Today we’re going to talk about a type of marketing that doesn’t usually get many blog posts but is just as important as consumer marketing (B2C), and has been around just as long: B2B marketing.
In this post, we’ll lay the theoretical groundwork for this type of marketing, shake its hand and make a formal introduction. Ready to meet it?
At Mailrelay, we’ll explain it in detail.
What is B2B marketing?
B2B (business-to-business) marketing is the set of actions a company carries out when it markets its products to other companies or organizations rather than to the end consumer. These organizations may use these products to make final products or to resell them (selling to retailers).
Today, the abbreviations commonly applied to these transactions, B2B or B-to-B, are closely associated with online activity. But the truth is that this type of commerce has a long history (companies have always sold to other companies).
Long before the internet came along, and still today, B2B commerce has operated through privately maintained electronic data interchange (EDI) channels. Most B2B commerce started out through these channels, but new and emerging electronic business-to-business transactions have created a heavy reliance on the internet.
B2B marketing is no more complicated or complex than other forms of marketing. However, there are a number of things you need to keep in mind when running this kind of strategy. Its pillars are:
- Build relationships
- Honest technical interactions
- Intensive commercial negotiations
- Paying close attention to after-sales service
Other Mailrelay articles about the B2B world:
1) B2B Email Marketing: Build a Good Strategy with This Checklist
2) How to Send Successful B2B Mass Emails
Types of B2B marketing
To map out a B2B marketing strategy, the first thing we need to know is which category our company belongs to, based on the relationships it builds. Sales categories take three main forms, and most companies belong predominantly to one type:
● Industry specialists.
This group includes companies that can sell all their products or services to players in the same industry or sector.
For example, process engineering companies are likely to focus on the petrochemical industries.
Their work involves building refineries and chemical plants. Occasionally, these companies also build power plants for utilities, compressor stations for pipelines, and so on.
Motorsport companies have a number of suppliers that work exclusively for that sector, and golf cart manufacturers will sell mainly to golf courses.
A subgroup of the specialist category is made up of companies that sell to a narrow category within the same field. Specialized equipment companies serving medicine or laboratory research fall into this category: for example, they sell only to certain types of hospitals or clinics.
● Institutional generalists.
At the other end are companies that sell products to all kinds of similar businesses and institutions, and to virtually every part of those customers’ operations.
Examples include office supply producers, filing cabinet manufacturers and office furniture manufacturers.
Advertising agencies and public relations firms can also fall into the generalist category, but many will develop specialized client bases.
Subsets of this “generalist” category are producers that sell to every sector, but where some sectors prevail over others. For example, tool manufacturers or steel producers that sell mainly to manufacturers and very rarely to wholesalers, retailers or financial companies.
Another generalist category, though a narrower one, is the producer that, because of the nature of its products or services, deals exclusively with one well-defined department that is nearly always present in a company or institution.
Example: payroll or health insurance companies are a case in point, since their customers are finance or human resources departments, which exist in most companies regardless of their sector.
● Channel specialists.
This group includes companies that use specialized distributors to market their products. The actual selling may take place at annual or seasonal meetings where the company hosts its distributors, gives presentations and spends two or three days negotiating orders.
When distributors need to be added or changed, the company often goes through a complex recruitment process to match the right candidate with its brand.
In some industries, such as recreational boat sales, transactions take place directly with the retail channel, and car companies deal directly with dealerships through intermediate company-owned “zone” offices.
The three broad categories outlined here are not an exhaustive description. There are all kinds of variations and specializations, and of course, within large companies, different divisions may use different methods to reach their markets. But placing our company in one of these three groups will make it easier to build a communication strategy by helping us identify our target audience.
Differences between B2B and B2C marketing
As we mentioned, B2B marketing is no more complex than “traditional” B2C marketing, but there are a number of differences we need to keep in mind when putting it into practice. Here’s a summary:
► Market size: B2B vs. B2C
In B2B, they tend to be small vertical markets, often niche-sized, made up of thousands of sales opportunities.
In B2C, on the other hand, they tend to be large, broad markets with access to tens of billions of sales opportunities.
► Buying process
In B2B, sales usually involve a complex buying process, and closing them often takes months of work using a range of strategies such as lead generation, meetings, sending emails, calls, demos and more.
In B2C, on the other hand, sales have short buying cycles that range from a few minutes (impulse buying) to a few days. It’s a simple sale completed right away.
► Sales process
In B2B, sales are consultative (based on understanding the customer’s needs and building a relationship of trust), sometimes run by a two-tier sales organization.
In B2C, however, sales are usually direct to the consumer or involve a retailer. The approach is a traditional product sale that’s all about “convincing the consumer”.
► Cost of sale
In B2B, sales are “higher-volume” purchases that can cost anywhere from thousands of euros to tens of millions of euros.
In B2C, purchases range from a few cents to thousands of euros in the case of luxury goods or big investments like a car or a house.
► Purchase decision
In B2B, the decision to buy is usually driven by need and budget, so it tends to be a rational decision.
