Marketing Strategies
B2B marketing has been around for a long time. Mention provides an overview:
B2B marketing is the process of promoting a product or service to businesses that will then resell or use that product or service. B2B marketing is different from other marketing schools because it requires a different approach.
For one, B2B marketers need to target their audiences more precisely. Businesses are not monolithic entities – different departments within each company have different needs. B2B marketers need to be able to identify these needs and target their marketing accordingly.
Another key difference is the sales cycle. B2B products and services often have a longer sales cycle than B2C products. This means that B2B marketers need to be patient and focused on building relationships rather than making a quick sale.
Further, B2B products and services are usually more expensive and have a higher level of features. B2B marketers must communicate the value of their product and service in a way that resonates with their audience.
It lists 14 strategies:
- Invest in content marketing
- Determine your brand positioning
- Use account-based marketing
- Develop a strong lead nurturing strategy
- Invest heavily in Search Engine Optimization
- Research customer pain points
- Reviews, Testimonials & Case studies
- Harness the power of social media
- Develop targeted content
- Marketing automation & CRM
- Develop a strong website
- Referral marketing
- Target customers with Pay Per Click (PPC)
- Mix up your marketing channel
Respona adds: “The main difference between B2B SaaS marketing and other forms of marketing is the fact that SaaS products are usually subscription-based, as opposed to the single-purchase nature of traditional products. This creates a challenge for SaaS businesses: to turn a profit, they need to constantly prove that their products are worth renewing the subscription for months on end. Also, a SaaS product is never really in its final form: to keep users engaged, new updates constantly need to be developed to introduce new features, improve user experience, and simply keep up with the competition. This leads SaaS companies into an everlasting battle with customer churn and competition.” It outlines the necessity for product-market fit:
Divbyzero brings in the element of buyer personas: “What you’re gonna sell is as important as who you’re gonna sell to. Before spending a single dollar the marketing team should define its buyer personas. Don’t worry if they look a little blurry at the beginning. As you test your marketing engine, crunch the data and talk with more customers they’ll become more clear and well defined. Buyer personas or ICP, Ideal Customer Profile, should drive most of your marketing activities. When you create an ad, a landing page, or write a blog post, you should have a clear idea of the target buyer persona. What drives them? What is their pain point? How do they define success? What language do they speak? These are all questions that deserve an answer.”
Salesken offers this helpful chart:
Inturact shows the SaaS marketing journey:
Gartner provides a deeper insight into the content that buyers want:
Gartner also provides an overview of the ABM strategy:
