What do you think is more difficult - to come up with a product or find a business area? Not true. The hardest part is b2b marketing.

Because you yourself, the owners, do not believe in it, and as a result, do not understand how it works. But in vain.

Let it not bring quick results in business, but over time it will give you such an acceleration in sales that you will be thankful for the day you started doing it.

And right away, this material could become ideal, but it won’t work like that, since even in B2B all sales are different from each other.

Therefore, I will try to give you the basics, of course, not bypassing specific advice, and you can easily form your own approach on this basis.

I don't overplay

I understand your ambiguous attitude towards offline and online B2B marketing. As already said, all fears begin to be built on long-term investments.

And other difficulties follow from this, such as the complexity of evaluating results and the problems of controlling actions over such a long distance.

And before we start, so that you do not consider me a layman in b2b, I will voice the features of the whole approach.

This will bring us closer, and most importantly, based on these features, I will continue to tell you how you need to act in this difficult time. I highlight the main points, the rest you can easily build from them:

  1. Long transaction cycle;
  2. Multi-stage sales schemes;
  3. Miscellaneous;
  4. Different decision makers in one company;
  5. Kickbacks and other personal arrangements;
  6. Much depends on the sales department.

To be more specific, we ourselves, as a marketing agency, make b2b sales. Therefore, who, if not us, should know about all the features.

In addition, the competition in our field is bloody, which means that if we did nonsense, we would not achieve such results as we are now. But it's okay, we're not talking about our loved ones.

BRAKE

Before you start picking up sabers, swords and axes (I'm talking about marketing tools), you need to decide on the fundamental things of marketing for the company.

I won't bore you with university theory, I'll just give you two main topics for preliminary reflection. Do not skip these stages, even though they are boring.

1. Marketing goals

Why is it for you? I'm serious. The goal of increasing sales is clear enough. You need to be more specific, much more specific. We talked about this in more detail in the article.

And until you resolve this issue, you can not move on. Absolutely forbidden.

I am sure that for many, the goal of marketing, after being worked out, will go in an unobvious direction.

For example, the manufacturer will understand that he needs to promote the product not in the eyes of his customers - retail stores.

And immediately into the minds of end customers. After all, if the end consumer does not buy his product, then the stores will refuse to put it on the shelves.

2. Audience segmentation

I remember voicing features in B2B marketing. One of them is different. And I don't go back on my words.

Here I'm talking about something else. You need to know who your client is. Not ephemeral, but specifically by characteristics: industry, number of employees, seasonality, work experience, and so on. Otherwise, if you do not know for whom, then you do not know what, when and where.

In this case, I have a favorite life hack. It is not the solution to all problems, but headache dull for the first time.

To do this, you just need to highlight the ideal client among all. This is the one that buys most of all, for a large amount and without problems. And when you define it, direct all your efforts to it.

https://youtu.be/tKhP5geLfmY

We are accelerating

I thought for a long time how to present this topic so that it would be universal for different businesses in b2b, and also bring practical benefits.

And two approaches came to my mind, within the framework of which you will be able to fully select a marketing strategy and tools for implementation. We use them sequentially, as I wrote them in this material.

Up to 100 km

Consider the stages of making a buying decision in b2b. And on the basis of them we will form a base of actions, how marketing can help the sales department in the implementation of the product.

Moreover, each stage can still be decomposed into smaller ones, but even the actions around the ones mentioned below will be enough for you for several years of work.

Important. The client can be at any stage during the first contact with you.

1. Awareness of the need

We can roughly divide all business products into those that solve an existing problem (for example, printer ink), and those that eliminate an unrecognized problem (for example,).

Of course, each product, depending on the customer's situation, will be in both states. But it is important for us to understand what the client has now.

And if your product relates to an existing problem, or better yet, you get a positive answer to the question: “Does it hurt?”, then you are in luck.

And if the problem is not conscious, then first of all the client needs to be transferred to the state “I realize that there is an acute problem and it needs to be solved.” And just marketing in this matter should help.

Client's thoughts:

  1. Do we have a problem?
  2. How much does it hurt?
  3. Need to act?
  • Exhibitions;
  • dating style.

2. Solution options

When a person has realized the decision, you need to show the client that your option is the best. At this step, it will be determined - to take your option or another.

Moreover, the conversation is not about choosing a company, but about a solution. For example, how to improve personnel sales?! Training, a script, or even a new head of the department?!

You may be lucky again if your product is the only solution. And this is often noted in unconscious problems.

But from experience, such a marathon of joy will not last long. In any area where there is money, sooner or later competitors appear who come up with their own products and try to distinguish them from yours.

Client's thoughts:

  1. What are the solutions?
  2. What criteria should be based on?
  3. What is the best solution according to our criteria?

Counter marketing activities:

  • Video review;
  • Comparison table;
  • Test Drive;
  • Awards;
  • Ratings;

3. Choosing a company

You can't be lucky for the third time that you gave me a positive answer to the question: “Is your product unique?”.

Most likely you have competitors, and even if they have a slightly different product from yours, customers still compare you as well.

And here we are not talking about comparison at the product level, but about choosing between companies (suppliers).

I can buy the same table from your company, or I can buy from Sweet Pirozhenki LLC. And this is exactly where you need to convince that your company is the right option.

