Internet Promotion of B2B Companies

     Building a successful online business has long been a common thing. Many entrepreneurs prefer to work remotely online because it is more convenient — it takes less effort than a business in real life. Commercial online platforms have their own specifics and a different  focus: on business (B2B) or on the end consumer (B2C). In this article, we look at the specifics of online business in the B2B space.

What is B2B business?

     The term B2B means «business to business», when some companies support the operations of others by supplying goods, services, materials, and so on. A company serving another business can be a large plant producing spare parts, components, or assemblies that another firm runs on. Mid-sized B2B companies can provide software services, developing software products to order for other companies. Small companies — as a rule, these are small regional catering firms, for example, food service, bottled water delivery, etc.

How does B2B differ from B2C?

     The main difference lies in the fact that the businesses target different audiences: B2B supplies its products to businesses, while B2C — serves the end consumer of goods or services. This key difference gives rise to many others that set these types of business sharply apart from the marketing everyone is used to. Let's look at the most striking ones: 

1. Purpose of purchase. In B2C, the end consumer buys a product to meet their own personal need, whereas B2B products are bought by another business, most often to resell to that same end consumer or to use in its own production of other goods. So the difference is that the ultimate goal in B2B — making a profit for one's own business.

2. Decision criteria. Although B2B and B2C buyers both make their own decisions about buying the goods or services they need, end consumers buy under the influence of emotion — they liked the product, they have wanted one for a long time, they need it at home, while business buyers make more considered purchases, free of emotional coloring. B2B buyers pay more attention to advertising and look for the advantages and benefits of the purchase and of working with the supplier.   

How to promote B2B companies

     To promote a B2B company effectively online and ultimately benefit from it, you need to understand the specifics of internet marketing, because even experienced marketers find it hard to succeed with B2B companies. Why do professional marketers fail when promoting B2B companies? 

1. A shortage of skilled specialists

     Our country still has very few qualified B2B marketers who can professionally account for the specifics of this type of business when organizing its online promotion. And those there are tend to be young specialists without much practice, who mostly use standard marketing tools and cannot adapt them to a specific business model. Gaining practical experience is hard because the results of marketing efforts take a long time to show — long negotiations with partners, endless approvals, the need to convince the client to use one marketing tool or another — all of this is aimed at the long term, and you will see the results needed to adjust your actions only much later.      

2. The long period from first contact to deal

     A business client makes decisions much more slowly than an end consumer in the B2C model. They carefully consider the offer, weigh the pros and cons, look into the details of the deal, monitor competitors, and analyze all the information in depth to identify the strengths and weaknesses of such a partnership,  as well as the benefits for their business. This decision-making process takes quite a long time, sometimes months, sometimes even years. Marketers have to put in a lot of effort to keep the client, stay in touch, and convince them that the upcoming partnership will pay off.

     Another reason deals drag on is the long chain of approvals by responsible people on the client side — the procurement specialist, their boss, the boss above them — and so on up the chain to the director. Keep this in mind when planning a deal with a B2B company.

 Ways to promote B2B companies

     Once you have set the end goal of promotion, you need to define your target audience, or the people who make the decisions. When you start organizing the promotion of a B2B company, choose the most suitable and effective method of promotion.

Sales managers

     A B2B company always has a sales department staffed with competent people who can assess the situation professionally and come up with a unique solution. It is expensive to maintain, though it usually pays off through effective online promotion of the B2B company.

Website

     Every serious business has its own website today, and the absence of one undermines trust in the company. This website should be attractive to clients, as concise and informative as possible. Measured, unobtrusive advertising and a minimum of catchy slogans with a maximum of useful information — that is what a potential buyer needs to make a positive decision.  

     Such a site is needed:

• for a landing page, when only one product/service is sold;
  
  
• in an online store with a large catalog;
  
  
• at a large enterprise that sells standardized goods/services through its corporate website.

Each client should get their own unique offers.

Seminars, conferences, and other offline events

     This is where B2B marketing delivers noticeable results, since there is a good chance to find interested partners and show them your professionalism and knowledge of effective technologies. Such exhibitions, seminars, and conferences are often held specifically so business people can meet, build working contacts, and enter into mutually beneficial partnerships.  

 Partnerships

     Look for companies working in the same field as you that offer a different product. Together you can attract more client interest through joint promotions and by advertising each other's services.

Media advertising

     Consumers have little faith in advertising from newspapers, magazines, TV, and radio. In B2B promotion, however, media advertising pays off well, since it signals that a business partner is reliable. Print media include many specialized trade publications where placing your ad is appropriate and strategically sound. For example, publications on industry, accounting, law, construction, etc. If your products target this audience, publish ads in niche publications. 

Spam

     A fairly effective way to spread commercial information about yourself — sending messages to  email or mobile phones. For this you will need a database of consumers who are potentially a good fit for your products.

Online advertising and SEO optimization

     Optimizing the site for key queries — a very promising way to promote. Your company's site will then appear in search results when a user enters a keyword that matches your profile. You can also set up contextual advertising that will constantly show your offers for your own specific queries and for similar ones as well.