Everything You Need to Know About B2B Marketing

B2B (Business-to-business) marketing is a key element of business. As its name suggests, this approach focuses on conducting transactions between businesses and maintaining the relationships between them. In B2B sales, both the “buyer” and the “seller” are legal entities, the end users are not individuals. In this article, we will introduce you to the world of B2B marketing; by reading further, you will learn about the tools used, the marketing funnel, the role of B2B marketing agencies, and many other important topics in improving your business’s performance.

What is B2B Marketing?

B2B (Business-to-business) marketing is the set of activities that facilitate sales between companies. It includes everything that helps to close an actual business deal. B2B marketing is the driving force behind business-to-business trade and is essential for the growth and success of companies. A company applying B2B marketing tools effectively has a significant competitive advantage in the B2B market. These methods provide excellent assistance in building strategies that increase the company’s effectiveness and success.

B2B or B2C? What’s the difference?

Nowadays, more and more marketing trends are emerging, with various abbreviations and acronyms. Without aiming for completeness, we would like to present the two main directions. The counterpart of the already mentioned B2B is referred to as B2C (Business-to-consumer) marketing, which is characterized by the buyer being the end user, typically an individual. The main difference manifests itself in the direction of sales, meaning the identity of the buyer and the seller. (It’s worth noting that while most B2C products can also be purchased by businesses, not just individuals, B2B products and services are genuinely intended for companies only, as individual consumers rarely have a need for such products or services.)

Nevertheless, there are many other differences between the two marketing trends in terms of strategy, communication, messaging, target audience and market. The B2B market is narrower, with a more clearly defined target audience. While proper segmentation and targeting of the audience is also important in the B2C market, the type of mass-produced products found in B2C markets are rare in the B2B world. B2B agencies typically engage in long-term collaborations with their clients, and the process of purchasing products or services is more complicated and time-consuming, characterized by negotiations and more complex decision-making. In B2B marketing the focus is on trust, cooperation, and results. In contrast, the B2C market is characterized by mass goods, impersonality, and generally lacks direct personal contact between the manufacturing company and the buyer; the decision-making time is shorter, and the focus is often on the brand and style. Of course, there are exceptions on both sides, but in general, these are the main differences that define the two trends.

How are Marketing and Sales Connected?

Effective cooperation between these two sectors is key to the success of a business. Marketing is at the top of the funnel, where it addresses the widest audience, reaching many potential customers with the company’s message. The end of the funnel, where it is the most narrow, is only reached by a few individuals out of the initial masses; this area is made up of the actual buyers. This part belongs to the salespeople, who contact the inquirers directly and ultimately close the sales process, while also gathering a lot of information about customers and buyers, which later assists marketers in optimizing their activities and processes.

Marketing

The main goal of the marketer is to acquire the contact information of potential customers so that the salesperson can reach out and close the deal. However, obtaining the inquiry is a more challenging task than it may initially seem. The marketer must consider numerous factors and influence the potential customer in as many ways as possible.

They need to achieve micro-conversions, meaning they have to persuade potential customers to take actions that are considered commercially advantageous, even though they do not generate immediate cash flow. These activities indicate engagement that is not yet purchases or inquiries, but bring the visitor one step closer to becoming a customer. For example, subscribing to a newsletter, downloading a catalog, attending a product demonstration, or reading an informative blog post are all part of micro-conversion.

Every market has so-called pain points, which are the fears and questions of potential customers. A good marketer anticipates these and is able to address them properly. This increases the conversion rate, meaning more of the same volume of visitors will return, request quotes, and make purchases. Additionally, the dropout rate during the sales process decreases, as salespeople have to manage fewer fears, objections, and concerns.

Sales

The task of sales agents essentially begins with the arrival of the inquiry. They reach out to the potential customer and help them transition from being an interested party to becoming a client.

Since salespeople communicate with customers directly, they gain access to highly relevant information. They continuously collect and organize this information and communicate it to the marketing department so that they can improve their communication also. This includes, for example, customers’ questions, objections, habits, interests, and preferences. This data is crucial for the ongoing optimization of communication and marketing activities.

