Even if you’re not involved in a business, you know what basically happens in that area, how the business is essentially done, and what considerations need to be taken to at least not fall below the bottom line. Basically, when doing business, you produce something, develop a service, or sell something to the end customer. Yet, as you read more about the business or even start your own business ventures, you can hear more about B2B, or business to business practices a lot more often.
The importance of cooperation between businesses for internal purposes of both has been remarked as significant before, yet, now, it has become a trend with more businesses tending to sell their goods or services to other companies.
What is B2B Exactly and How Does Marketing Happen There?
As mentioned above, B2B involves one business producing something for the other business or providing services to it, or reselling something to it. For example, an IT company decides 100 computers for its new office. Obviously, the company will not send an office manager to purchase and bring all that all the way from the hardware store. An appropriate order will be placed for the reseller or producer of these computers and the machines will be delivered in parts or all together at once by prober means. Sounds pretty easy and, in fact, it is as easy as that. Yet, as with customers, you still need to follow some marketing practices when working with B2B, especially in the international arena. Here are a couple of essential tips.
1. Work closely with the sales department. In order to offer something for sales, you must know what sells, obviously. By getting closer to your sales department, you are able to study the demand thoroughly and, hence, offer the right things and stop working with the things that are not needed.
2. Focus on the demand, not the offer. Yes, your company probably has its limits regarding production and retail, yet, the contemporary practices dictate that the customer is the king, hence, basing your marketing strategy particularly on demand is vital. Whatever you do on the B2B market, make sure that it’s presented appropriately, based on what you have researched with the sales department. The customers must know not only what you do but also that they need it.
3. Target a niche rather than an industry or a set of companies. Don’t aim too wide or too narrow. Niche is something that lies right in the middle, so you won’t need to battle a dragon to satisfy either a large set of businesses or a small number of specific companies. Think pragmatically and target a relatively moderate market.
4. Be transparent. The problem of B2B companies is that, oftentimes, the customers have to contact them directly to only find out the price of the goods or services. Contact managers might be too lazy to do that. In case if you cannot guarantee that your prices are carved in stone or stable whatsoever, you can provide you customers with case examples, so that they could understand what they are dealing with.
5. Engage customers. Again, you don’t have to offer them to contact you directly for a quote nor you have to keep all cards open. Offer them a calculator, so that they could approximate what they’ll have to pay for themselves. Simple? Yes. Effective? Of course!
6. Translate. As you step into the international market, you must be prepared that you will literally be not understood. However, a translation service can fix that. You can check out Pickwriters to find the language service provider suitable for you. Just read what people say about the agencies’ services and address the appropriate company for yourself.
7. Localize. Translating the content of your marketing campaign is good but might not always be enough. In order to attract rather demanding and aware customers, the other businesses are, you must make the content of your campaign relatable. You might need to adapt your slogan to make it sound humorously or confident in another language, or you may alter your logo a little bit to appeal to the general color preferences in the country, for instance. Localization is a very important aspect of marketing and certainly should not be missed out in B2B practice.
8. Target the customers with potential. Let’s say you’re producing and selling printers and fax machines for small businesses. Unless you’re sure that the company will need to use the printers and fax machines you offer on a continuous basis and in industrial volumes, you should not even target that company. Everything depends on your goals and the demand, of course, but in B2B marketing, it’s all about the all-or-nothing strategy.
9. Get involved in sponsorship. Supporting others is a great way to let customers know about you. This also works for the B2B practice. Sponsor a major corporate event for businesses or throw an exclusive fair for other entrepreneurs. This will clearly point out that you have serious intentions.
10. Offer promotions. You know that various promotions like discounts and sales work for individual customers well, right? Well, this also works with B2B too. Everybody loves promotions and business owners or their managers are no exception. So, running some kind of monetary or non-monetary promotion is a viable idea if you want to know your potential customers better at least.
B2B Is Almost Like B2C
The only difference, perhaps, lies in the volumes of production and sales. You still have to use the same techniques to attract the customers and you still have to study them before you begin. While the volumes do matter, the main principles remain the same, and that the most important thing. If you’re already familiar with B2C international practice, then B2B will be a task you can handle.
BIO:
Researching and writing for many years now, Henry McDowell never seems to stop learning and discovering new things about work, travel, education, and the modern lifestyle. Keen to learn and teach, Henry always makes sure to share his experiences so that others could improve along with him. With his goal to make the world a little better and more educated at a time, Henry can proudly state that he’s on the right track.