You do this, starting from the number of how many years you have been on the market, ending with which of the employees supports which football club. Platforms and ways of conveying information any.

Client's thoughts:

  1. What are the risks at work?
  2. Can the company be trusted?

Counter marketing activities:

  • Meeting at the office;
  • History of formation.

4. Bidding and execution

When a client has decided to work with your company, consider that he is in your pocket.

It remains only to agree on the cost. Moreover, it would be more correct to say that the client must accept it.

And while he agrees with her, you will hear hackneyed expressions in the style of “Give a discount” and “Others are cheaper”.

After agreeing to the purchase, you will still have the stage of fulfilling the contract. I deliberately did not take it out separately, since it will be discussed in more detail in the next chapter.

But already now you know that even during the execution the client may jump off, or, most importantly, not return to you after the first time.

Client's thoughts:

  1. Satisfied with the price?
  2. Why such a price?
  3. Will we get values ​​for the announced price?

Working out questions with marketing actions:

Up to 300 km

You could say you just learned how to build a very fast bike. Now we are developing a car or even an airplane.

Let's dive into the details, which I will show on the reverse sales funnel. This term is quite new to the market, but its concept opens all the gates in b2b marketing.

Conceptually, we consistently guide the client through 7 types of tools, each of which pursues its own task and maximizes returns at its stage.

How to develop an effective marketing plan and implement it efficiently

Christopher Ryan - CEO Fusion Marketing Partners and a recognized expert in B2B marketing. "Winning B2B Marketing" is a textbook on creating a predictable and reliable marketing mechanism, based on twenty-five years of experience of the author and his colleagues. The book details the basics of marketing planning, positioning and strategy development, gives advice on how to organize the work of the marketing department, and also discusses various tools and life hacks that help the successful promotion of the product. With the permission of SmartReading, we are publishing a summary - a "condensed" version - of Christopher Ryan's bestseller "B2B Marketing Winning".

smartreading is a project of the co-founder of one of the leading Russian publishing houses business literature "Mann, Ivanov and Ferber" by Mikhail Ivanov and his partners. SmartReading produces so-called summaries - texts that summarize key ideas bestsellers in the non-fiction genre. Thus, people who, for some reason, cannot quickly read the full versions of books, can get acquainted with their main ideas and theses. SmartReading uses a subscription business model in its work.


1. Foundation for success

1.1. What should be a modern B2B marketer

In order to not only survive but thrive in the changing marketing landscape, a marketer needs to have the following characteristics:

Learn to stop doing things that are ineffective, painful or unpleasant. Feel free to tell management or partners that long reports and many hours of meetings are a waste of time if you really think so (don't forget about convincing arguments). Sometimes it's better to change jobs than to simulate a flurry of activity instead of working for a result. Do not work with unreliable and unproductive people.

Strive to win by using all the opportunities that B2B marketing gives, no matter the circumstances.. Even in times of economic crisis, there are winners and losers in every industry. If you treat yourself as a victim of circumstance and only try to "float" in difficult times, you will inevitably lose. Only hard work and the desire to be the best leads to success.

Focus on one thing. When a person says that this or that task is beyond his power, he simply does not want to leave his comfort zone and concentrate on a difficult problem. The author offers a cruel but effective way to concentrate and cope with the most challenging task: tell yourself that if you don't reach your goal, the one you love most in the world will die.

Confront stereotypes and majority opinion. It is generally accepted that good knowledge promoted product or service is the key to success. In fact, understanding the wants, needs, and habits of customers is much more important. Only this understanding will help create a marketing message that will motivate customers to take action.

Do what you need to do, not just what you like or do best. IN difficult situation it's easier to leave things as they are, but a true professional does what's best for the job. Sometimes you have to fire nice people who can't do their job.

1.2. Seven “sins” that B2B marketing does not forgive

There are things that are like biblical mortal sins, and the marketer should not do them in any case.

Lose objectivity in relation to oneself (to one's company). You must know not only your strengths, but also be aware of what exactly you and your company are not strong in and what competitors are superior to you in. An effective tool for introspection (analysis of your company) is SWOT analysis: identifying strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

Be a perfectionist. Firstly, marketing is an area in which it is impossible to achieve perfection and there is always something to improve. Secondly, the perfectionism of the boss demotivates the staff: no matter what people do, the boss is unhappy. Thirdly, perfectionism is subjective: sometimes you stay awake at night, perfecting what you do, but it turns out that someone else does the same thing better than you.

live in the past. Memories of how successfully you used some techniques, tools and methods 20, 10 or 5 years ago are destructive. As Andy Grove notes in his book Only the Paranoid Survive, good marketers are always paranoid because they are constantly on the lookout for something new that will help them outperform the competition.

Skip the math. Sometimes marketers forget that information is their best friend and start measuring the success of their work with creativity awards. However, it is data about how many people were reached, how many responses were received, and how many new customers were acquired that make your company competitive.

Don't do tests. To understand what exactly needs to be improved, it is necessary to test each element of the marketing campaign: the target audience, promotions, media, advertising texts, advertising graphics, etc. The author advises making testing part of the marketing strategy and budgeting: allocate 90–95% of the budget to what has already proven its effectiveness, and spend the remaining 5–10% on new programs, promotions, target audience.

Be passive. There is no perfect time to launch a campaign, go to market, or develop a marketing strategy. A good marketer is an aggressive marketer, and best experience and knowledge is acquired in the process of work, and not while reading smart books, thinking and analyzing the market. Get up from your desk immediately, leave the office, and go where your existing and potential customers live.

Focus on what doesn't have of great importance . Things like reports, meetings, a beautiful website design, friendships with co-workers, booth size at a trade show are useless on their own. They "devour" your basic resources, time and money.

In fact, in the work of a marketer, the following really matter:

  • the number of attracted customers who subsequently made a sale;
  • hiring or outsourcing efficient workers;
  • reducing waste of time and money;
  • repeat sales to old customers;
  • improving website conversion in terms of sales;
  • reducing the cost of attracting a client;
  • profit increase.

1.3. Difficult questions

Before launching any marketing campaign, it is helpful to answer questions about readiness to go to market. This will help to understand how the company is ready to capture the market.

Question 1. What is the Great Idea?

It is important to understand what exactly is the uniqueness of your product, how it better than that what competitors offer. Correct positioning is much more important than beautiful slogans, texts and design.

Question 2. Who is your target audience?

Basically, this question consists of two questions:

    what organizations and people will do business with us (buy a product, use a service, join our organization…)?

    what organizations and people will not do business with us?

Once you have the answers, focus your time and money on the first group and forget about the second.

To narrow down your target audience, you can look at existing customers and determine what they have in common: what industry they belong to, small, medium or large businesses, their location, the position of the contact person, their demographic characteristics (age, gender, education) and etc.

Question 3. What are your goals?

Goals are what you do and spend money on and are your destination when developing a strategy and writing a marketing plan. They are of the following types:

Positioning Goals- related to improving customer perception of your company. Think about how best to inform customers, how to outperform competitors in positioning. A positioning target might be, for example: ensure that existing customers are informed about the company's new services through the mailing list.

Vertical Marketing Objectives- reflect the growth you are striving for. For such purposes, interest, numbers, amounts of money always appear. “Increase market share from 12 to 14% by the end of 2017” or “Increase profit from the sale of accounting software to hospitals and clinics from 500,000 to 600,000 rubles in 2017.”

Income Goals- are not exclusively the competence of marketing specialists, however, it is optimal if they take part in their formulation along with specialists from the financial service and the sales department. These goals should be as specific as possible, taking into account the product line, region, etc.: "To provide an income of 10 million rubles a year from the sale of products X in region Y."

Goals for identifying a circle of potential customers- it is worth including them in both annual and monthly goals, taking into account the marketing category. Identify the need for product X among workers in area Y living in area Z.

PR goals These goals help measure the performance of PR professionals, strengthen the marketing strategy and may include: positive press reviews, a certain number of publications in industry publications, speaker presentations at industry conferences and positive changes in the perception of your company/product by regular and potential customers.

2. B2B marketing and planning

2.1. Marketing research

Standard marketing research consists of eight steps:

  • Definition of research objectives: without knowing the goals, you will not ask the right questions.
  • Search for secondary sources of information: publishing research results from government agencies, trade associations and non-profit organizations- source useful information, which does not require material costs and takes very little time.
  • Determination of sources of obtaining information directly: individual interviews, online surveys, focus groups, telephone surveys, paper questionnaires.
  • Sample survey preparation. If 40% of your target audience lives in Siberia, about 40% of the respondents should live in Siberia, otherwise the results of the study will not have value.
  • Drawing up sample questions, testing them in a focus group and preparing the final version of the questionnaire.
  • Collection of information: The sooner you complete the survey, the better, because any data quickly loses its relevance.
  • Information processing and: sorting and organization, for simple projects it is possible to work with information manually, but now there are many possibilities for computer data processing and analysis.
  • Analysis and reporting: it is important to choose the right information and interpret it concisely, the shorter and simpler the reports, the better.

2.2. Marketing plan

Today, it is increasingly being said that success in business is achieved by one who quickly responds to a change in the situation, and such "time wasters" as are not necessary. However, successful marketers always come up with a plan that:

  • helps to prioritize, because there are too many marketing methods and tools now;
  • contains information about the sequence and duration of all actions;
  • sets the direction of activity through clearly defined goals;
  • helps measure progress towards goals;
  • makes it possible to determine the financial effective ways product promotion;
  • provides the marketing team with a scenario of actions and defines the scope of responsibility of each team member;
  • saves time on decision making.

There are many variations of marketing plans, here is just one of them:

    Section 1. Explanatory note - short review plan.

    Section 2. Situational analysis - a description of the progress (regression, stagnation) of your company over the past year.

    Section 3. Main programs and expenditure items in the current year and available results.

    Section 4. Marketing objectives: positioning, vertical marketing, customer acquisition, PR and profitability.

    Section 5. Creative Strategies: Unique Selling Proposition, Platforms, and Headlines.

    Section 6. Definition of a market niche; list of all known segments: product, industry, location, company size, etc.

    Section 7. Promotion strategies, which mechanisms to use: online promotion, direct marketing, print media, TV and radio advertising, etc.

    Section 8. Other marketing activities: research, trade fairs, and anything not listed in section 7.

    Section 9. Marketing Budget Summary: Cost per plan item and total.

You can add a section “Risks” to the plan, which will not only list possible problems, but also algorithms of actions in this or that situation are prescribed.

