2. How is B2B different to B2C?
• All B2B markets are niches with relatively few customers (100s
/1000s not 1,000,000s). You must speak the language and know
their world
• Businesses buy a long term relationship with a product – both the
contract and the sales cycle will take time
• B2B customers want to be educated (tactfully) and will consume
masses of information about your product – make it easy to find
• The procurement process has been set up to prevent disruption to
normal business, remove risk, to ensure all (customers) feel
consulted and prevent corruption
• Consensual decision making and risk aversion means that you must
convince all customers that you are the right choice
3. B2B buying practice - key
issues
• Aims – to build
– Authority – are you the leading player ?
– Trust – should you be believed ?
– Credibility – can you /now will you do it for a big organisation ?
• B2B Decision Making Team is now ‘very’ inclusive
• Research is done online and the decision is almost made
when procurement starts - procurement is a sanity check
• Approaches
– Authority Building / Thought Leadership
– Relationship Building / Trust Building
4. Content Marketing
• Content marketing is about placing useful content under the
desired audience’s online nose. It is an extension of White
Paper marketing
• B2B marketers should seek to influence how potential
customers see the problem so as to position yourself for a sale
• Content needs to be produced for all who may be involved in
the decision making and for all stages of the procurement
decision
• Content must be
– High quality – though leading, trust building, etc
– High production quality – it needs to look authoritative and
trustworthy
5. Social Media marketing
Do
• Choose the right social media networks
• Find the chosen audience
• Create a Group, Manage a Page, Promote them
• Engage with the audience, give, give and give
• Draw them into your group and your email lists
• Invite them to private things – give better value
• Then Market to them
Don’t
• Market or (especially) Sell (on Social Media)
6. Video Marketing
• The world of internet Video is about 1 % of the Internet’s
content, so the market is much less competitive
• Video is much more engaging than text – the non-verbal
elements of communication are present
• Trust and Authority can be built by video
• Video can be published widely (no search engine penalty yet!)
7. Webinar Marketing
• Web seminars or webinars are nearly as good as offline
seminars
• They are more convenient, but as an event, the customer still
must make time (Videos can be watched later!)
• A webinar registrant thinks you’re An Authority (prospect), an
attendee may think you are The Authority (lead) - leads are
captured as part of the process
• Webinars are two way or interactive – it is easier to build a
relationship of trust. Customer can take part if desired
• Webinars have long reach – many can attend
• Recordings can be re-run (as events or as online content)
8. Podcast Marketing
• Podcasts are pretty unusual in B2B marketing
• This means they are easy for customers to find.
• Some people like to learn by listening – podcasts can be used
between meetings or whilst travelling for example
• Podcasts are easy to promote
9. Email Marketing
• Great for
– Long term relationship building !
– Addressing different segments or roles in the organisation
– Signposting other published content
• Can address different stages of buying lifecycle but takes time
to build the sequence
• May be blocked by firewalls and spam filters
10. How a B2B agency can help your
B2B online lead generation
B2B Agency tasks
• Market Segmentation
• Market Positioning
• Content Marketing Strategy /
Planning support
• Video Production support /
promotion
• Social Media planning /
monitoring & Group/Page admin
• Webinar Anchor
• Webinar Production
• Podcast Production support
• Email marketing support
Home team tasks
• Content Authoring
• Social Media engagement
• Video Presenting
• Webinar Expert /Panel
member
• Podcaster
• Email sequence writing
11. For more information, contact SMEsOnline
James Gunn
james.gunn@smesonline.co
+44 7855 406652
