Defining the 4 best B2B marketing strategies in an industrial or service company is not an easy task if it is the first time you face it. Quantifying only these 4, which I am going to detail below as the best, can be presumptuous, because it is true that each company works its own way. However, I want to share with you the B2B marketing strategies that always work for me and that I always apply when defining the path of a B2B company in these matters. I hope you find it interesting. Let’s start!
What is B2B. meanings and examples.
If you are a regular on this blog or if you are connecting for the first time (welcome) you will have noticed my insistence on always making clear the differences between doing business in an industrial environment or B2B services compared to one of B2C consumption.
B2B means Business to Business or translated, it means doing business from company to company. If your company sells to other companies, it is operating in a B2B environment.
But beware! Some things need to be made clear:
- For example, a company that sells management software, or one that sells industrial machinery to other companies directly or through B2B distribution, is not the same as a shoe manufacturer, for example, that sells through distribution (a store is another company). to end customer.
This second case is not an example of a B2B business because the end customer, the one who buys , is a consumer. The same would happen with manufacturers of bags, clothing, jewelry…or others. - It can also happen that a given company operates in both types of B2B and B2C environments . Some examples of companies that we can highlight may be MediaMarkt , which has a B2B division in its business, since it also sells its products directly to companies, as well as to final consumers, or, for example , Apple , which also operates in both environments.
Examples of companies that operate in ” pure B2B environments” let ‘s say they are a technology company, one that sells consulting services (like this one), a law firm with services only to companies, one that sells engineering services or one that manufactures industrial machinery … Surely you can think of many other examples as well.
If you want to know more, I link you to one of the first posts I wrote on this B2B marketing and sales blog, where you will find more information about the differences between a B2B and a B2C environment.
Examples of industrial marketing strategies and B2B services.
If you have had the task of defining the B2B marketing strategy in your company or B2B business project, first I congratulate you, I find it exciting and then I will show you some examples of strategies that should not be missing from your plan. Here we go!
Get to know your Ideal Client or B2B Buyer Persona first-hand.
If b2b marketing is about connecting with influential people in purchasing decisions in b2b companies to solve their usual problems through our products or services, we must always know who these customers are and what worries them in order to connect, don’t you think?
The more we know about who that ideal client is and how they behave, the better. Things we should know:
- A name, a position, the company where you work and some characteristics of the company (number of workers, headquarters, size, markets where it operates…)
- Other people who influence the purchase and who are part of that decision group as well.
- Some personal data that we know about that person with whom we are going to contact. With social networks it is now very easy to obtain information about some hobbies or personal tastes.
- Problems or motivations of that company or ideal client that push them to be interested in our solution.
- Benefits that we as a company will provide you if you buy our product or service.
- Objections or problems that can be raised in the negotiation process.
Define your value proposition and differentiation strategy.
Never go out on the pitch without having thoroughly analyzed your Buyer Persona and your value proposition. Two basics of the strategic part of your b2b marketing plan that you must work and know very well.
In a very summarized way in this value proposition definition step, you should answer questions like these:
- WHAT DO WE DO BETTER THAN ANYONE ELSE?
- WHAT DO WE DO THAT NOBODY DOES?
- WHAT PROBLEM DO WE SOLVE?
- WHAT BENEFIT DO WE PROVIDE?
To do this, you will need to carry out a study of your position against your competitors to design the differentiation of your product or service well before proceeding to put together your marketing and communication messages and go out to sell.
Your differentiation can be based on attributes such as price, service, quality or others that make you seriously relevant in your sector.
I always like to design differentiation and positioning strategies based on attributes other than price, being the cheapest always has a risk, if you do not apply value to it at some point. They can copy the technical characteristics of the product and offer an alternative at a lower price, but what they can never copy is your well-differentiated brand and DNA. This can never be replicated or copied.
That is why, for me, brand creation and branding strategies in industrial companies and B2B services are always a basic.
Design a brand strategy and B2B branding
In a post on this blog a few months ago, I talked about what a B2B brand is and what it isn’t, how it is built, and the benefits of having a brand today.
I refer you to that post directly so that you know more in detail.
IMPORTANT! Never stop creating a brand in your industrial company or B2B services. It will allow you to build trust and reputation, keys to selling in B2B.
Establish a B2B digital marketing strategy
Today it seems to me a priority to have designed a B2B digital marketing plan that accompanies the offline customer acquisition strategy that has been carried out throughout the company’s life.
Commercial visits, attendance at fairs or other commercial events, telephone calls… or other commercial actions that have always worked, should not be eliminated. But new, more efficient ways that also bring customers must be adopted. Digital marketing actions are undoubtedly that option.
Also ATTENTION! The B2B buyer is getting younger, more digital and with less time to attend to us. We have no choice but to find new formulas to be able to approach him.
Examples of industrial and service companies with successful B2B marketing strategies.
There are more and more B2B companies that positively value the idea of designing and executing marketing and communication strategies in their industrial or service company to achieve very diverse objectives:
- the purely operational ones to achieve more sales in the medium term or
- also those that are increasingly in demand, those that are purely strategic to achieve more branding and reputation for their B2B company through industrial branding strategies, which will always help them grow their business.
Below I show you 3 examples of 3 industrial companies with good B2B industrial marketing strategies that combine several important actions and that I especially like:
- HILTI SPAIN
- AUXILIARY CANNING
- MAREL
Some successful B2B Marketing strategies that we can highlight in the 3:
- They know their target audience very well by segment and design very clear marketing messages that connect directly with each one, solving specific problems.
- Few technical product characteristics and a lot of information with the problems that its products and B2B solutions solve.
- A differentiating positioning that distances them from their competition.
- Digital actions such as SEO posts on your blog, webinars or digital events to answer questions, regular RRSS strategy…
- An excellent external and internal communication strategy, involving their teams, their staff in a very direct way in the company’s objectives.
- Coherence in the industrial branding strategy and creation of a corporate brand with a good business culture, a clear purpose (RSC), a clear positioning and a good action plan.
