Business to business (B2B) marketing is unlike the advertising we see on television or the banner ads on our favorite websites. While those marketing campaigns target consumers, business to business marketing targets businesses. If this is confusing to you, think of it this way. When you buy an electronic gadget, you are the consumer and the company selling that gadget is selling it directly to you. The components that make that gadget run were chosen by the seller as the result of successful B2B marketing. This means that businesses, not individuals, are the end users.
For many years, B2B marketing required an enormous budget and years in the industry to “pay your dues” and prove you were someone enough in the know to be “worthy” the volume buys typical of businesses. While the intimidating boardrooms and secretarial pools are a thing of the past as businesses continue to restructure and reorganize to better meet the needs of their customers, business to business marketing still requires you be able to “talk the talk” to be successful.
There are many differences between consumer-centric and B2B marketing campaigns. Below are five ways the two are dissimilar from one another.
- Audiences have very short attention spans. While consumers are fickle, B2B customers are time crunched. Their time looking for the highest quality widget they need with the cheapest price is finite and just one item on a long to-do list. You have only a few seconds to engage them with your marketing efforts.
- Business-speak is unique. Yes, it may look like English, but successful B2B marketing campaigns use the buzzwords of the industry to illustrate depth of knowledge. If you are unsure of the language used by your industry, review other sites you’d like to emulate. You will lose leads if you talk to businesses in the same voice as consumers.
- Hyperbole is frowned upon. More than consumer audiences, business to business marketing readers dislike hearing about things that will revolutionize the industry or exceed the user’s wildest expectations. Most likely, these are both overstating things a bit. Be confident in your assertions but skip the hyperbole.
- Knowledge is power. Know what you’re talking about. This is always important but is paramount in B2B marketing. Beyond choosing the right words and messages for your audience, you must understand their business intimately. Business decision makers will turn on their heels and run the moment they suspect they are not in expert hands.
- It will take longer than you think to close a deal. Business to business marketing takes longer and will cost more in both real dollars and with regard to the energy you spend winning new customers. While a single consumer seeks permission from himself and no one else, business buyers may need to check with another person, team, or department before they get final buy in. Depending on the size of the deal, this could take months or even years.
Over the past decade, B2B marketing has morphed from being starched and rigid to being remarkably fluid. The process to becoming a highly-skilled B2B marketer is not swift but the benefits far outweigh the challenges and frustrations.
If you are someone who enjoys the intellectual exercise of learning new concepts and industries and staying on top of the latest trends, business to business marketing is custom-made for you. Even if these aren’t your strong suits, business to business success can still be had with the assistance of the world’s biggest classroom – the Internet.
