B2B marketing professionals like you understand the need for constant evolution. Whether you’re an established institution in a highly competitive market, a would-be disruptor, or a small business looking to carve out a niche of your own, you’re likely facing steep competition for your target audience. There’s no shortage of would-be service providers out there, and the businesses you market to are constantly bombarded by appeals from all sides.
How can you get business in this environment? By cutting through the noise with creative, innovative marketing tactics. By utilizing deep analytics, cutting-edge digital tools and brand-unique message distribution to carve your unique business proposition in stone.
In this article, we’ll briefly cover a variety of advanced B2B marketing tactics for seasoned industry professionals. In doing so, we’ll give you the tools to refine your messaging, market to your target audiences, and streamline your customer experience at every level.
Gaining Insight into Product Lifecycle
Reliability is a crucial component of strong marketing messaging. You want your would-be clients to know that you have a proven track record of delivery in your industry, that your processes are streamlined for maximum efficiency, and that they can count on you for rapid, on-target order fulfillment. Getting the information to make that case can be difficult, if you don’t have a great degree of insight into your organizational data.
Digitization has thus become a competitive imperative for businesses across industries. A continuous journey of process refinement facilitated by cutting-edge digital solutions, digitization creates a single source of truth for your organizational data, allowing for the streamlining of processes and the deployment of data-driven insights. B2B marketers can use digital tools to get a deeper perspective on the efficiency of their processes, then pivot their approach to eliminate inefficiencies and maximize profit.
For an example on how digitization works, let’s look at product labeling. Barcodes are manually placed, contain limited information, and can easily be removed or destroyed. Smart-labeling systems, on the other hand, provide a great deal of information, remove manual work from employees’ plates, and unlock real-time tracking for shipments. Replacing manual barcodes with smart labeling allows you to reliably report inventory and shipping progress to clients, building a reputation for reliability.
It bears repeating that digitization is a process, not a one-size-fits-all investment that resolves your pain points at once. If you’re new to the digitization process, exploring digital tools that can resolve known inefficiencies might be a good place to begin.
Utilize Embedded Video Marketing
If you aren’t taking steps to educate would-be clients on what your products are and the unique value they offer, someone else will. More traditional marketing experts might be tempted to see video marketing as a departure from strategy, one that can be backburnered until calendar space opens up. In reality, with the modern consumers’ attention span shrinking and the prevalence of digital marketing across mediums like social media, video marketing is a valuable, necessary tool in your inventory.
But how can you use video marketing effectively? How can your brand craft engaging videos that represent you, engage customers, and provide value to the viewer? While specifics and execution may differ, your B2B video marketing strategy can include the following:
- Introduce customers to your brand – Video marketing can be leveraged to boost brand awareness, introducing customers to your ideals, products, and unique value proposition. If you’re making your first foray into video marketing, starting with a “who are we” narrative sets the foundation for content to come.
- Release client testimonials – As other brands view your first video, they may desire to do more research into your portfolio, understanding the types of clients you’ve worked with, the services you’ve provided, and the value you’ve added for your partners. Client testimonials further sell your value proposition by carrying would-be clients further through the customer journey, putting them in your prior clients’ shoes so they can determine whether you’re a good fit.
- Explain products and highlight tips and tricks – Finally, multimedia content can also serve to educate customers on your vast array of products and services. Knowing what you’re selling, how it works, and why it will add value helps cement their decision to proceed with you. You can also provide content that offers advanced insight on how to get the most value from your products or services – such a service helps instill customer confidence, and also boosts the efficacy of those products and services.
Your focus shouldn’t be on going viral. You’re not a social media influencer looking to make a quick buck. Your focus should be on leveraging the world of multimedia content to cultivate a knowledgeable, reliable persona, handcrafting the image of a business consumers can trust.
Embrace Sustainability
Finally, sustainability is extremely important to the modern consumer; and this goes double for B2B clients who are also trying to push their own sustainability initiatives. As a B2B service provider, going beyond compliance to push sustainability throughout every level of your processes can be a huge selling point for partners who want to be visibly and authentically green.
By prominently incorporating energy-saving solutions into every aspect of your operations, you’ll position yourself to be an ideal partner for sustainability-minded clients. Promoting your efforts through video marketing, social media, and even a separate microsite can go a long way to hooking would-be partners.
We hope this primer helped you better understand the demands of the B2B market, and how to position yourself to meet them loudly and proudly. Utilize the tips and tricks above, and you’ll find yourself drawing in more leads – and maybe even converting those leads into longtime loyal customers.
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