Targeting a business audience puts you in a totally different position than if you were targeting consumers as your customers.
The act of marketing a business to other businesses might seem like it’s the same as what you’d do with B2C marketing, but that’s not the case at all. When a business is your main target, you’re often dealing with key decision makers in companies that have a lot of money to spare.
There are also more people who are part of the decision-making process - from stakeholders to managers, and so on.
B2C marketing is typically easier for anyone to implement on their own, and that’s mainly because it’s easier to get into the mind of a consumer. On the other hand, B2B marketing involves more complexities and nuances, which is why most freelancers or brands decide to work with a B2B marketing agency to avoid making the common mistakes shown below.
Focusing Too Much On Features
When you’re marketing a business that’s aimed at consumers, there’s a tendency to go very feature-heavy in your pitches.
You want to highlight the key features that your product/service has as a way of showcasing where you differ in comparison to the competition. Smartphone companies are the perfect case study for this: they always bang on about how many megapixels their camera now has, how long the new battery lasts, what type of cool technology lies beneath the screen, and so on.
This approach works when you target consumers, but it won’t be good for business customers.
You see, business audiences care more about what your product/service can do for them. Instead of leaning into the features, focus more on the benefits they’ll get from choosing you.
Outline things like:
- How much time their staff will save
- How much money they save
- Any productivity improvements
- Projected revenue increases
- Etc.
No Clear ROI Evidence
As demonstrated above, B2B marketing revolves around the idea of building trust with your audience and showing how a business benefits from picking you as a partner.
You must understand that it’s not a simple case of taking money and getting loads of customers. You have to convince them that this is a worthwhile purchase - and that means you must show them what they’ll gain financially.
You don’t have to do this with B2C marketing, but B2B marketing is all about outcomes. You’re making a mistake if you’re doing the following:
- Not showing business customers a projected ROI
- Not backing this up with clear evidence
Use case studies and analyse previous customers to show businesses the estimated ROI they’ll get when using your product/service. This is mainly all they care about. Businesses are far more willing to invest in a company’s services if they see that it’ll make them money in the long run.
Of course, the more case studies you can call upon, the more they’ll trust your statistics.
It’s not enough to simply slap a graphic on your website that says “200% Projected ROI on Average” without any proof. This means nothing to businesses, so always back up this (and any other claims) with clear evidence.
Not Playing The Long Game
Another common mistake that happens when a business tends to shift towards B2C marketing instead of B2B marketing is the expectation of immediate results. Perhaps you’ve run marketing campaigns aimed at consumers in the past, and you know that these tend to focus on getting quick sales.
Businesses take a lot longer to make purchasing decisions.
They usually have to deal with:
- Extensive research
- Discussions amongst multiple teams within the company
- Consulting budgets
It will take longer to get to an agreement with a business customer, but that’s why your campaign should play the long game.
Accept that you may see multiple interactions with a business before it makes a final decision - and that’s okay. As a result, retargeting should be a key part of everything that you do to ensure that the business doesn’t forget about you.
The smartest idea is to have an initial marketing strategy that focuses on generating contacts. You encourage businesses to provide their email address so they can download a full PDF that breaks down your products/services for them.
Now, you have access to a potential customer and can send tactical emails to gradually follow up. Don’t expect an immediate sale, but don’t give up right away either.
Ultimately, these are the three most frequent mistakes businesses and freelancers make when marketing to a business audience. You can’t get away with using the same ideas and strategies as you would for B2C marketing - it’s more about building a lot of trust, demonstrating the value of your product, and preparing for a long sales process.
