Collaborate, Relate and Listen
Collaborating with local businesses and building a strong working relationship is an important part of B2B Marketing. Interacting and engaging with your community, gives them a reason to want to communicate and work with you.
B2B Marketing (Business to Business) has changed and evolved into communicating and collaborating online. An online presence can change your prospects and audience. Customers today rely on the internet to research brands, build relationships and find facts. It is important that any small business takes advantage of this not only for sales turnover but to build a relationship with like minded business owners in their area.
Who are you talking to and what do you want to say?
If you’re a small business looking to work with or sell to other businesses it is essential that you have a marketing plan to deliver your message and make sure your audience is listening.
Your Content
What is the story of your brand or product? Nobody likes a boring story so it is important that your content delivers your message in a dynamic way, making it relevant to your audience. The goal of relevant content is to educate and in turn sell your product or brand, the customer should be drawn in not only by your message but in the way you deliver it. Good content not only consists of useful information but visuals and media that work to promote your company, make sure that your story is heard and shared.
Your Website
Your online presence needs a home, your internet store front so to speak. Your website is a vehicle to convey a message and tell an audience your story, explaining your business goals to prospective clients and partners. It is an important part of building trust and delivering information to your consumer. First impressions do last and it is important that when people search for you online that they are engaged and connected to your brand. The online consumer has a very short attention span when it comes to sub par websites and those that have no relevance to them or their business.
Who is your audience?
This is one of the most important questions when developing a marketing plan. You don’t want your brand to get lost in the crowd, instead the goal is to target your specific market. It is key to listen to your customers as well as your competitors, following trends in your industry and taking notice of how people are being influenced and who is influencing them. When marketing to other businesses for sales or collaboration it is obvious to target those that you can build a working relationship with and will benefit from your product or services.
Express Your Ideas Socially
Social Media is no longer just people chatting on Facebook and Twitter or posting their home made video’s on YouTube. It has become a tool for your business to connect with the consumer and audience, express your ideas, promote your brand and increase your online presence. Social Media is where your content should be even more dynamic and more relevant. Successful B2B Marketing embraces social media as a tool to collaborate and build business relationships, communicating and working together to drive sales, create leads, entice new customers and develop long term clients. People like to share useful information and will do so if your content is relatable and can benefit them or their business.
Commit and Engage
You may have an online presence and be socially active but if people search for you, find you and then leave thinking that’s all you have to offer, all the hard work is for nothing. It is important to engage with the audience and stay in touch, give them options of email or newsletter subscriptions where you can offer them rich and relevant content on a constant basis. Your social media links should be prominent giving them the option of following, liking and more importantly sharing your content. Committing to your audience or B2B relationship is about delivering a better and beneficial customer experience, developing trust in your product or brand and funneling that into referrals, sales and long term clients.
The digital economy is very competitive, but successful and unique B2B Online Marketing can even the odds and benefit your business in more ways than one. It is important that your online marketing plan is driven by creativity and relevant content that builds trust in the reader and consumer. A good brand our message is found, followed, shared and liked.