Marketing Communications Essentials: B2B Marketing for Small Businesses June 18, 2014
Agenda B2B Marketing Consumer vs. B2B Decision-Makers Messaging: Rational or Emotional? Key Steps: Developing a B2B Program B2B Sales Exercise Startup Non-profit Discussion
What is B2B Marketing? The process by which one company sells goods or services to another company.
B2B is more than selling
B2B Marketing is Proactive Design products and service customers need Constantly improve the product or service Sell benefits not features Measure progress and optimize
Consumer vs. B2B Decision-Makers
Consumer Decisions: How People Buy Brand Awareness Quality Check Perceived Value Sales/Promotions Comparison/Trial Preference or Acceptance Loyalty Advocate
Business Decisions: How Companies Buy Brand Awareness Quality Check Perceived Value Sales/Promotions Comparison/Trial Preference or Acceptance Loyalty Advocates
Discussion: 5 minutes Write down the different audiences you have to influence inside prospect companies Where do you begin the conversation? With whom? What gets their attention? Do you tailor messages for different audiences? How do you explain what you do?
B2B Messaging Emotional? Rational?
It s Both
Layered Approach Emotional appeal Authentic story: Why you do what you do Differentiating: How you do what you do Rational justification Case studies Product features Performance Value
Appeal Emotional appeal Authentic story Differentiating Rational support Case studies Product features Performance Value Connection Justification
Discussion: 10 minutes Do you organize your messages in this way? By audience? By content? General versus product features? What are your emotional appeals? What are your rational support points?
Getting Started
Key Steps 1. Define your targets. Prioritize. 2. Understand. 3. Generate Ideas. 5. Measure. 6. Refine and launch. 7. Keep learning. 4. Build your first test.
1. Define Your Targets Who do you need to reach? At what level of the organization? Prioritize
2. Understand What you believe may not be what your target perceives. Develop key messages Balance inside and out
Brand Story
Define a Brand Story How did your business begin? What was the drive or inspiration for that beginning? What do current customers think is special and different about you?
FCEDA Brand We understand the decision-making process C-levels consider emotional factors such as lifestyle as much as rational facts
Brands add value Work across multiple audiences Differentiate Multiply effectiveness Are the air cover for sales
3. Generate Ideas Bring different disciplines together Involve people inside and outside the company Share learning and understanding Select ideas in terms of: Effectiveness in reaching targets Cost within budget Connection and consistency
4. Build Your First Test Create a test scenario that s measurable Marketing tools tracked to URLs and other activity Set goals Clicks Visits to website Attendance to a seminar Opt in email signups Sales leads Likes/Engagement on Facebook
Online Channels for Testing
LinkedIn Business page with frequent posts Sponsored posts Text/image ads Precision B2B Targeting By job title and function By industry By seniority And more
Facebook Business page with frequent posts Sponsored posts Events Text/image ads in the Newsfeed Much more a consumer tool, but there are new targeting methods available such as: Job title Industry Income and Net Worth
Twitter Company account with regular tweets Follow and retweet users important to your biz/industry Promoted account Promoted tweets Targeting available By keyword By interest By similarity
Google AdWords Paid search Text ads that appear when people search keywords you ve bought Use Google Keyword Planner to come up with a list of keywords related to your business and determine search volume
5. Measure What worked? Metrics: Benchmarking ROI Analysis Sales Leads Digital Measures Tracking Studies
6. Refine and Launch Simplify and continue to test Messages Tools Channels Launch with confidence Where the message worked Only the messages that work Monitor
7. Keep Learning Change happens New competitors New products New media Adapt Be open to new ideas and media
Test Learn Launch
Discussion: 10 minutes How would you develop a brand story at your organization? Who are your top prospect audiences? How would you tell the brand story? Show the facts? How would you test and measure ideas?
Discussion: Share Exercise Details
Thank you. Alan Fogg, afogg@fceda.org John Siddall, jsiddall@siddall.com Amy Dunkley, adunkley@siddall.com