2.3. Evaluation of the success of a marketing campaign

To understand how successful your b2b marketing is, you first need to honestly answer the following questions:

    Do you have a clearly articulated value proposition that is present in all of your marketing messages and promotions? Can all team members, if necessary, create a flash presentation based on it?

    Is your brand/image accepted by the market? Does your vision of the product/company match that of existing and potential customers?

    Does your company have an agreement between sales and marketing on the number of leads generated by marketing activities? Is the number of attracted customers sufficient to achieve profit targets?

    What percentage of potential customers you bring in end up making a purchase?

    Are you choosing the right target audience for a particular campaign? Do you maintain a database of potential and real clients?

    Are you equally successful at different stages of a marketing campaign? What are your weak points?

The following indicators also help determine the success of marketing activities:

  • the cost of a client request;
  • the percentage of conversion of requests into potential customers;
  • the percentage of potential customers who end up making a profit;
  • sales efficiency depending on the territory;
  • the size of the average check;
  • market opinion about your company and products;
  • recognition of your brand in comparison with competitors;
  • customer lifetime value.

Short-sighted marketers consider the number of customers who made a purchase as a result of a marketing campaign as the main criterion for success. In fact, the real skill of a marketer lies in turning a person who once made a purchase into a regular customer. Progressive organizations spend a lot of effort on customer retention because it is profitable. Repeat marketing costs are 5 to 10 times lower than the cost of acquiring a new customer.

3. Strategy

3.1. Branding and positioning

Branding and positioning are aimed at forming the opinion of customers and potential customers about the company and its products. Perhaps the potential client has never heard of you or your company. This is not bad, because you have the opportunity to present yourself favorably. It is much more difficult to deal with negative or misconceptions about the company and product. However, the worst thing is if potential customers know about you, but perceive you as a "junk dealer". By all means, you need to convince them that you offer something special.

In B2B marketing, a successful branding and positioning strategy starts with honest and detailed answers to the following questions:

  • What is the scope of branding (organization, product line or product)?
  • What market niche would you occupy in an ideal world where competitors, money and time are not important?
  • What is your market niche in currently? Ask employees, customers, and potential customers.
  • What niche does each of your competitors occupy? Compare quality, services and prices.
  • How justified is the positioning of the product (company) in terms of the company's position in the market?
  • Does the strategy of positioning a product or service run counter to the mission and principles of the company?
  • This New Product or a variation of an already known product or service? (The buyer asks the question: “What is this product?” Or is interested in: “How is this model different from the previous one?”)
  • Are you able to offer more low price than a competitor?
  • Can you fill the desired niche, given the answers to the previous questions?

Before moving on to the next step (creating a creative platform), discuss the benefits and benefits of the brand with Finance, Marketing, Sales, Developers, and Customer Success. In conclusion, make sure that branding and positioning meet four parameters:

  • A brand/position sets you apart from others.
  • The brand/position has clear, compelling benefits.
  • The brand/position is distinguished by maximum originality.
  • The brand/position is easily perceived.

3.2. Creation of a creative platform

Before you work on texts and graphics, you need to take the time to create a creative platform consisting of the following elements:

  • Campaign Scope: What problem are you trying to solve.
  • Specification of the main and secondary target audience.
  • Designation of goals: to introduce the product, to attract potential buyers, sell, etc.
  • Compilation of a list of benefits of a product / service.
  • The formulation of the main selling idea: what is your uniqueness and why people will want to buy your product.
  • An idea of ​​the alternatives that your competitors may offer.
  • Writing creative theme: how the marketing message, the story of the product/service and the offer will be able to induce an action.
  • "Sketches" of creative details: what the design elements will be (use of graphics, photos, color choices, etc.).

3.3. Writing effective text

Dozens of books and hundreds of articles have been published on how to write powerful texts. Nevertheless, there is no universal algorithm, following which you will create a text that will certainly resonate in the soul of a potential client. At the same time, there are several secrets that help to increase the efficiency of a copywriter.

First of all, a copywriter must be a master of communication: he must make sure that the potential buyer not only learns about your product or company, but also understands 100% exactly what is written in the text. The proven AIDA formula helps to throw out thoughts on paper (into a text file):

  • Attention- attracting attention with the help of graphics, original questions, etc.;
  • interest- to maintain interest, for example, by talking about the benefits of the product;
  • Desire- cause a desire to receive what you offer;
  • Action- push for action (filling out an online form, making a phone call, etc.).

A copywriter should remember an important rule: first emotions, then logic. If in the text you bet on listing the benefits of the product, there is a high risk that the potential buyer will not read the text to the end. The decision to buy is made, as a rule, on an emotional level: I want - I don’t want, I like it - I don’t like it.

Specifications and other details will be needed later to confirm the correct choice.

3.4. Attractive offer

An offer is the ratio of what you promise to give a potential buyer and what he should give in return. Here are 6 criteria for an effective B2B proposal:

It works, i.e. achieves the planned result.

It aligns with your company's positioning..

It's compelling enough to stand up to the market and consumer bias.. People receive hundreds of offers every day. You won't be heard unless the offer is truly unique.

It's aimed at the right audience. Much depends on what position the representative of the potential client occupies. An ordinary employee is more likely to be attracted by an offer that can help him advance his career, increase his influence in a department or company, as well as speed up and simplify his work. A top manager will be inspired by the opportunity to increase sales and reduce financial and time costs.

