26 percent of all U.S. businesses are in the B2B market. As a whole, the B2B industry is valued at $6.7 trillion. With numbers like these, it’s not hard to see why you chose to start a B2B business.
While selling to businesses instead of human consumers comes with unique advantages, it also has its fair share of challenges. One of the biggest relates to lead generation and marketing.
Even with these challenges, it’s possible for your business to run effective B2B marketing campaigns. In today’s article, we’re diving into the marketing mistakes you must avoid.
Don’t Fail to Profile Your B2B Customers:
Of course, you have a darn good idea about your products/services’ corporate consumers. For example, if you manufacture automotive engine control units (ECU), it’s clear that your clients are automotive manufacturing companies. Case closed.
What else is there to know about your target market? You certainly know where those companies are located and whatnot.
If that’s all you know, then your customer profile isn’t complete. You need to look at those businesses as a human. There are people behind it; the decision-makers. Those are the buyers.
Profiling a company’s decision-makers is key to creating a complete profile. What generational group do those decision-makers belong to? Are they boomers? Millennials perhaps?
Knowing such details makes it much easier for a small business owner to design an effective marketing strategy. You’d approach marketing to a millennial-led company just as you’d approach marketing to millennial consumers.
Look Beyond LinkedIn:
LinkedIn is the go-to channel for B2B social media marketing – and for a good reason. Being a professional networking platform, it’s where you’ll find most of the decision-makers in the companies you’re targeting.
LinkedIn is highly-effective for B2B marketing, but it’s not the only social media platform that works. If you’re not doing any marketing on other top social networking platforms, you’re making a big mistake. An increasing number of businesses of all kinds are active on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and even TikTok.
However, this doesn’t mean you should run marketing campaigns on every social network. Settle on one or two networks that are most relevant to your target audience.
Don’t Let SEO Take a Backseat:
Google says 89 percent of B2B buyers use the internet when researching a product or service to buy, with web search being the go-to tool.
Is your business website visible on search engines?
If SEO and SEM aren’t part of your marketing efforts, you’re not doing the most to put your business in front of the corporate buyers you’re targeting. Your goal should be to rank no lower than position 3 in search engine results.
SEO for B2B companies isn’t complex if you know what you’re doing. Start by revamping your website design and ensuring it meets modern standards. Throw in a content marketing strategy as well.
Don’t Make These B2B Marketing Mistakes:
B2B marketing can seem like rocket science to newbies. But as soon as you figure that behind those organizations are human beings with predictable human behavior, it all gets easier. And now that you know the marketing mistakes to avoid, you’re in a better position to determine the best types of marketing to use.
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