In B2C, purchase decisions tend to be based on expectation rather than need or budget, so they’re triggered by more emotional choices.
► Brand value
In B2B, brand identity in the market is built through personal relationships and consultative selling.
In B2C, however, brand identity in the market is built through advertising and, nowadays, through social media.
► Customer lifetime value
In B2B, customer lifetime value is much higher because of the higher cost of sales and the likelihood of repeat or complementary sales to the same customer.
In B2C, however, a customer’s lifetime value is lower because individual sales cost less and it’s easier for users to switch companies.
Advantages and disadvantages of B2B business models
As we’ve seen, in B2B marketing the company sells its products directly to other companies or businesses rather than to consumers. This brings a number of advantages over B2C marketing, but also some challenges.
► 3.1 Advantages of B2B marketing
- The first and most important advantage of this type of marketing is that the company deals with other companies rather than a large number of customers. Since companies are involved, it’s much easier to convince a single company or a group of them about your products than to convince a large number of customers.
- Another advantage of this type of marketing is that, since companies are involved, the value of each sales transaction will be much higher. Instead of selling large quantities individually to each customer, the whole volume goes in a single sale to one company.
- Another advantage of B2B marketing is that once a company becomes your customer, it will stay with you for a long time if your customer service is good. Simply put, brand loyalty is higher among companies than among regular consumers.
► 3.2 Disadvantages of B2B marketing
- The biggest disadvantage of this type of marketing is that the target market is limited: there are very few companies you can market or sell your products to compared with the many individual consumers out there, so your marketing reach is limited and other concerns arise, such as the contract cancellation rate.
- Another disadvantage is that the company has to offer discounts on orders, since they’re bulk orders and these buyers have some bargaining power, unlike regular customers who buy in small quantities and are therefore price takers with no bargaining power.
- Another limitation is that several people are involved when selling to companies, and sales can’t happen overnight, unlike B2C marketing, where the purchase decision is instant. B2B marketing is a time-consuming process.
Examples of B2B marketing strategies
Now that we’ve covered the theory, let’s look at some examples:
● Tetra Pak shows off its marketing and product expertise.
To do that, the company sent out a select set of colorful, fun mailers that took people on a mini adventure. They included a pop-up that mimicked the look of Instagram and directed recipients to a portal offering additional design concepts and product features.
The hyper-targeted campaign (only 72 sample kits were sent) was a huge success and got more than 500 responses from its target audience.
● Xerox uses humor to drive its rebrand.
Humor plays a big role in the campaign, which includes TV ads, print ads and even a makeover of the company’s website.
In one of the ads, a monk is given the task of translating a manuscript into several languages to send “as soon as possible” to every monastery in the world. The solution comes from Xerox technology, which makes producing communications easier.
The Xerox campaign was a big success, earning positive coverage from publications such as Digiday, Forbes and MediaPost. The campaign’s main video on YouTube racked up nearly 1.7 million views in four months.
● Adobe uses a content hub to change buyer perception.
Adobe, a finalist for the Insight Community of the Year award, made its name in the desktop publishing business. When it acquired Omniture, a marketing analytics company, it needed to broaden the market’s perception of it beyond desktop publishing.
In particular, the company needed a way to regularly engage marketing leaders, Omniture’s main target audience.
Examples of B2B online business models
Here are some examples of B2B online businesses:
- Danish Water Technology is a water pipe infrastructure solution for homes and facilities. This B2B website has become a showcase of Denmark’s ambition to find and develop better, cheaper and more efficient ways to handle water technologies.
- ACME is a leading supplier of containers and packaging for shippers and logistics operators. Every color, image and piece of content on its B2B ecommerce website is meant to evoke an emotional response from buyers, and it succeeds.
- Alibaba, based in China, is one of the best examples of B2B ecommerce. For starters, more than 18 million buyers and sellers from around 240 countries use this platform for their business. The ecommerce company was launched in 1999 and now owns the largest ecommerce website in the world. Today, it’s considered the largest global ecommerce platform for small businesses worldwide.
Tips for writing better B2B messages
Researching B2B marketing can always benefit your brand. However, writing a powerful B2B message that appeals to your target audience is another matter.
According to Smart Insights, 36% of professionals working at B2B companies lack a concrete marketing plan and opt for ad hoc marketing instead of planning their content strategy.
What’s more, 84% of B2B marketing experts use email marketing as their main source of lead generation and distribution, with 56% allocating significant budgets to B2B marketing. In fact, 99firms reported that almost 50% of all B2B companies allocate 10% or more to marketing, and 47% use copywriting as part of their strategy.
Whether you’re a small business, a startup or an international corporation, the post-COVID-19 business landscape is bound to shift in favor of a stable B2B network. There’s no time to lose: you need to update your marketing strategy and learn how to write an amazing first B2B message to win more customers.
In this article, I want to explain how to use B2B marketing, as well as the benefits of diving deeper into content marketing, in the following paragraphs.
1. Write a brief
When we break B2B marketing down into several points, we can see that it’s not that different from B2C marketing in terms of copywriting. However, it differs in one important way: your target audience.
