B2B Marketing: How To Start A Digital Strategy For Your Business

One of the main challenges of Digital Marketing for B2B marketing companies is to build value and gain the audience’s trust.

In this scenario, content production as a marketing strategy advances considerably in companies with B2B operations. The objective is to attract more customers with quality content and become a reference in the segment.

In most events and publications on Digital Marketing, we usually see cases and tips from large companies that sell to end consumers (B2C, or business to consumer ). The problem is that these techniques are replicated — often unsuccessfully — for B2B companies. The pyramid above will help us understand the main reason for this failure.

The Difference Between B2B And B2C Digital Marketing

Before we dive into ideas and strategies for B2B Digital Marketing, let’s differentiate it from B2C Digital Marketing. The following are the main characteristics of each type.

B2C Digital Marketing

Many people must have heard about how Dell sold more than $3 million worth of laptops in the US through its Twitter profile and then concluded that selling in 140 characters was the solution to all problems. The problem is that this direct approach only works for the top of the pyramid: the 10% that are already buying or willing to listen.

In the example above, this straightforward approach makes sense in terms of numbers only because the notebook stakeholder market is vast and cyclical. The 10% buying now or willing to listen is enough to generate massive sales volume.

For many B2C products, demand is latent. People already feel the need for development, and a stimulus (such as a promotion) is enough for them to take the action of buying. It is up to B2C companies to create consumer awareness and desire for their brand and then ensure that their offers are found by people already at that purchase stage. Of course, all of this is always accompanied by a competitive offer.

For brands like Dell, offering an attraction (in this case, price) is enough for the offer to become famous, and a relevant percentage of people end up buying it. Another example is the success of group purchases, which bring together reasonable requests in a single place and accelerate impulse purchases.

Notice that the companies have direct sales channels through the internet in the examples above. There are still many other B2C companies that are far from this and use Digital Marketing the same way as in traditional marketing (on TV, radio etc.): to generate brand affinity and demand at the point of sale.

B2B Marketing

In B2B, the opposite is usually the case. Products have complex sales and longer cycles. As concrete demand and a consolidated market often do not even exist, it is up to the selling companies to act as solution evangelists.

Returning to the pyramid, we can also think about the following: the number of people wanting to drink soda or buy a computer is incomparably more significant than the number of companies hiring consultancy or Digital Marketing software, for example. Thus, focusing on direct sales to the top of the pyramid no longer reaches a very high number of customers.

The situation is even more complex if we remember that B2B sales are not driven by emotion, unlike B2C. There is much more risk, people, research and analysis involved, which makes trust in the supplier essential.

Most people respond by presenting the story or benefits of their product/service, selling directly. The problem is, start saying that, and 90% of the pyramid gets up and leaves. For that reason, your speech — including your blog, Instagram and Facebook, etc. — will focus on offering helpful content to the customer, regardless of the moment of purchase they are in. Something interesting has to say for the whole pyramid to continue listening.

It’s no wonder that you find, on our blog, posts about how to increase the generation of leads and sales through Digital Marketing, but you won’t find many posts about the features and benefits of our software. This more product-oriented content is beneficial for those who are already customers or for those at the top of the pyramid, which you can find on the RD Station blog.

Also Read: What Are Digital Business? And It’s Key Features