to B2C, there are more individual users than business users. Therefore, the market in which B2B marketing can operate is much smaller and the possibility for B2B marketing to find new customers is much smaller. However, it has a distinct advantage in that if a deal is struck with a business customer, the level of economic benefits that can accrue is also much higher than if it were to focus solely on an individual customer.

B2B and B2C marketing are related The two are directly related, as what happens in B2B depends on how B2C marketing develops. For example, if you are a supplier of bread-making machinery and your customers are the bakeries that make bread themselves (B2B). If the bakery market grows and user demand increases, B2C marketing will grow and in relation, so will B2B. In short, if more people are demanding to buy bread, more bakeries will be looking to buy machinery for their facilities.

Difficult access to customers Companies developing B2B marketing actions have significant challenges to overcome. As their market is found in other companies that buy their products, it is difficult to segment a specific marketing campaign to reach them and defining their target audience is not easy, and the way to access customers is quite limited in this situation. Sometimes, for their digital marketing plan to be successful, they need to invest more money, time and effort to achieve their goals. Thematic fairs and direct sales are two areas where B2B companies can achieve good results in customer acquisition.

How does B2B affect your marketing plan? Companies that do B2B business with other companies need to take into account a number of key elements to make their marketing plan work. Knowing all these sections will guarantee success and will help you to grow as a business in the near future, being aware of your strengths and weaknesses and being able to take specific measures to correct any errors that may arise. The characteristics of B2B marketing are:

Market size: it is small and select, with very specific customers who demand specific and quality products. Marketing strategy: mass campaigns are not carried out with an impact on the target public; it is preferred to go to sector events, such as trade fairs, and there to establish a personalised relationship and a cordial and direct relationship between the commercial managers of both companies that are interested in selling and receiving the products. Generally, in the B2B arena, high-profile advertising channels such as traditional media or online marketing in social networks and search engines are not used. Purchasing process: B2B business relationships tend to be long and drawn out over time. As these are companies that purchase a product from other companies, the purchasing process involves a specific and in-depth analysis of the transaction. Both parties have a lot at stake in their decisions and these cannot be taken at random. The seller must resolve all the doubts of his buyers, as their decisions involve several departments of the company. B2B Lead Generation Service