Attracting customers
This is different from approaching company representatives with collaboration or networking offers. That’s why the science of writing B2B content should start with the brief. To get the most out of your B2B messages, try to answer the following questions in your brief:
- Who is your target audience?
- Do you want to attract local or international companies?
- Which sectors do you want to target?
- How often and at what scale will you be able to write B2B content?
- What type of content do you want to include in your strategy?
- What kind of budget and timeline are you working with?
2. Define your delivery channels
We mentioned that email marketing is the predominant channel of choice for B2B messages, and for good reason. Every company representative, CEO or manager is likely to check their inbox several times a day. What better way to reach them and appeal to their sense of networking than by writing an email?
Although email is very popular in the B2B world, it shouldn’t be a limiting factor for your strategy. More and more companies are using social media channels such as X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn to promote their brand. You can use platforms like YouTube and search engines like Google, and integrate PPC ads into your B2B strategy. If you want to get creative, you can use social media live streaming or podcasts to attract B2B partners for your business.
Look for channels that can help you make a good first impression on your prospects. This isn’t an easy task, since you’ll need to work with options that relate to your brand.
Being socially responsible is a great way to create a good first impression of your brand when writing B2B messages. Companies in both the B2B and B2C sectors are expected to stand for something related to their mission statement and values. Some of the most popular and pressing social issues you can address when writing your B2B content include:
- Gender equality
- Black lives matter
- Children’s rights
- Animal rights
- Environmental conservation
- Health and fitness
Choosing to support one or more of these causes in your marketing materials will greatly help your advertising. As a result, more companies will be willing to work with your brand in the future. Make sure your business portfolio and company track record match the cause you want to support, to avoid public scrutiny.
4. Try working with respected influencers
Influencers can play a vital role in your B2B marketing strategy. You can reach out to influencers by email, social media or private messages. Most influencers will be happy to talk to you and explore ways to collaborate, whether in exchange for money or other benefits. You can also work with B2B corporate influencers in your industry, such as senior executives or retired professionals, for example by inviting them to write for your blog.
This is a strategy that will bring long-term results, since it requires an investment of time and money, both to stay in touch and to build a closer relationship with your partners, as you’ll need to spend money investing in the influencers you’ve chosen.
If you want other companies to be willing to work with you, you need to prove your worth from the start. Social proof in the form of testimonials, analytics, quotes and interviews can be extremely useful as part of your B2B marketing strategy. Likewise, statistics showing your company’s past performance can help turn the tide in your favor. B2B messages without any social or empirical proof can often get lost.
Judging by social media today, 84% of people trust recommendations from people they know, while social proof can drive up to a 210% increase in conversions.
You could contact your partners or customers and ask for reference materials, testimonials and similar content. You can also run interviews or send out surveys about your customers’ experience with your brand so far. Collect social proof constantly, because you never know when you might need it, such as when writing B2B messages.
6. Write a powerful opening line
Whether you want to use email marketing, social media or PPC for your B2B messages, the first line can make or break your marketing campaign. Very few people have the time and patience to read content from brands they’re not familiar with, especially in the B2B world. So your opening line should be as informative and direct as possible to break the proverbial ice quickly.
You can grab your readers’ attention by asking a question or stating a fact about a well-known problem in your industry. Likewise, you can open with a quote from someone well known in your industry. Don’t confuse B2B readers with B2C customers. Company representatives, while still human, have different emotional triggers and follow logic more than intuition.
When writing the opening line of your B2B messages, you’ll need to take into account all the factors we discussed above.
7. Appeal to your readers’ professional persona
Finally, it’s important to note that to attract B2B readers, you’ll need to treat them as an extension of their companies. This means that a marketing executive at an international retail company isn’t a “Mike” or a “Lisa” — they’re a marketing executive. It can be a bit tricky to write B2B messages that aren’t personalized and instead treat people as companies.
However, this is a professional and respectful approach to B2B messaging that doesn’t assume anything about the person on the other side. It might be a good idea to research the companies you want to contact. This can give you extra insight into who they are, the values they stand for and which points of interest overlap with yours. If you can build a connection with these professionals, it will be easier to get positive responses.
Why is writing compelling B2B messages important for your company?
Before we wrap up, we need to address the elephant in the room: why write B2B messages in the first place? There are countless companies offering products or services like yours. What sets you apart from the rest is your company’s culture, long-term goals, team and mission statement.
Companies with similar mindsets, goals and operations are likely to work in similar ways and be more open to B2B collaboration and networking. So, some of the reasons to write B2B messages in 2021 include:
These strategies work best when you have a very clear picture of your ideal customer and rely on a good marketing information system.
- Professional brand representation and building authority in your industry
- Identifying potential partners and filtering out unviable companies faster
- Creating a scalable marketing strategy
- Nurturing B2B leads and exploring long-term cooperation opportunities
- Increasing ROI
Jose Argudo
CMO at Mailrelay. Writes about email marketing, copywriting, and conversion for small businesses and entrepreneurs.