It should be focused on a certain stage of the sales cycle.. Informative offers are effective when a potential client is only thinking about a possible purchase, while offers with a price are optimal in anticipation of a tender.

It needs immediate attention: "Call now and get a great offer!" Depending on the goals, they can be effective different types suggestions, here are just a few:

    Direct sale offer- the exchange of goods or services for money, but in modern world this type of offer is ineffective.

    Special price offer- effective in relation to existing customers or potential buyers who are already familiar with your product or service.

    Introductory Offer- special price for new customers; this offer may work to attract new customers, but it is risky in terms of worsening relationships with customers who buy at a higher price.

    Offer of special conditions- buy the product right now and get an interest-free installment plan for 6 months.

    Offer with a special incentive- the one who makes a quick purchase receives a bonus (for example, "The first 10 buyers of office furniture will receive a 10% discount").

Conclusion

To create a reliable marketing mechanism, you need to lay a solid foundation, carefully plan the campaign and develop its strategy.

An effective internet marketer must: be able to stop doing things that are ineffective, painful, or unpleasant; always strive to win, be able to focus on one thing, resist the opinion of the majority and stable stereotypes and do what is needed at the moment. In addition, he should resist the following "sins": bias towards himself (to his company), perfectionism, the temptation to live in the past, neglecting calculations, unwillingness to take tests, passivity and lack of focus on what is important.

Before launching a marketing company, it is important to answer the following questions:

  • What is the Big Idea?
  • Who is your target audience?
  • What are your goals?

The planning stage includes:

    Carrying out marketing research.

    Drawing up a marketing plan that helps to determine the priorities, direction of activity, sequence and duration of all actions, as well as measures progress towards achieving goals, suggests ways to promote the product, scenario of actions, responsibilities of each team member and saves time.

    Determination of campaign success criteria.

Creation of a creative platform includes: determining the scope of the campaign, the primary and secondary target audience, goals, compiling a list of product benefits, formulating the main selling idea, searching for alternatives that competitors can offer, writing a creative theme and thinking about creative details.

An effective text should be absolutely clear, attract attention, maintain interest, desiring get a product and a call to action. He primarily appeals to emotions, not to logic.

A successful B2B proposal is operable, consistent with the company's positioning, persuasive, targeting a specific audience, focusing on a specific stage of the sales cycle, and being able to grab attention.

With the passage of time and the expansion of management horizons and the scale of the company, more and more business development functions are transferred to managers. However, in order to take full advantage of the available opportunities, see new horizons, identify and eliminate bottlenecks in a product or service, you need a marketer who will thoughtfully, professionally and purposefully manage these issues.

What to pay attention to? How to approach setting up a marketing service? How to combine it with a commercial service and provide support for strategic issues? There are many questions. And, as practice shows, there can be several answers.

How to define marketing?

It all depends on the medium-term goals of the company. Define goals, choose features, and build your marketing brick by brick. As starting point you can use the definition of marketing.

Marketing is a skill look at everything through the eyes of the client,
(marketing ability)
to prepare the customer for the purchase,
(practical task)
to minimize sales efforts.
(practical purpose)
Peter Drucker.

When can we expect the first results from b2b marketing?

A common situation: the customer, having invested money, expects an immediate effect. However, almost all marketing activities have a delayed effect. This is especially true for B2B markets.

The project, which managed to achieve a sales growth of 300% (an increase in market share from about 20% to 60%), was implemented within 9 months. It was a market for sausages, where the production cycle is short, the product is popular and bought with enviable regularity.

The first results and the first tangible growth began 6 months after the start of work. A team of highly qualified specialists worked on the project. A commercial service was created, a full-fledged marketing service, the assortment was almost completely changed, serious work was carried out to improve quality, a constant dialogue was maintained with retail chains, and a set of promotional measures was implemented.

It makes sense to talk about the first results that can be calculated after at least 6 months from the start of work.

It is very important for a manufacturer to approach marketing systematically, consistently and purposefully.

Only the system gives good results. The use of any separate "piecewise" measures does not solve the tasks. The marketing function is an investment in the future of the company.

The role and functions of b2b marketing. We assess needs and form a marketing service

Marketing in the enterprise, on the one hand, supports a number of strategic functions, on the other hand, it forms an environment for making purchases.

Directions of the strategic contour requiring marketing support:

  • The company decides on further development. This can be both the development of a medium-term development strategy and the assessment of possible strategic alternatives.
  • The company is considering the possibility of developing and launching a new product(technologically new product).
  • The company is considering entering a new geographically remote market, which requires some modifications in the proposal.
  • Companies need to work on innovation: collection and evaluation of ideas, development and launch. This may apply to both new projects and improvements in the current business.

The possibility of implementing at least one of the indicated areas requires the inclusion of a marketing analyst on the staff (read about end-to-end analytics in b2b and dealer networks).

Strategic and operational contours of marketing In addition, it is important to provide feedback to customers on a regular basis when the marketing specialist / product manager makes several calls / visits to the client: upon purchase, after a month from the start of operation, after 6 months from the date of purchase.

This kind of interaction and surveys play a huge role in the work on quality and, as practice shows, can often open up new markets, niches, Additional services or the need to strengthen purchase support (additional training, customer equipment diagnostics, etc.). Providing feedback allows you to receive objective information on quality and compare your positions with those of competitors. Marketing in a b2b enterprise is inextricably linked with sales. It, using various tools, forms, maintains and actively develops the environment for making purchases.

