Marketing is an ancient, evergreen process without which the existence of you and your product in the market is not known to the potential consumers. Businesses need different products and services to function, which they cannot develop or manufacture on their own. For example, an auto company purchases small components for its cars from several third-party vendors and assembles them in its workshop. The company then pays shipping and transportation charges to transport the cars across the country.
Marketing helps in this brand awareness about your product and services to other potential companies who are on the lookout for innovative, problem-solving products and services. You can easily convert potential clients into your loyal consumer base by employing the correct marketing tools and strategies.
And all of this starts by developing the right B2B (business-to-business) marketing strategies to reach out to companies that need your product or service. So let’s understand the importance of B2B marketing strategies.
Why are B2B marketing strategies required?
- A B2B market base is quite different from a B2C (business-to-customer) market. Therefore, marketing strategies must also vary in line with the customer base. The potential customer base is quite significant in a B2C market vis a vis the B2B space. For example, clothes or toothbrushes are required by all individuals and have high demand and a high customer base. But a high-power drilling machine or custom-made compact X-ray machinery for a clinic, or custom-made software development for a medium-scale company is required by very few people. So, developing the marketing strategies keeping the customer profile in mind will help you reach out to the relevant customers and help establish long-term business relations.
- In the past, B2B marketing essentially focused on one-on-one interaction to sell products and services. Sales officers had targets to pursue prospects and convert them to customers. But complex digital transformation over the past two decades has enhanced the scope of B2B marketing activities. To keep pace with this digital growth, you need to invest heavily in the various modes of online B2B marketing, including social media, web-based, email and content marketing, to stay ahead and achieve more significant ROI.
- With digital transformation and cloud-based data storage, marketers today focus on extracting the most from the data by using various tools and technologies. This will help you supply products to keep pace with the demand, better understand consumer behaviour, and build long-term relationships with customers.
In short, new-age B2B marketing strategies are the need of the hour.
New Age B2B marketing strategies of 2022
The worldwide pandemic and ever-changing consumer demands have revolutionised the marketing strategies for B2B companies in 2022. With the popularity of WFH and the constant shift in consumer behaviour, B2B companies need to find their place in these emerging environments. Below we will discuss a few B2B marketing trends of 2022 and how companies can leverage them to devise winning marketing strategies.
- Email marketing– Although a time-tested method used at the early start of the century, email marketing holds the same relevance even today. Thanks to smartphones and mobile data, B2B companies still prefer email as a marketing communication tool. Email marketing will be here to stay as it helps brand awareness and customer retention quickly, thus ensuring higher ROI.
- Blog posts and video marketing– Informative blog posts have been a trend for over a decade and still have effective reach. But in 2022, video marketing will set a new trend. Millennials who are heavily dependent on digital platforms are a new age B2B customers. The love for information at their fingertips has increased the visibility of videos, making them an impactful method to create a buzz. According to a report by Cisco, videos will take over 82% of the online traffic in 2022. Video marketing attracts potential customers worldwide in a short span of time, thus making it a lucrative option for businesses. More than 84% of the video viewers say that they are more likely to buy the product after seeing the online video of the product. This B2B marketing trend will surely rise and shine.
- Mobile Apps- The world wide web is here to stay. So is the mobile. Many B2B companies are using mobile apps to sell their products and services and giving special discounts or coupons to their users. In the year 2022, mobile apps will gain more popularity as they are faster and more user-friendly, making them the ideal platform to share company information, upcoming events and promotional strategies. They offer the same features and content as that on a website, thus focusing on customer experience enhancements.
- Content marketing and advertising– Content writing has recently gained immense popularity. In the year 2022, customer-centric digital content marketing will gain popularity. Social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter are becoming trending marketing platforms for B2B companies to advertise. For example, Shopify, an eCommerce company, helps build and customise the content by providing relevant tools to display content on various platforms like web, mobile, or other online marketplaces.
Conclusion
However, there’s no compulsion to choose every method, you can pick the method that best suits your business needs or use them in tandem to achieve your objectives.
