However, despite the marketing efforts, no results were seen.
Some people may want to get started in B2B marketing but don't know where to start.
To achieve good results with B2B marketing, it is important to understand the basics of B2B marketing and then take the appropriate approach.
In this article, we will thoroughly explain B2B marketing, starting from the basics, and how to get results.
BtoB marketing is literally marketing specialized for BtoB.
This refers to strategic marketing activities germany telegram phone number list carried out to create a system that will ensure that customers choose a company's products and services.
First of all, BtoB marketing is the activity of getting new potential customers to choose your company and securing business opportunities.
However, that is not the end of it; creating a situation in which customers continue to choose you on a regular basis is also an important part of B2B marketing.
The difference between BtoB and BtoC marketing
The difference with BtoC is that the customers are companies rather than individuals.
Although they are similar in the sense that they are activities that sell products or services, the approaches taken and the meaning of activities at the marketing stage change depending on whether the target is an individual or a company.
For example, if the other party is an individual, there is a high chance that they will immediately introduce or purchase a service or product, but if it is a company, approval is required for the introduction or purchase, and it often becomes a long-term battle.
As you can see, there are differences between BtoB and BtoC, and the types of activities at the marketing stage vary greatly.
Key Concepts in B2B Marketing
I hope that by now you have a general understanding of the basics of B2B marketing.
However, when it comes to actually using it, I think there are still some areas that I don't fully understand.
Here, we would like to introduce you to "relationship," an important concept in BtoB marketing that continues to build good relationships with customers, from awareness of your products and services to their purchase.
in particular,
Lead Generation
Nurturing
Lead Qualification
Negotiations and orders
There are steps:
Lead Generation
Lead generation refers to generating potential customers who are interested in your products or services.
In terms of the marketing process, it is the first point of contact with customers.
The main techniques used here include online advertising through various channels (social media advertising, Google Ads, etc.), content marketing, email newsletter distribution, and web seminars.
On the other hand, offline techniques include TV commercials, newspaper advertisements, and exchanging business cards.
Nurturing
"Nurturing" refers to the process of developing "prospects" who are not yet familiar with your company's services and have little intention of purchasing into "customers" who are interested in your company's services and products.
Email newsletters are sent out to nurture potential customers.
For users who are not considering adopting or purchasing the product right now but have a latent need, we use content to provide useful information, and listen to and make suggestions about their current issues to increase their interest and enthusiasm, ultimately leading to them becoming customers.
As mentioned above, one of the challenges with B2B is that decision-making on implementation and purchasing is slower than with B2C.
To do this, it is important to fully understand the concerns and challenges each lead has and to communicate with them in the most appropriate way.
Lead Qualification
"Lead qualification" is carried out before actually moving on to negotiations or orders.
Qualification means "selection" or "classification," and refers to the process of finding hot leads with a high probability of purchasing from among the nurtured leads.
A hot lead is someone who is likely to purchase.
So how do you choose?
Many companies use a technique called "scoring."
For example, if a customer views your company's service or product page, you give them 10 points, and if they make an inquiry, you give them 50 points. This is a method of assigning points to pages and actions that show a customer's interest.
This will allow you to visualize users' interest in your company.
Negotiations
After selecting the hot leads mentioned above, we then move on to the process of actually negotiating and converting them into orders.
After selecting hot leads, we conduct inside sales in the sales phase by determining whether the customer is a lead who frequently opens email newsletters, whether they have attended seminars in the past, and how long they have been interested in our products and services.
Inside sales refers to sales activities that involve non-face-to-face communication, such as over the phone, with leads with a low probability of making an order.
It is expected that the success rate will increase by having sales representatives negotiate with leads with a high probability of success, and by using inside sales nurturing for leads with a lower probability of success.
Continued use
In order to increase users' LTV, it is not enough to simply have them purchase a product; you need to take measures to encourage them to continue using your service and making purchases on an ongoing basis.
This is where the role of Customer Success becomes important.
Customer success is responsible for answering customers' concerns and questions, understanding how the service is being used, and providing proactive advice to resolve customers' issues.
In this way, in B2B marketing, it is essential to go beyond simply "getting people to buy" and "generating leads" to designing close, mid- to long-term communication with customers as a future strategy.
How to achieve results in B2B marketing
Many companies are involved in BtoB marketing, but the reality is that they are not seeing results and we often receive consultations about this.
Please understand that this is not a method that can be solved simply by introducing B2B marketing tools.
There are three points that B2B marketers must keep in mind:
Understand what users want
In order to achieve results, it is important to first thoroughly understand what concerns your target audience has and what kind of results they are looking for.
Among the customer data that a company acquires, there are leads with different attributes.
For example, "regular employee level," "section manager or department manager level," "president level," etc.
The information required varies depending on the level of staff.
At the "regular employee level," people care about "data" about what is going on, while at the "section manager or department manager level," they place importance on "information and knowledge" about why the company should be doing that business.
In this way, if you are unable to provide useful information that is tailored to the level of your staff, it will be difficult to pique customers' interest in your company's services.
If you treat them as one big lead without being aware of these, it will be difficult to establish appropriate communication with each lead.