The Business to Business or B2B marketing has to do with all those marketing strategies created so that other companies are attracted and with the need to have the products or services offered by another company. This type of marketing has features that can be used when executing strategies and advertising campaigns, for example: the number of potential customers is lower, which at first glance may seem negative, but which in turn gives the opportunity to create strategies with messages and communications that are much more personalized and creative, which in turn also allows persuading managers of large and medium-sized companies, which are usually very effective influencers in their markets.
In addition, buying processes in marketing B2B usually take more time, because companies and their departments evaluate all aspects before making the purchase decision, therefore, the work in B2B marketing strategies is to generate confidence, demonstrate strength, experience and, above all, correctly expose the benefits provided by the product or service, accurately identify the motivations of business buyers, define the target audience very well and make a correct segmentation, being clear that customer loyalty is one of the fundamental premises; although the latest research has shown that in the B2B is more profitable recruitment, than loyalty (without detracting from the latter) because, if instead of the value of the client is taken into account the Life Time Value, of the same, and it is capable of detecting customers with a high LTV and of capturing them, this capture strategy could generally be much more profitable in the long term than a strategy of loyalty.
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Examples of successful B2B Marketing campaigns
Having clear the fundamental premises of the B2B marketing strategies we will show you some of them that will be useful for your analysis, study and inspiration, some of them use inbound marketing techniques, generating brand knowledge and interest in their products, in order to attract the attention of the prospects, to dissuade them and above all to convince them, so that they trust in the brand, in the product and in the benefits that they offer.
American Express and Open Forum
One of the most outstanding cases in the B2B was the campaign carried out by American Express (a financial institution based in New York, which has more than 1700 offices in more than 130 countries around the world). Open Forum, an online platform dedicated to advice for small and medium-sized companies, they used inbound marketing strategies, used informative videos with current news on their blog and social networks (Facebook, Twitter and YouTube Channel), where they also highlighted «The Idea Hub «, an internal network that allowed users to share their experiences and exchange business ideas.
The idea of Forum remains in force since its launch and has been increasing over the years making it a clear success story, currently have more than 400,000 followers on its Facebook page and almost 200,000 followers on Twitter. In this way, American Express opted for a Content Marketing strategy, aimed at small entrepreneurs, which provides value with new knowledge and trends while increasing notoriety of the brand.
Deloitte and its predictions on technological trends
Another clear example of success in B2B content marketing, we can see it in the company Deloitte, which is the largest private professional services firm in the world by turnover (36,800 million dollars in 2016), and its annual touring campaign around predictions and future trends of new technologies. Every year, this multinational company sends these references and technological predictions to its main business partners, achieving, in an effective way and thanks to the help of video marketing and content marketing, loyalty.
Parexel
With direct marketing strategies, Parexel, a multinational research company dedicated to the pharmaceutical industry, was able to attract new business clients. They carried out a campaign whose purpose was to transmit to the small emerging pharmaceutical companies, which could count on their services for specialized clinical research. The problem was that many of these small pharmaceutical companies did not trust a large research company, and they thought that they would not receive the attention they needed and that they would be relegated by the big brands. Parexel sent the CEOs of several pharmaceutical companies a package containing an iPod Touch with a video of the CEO of Parxerel in which he explained all the commitment that the company could offer, seeking in this way to generate trust and empathy, this strategy was successful because achieved a large number of new business relationships for Parexel.
Basecamp / 37signals and the cartoonist Hugh MacLeod
This company is responsible for providing business software, as an organizer and task manager, for teams of people who work collaboratively. Since its appearance in 2004, this online project management tool has 2.5 million users. It was developed by 37Signals, a small American company based in Chicago; who hired cartoonist Hugo MacLeod to create a postcard that would carry with it one of the maxims of the company and its director: «Become the company you want to do business with or die trying.» His technique, in addition to the visual appeal that the MacLeod style printed, was based on being honest with his goals and expectations, creating empathy and trust with his business collaborators.
Grasshoper and the crickets covered in chocolate
Grasshopper is a creator of a visual programming language developed by David Rutten at Robert McNell & Associates. His logo is a green cricket and one of his most talked-about campaigns in 2009 consisted of sending to the press (radio and TV journalists), influence bloggers and important personalities of the business, bags with real crickets covered in chocolate. 25,000 crickets were delivered via FedEx and had a surprising media impact that gave recognition to the brand.
Forbo
Forbo is a company that since 1928 manufactures commercial flooring, floors with products such as linoleum, vinyl, flooring, etc. When they wanted to publicize their product line «Spirit of Spa» to firms of architects and interior designers, they used a direct and creative marketing strategy that was quite creative and striking. Usually this type of companies send samples of their work but on that occasion, they created and sent sandals to send to companies and that their managers could feel on their feet the experience of their products, in this way they stood out from their competitors and achieved more positioning
With these examples we can conclude that B2B Marketing and its strategies can be quite striking and useful for marketing and advertising in general, and that other techniques of inbound marketing and direct marketing can be combined to achieve very effective results at a market level.