What is a B2B marketing strategy?
A B2B–marketing strategy is the opposite of a B2C-marketing strategy. In B2C, the strategy is about marketing from business to consumer, which is the end consumer (a private person). A B2B marketing strategy is not aimed at private individuals, but instead at companies or other organizations. In other words, it is marketing from business to business.
Do you work in a B2B company? Then you probably already know that a B2B marketing strategy can be a lot more complex than a B2C marketing strategy. The reason for this is that the buying process is typically longer and more people are often involved in the decision-making process when doing business between companies.
How do I create a B2B marketing strategy?
Whether you work in a business that deals with other businesses or with individuals, there should always be a marketing strategy to work from.
The overall approach you can take to this task is to follow these points:
- Analytics - who is your target audience?
- Write down your vision - what do you want to achieve?
- Plan - How do you achieve your vision?
- Execute your planning
- Evaluate along the way
We go into more depth on each point below.
Analytics - who is your target audience?
Without market research, you won't get far.
If you're running a business today, you probably have a lot of data that can tell you a lot about the customers you're facing. Additionally, just like startups, you can research the rest of the market, which can confirm or deny which way your marketing strategy should go.
The purpose of the analysis is to identify the most attractive customers and learn about their thoughts, motives, needs, dreams, fears, problems, etc. Information about this is very important as it contributes to an effective marketing strategy.
Write down your vision - what do you want to achieve?
Without a vision for the strategy, there's not much strategy to go on. You can't create a strategy without a vision to guide your strategy. Therefore, first and foremost, get clear on what your vision for the company is - the vision is typically very long-term.
The strategy is also long-term in that it focuses solely on achieving the vision. Below your strategy is your marketing plan, which is where you plan in detail your marketing activities to achieve the strategy and thus the vision.
Plan - How do you achieve your vision?
Now that you've conducted market research, hopefully you've identified the most attractive customers and learned more about their thoughts, motives, needs, dreams, fears, problems, etc. Now you know more about how you can target your marketing to this particular audience. This could be things like channel selection, message design, the most profitable times to promote yourself to them, etc.
Evaluate along the way
Don't let your strategy become your sleeping pillow, but instead be open and alert to adapting it along the way. We live in an ever-changing world, so even though you may have worked in a certain way for 100 years and one summer, it doesn't mean that's the way you should continue to work. The market can change quickly and easily, and you need to test and evaluate it to constantly adapt your B2B marketing strategy towards what's most profitable for your business.
