What is B2B Marketing?
B2B Marketing, or business to business marketing, is exactly what it sounds like. It’s marketing your product or service to another business. However, it’s important to remember that even if you are supplying a product or service for other businesses, at the end of the day it’s a person you’re dealing with behind that business. So, it’s best to understand B2B marketing as targeting the individuals who make purchase decisions on behalf of their business.
B2B vs B2C Marketing
The main difference between B2B and B2C marketing is that B2C, or business to customer, targets individual consumers who are making a purchase decision on behalf of themselves.
B2B and B2C tends to involve different pricing models, website designs, customer service, and more. Some companies target both B2B and B2C depending on their product or services. In this case the company should try implement separate marketing strategies specific to each audience.
Our B2B Marketing Tips
Know your audience
This step is vital in both B2B and B2C marketing as you need to know your customer’s needs, interests, and challenges in order to properly target and communicate appropriate marketing messages to them. We have a useful guide to defining your target audience that you can use to help you with this.
Social Media Marketing
When it comes to B2B marketing the number one social media platform you should be on is LinkedIn. LinkedIn is B2B focused and generates the highest visitor-to-lead conversion rate of any social network at 2.74%, which is 3 times higher than Twitter and Facebook.
Over 66% of the Irish working population is on LinkedIn and this number is growing consistently. Overall, it’s an excellent platform for reaching people who are in the business mind space and more perceptive to your B2B marketing messages.
Other platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube are also great for businesses but are more B2C focused compared to LinkedIn. Have a read of our blog post on choosing the best social media platforms for your business.
Testimonials & Past Results
Testimonials play an important role for a business in their perception of your brand and their decision of whether they should purchase from you.
Use previous projects you completed for clients as well as testimonials and reviews from them. It helps show potential clients who you are and what you can do, while also increasing your trust and credibility. Over 72% of customers won’t take action until they read reviews, so give them a reason to choose you.
Email Marketing
A significant 93% of B2B marketers use email. This is because it’s a tried and true way to reach and capture clients. Remember that B2B customers respond more to logic and positive ROI than emotional content, like B2C customers do.
In your emails, try communicate how your products or services can benefit your clients while also capturing their attention.
Now that you understand the difference between marketing to B2C and marketing to B2B you can try implementing some of our digital marketing tips. You can also check out our Knowledge Base for lots more tips and advice on marketing and more.