Relationship between sales and marketing

Marketer functionality

In addition to the tasks of the strategic contour listed above, there are also works on regular monitoring of competitors, and this, together with feedback, analytics and strategic research, is a full-fledged functionality for a specialist industrial enterprise medium business. If a company combines several businesses or products that are very different from each other in properties, several high-level product managers will be needed.

In addition to product management and analytics, there are several more important functional blocks:

  • Writing articles, preparing content for social networks and thematic sites

This block of work requires a writing specialist, from whose pen come out catchy texts and headlines, who can write articles on order in half an hour and on any topic. In this case, the existing connections are less important: this issue is resolved quite quickly, as well as work in social networks. Ceteris paribus, in this matter, the priority is the ability to write texts. This block can be subcontracted to a freelancer or a company that deals with complex promotion on the Internet (not only SEO and contextual advertising, but also PR).

  • Website: content, seo, usability, etc.

This is a significant body of work, in which key role accumulated experience plays, not talent, as in the first case. The site needs constant attention. Content and usability need to be constantly worked on. SEO is one of the areas of marketing where the first high-quality results will be visible only after 6 months. This block of work is optimally outsourced to a specialized company.

  • Exhibitions, conferences, print media and other functions of "traditional» marketers.

This is a separate unit that is available at all enterprises without exception.

  • Call center.

A unit that every enterprise needs, which needs to be formed and which will conduct customer surveys, make cold calls, and collect feedback information.

What a marketing organizational structure might look like

How to approach the search for a specialist? Is it necessary to combine the incompatible?

When compiling a list of requirements and preparing a work plan for a specialist, it is necessary to take into account the company's medium-term goals in the market (for 3–5 years).

Are key people in your company aware of these goals?

  • If important development, analytics and support - take a person with work experience and give the design to a specialized company.
  • If need a design - look for a specialist with a design education and portfolio. A designer and a marketer are completely different people.

Typically, the average marketer makes bad layouts, doesn't know how to organize a sales conference, can't handle writing a flashy article, and most likely won't help with analytics. This is an assistant who will carry out small assignments and solve minor organizational issues.

What is a good specialist with experience?

Very often, the choice of a marketing specialist is approached from the standpoint of assessing his theoretical knowledge in the field of marketing. However, matrices, schemes are just author's descriptions of possible approaches to assessing enterprises/markets/situations. They are relevant and important, but taking into account the specific situation and the specific market, it is therefore important to determine “your” set of tools for work. To determine the direction of business development, a competent marketer needs time to get to know the company - about a month.

During this time, a highly qualified specialist can:

  • Carefully analyze the sales of the company.

Seasonality, growth dynamics, assortment structure, dynamics in segments, regions, dynamics in channels, bounce statistics, average sales, main customer, average sales frequency, what ABC looks like and a number of other indicators. The set may vary from industry to industry. In FMCG, these indicators are called differently, but the essence is the same: you need to understand what the company earns and what it loses.

  • Analyze in detail the effectiveness of promotional activities.

Website, Internet promotion, conferences, exhibitions, etc., as well as websites and events to promote the closest competitors.

How to develop a website for a b2b company using a systematic approach, read.

  • Chat and get to know all the top managers, get acquainted with their vision of the situation.
  • Communicate with major clients of the company, and also (preferably) with key customers of competitors.

The sequence is important here: first communication with management, then with customers.

  • Gather detailed information on the Internet and other sources of information.
  • Prepare a detailed and short analysis.

Formulate approaches to the implementation of the tasks and work plan.

Thus, you will get an objective picture, and perhaps some of your conclusions will change. Expert opinions and the objective situation often differ.

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Bottom line: about marketing for b2b mid-sized enterprises

It is important to remember about setting up marketing in a b2b enterprise:

  • Marketing is created for the real goals and objectives of the company

It is extremely important that they are understood equally by all employees. If your company faces the task of active growth, development of new markets, then you need a serious specialist, an analyst-strategist.

  • Almost every company needs a “marketing minimum”

Marketing Specialist (feedback functions, site work control and analytics) + exhibition/advertising/events specialist.

  • Part of the work is optimally outsourced to professionals

For example, the development of design layouts, promotion in the network. The first direction requires highly specialized experience, knowledge and taste, the second requires experience and developed work skills. As a rule, complex promotion on the Internet is the work of a team of specialists in narrow areas.

  • Feedback on the fact of sales - good tool

It allows you to optimize the service, product quality, receive objective information on the market. This is no less important than the timely and high-quality preparation for exhibitions, as well as the production of printed materials.

  • You Can't Expect Miracles from Marketing

In B2B, the “shortest” tool in terms of time is direct sales. Customers who come through marketing channels need more time. A stable and good result will be visible after 9-12 months, the first results will appear after 6 months.

How to develop a systemic email marketing strategy for a b2b company, read.

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The marketing industry is constantly changing as new technologies emerge and old ones become obsolete. Twenty years ago, marketing was considered a phone call or a visit to a sales agent. B2B marketers are now increasingly using technology to save time and energy when maximum return on investment. It is both difficult and simple at the same time.

