Most brands and agencies helping B2B businesses worry about marketing budgets, creative strategies, and approaches. In doing so they tend to lose sight of something that is far more important than all of the above- target audiences. 

If you are not appealing to your target audiences, you are essentially wasting your marketing budgets, time, and energy. When it comes to B2B customers, the approach, thought-process, and strategies cannot be the same as a B2C company. 

Do you want to show your glossy and expensive promotions to someone who is never going to buy from you? Definitely not! This is why understanding the target audience for a B2B business should be the definitive starting point. 

In this article, we are going to help B2B businesses with effective targeting strategies. If you are someone that is not getting a lot of traction from your marketing efforts, you should pay attention to what we have to say. 

Defining B2B Marketing: How it is Different from B2C Marketing?

While there is a common perception that B2B and B2C Marketing mean the same thing, the reality is very different. 

B2B Marketing is a strategy that is tailored to address the problems, challenges, needs, and interests of professionals who are looking to buy something on behalf of their business. 

For example, a B2B company whose business is renting out office spaces. Their target audiences would be businesses like start-ups. 

On the other hand, B2C Marketing is a strategy that seeks to address the issues of individual customers who are making purchases for themselves, or someone else (not a business). 

For example, someone purchasing a t-shirt from an Ecommerce platform. They might be doing it for themselves or to gift it to someone else. 

When it comes to B2B sales, the purchase decisions are driven by rational logic and price considerations. Whereas for B2C, the decisions can be driven by emotional factors as well. 

In the case of B2B businesses, the end-customer (the other business buying from you) evaluates the goals, efficiency, ROIs, and expertise when purchasing. In B2C sales, customers want emotional entertainment and attractive pricing!

How to Create Buyer’s Persona for B2B Businesses?

The first step of any b2b brand strategy is creating the buyer’s persona. Without this, you are directionless and your marketing and sales efforts are unlikely to yield good ROIs. 

In this section, we are going to go over some important points that will help you create the buyer’s persona for your B2B business- 

  1. Pursue Segmentations based on Age, Profession, and Job Responsibilities- 

If you want to connect with executives that have decision-making capabilities, you need to first list them down. This means collecting data basis their age, job occupations and how far are they on the decision-making ladder. This part of creating a buyer’s persona is a long-drawn and difficult process. However, if it is done in the right fashion, it can yield great results. 

  1. Identifying the Key Considerations driving their Purchase Decisions- 

Not all your target audiences will be attracted to the same consideration during their purchase. While for some, lower prices will be an attraction, for others it might be your turnaround time. As a B2B business, you need to study and evaluate what is driving their purchase decision. One way of doing this can be going through the website of the business. 

  1. Understanding the Problems of the Businesses you are looking to cater to- 

Many B2B businesses make the mistake of only talking about their products and services. This line of reasoning is wrong. Experts suggest that it is better if B2B businesses highlight the problems of the businesses they are catering to. This will allow for easier identification and set the tone for communication. If you know the problem, you can present yourself as the solution. 

  1. What are the Current B2B Businesses they are working with?

If you are someone that is serious about your clients, you would want to know everything about them. This includes which are the current competitors that they are working with. This will allow you to evaluate several things, including the price they are working at, and what can you offer that will appear to be more attractive to them. 

As a B2B business, you need to understand that there will be several people that will be involved in the purchase decision process. For example, the CEO, COO, Founder, and even the Marketing Head would be involved in going for a new service. 

List of 3 Stages of a B2B Buyer’s Journey you need to be aware of

In this section, we are going to look at the three stages that every B2B buyer experiences on their purchase journey- 

Stage 1: Awareness

At this stage, your B2B target is caught up in some problems. This can be their business partner charging them over their expected budgets, or the partner not being able to deliver as they had promised earlier. This is causing them a lot of suffering in their own business and among their customers. The professional of the business is looking at their problems and trying to frame them in the right fashion. 

Stage 2: Consideration

Once the target prospect has moved beyond awareness, they are at the consideration stage. Here, they are completely conscious about their exact pain points. This has forced them to start evaluating other business partners to help plugin and address their problems. They are trying to look at the most cost-effective, efficient, and organized answers that will help them improve their offerings to their customers. 

Stage 3: Decision-Making

This is the last and final stage, where the prospect has lined up several alternatives in the form of potential business partners. At this stage, the target prospect is looking at proposals, experience, reviews, and ratings of your business. They are also actively communicating with your sales and marketing teams to get the best deals possible. Here is where the process of shortlisting and final decisions will take place. 

For B2B businesses, understanding the buyer’s journey is very important. It allows them a psychological insight into how someone that has a chance of doing business with you ultimately thinks. 

Can Digital Marketing help you Target B2B Customers for your Business?

One of the strongest strategies that many successful B2B businesses rely on is digital marketing. The following are some ways digital marketing can help you target B2B customers- 

  • Email Marketing is one of the best strategies to garner B2B business leads. Working with a specialized agency that has experience in handling B2B clients can help you frame an email marketing strategy with high ROIs. 
  • Social Media is a talked-about domain when it comes to targeting potential customers for your B2B business. Of all social media platforms, a good agency will be able to target LinkedIn aggressively and form connections with prospects. 
  • PPC Advertising can also play a major role especially in the Consideration Stage of your target audience. You need to work with an agency that can help you frame the best PPC advertising strategies for your B2B business. 
  • The Website of a B2B business needs to be optimized in the best possible fashion. Most B2B clients will visit the website first to gain an understanding of the nature and success of the business. This is why having a performance-oriented website is critical. 
  • Content Marketing is essential for B2B businesses as it can help in establishing authority. We mentioned how education is such an important factor for B2B clients. Your blog and resource sections can play a major role in setting your brand apart. 

The Bottom Line

At the heart of any successful B2B business lie its customers. You can always expect repeat purchases from your B2B clients as opposed to B2C customers provided you are doing a good job. By following all the points mentioned in the article, you too will be able to target B2B customers in the right fashion. If you have any more questions on the buyer’s persona or the various stages, let us know in the comments below. 

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments