Business to Business Marketing

For many people marketing is only relevant in the B2C (business to consumer) sector. This is where companies sell their services and/or products to the man in the street. But is that true? Where does this leave those of you that sell to other businesses?

B2B (business to business) marketing plays a very different role and is, in many ways, much simpler. While B2C marketing is trying to reach “everyone” this is not the case in the B2B marketing. Here you have a finite target segments, which are usually easier to identify, although not as easy to convert!

Sales and marketing efforts to another business has advantages but does not come without its fair share of challenges too. For example in the B2C sector you don’t have to work out how to get around gatekeepers, receptionists, secretaries or other staff who have been instructed to block your access to decision makers. This hurdle is an important one to be navigated in the B2B sector.

Before you starting thinking about actual marketing activities you need to do three things:

First: Give careful consideration to clarifying your target market clearly. It is important that everyone in your organization is clear on who they are talking to and, of course, why. Remember you want to group people together that have similar problems so that you can provide solutions to their particular needs.

Second: Ensure you know who, in the target organisation, is actually the decision-maker, who rubber stamps decisions and who the potential gatekeepers are. Without prior understanding of these roles, and who plays them, you will waste time and money on woo’ing the wrong person, only to find yourself and your efforts undermined.

Third: Spend a bit of time looking critically at your database. Usually B2B companies deal with a small number of potential clients so you should have an existing database of information available to you eg potential client names, contact people and contact information (email, contact numbers etc). Once you’ve compiled and sorted the information prioritise the list so that you and/or your sales team have a clear call cycle strategy to work from.

There are two key marketing tools that you will find the most effective in business to business marketing. These are Direct Marketing and Personal Selling. Don’t underestimate the value of these, they will reward you handsomely if you implement them effectively.

Small Business Marketing

Many small business owners find it hard to write and implement effective marketing plans. Mostly this is because they are not only the small business owner but they also serve the customer, fix the problem and often even answer the telephone!

Do you sometimes feel like you’re all things to all people? How then does one become the strategist and the implementer of marketing activities? It’s a good question but it is possible with a bit of time spent in the planning stage.

Small business marketing is actually quite a lot easier than a lot of people give it credit for. Marketing plans tend to be slotted into the realm of large corporates and are often perceived to be not be applicable for the small business owner. However this is not correct and misguided thinking like this often leads the small business owner down the path to liquidation.

The most important element in small business marketing is to understand your strengths and business opportunities.

Without a clear understanding of what makes you worth doing business with you cannot expect to market your business effectively.

There are three things the small business owner needs to understand to have effective marketing:

First: Understand the broader context of your trading environment. What is the political, economic, socio-cultural, technological, environmental and legal framework within which you are trading. Are there any factors that could affect you, which you need to take into account when looking at your small business marketing?

Second: Know who your target market is? How can you group people or companies into sectors with similar problems, which you can provide the solution to?

Third: Clearly communicate a message that differentiates you. What is it about your business that people would buy-into and support? Is your Product unique, your Pricing a benefit, the way you Distribute your product different or is your Promotional strategy going to give you a personality that cannot be matched. If you’re a small service business, you may need to include something about what makes your People better, how your Physical Facilities are more convenient or even how your Processes enable quicker service or provide reliable consistency.

Finally think about whether you have any partnerships that you can leverage off to provide benefits to your target market. They’ll support you if you have something extra to offer that your competitor’s don’t.

Updating Marketing Plans

There have been lots of discussions in marketing circles over the last six months about the effects of the economic change on marketing plans and, while lots of debates abound, one thing everyone agrees on is that your marketing plan MUST be updated given this change in market conditions.

If you’re still operating off a marketing plan developed more than six months ago you are in trouble. All the assumptions and research your plan was based on are now null and void and if you don’t address the misalignment quickly you’ll be sure your competition will beat you to it.

The biggest strategic revisit needs to be around the trading environment. What are your competitors doing and how strong are they? Are they more resilient than you?

What about your customers? What will their reaction be to the economic shift? Are your services a necessity or a luxury? How can you become a must have, rather than only a nice to have?

Remember also to look inward within your own business. What is the mood within your staff? Are they able to focus on serving the customer or is their mind on how they’re going to manage to keep the kids in school?

All of these permutations, and many many more, have a direct impact on the future success of your business. If you are the Marketing Manager you need to grab a coffee, put your feet up on the desk and think long and hard about the strategic marketing elements that impact on your company’s performance.

After all, if you’re not doing it, who is?

If you’d like a quick and easy way to update your marketing plan sign up for TheSmallBusinessMarketingToolbox today. You’ll be lead through a simple step-by-step process to effectively re-evaluate your trading environment. Why not begin today?