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March 16, 2023

5 Types of B2B Marketing & How They Can Help You

Types Of B2B Marketing - The Concierge Club

No matter where we look, ads are simply everywhere—whether you’re scrolling on social media, watching a YouTube video, or flipping through the pages of a magazine. These types of B2C marketing, short for business-to-consumer, are what brands do to promote their products and services to us, their potential buyers.

Similarly, many companies use different B2B marketing strategies to promote their offers to other companies. If you’re a business owner looking for effective B2B marketing ideas, here are a few that never go out of style.

What is B2B Marketing?

B2B marketing, simply put, means business-to-business marketing. Unlike marketing directed toward consumers, B2B marketing targets other businesses.

Organizations buy products and services to support their operations, and they buy these from other organizations. Companies that sell institutional products and services use B2B marketing to promote their offers to other businesses. For example, packaging manufacturers will sell and promote their packaging materials to product manufacturers who need those materials to pack and distribute their own products.

Software companies that offer inventory monitoring software will sell their program to retailers who need a system to track and monitor the movement of their stock. With B2B marketing, companies are able to discover each other, and this can be done in many different ways.

Business-To-Business Marketing - The Concierge Club

Types of B2B Marketing That Any Business Can Do

1. Direct Selling

Even today, many companies still benefit from direct selling, especially those catering to very small niche markets. Direct selling can be done via email, over the phone, or in person.

When direct selling, it’s good to communicate your intention beforehand so you don’t annoy and drive away potential customers or violate protocols. Before you approach a potential client, it's necessary to do your own research about their company and their pain points. This is your chance to address them directly and highlight benefits that will be most useful to them.

A good way to do this is to review their own products, services, customers, and operations first. Then, determine how to present your brand as the solution to their problem, a necessary convenience, or as an income generator.

2. B2B Experiential Marketing

Experiential marketing for B2B companies creates positive immersive experiences for your customers while being exposed to your brand. This can be through festivals, pop-up shops, in-store activities, hybrid events, and many more. Experiential marketing helps elevate awareness in ways that build your brand’s reputation and make it unforgettable.

Sampling and Trials

Sampling is considered both an awareness and experiential marketing tactic as it allows the customer to become familiar with and experience the product or service first-hand. With sampling, you can give your target client a chance to see how your product or service can directly benefit their organization. If their experience is positive, it can amplify the effect of your other marketing efforts and help convince them to buy into what you’re offering.

Trade Shows

Trade shows provide a venue for your target clients to gather and explore their options. Joining trade shows means you will be exposed to organizations in the same industry that will probably be interested in what you are offering, so you’ll have a good chance of acquiring new leads at the event. This is also a great way to observe your competitors and your target customers, get feedback or ideas, and find your own suppliers.

Trade Shows Provide A Venue For Your Target Clients - The Concierge Club

Business Galas

Business galas are great for strengthening existing relationships. With this type of B2B marketing, you can reward long-term clients or suppliers with good food, entertainment, and prizes. This makes them feel valued, which can help develop loyalty and maintain your partnerships.

3. Awareness Marketing

There are many types of awareness tactics that can be used in B2B marketing, but these are great for both small and large companies. They can even be done by startups with small budgets and little marketing experience.

Content Marketing

Content marketing is probably the easiest way any business can promote itself. It's practically free, and you get to control what you show or say.

With content marketing, you can use your own website and social media accounts to share content (e.g., videos, articles, blogs, pictures, guides) that will help spread the word about your business. You can also use this type of content to attract followers and subscribers that you can reach out to for email and newsletter promotions.

Just remember that your content is not the same as your catalogue. Even if your content subtly features your products and services, you should be producing, uploading and sending content that is always useful and interesting for your target audience.

Targeted Advertising

Targeted advertising means showing ads to a specific audience. For example, if you're a business that sells vaccines for farm animals, you can post a print ad in an industry magazine with a high subscription rate or buy ad space on an agriculture or farming website.

You can also take advantage of pay-per-click (PPC) search advertising that only shows your ad when a specific group of people search for similar products or keywords. With this type of B2B marketing, you'd only be required to pay when customers click your ad.

a person on their phone with social media icons floating above the screen

4. Press Releases

Publishing your achievements and projects helps increase awareness about your business and establishes credibility. When people see your brand on reputable websites and news channels or other public media, it helps them create an association between your brand and a specific need. PR materials serve as “news” and are a great way to start a conversation about your business, which can also help attract potential investors.

Another option is PR events. This B2B marketing strategy allows you to directly interact with your target clients and the press, entertain questions on the spot, and demonstrate the benefits of your products and services live.

PR events provide excellent opportunities to foster good relationships, encourage trials, and close deals. The trick here is to find the right balance between interesting and salesy, and create pleasant experiences that will help cement your purpose into your target customers’ minds.

5. Social Proof

Customers generally trust their peers more than they trust you. That’s why when they try to make decisions, they turn to their peers or other customers for feedback. As a way of manifesting safety in numbers, many base their decisions on word-of-mouth or majority experience. You can leverage this tendency by creating a platform for reviews and testimonials, such as a product review section on your product page. Of course, you’ll have to back it up with excellent products and services!

Top-Tier Experiential B2B Events Designed by The Concierge Club

Attempting to resonate with other businesses can be more taxing than selling to individual consumers. The demands, expectations, and risks are usually greater. When you run your campaign, you wouldn’t want your B2B marketing initiatives to miss your targets. You want to work with people who truly understand your customers.Ensuring successful brand activations, experiential marketing setups, product launches, guerilla marketing stunts, and press releases begins at The Concierge Club. Our expert team is here to help design stunning solutions that are executed to perfection.Making great and lasting impressions is our strong suit. If you work with us, we’ll help make your brand unforgettable.