Marketing is an ever-changing field and your strategy on Monday might not work by Friday. The world of marketing can be an exciting one, but it can also be stressful. Marketing and advertising are how you broadcast your business to your target audience and draw in new customers. An advertising plan that falls flat is money down the drain.
Strategies change when you’re marketing to business organizations instead of individuals. You have to consider everything from your target audience members to the platforms you use to reach them. If you’re currently operating a B2B company or planning to launch one, here are some tips for reaching your target audience.
1. Connect Through a Podcast
If there’s one thing that many professionals enjoy, it’s a good podcast. Listening to a business podcast is a productive way to pass the time during a long commute or while mowing the lawn. Motivated professionals will look for every opportunity to learn and improve. B2B podcasts are hands-free and chock full of valuable insights from business professionals, so tuning in makes sense.
Hosting a podcast can be beneficial for a few different reasons. For starters, it gives you a platform to share your expertise in your particular field. Listeners can come for your insights and be directed to your company website or personal social profiles. Including an explicit call to action at the end of each episode provides a way to capture leads. You might encourage listeners to book a consultation or sign up for your email newsletter, enabling you to further nurture those leads.
Podcasts are also prime outlets for advertising. Your podcast marketing strategy can include touting your company on related podcasts to expand your reach. Alternatively, you could generate ad revenue from non-competing companies who want to reach your audience on your podcast. Your next Google Ad campaign could very well be funded by your latest podcast episode.
2. Link Yourself Online
When was the last time you accessed your LinkedIn account? This social media platform is wildly popular among B2B audiences due to its professional nature. Instead of sharing cat videos and quirky photos, business professionals can share insights from their personal experiences. Here, connections are made through common business interests and the quality of one’s ideas.
LinkedIn can be used for so much more than sharing success stories or updating your digital resume. For instance, instead of networking through comments sections, you can write an article under your name or the name of your business. Advancing important industry conversations can give you more credibility in your field and get your name out to a larger audience.
People who read your article may contact you to inquire about your services. Some of these connections could turn into new deals for your company, all because you were willing to share your expertise with others.
3. Put a New Twist on Tried-and-True Strategies
There’s an extensive list of marketing strategies that B2B companies are currently using. They send representatives to trade shows, put on webinars, or send out email marketing campaigns. These strategies aren’t without value, of course. The problem is that their effectiveness is diminished when everyone else is employing the same tactics.
What you can do is take these ordinary marketing methods and give them a creative spin. This will set you apart from direct competitors and draw in more attention from prospective clients. In many cases, this approach will be much easier than coming up with an entirely novel concept to implement from the ground up.
Consider the three B2B marketing strategies mentioned above. To lure in more prospects at a trade show, your booth might take on the appearance of a game show. While participants play for prizes, you get to pass on company information and make a lasting impression. You could spice up your webinars with live polling and other add-ons to increase audience participation. And adding short-form videos to your email marketing campaigns could make them even more effective.
4. Find Your Niche
Rather than try to be all things to all people, many companies will seek to carve out a niche in a competitive market. The narrower your scope, the more creative you can get with your B2B outreach.
You don’t have to target only your niche, but this approach gives you a place to flex your creativity and try to capture a specific audience. Let’s say you want to create content to improve your SEO and promote your business in new corners of the internet. If your goal is to specifically target Black-owned businesses to work with, you can seek out blogs and publications that attract that audience.
The more exclusive your niche, the more “out there” your ideas can be. You might operate a manufacturing company looking to work with local shoe stores to craft custom products. Your joint marketing campaign could be a competition where the winner gets to make their custom shoe design come to life. What sneakerhead wouldn’t be attracted to that campaign? And what shoe store wouldn’t conclude that working with you was a profitable proposition?
As with all types of marketing, some trial and error will be involved. The good thing about B2B marketing is that there are lots of opportunities to create long-term partnerships. Strike gold with the right marketing approach, and you can net yourself, clients, and partners, for years to come.
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