Do you have a BtoB project? The first piece of advice we can give you is not to copy and paste a BtoC project. It's guaranteed to fail!
Although the levers are the same, i.e. selling products or services to end customers, in a BtoB market, the approach and its orchestration are different.
WHAT IS BTOB MARKETING?
Globally in the BtoC sector, consumers choose products primarily on the basis of price, but also for their popularity, or other emotional triggers.
In a BtoB market, the type of purchase is different. The purchasing decision is linked to functional imperatives, which take precedence over the selling price. In BtoB, a product can have an impact on a company's operations or on the progress of a project. Availability is therefore a key criterion in the purchasing decision.
The choice then depends on the services provided by the product, its quality and, of course, its price.
More on the specifics of BtoB e-commerce
HOW TO DEVELOP A BTOB E-COMMERCE STRATEGY?
Developing a BtoB strategy is largely a matter of recording and consolidating much of the information you already have and use in your day-to-day marketing efforts. Here are the essential steps:
STEP 1: ANALYZE YOUR MARKET
Your BtoB market is generally a niche market with specific structural characteristics.
For e-tailers, this calls for demanding business knowledge.
A few tips:
- Ask the experts for more detailed knowledge of your competitors and market trends.
- Take into account the decision-making chain within the company, and question all the functions that will be involved in the BtoB purchasing decision.
- Define your own unique value proposition, not only in price but, more importantly, in services, and where this value proposition places your company among others in the market.
Your competitive analysis may identify a particular market opportunity (price, manufacturing quality...) that only your company can solve. This is your unique selling proposition.
STEP 2: YOUR PERSONAS: UNDERSTANDING AND SEGMENTING THEM
Be User-centric!
In marketing, a persona is a fictional person with social and psychological attributes and characteristics who represents a target group.
Unlike BtoC, in a BtoB market there can be several interlocutors: decision-makers, buyers, users, etc. A plurality of profiles, which you need to identify to adapt your pitch to your position in the decision-making process. The aim is to convince them and win their loyalty over the long term.
It's an in-depth and ongoing process, both qualitative and quantitative, which should enable you to understand your customers' real motivations and needs, their objectives and their buying behavior in the face of their various problems.
A few questions to ask yourself:
- Who are you addressing?
- Who makes decisions for whom?
- What do you know about them? What are their needs? How does your company meet them?
- Are they all similar or do they fall into separate audiences?
- Are they different from the companies targeted by your competitors? How do they differ?
- Where can you find them? Where can you reach them, online and offline?
Your BtoB strategy must include a detailed profile of the people you're trying to sell to, and be reflected in your web approach.
All this data will inform subsequent marketing activities, guaranteeing the creation of high value-added content and optimized choices of distribution media.
For example, a brand will invest a substantial budget to improve its reputation and image with a consumer audience, while a company targeting professionals will focus its efforts on gathering leads for prospecting.
STEP 3: DEFINE YOUR OBJECTIVES
Once you've gathered the basic information from the first two steps, you're ready to define your BtoB webmarketing objectives. To do this, you need to understand, master and analyze your buying process. It differs from the BtoC market in its nature and the size of its target audience.
You'll have to make strategic choices: acquisition, loyalty, conversion...
Customer acquisition is longer and more costly, and unlike BtoC, the targeted relationship is longer-lasting. The promise must therefore be competitive and reliable to attract business customers.
Here are a few tips:
Adapting to the buying cycle
The existence of a hierarchy, the creation of quotations, the ability to negotiate (...), all add complexity to the act of purchasing.
Maturation of the purchasing process is much more complex than in BtoC. It is essential to pay particular attention to the creation of this part of the project.
The purchasing process needs to be constantly optimized, because today's needs are not tomorrow's needs.
Enhance your flexibility and customer satisfaction
At every stage of the buying cycle, content needs to be adapted and contact points multiplied. However, whatever stage the buyer is at, he needs reassurance. They feel they have no right to make a mistake. So they'll look for content and details on a product sheet, for example.
You need to rethink the direct relationship with the customer and the way you accompany your leads to finalize your sale. A BtoB site can be a point of entry for the customer, but the purchase may end up on the telephone. Be multi-channel!
Involve your teams
Your objectives should be defined in collaboration with your sales team, and declared on a timeline (for example, objectives for the month, the quarter, the year, etc.) and relatively easy to measure and evaluate.
STEP 4: BECOME AGILE
Agile marketing is based on close collaboration between your project teams and your customer, working in short cycles with rapid feedback.
This requires an ability to adapt to a constantly changing environment. You have to know how to continually question your knowledge to remain effective and meet your customers' expectations. It's a constant learning process.
There are three main phases in this process: the planning phase, the testing phase and the measurement phase. Tools exist to facilitate this analysis, impact and performance work, but business intelligence skills are recommended to optimize your strategy.
