Is Your B2B Marketing Strategy Leaving Money On The Table?

A B2B marketing strategy needs to be proven to be accepted by many business owners and general managers. To be proven a B2B marketing strategy must deliver on specific objectives and financial targets.

After working with some of our key clients over the years on developing and then executing B2B marketing strategies – we have found there are 3 steps to building a winning B2B marketing strategy:

Step 1 – Market & Customer Research

Conducting a market and customer research study is critical to a winning B2B marketing strategy. This will help to better understand the needs, drivers, challenges, and ambitions of your target audience. This is where you start identifying and further examining key findings that will allow you to develop insights to better segment and create some positioning behind your product and service offerings.

There is no use pushing what you can offer if your target audience is not interested in your business or views your offerings as being identical to the alternatives. Research will allow you to dig deeper and ask your customers and prospects firsthand what they really think and what they really look for in a supplier or business they want to deal with.

Step 2 – Market & Customer Segmentation

Segmentation is also very important to a B2B marketing strategy. This will allow you to communicate and engage with your target audience in an appealing way. You want to ensure your messages are targeted, personal, and strike a chord with the segment.

Understanding what markets your customers serve and what they do plays a major role in how you can make them more successful. The clearer you are with clustering your customers and prospects – the clearer you will be differentiating your offer. You will then start to move to positioning your products and services to better align them to the needs, drivers, and challenges of your specific target segment.

Step 3 – Positioning

Positioning helps establish your identity within the eyes of your target segment. Your positioning is affected by a number of variables related to your customers’ drivers, needs and challenges. To position your products or services effectively – try answering these questions:

• Why are your customers buying from you?
• How’s your product or service different from those of your competitors?

Once you’ve answered these two questions, you can then begin to develop a positioning strategy for your business. Remember – the right type of B2B marketing strategy will pack a powerful punch for your industrial business. Utilising these 3 steps, we are confident you will succeed with your B2B marketing and not leave any money on the table.

Related: Download your free Marketing Strategy Guide

Other Reading: The Quest For Customer Focus

INDUSTRIAL MARKETING STRATEGY GUIDE

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Peter Zafiris is an industrial marketer and founder of Industrial Ideas. Having built his experience in B2B marketing from the ground up, Peter understands what it takes to succeed with your marketing strategy. All client projects are personally managed by Peter to help industrials like you get the return on investment you deserve. Peter and team, work hard to become an extension of your business, to help you get the most out of your marketing efforts. Get your free 30 minute marketing consultation to learn more.