The B2B industry is very lucrative, but also very competitive. It’s much harder to find customers for the B2B than the B2C business model for various reasons. As much as 77% of B2B customers report that they research thoroughly before making a purchase, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
B2B customers are selective, they have a wide variety of suppliers to choose from, and they analyze the purchasing process much more because of the cost. So how can you as a B2B business get more customers and increase sales? All you need to do is apply the right tactics.
Use field marketing
Selling is an art form in the B2B world, and marketing needs to be very specific if you want to draw the attention of potential customers. If you really want to succeed, you need a good guide for B2B marketing and the proper marketing strategies.
One strategy that can be very successful yet isn’t utilized too often is field marketing. This is a strategy that uses marketing activities that are performed in person and on-site and it’s designed to gain the attention and interest of your target audience.
This includes activities such as product demonstrations, guerrilla marketing, and in-person events. It can be done in multiple places, whether it’s at meetings, conferences, or trade shows, whichever works best for your organization.
With field marketing, you can improve the customer experience, create a positive brand perception, collect valuable market data, and much more. If you want to know more about the concept and how to execute it properly, Hoppier explains field marketing perfectly as well as all of the benefits it offers.
Try social selling
Social selling isn’t a new concept by any means. As much as 95% of B2B marketers utilize social media content in some form, making it the most widely-used content type. The rise of social platforms has truly brought a lot of benefits to businesses of all niches and sizes.
However, there is a downside to using social media just for direct selling, and that is a lack of brand awareness and recognition. Most people who buy a product or service online care only about their purchase, not the company they bought their item from.
But social selling takes a different approach. It allows you to warm up your prospects and get them to fall in love with your brand through careful promotion. If you post valuable content, interact with your audience, and showcase your expertise, your brand recognition will increase.
This allows you to not only sell your products on social media but also make a name for yourself and your company online.
Finally, don’t forget about LinkedIn. This is the only business-oriented social media platform and it can greatly help you reach your social selling goals. And if you automate the process with a sales management tool for LinkedIn, you can’t lose.
Get to know your prospects on a deeper level
The road that leads to more sales is seemingly obvious and simple:
- First, you need to find prospects.
- Then, you make sure that they’re qualified leads.
- Finally, you need to convert those leads into customers.
But this isn’t completely black and white.
For a lead to become a customer, you need to know a lot more about them other than what pain point you need to address with your product. Rather, you need to do thorough research on your qualified leads, gather as much information about them, and get to know them on a deeper level.
When you have all of this information at your fingertips, you will be able to create the perfect product and a marketing message that will resonate with them.
Learn about the challenges they’re struggling with, what their purchasing process typically looks like, and what businesses they worked with in the past. You should also find out who the decision-makers of the company are and what is the best way to get in touch with them.
With that amount of information about your leads, you will know how to turn your company into a business they want to work with.
Align the sales and marketing departments
When you take a second to think about sales and marketing, you will realize that one cannot exist without the other. However, in a staggering number of companies, these two departments work completely separately and don’t even know what the other is trying to achieve.
If you don’t align your sales and marketing teams, you will miss out on a lot of potential revenue. But if you do, they will be able to work together as a singular unit to meet all of your customers’ needs, regardless of what stage of the buyer journey they’re in.
When your marketing team creates content, make sure they share it with the sales team and explain why that particular strategy is best. That way, the sales team will be able to harmonize with them and your company can reap all the benefits both teams provide.
Final thoughts
Surviving in the B2B industry can seem difficult at times, and thriving can seem impossible. But there are so many companies out there who managed to make a name for themselves and find success just by applying the right strategies. And you can do the same.
