B2B Marketing- The Complete Guide

B2B marketing aims to help companies find customers for other companies, it is the marketing between companies (business to business) and focuses on attracting potential customers, in order to increase sales. The acronym B2B comes from the abbreviation of “ business to business”, its meaning in Spanish is “from company to company”. Therefore, B2B marketing is the marketing between companies and its objective is to help companies to sell to other companies.

B2B Marketing In 2022

As a B2B marketing agency, we talk to CMOs, CEOs, and CSOs of B2B companies every day and they all have the same problem: They don’t generate qualified  leads on a recurring and predictable basis.

The digital world is changing the way in which customers (companies) look for their suppliers and this means that traditional B2B marketing strategies no longer have as much importance in the company’s sales. What was the main way of attracting potential customers 10 or 15 years ago is no longer.

This change has been caused by digital marketing, and as you have surely heard, between 60% and 90% of decisions in B2B purchases are made online, before the customer picks up the phone. When companies need to hire a service or buy a product, they first search online and after viewing the providers’ websites, they select 2 or 3 and contact them.

The new B2B marketing strategies to generate qualified marketing leads require a change in the way companies work. These are the key points that a business-to-business marketing strategy should focus on :

Customer-Centric Marketing Strategies

B2B companies have always focused on creating product-centric strategies, which are basically based on improving production costs and being more competitive. Everything was focused on selling more and having better margins.

The new marketing between companies has also modified this way of working and is based more on getting to know the customer, detecting their problems, solving them, and providing them. This new way of thinking called customer-centric, makes us get customers who are not based solely on price and who see more value in our company, so they are more loyal customers and allow us to increase margins.

Boost Your Digital Presence

As you may have read before, most purchase decisions in business-to-business companies are decided on the Internet, it is the first filter before calling the companies with which you would like to work.

Most of the B2B companies we meet for the first time do not have a defined B2B digital strategy or a budget allocated to it. The reason is not that there is no capital to allocate, but because of ignorance of all this digital, they still do not believe it. But how can you boost your visibility in the online world? 

There are 5 basic pillars by which you can attract users to your website. Your own website, digital advertising, SEO positioning, content marketing and social networks. Each of them is a very extensive chapter and we have dedicated a separate post, click and you can go deeper.

Measure Everything You Do

If digital has something good, it is that everything can be measured. It is important that all the actions that are carried out are measured, since only then can we say which of all the B2B marketing strategies is the one that works best for us and bet the budget on the winning horse.

Align Marketing And Sales Departments

As I have said before, sales largely depend on the companies’ marketing department, so a good integration between the sales and commercial departments is essential to be able to successfully achieve the objectives set. Today there are CRM and sales management programs that make our work easier, if you haven’t tried any yet, you’re not being as profitable as you could be.

Specialization Of The Product Or Service

B2B buyers are looking for very specific products or services. It is a sector with a high degree of specialization in which traditional marketing techniques do not achieve great results. A well-planned B2B Marketing strategy must be precise in its commercial message and have a niche approach.

Research before purchase

B2B purchases are not made from one moment to the next. B2B purchases involve long processes in which periods for reflection are necessary due to the large investments involved. Different people and departments within the company are involved in these processes, which is why they are complex processes. When considering them, it is necessary to take into account that buyers carry out exhaustive research before buying.

Decision making

The person in charge of contacting the company that offers the product or service you need is not always the one who makes the decisions. In most cases, these are people who need to collect a series of information as part of their research and this is necessary to know before proposing any B2B Marketing strategy. Gaining the trust of these people will be key to our B2B Marketing strategy.

Long business relationships

The iB2B purchasing processes are long and therefore the business relationships between companies are as well. It is crucial to stay the focus of the potential buyer throughout the process. Accompanying the buyer, providing relevant content, and generating interest are key aspects.