SEO glossary: B2B marketing

 

Business-to-business marketing: delimitation of B2B marketing

There are several ways to define the term online marketing. Basically, it is important to differentiate between business-to-business marketing (B2B marketing for short) and business-to-consumer marketing (B2C marketing for short).

 

In B2B marketing, business customers are the target group - for example, companies that buy raw materials from other companies in order to manufacture their own products and sell them to consumers.

 

Consumers, i.e. private customers, are the target group of B2C marketing.

 

Depending on whether products or services are provided to B2B or B2C customers, various aspects of marketing vary.

 

• Choice of marketing channels: Usually, fewer channels are used in B2B marketing than in B2C marketing to acquire customers.
• Style and message of the advertising measures: B2B customers value a factual, competent and fact-oriented design of advertising measures.
• Type of argumentation: Just like the style and the message, the argumentation in advertising and in discussions with customers should be objective, competent and fact-oriented. The focus of marketing is on rational arguments. If present at all, emotional arguments only play a subordinate role.
• Relevance of after-sales support: As companies need a constant supply of materials, services and other items for their work, they are usually long-term and recurring customers. For this reason, great importance should be attached to thorough after-sales support to ensure the absolute satisfaction of B2B customers.
• Implementation of customer relationship management (CRM): Especially considering the fact that fewer marketing channels are usually suitable for B2B marketing, maintaining personal relationships is important. Many new customers are generated in B2B marketing through referrals.

 

 

Specifics of target groups in business-to-business marketing

 

Just as is generally the case in online marketing, the precise definition of the target group is also crucial for the success of marketing in the B2B sector.

 

Once the target group has been defined, a concrete marketing strategy is developed and implemented.

 

The strategy is developed and implemented in line with the target group and its characteristics and requirements.

 

Complex target group analysis for B2B companies

 

In the B2C sector, target groups are defined by imagining a buyer persona - i.e. a person who would buy the product or service.

 

In the B2B sector, however, a target group analysis cannot be carried out in this way.

 

The reason for the complexity of target group analysis in B2B marketing is that the majority of companies employ numerous employees and usually have several decision-makers.

 

Even if the employees are not the decision-makers in the company, they are often taken into account in decisions by the Board of Directors and management.

 

Entrepreneurs must also take the needs of their end customers into account when making decisions. In B2B marketing, there is therefore not just one buyer persona, but a broadly diversified target group.

 

Criteria of target group analysis for B2B companies

 

This means that special socio-demographic characteristics must be included in the target group analysis for B2B companies.

 

These include, for example, the sector, the legal form and the size of the company.

 

In addition to socio-demographic characteristics, the hard facts about the company are also important:

 

• What is the company's financial situation and what does its clientele look like?
• Is the company looking for high-quality materials because it has affluent B2C customers as its target group?
• What values does the company communicate? Does it manufacture its products exclusively with materials from sustainable cultivation?

 

Particularly in these times, when corporate social responsibility (CSR) and environmental protection are gradually gaining in importance among end customers, companies are also placing importance on these aspects in B2B marketing.

 

In order to convince end customers of the quality and morality of its products, the company defines certain values and adheres to them in its business activities.

 

Although emotional purchase arguments are not as important in B2B marketing as in B2C marketing, they may also need to be taken into account.

 

If a company has private end customers and they make their purchasing decisions emotionally, a B2B customer must also include these emotional criteria in their decision-making process.

 

Ultimately, B2B marketing depends on defining the target group in such a way that both the requirements of the B2B customer and the requirements of the target group are taken into account.

 

This dual definition of the target group demands a lot from companies developing their B2B marketing concept and the customer journey.

 

 

Strategic orientation of B2B marketing and implementation of B2B marketing measures

 

Designing and following a strategy gives B2B marketing a clear direction. This means that all B2B marketing measures can be played out in a targeted manner via the appropriate channels.

 

An important channel that forms the basis of the entire online presence is the website.

 

Companies can link the company website with all other marketing channels. The other channels include social media, for example.

 

While B2C companies can use pretty much any social medium with the prospect of good conversion rates, a B2B marketing strategy should focus specifically on the Xing and LinkedIn platforms.

 

They have made a name for themselves as business networks for the B2B sector and offer various useful functions that help with marketing.

 

These include account-based marketing. It is characterized by the design of a special marketing campaign for a single customer or a small group of customers.

 

Designing special B2B marketing campaigns for individual customers does involve more effort.

 

However, account-based marketing is potentially promising and can be worthwhile for customers with above-average profitability in the B2B sector.

 

Because B2B companies are generally long-term customers and pay regularly, account-based marketing is used more frequently in B2B than in B2C business.

 

This is marketing with an extremely high degree of personalization. In general, personalization is one of the most important principles in B2B marketing, which is why email marketing and a separate sales department should also be used for lead generation when acquiring new customers.