B2B Marketing Tools

In B2B marketing, companies use a variety of tools to effectively reach their target audience and increase sales. There are marketing agencies specializing in B2B that can help in developing strategies and selecting and managing tools. These tools are briefly described below:

Website

A website is an online platform for a business through which a potential customer can contact them at any time and which provides all necessary information about the business to interested parties. Nowadays, having a website is almost a mandatory element of digital marketing, especially because it is closely related to numerous other marketing activities. It is important to emphasize that there is no such thing as a completely finished, perfect website. There is always room for improvement through uploading new blog posts, adding new services, conducting A/B tests, or utilizing CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization).

Content Marketing

Content marketing is a strategy to communicate with potential customers by creating valuable and informative content. Such content can include blog posts, e-books, videos, podcasts, case studies, social media posts, and infographics. High-quality content helps your company position itself as an expert in the industry, deepens trust with existing customers, and serves as an excellent tool for educating potential clients. It is also a crucial element of search engine optimization (SEO), which is essential for reaching the relevant target audience or increasing brand awareness.

PPC (Paid Advertising)

PPC (Pay-per-click) marketing uses paid advertisements to reach the target audience more quickly and effectively. It is one of the most effective methods of digital marketing for promoting your website and brand. We can place paid ads on several platforms, with Google Ads and Facebook Ads being the most popular in the Hungarian market.

With Google Ads, you can appear in the search results of those who search for keywords that are important to your company. For example, if you want to start a self-service car wash business, you’ll need to find a company that specializes in this field. You will likely use Google and will first check the websites of those companies that are advertising in the market.

Social media advertising also holds great potential. When using this channel, it is particularly important to choose the right platform. LinkedIn Ads, for instance, is an excellent platform as it contains a wealth of information related to companies and careers, which can be extremely valuable for B2B companies. However, it’s essential to consider whether its use is truly worth it in your case, as it is a quite expensive platform.

Other platforms can be effectively used for remarketing or when you can provide a precise description of your target audience (buyer persona). This makes sense, as we cannot target those we do not know anything about. The more characteristics we are aware of regarding our target audience (demographic data, geographic information, preferences, habits, problems, interests), the more accurately we can target them with our advertisements and online content.

Email Marketing

Nowadays email marketing is a must and one of the most important micro-conversions. People and companies that are not yet ready to request a quote or make a purchase, but are interested in your business, often subscribe to your newsletter. This may be because they want to find out more about your company or learn about the industry or market in which your company operates or is considered an expert.

In email marketing, it is important to continuously educate subscribers while always providing them with the opportunity to contact us. However, it’s not advisable for more than 25% of the sent emails to be promotional, as this can lead to unsubscribes. It’s crucial to provide value to people—something they truly desire—because this will increase their trust and lead them to choose you and your company.

Another key factor that makes email marketing essential is that your email list is yours; no one else has access to it, and no one can take it away. You can write to them anytime, target them whenever you like, and manage these users at your discretion (while complying with relevant privacy regulations). Changes can happen on Facebook that affect the reach of your follower base; an issue that does not occur in email marketing.

Social Media Marketing

Social media platforms provide continuous, direct communication between companies and their followers. People spend a lot of time on these platforms, making it easy to reach them with proper targeting. Using the right tools, their activity can be measured, and their level of interest in your company or specific products and services can be expressed. These platforms offer companies the opportunity to establish direct contact and communication with their customers and interested parties.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search engine optimization (SEO) is an essential element of B2B marketing. SEO helps ensure that a company’s website appears prominently in the organic, or unpaid, search engine results. This makes it easier for people who are actively searching for a product or service, to see your company and find relevant content. SEO is closely related to content marketing, and although it is a slow and complex process, it is all the more important and effective, not to mention that its effects are more lasting.

What is the B2B Marketing Funnel?

B2B Marketing Funnel is a model that describes the purchasing process of potential customers. The basic concept was formulated by St. Elmo Lewis in 1898, originally referring to the stages of sales. Since then, technology has changed significantly, considerably shaping the composition and structure of the funnel; however, the core idea has remained the same and the classic funnel model is still used today.

According to the basic logic of the funnel, at the top, where it is widest, are the masses that can be reached through various marketing tools. As the funnel narrows downwards, fewer and fewer individuals stay, and by the time it reaches the bottom—the sales stage—only a small number remain, compared to the initial masses who received your message. The funnel consists of different stages, and the goal of marketing is to guide potential customers to the bottom of the funnel, that is, to the sales stage. The stages of the marketing funnel are the following:

1. Awareness: Potential customers become aware of a problem or need that your company’s product or service is able to solve.
2. Interest: Customers begin to research solutions to said problem and become interested in your company’s product or service.
3. Consideration (Lead): Customers compare different offers and make their decisions.
4. Purchase (Sales): Customers purchase the product or service.
5. Retention: Encouraging existing customers to make repeat purchases.

Marketers’ task is to convince interested parties of the value of the company’s product or service and to guide potential customers from the first stage to the final, purchasing stage. Today, most activities (especially in the digital space) can be measured in relation to the various levels and the movement between them. What percentage of viewers click on the ad? How many leave the website immediately? How many stay and subscribe to the newsletter or read something on your site? By analyzing these (and many other) activities, marketers can more effectively assess critical points and optimize areas that help move customers from one stage to the next, turning leads into clients.

Thinking in terms of the marketing funnel has greatly helped marketing professionals and companies over the past few decades; however, a few years ago, a new model began to gain popularity in the marketing world. This is none other than the flywheel model, an innovative inbound marketing (opposed to outbound = intrusive marketing) approach that focuses on client engagement and the customer experience, generating continuous growth.

Whether we consider the flywheel or the marketing funnel model, it is important to highlight one marketing tool that has a crucial role in turning a prospect into a lead and then a customer. And that is the bait. In marketing, bait is an irresistible offer that attracts potential buyers and enables immediate contact between the seller and the prospect. Good bait offers an immediate solution to a problem, provides information and creates value. This could be a 10% discount on the first purchase, but bait doesn’t have to mean just monetary benefits. While it may seem that these offers come without commitment, the user pays for it in some way; usually with their email address or some personal data that marketers can later use to provide the customer with more personalized offers (while respecting relevant privacy regulations, of course). A good bait is creative, attention-grabbing, convincing, represents real value, and generates further interest in the company among potential buyers. Marketing baits are very useful as they can be easily created and generate many prospects with a relatively high expected conversion rate, while also providing valuable information to the marketing department.

While the primary role of bait is to attract interested parties and establish the first point of contact, a well-structured bait extends beyond just acquiring an email address or making the first sale; it also creates further interest in the company among potential customers and can ideally serve as the first step towards a long-term collaboration or customer relationship.

B2B Marketing Agencies

Many companies can benefit from collaborating with a B2B marketing agency, as they are experts in the field and help companies develop more effective marketing strategies, optimize costs, and increase sales. Additionally, agencies have the necessary tools and resources to manage content marketing, email marketing, social media marketing, and other channels most effectively. They are also experts in monitoring the company’s activity, analyzing results, and fine-tuning strategy.

When selecting the right agency for your company, the following criteria might be helpful:

• Expertise: The chosen agency should have the appropriate expertise in B2B marketing. They should be familiar with the particular industry your company operates in. Also, they should understand the target audience, market trends, and the latest marketing strategies.

• Experience: The agency must be experienced in the B2B marketing world to successfully apply marketing strategies in practice.

• References: It is important to review the potential agency’s references. From these, you can learn which industries the agency has worked in, who they have collaborated with, and what results they have achieved for other companies.

After selecting the right agency, you can expect assistance in the following areas:

• Developing More Effective Marketing Strategies: The agency can help your company define its target audience, marketing goals, strategies, and then effectively implement B2B marketing tools in practice.

• Optimizing Marketing Costs: By finding the most optimal combination of marketing channels and strategies, the agency can help minimize costs while maintaining or even increasing efficiency.

• Increasing Sales: By making lead generation and lead processing more efficient, the agency can help your company boost its sales. They not only enhance the company’s visibility but also guide prospects all the way to the final step—requesting an offer.

• Effective Management of Marketing Channels: The agency can help the company manage various marketing activities more efficiently, including content marketing, email marketing, social media marketing, and others. Additionally, it’s important to mention that coordinating different channels properly plays a significant role in the success of marketing activities. B2B agencies are very skilled at creating a consistent user experience.