As marketing has evolved, marketers have had to adapt to the changes that have followed. Certain skills that were needed 20 years ago are no longer in high demand, while others remain relevant. Over the past 10 years, marketers have been forced to constantly adapt to keep up with the progress of the digital age.

The success of B2B marketing depends on these skills. So what are they? The list below shows nine important rules that B2B marketers must follow to be successful:

1. Know your industry.

As a B2B marketer, you need to know what's going on in your industry. Identify, follow influencers and thought leaders in your industry, and track new information to stay up to date with the latest industry news. To stay informed while sitting at your computer, attend webinars offered by others in your industry. Conferences, exhibitions, professional organizations and seminars are a great way to get out of the office and online. The best way to get to know your industry is to attend its events.

2. Stay up to date with new IT tools.

The key to selling your product or service is that you know its pros and cons, and how well it meets the needs of the buyer. This will help you create and refine your messages, but being business-savvy is only half the battle. It is also important that you understand the technologies in your area of ​​responsibility. Think about your key challenges as a marketer and how you can make your job easier and more productive by using a specific software. These can be free tools like Google Analytics or Twitter, or paid tools like marketing automation systems and CRM systems. Make sure you understand the full range of technologies available for marketing and the benefits they bring to you.

3. Learn how to develop a flexible plan.

The best way to know where you are going is to know where you have been before. An experienced marketer always has a plan. The most experienced marketer has a flexible plan. In marketing, conditions change all the time. B2B marketers need to know how to quickly adapt to the volatility and fluidity of situations. Develop plans for your marketing initiatives, but always be sure that the plan can be adjusted along the way. Make sure you always have room in your budget for new features and ideas when they come up.

4. Become a Math Expert.

Gone are the good old days of fuzzy goals like branding. Today, marketers have measurable metrics in their work, which means it's time to dive into the world of mathematics and analysis. With the increasing penetration of online campaigns, it has become much easier to keep track of the number of qualified "leads" (hot leads) and deals generated by smart marketing efforts. The good news is that when you can clearly demonstrate how your actions bring a specific income to the company, you are more likely to receive a larger budget for future endeavors.

5. Focus on content marketing.

Content is a key component of today's marketing mix. Start by learning features of your customers. Learn about their needs, concerns and concerns, limitations, motivations, and frustrations. This will help you decide what content is most relevant to them and what means you should use to communicate with your audience. Then figure out how your potential customers find you so you can use all relevant channels to grow your business. A strong content marketing strategy can give you a chance to significantly differentiate yourself from the competition (and there will be very few along the way).

6. Use Search Marketing.

A good content marketing strategy will be completely useless if no one can find your content. Optimize your site to increase its visibility on search engine results pages by focusing on building inbound links, keywords and optimization of your own website code. Never underestimate the power of inbound links when it comes to search. A successful B2B marketer understands the nuances of search marketing - its impact on the company's website and content promotion.

7. Use social networks.

This may seem irrelevant at the moment, but it is important to understand how you use various social platforms in your work. Start using them personally. Once you understand the intricacies of each platform, start using them like a pro. If you already have a content strategy defined, you need to understand at what stage your customers become interested. Make it a rule to be in all the places where your customers, followers and opinion leaders "live". Remember not to use social media just because you feel it's a must. Always have a (flexible) plan with you.

8. Practice your writing skills.

Marketing still relies on the power of the printed word. With the increasing power and influence of content marketing, it becomes critical for marketers to write well and persuasively. Press releases are still widely used as a marketing tool (which is also useful for SEO), while blogs are fast becoming a must for building brand strength. With the advent of social media, writing styles will change, but the craft of writing will not die. Just ask anyone how easy it is to put an important thought into 140 characters! :)

9. Understand the value of feedback.

Requesting feedback from customers provides you with concrete ideas to improve your business. Reviews can also point you to what you are doing right. Determine the best way communicate with clients and start conducting surveys to get a quantitative analysis of your work. Without being aware of your current position, it is very difficult to move forward.

Who can say what skills a marketer will need in 5 or 10 years? If a marketer decides to develop only one skill today, then it should be ability to quickly adapt to change. If you cannot adapt to the changing world around you, then all the other skills mentioned above will be of no value.

You can buy everything online - from matches to an island in the ocean. But is it worth it to go into online sales to b2b companies? How realistic is it to sell metal products or CNC machines through the site?

The difference between b2b and b2c markets

How to sell a car? Watching who.

A human client needs to sit in the car. See what's under the hood. Consult with your wife. Hear about the favorable price and quality of service.

It is important for the buyer-organization to find out about the terms of leasing and the cost of depreciation. Understand the nuances of the contract and the conditions for further cooperation. They probably won't even look at the car.

The difference between b2b and b2c markets is enormous. And in the speed of decision-making, and in the amount of the transaction, and in the role of emotions. The decision to choose a tractor is made rationally and for a long time. About buying pizza - quickly and emotionally. If you arrange a battle between a marketer working with everyday goods and a marketer promoting financial consulting, it will stretch over several days. We have collected in a table some of the differences related to sales via the Internet.

The specifics of the markets are obvious, but when it comes to the Internet, questions arise. How to understand that this person wants to buy a milling machine? Can a pizza consumer be our target audience with the characteristics of “top manager, 30-50 years old, working in production”? How do business users behave online? Therefore, sometimes Internet promotion in the business market is used intuitively. And the tools that show results in the b2c market do not work.

The main mistakes in Internet marketing in the b2b market

Wrong goal setting

The success of trading in consumer goods is in reducing transaction costs. An online store pays off by saving on renting a trading floor and paying sellers. In the network, it is important to reduce the cost of attracting an application.

It would be a mistake to set such a goal when selling b2b goods or services through the site. The salesperson's role in dealing with business customers goes beyond invoicing. When selling complex goods and services, it is required to demonstrate competence in professional field. The client needs to be convinced that the product solves precisely his professional tasks. Therefore, the goal on the b2b site may be to get a warm contact (after downloading the price list or demo version) and access to direct communication.

Why is it important to set the right goal? In b2b, there can be 3 applications per month, but each one is a million. Therefore, if you get carried away by reducing the costs of attracting an application, you can lose 3 million. Of course, you need to understand the maximum allowable cost of an action on your site.

Overlay offline segmentation on online users

The basis for offline segmentation can be the volume of consumption of goods, industry, frequency of calls, etc. The buyer of the machine can be a person of a certain age and position. To the top manager of the plant you go with one commercial offer, "Ipeshnik" send another.

It is not always possible to track socio-demographic characteristics online. The volume of consumption of goods on request is also not understandable - the manager of a construction corporation and the “IP” will enter the same request “milling machine” or “accounting program”. Therefore, it is better to segment online users based on additional criteria, at the intersection of online and offline characteristics.

Why is it important to segment? To show each audience the offer they need, increasing traffic conversion and thereby increasing the cost effectiveness of online marketing.

Measure the result with b2c market metrics

It is hardly enough to measure only the volume of traffic or conversion to requests. On the b2b market, the sale is long, multi-stage, which means that the result must be measured accordingly.

Set up deep analytics, build a long funnel and track results taking into account the characteristics of the purchase. Without losing a client after phone call.

For example, in the b2c market, one of the performance indicators is ROI (the ratio of the amount of profit to the amount of investment). For b2b, this metric will not be indicative - it is difficult to take into account all the costs for six months that went into making the deal go through. Much more valuable for understanding the effectiveness will be the conversion rate from calls to deals.

Why is it important to choose the right metrics? To understand which channels, in which period, brought you more targeted visitors. And invest in effective ones.

How to "set up" the Internet marketing system in a b2b company

Surely you are working on promoting goods / services on the Internet. You know which channels are effective. But sometimes it's good to "clean up" and check how well everything works. And can the scores be improved? By the way, one of the first rules of a systematic approach to Internet marketing is to regularly revise indicators and adjust, based on the data received, not only tactics, but also a promotion strategy.

Let's go over the main points that are good to track regularly.

Adequacy of the goals of promotion on the Internet

the company's global business goals;

product features;

Selected tools.

The global goals for a b2b company on the Internet are likely to be focused in the area of ​​information, positioning and building trust. Online sales will be the second level goal.

At the level of product goals, the adequacy of the way your product is consumed is important. For example, when choosing rolled metal, a consumer monitors the Internet and sends requests to several companies for a mini-tender. This means that the target for rolled metal may be getting into the first selection list. What is needed for this? A simple and understandable application form with the ability to attach a tender request, a quick response to the request and getting contacts for further communication.

An example of an application that allows you to quickly get into a mini-tender:

Goals and metrics in the context of tools are determined depending on the life stage of the site development. For example, at the initial stage of the promotion, there is no data on the quality of traffic sources. It is difficult to predict which channel will bring quality visitors. Therefore, goals can be set in terms of traffic volumes. After the analytical period, it is advisable to review the goals.

If you already know the average cost of an application, you can move on to more complex metrics. For example, leasing company may set a goal "to provide the nth number of applications, not exceeding a certain percentage in total amount completed leasing agreements.

Segmentation by online criteria

There can be many types of segmentation in the network, for example:

  • by stage life cycle client (potential, current, departed);
  • by type of consumption (through tenders, wholesale, works with companies from the state register, etc.);
  • by type of requests (multi-component low-frequency, branded, general);
  • by behavior on the network or on the site (for example, those who viewed a certain set of pages and downloaded the price list);
  • by interests (pizza, economics, design);
  • by client CID (user attribute based on the browser used).

Segmentation, which takes into account your knowledge of offline customers with an attempt to model their behavior on the network, gives the greatest effect.

Unfortunately, the volume of applications from a site in the b2b market is usually small, so it takes time to accumulate statistics on the quality of segments (which segments generate applications more than High Quality). However, it is important to determine the value of each segment (what is the volume of customers and the average check) and estimate the volume of demand (for example, by the frequency of requests).

In the future, segmentation will not only allow you to effectively work with each segment. But to complete the most important task is to expand exactly the segment that brings the greatest profit, find an audience with similar characteristics on the network and show it your offer. It is the search for new customers and reaching new audiences that is the most difficult and demanded task for b2b.

All applications are "qualified"

Often a potential client is "lost" at the stage of a phone call. The goal of Internet promotion has been formally achieved - the client was taken to a personal conversation, an appointment was made. What happens to him afterwards is often unknown.

However, how to evaluate the effectiveness of working with the Internet if we do not know what quality of the audience we bring to the sales department? An order for rolled metal can be for 20,000 or 20,000,000 rubles. Who do we need more?