• Assessment of Results and Fine-tuning Strategy: Agencies help companies analyze the success of their marketing campaigns, monitor their performance and refine their strategy to increase effectiveness. Agencies are typically equipped with the necessary tools that facilitate the measurement of activities; these can include Google Analytics, various CRM systems, marketing automation tools, or Social Media Analytics. Skilled management of these systems is another way agencies contribute to the success of your company.

The Role of Analytics – The Most Important KPIs in B2B Marketing

As we already mentioned, one of the benefits of collaborating with a B2B marketing agency is their detailed analyses of activity and performance. A task which marketing professionals carry out skillfully and effectively within agencies. That being said, it is worth elaborating on this topic a little.

Online events are characterized by KPIs in analytics. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are used to evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of digital marketing activities. This is important because it makes the elusive world of marketing quantifiable and tangible, and it can assist the entrepreneur in appropriately allocating and reallocating resources. It highlights which areas still need development and allows you to fine-tune your strategy.

The most important KPIs in B2B marketing are (but not limited to) the following: 

• Lead Generation – Lead count: A lead is a person or company that has expressed interest in your business in some way (subscribed to your newsletter, added a product to their cart, requested a quote, etc). Lead generation is the marketing activity aimed at attracting potential customers to the business and converting them into prospects and then clients. An increase in the number of leads (or lead count), can indicate that your marketing campaign is successful and that more people are becoming familiar with your business, and more of those interested are becoming engaged.

• Conversion Rate: The conversion rate is the percentage of those who have performed an action that is commercially beneficial to your company (within the actual viewers). Micro-conversions refer to activities that do not result in direct cash inflow but express user interest, such as subscribing to a newsletter or reading a blog post on your site. Macro-conversions are actual purchases or requests for quotes, meaning those activities that generate real revenue for the company. An increase in the conversion rate can also indicate the success of the campaign, so this metric should be monitored during marketing activities.

• Number of New Customers: This can also be an important KPI, as it indicates the growth of your brand’s awareness. On its own, this metric is insufficient for analyzing the success of a campaign, as progress is not solely represented by actual buyers but also by prospects and website visitors. Nonetheless, an increase in the number of new visitors can be a significant indicator of a marketing campaign’s success.

• ROI: Return on Investment: ROI is a key metric in analyzing marketing campaigns and investments. It is calculated by dividing the revenue generated by the investment by the total costs of that investment, then multiplying by one hundred. This results in a percentage that indicates how well the investment has paid off. A value above 100% is considered positive, which means that the investment was actually profitable. However, this metric alone is also insufficient for analyzing a campaign, as there are benefits to marketing activities that cannot be expressed in monetary terms. Nonetheless, it provides excellent guidance in the business world.

• CAC: Customer Acquisition Cost: This figure shows how much it costs the company to acquire a new customer, or the cost incurred until the individual makes their first purchase with us. In digital marketing and corporate finance, this is an extremely popular metric, as it indicates how many new customers can be expected within a given marketing budget. However, this KPI alone is not enough to assess how successful the marketing activity was; it is often used for comparisons only, also it is frequently analyzed alongside long-term customer value, providing a more realistic picture of marketing effectiveness.

• CLTV (or LTV): Customer Lifetime Value: This metric represents the value that a customer contributes to the company from a monetary perspective while they remain a client. If this value is significantly higher than the Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)—meaning the customer generates more revenue for the company than what was spent to acquire them—then investing in marketing has been worthwhile in the long run, as the costs are recouped. It is important to stress though, that customers provide benefits that cannot be measured in monetary terms. However, this indicator, especially when analyzed alongside CAC, can quantify the success of marketing activities and provide guidance for the future.

While we could list the KPIs used in digital marketing endlessly, what truly matters is that these various metrics help quantify marketing activities and make it more tangible for entrepreneurs to understand why it is worth investing in collaboration with an agency. The tools and programs that marketing professionals use analyze these metrics effectively, which can provide immense support to companies in developing and fine-tuning their strategy.

Summary

B2B marketing is a challenging yet exciting field that offers countless new opportunities for companies. In the dynamically changing world of marketing, tools and strategies are constantly evolving, and B2B marketing itself is continuously adapting.

For companies to succeed in the B2B marketing arena, it is crucial to effectively utilize marketing tools, think strategically, and monitor activity and results. Companies that properly apply B2B marketing techniques can gain a significant competitive advantage in this rapidly changing market.