Marketing is a process in which the end goal of a person or business is to sell a product or service. Marketing can be done in several ways depending on the market and the target business or customer. It all boils down to two main categories Business to business and Business to customer.
B2B
B2B stands for business-to-business. It describes businesses whose customers are other businesses, and therefore all of their marketing is dedicated to the needs, interests, and challenges of customers who are making purchases on behalf of their organization rather for themselves.
- A recruitment software service that sells hiring tools to HR departments.
- An interior design agency that specializes in designing office spaces.
- A marketing software service that sells content strategy, SEO, social media, lead-generation, and related tools to marketing departments
Building awareness and increasing loyalty among customers is one part of the job. But more importantly, strategic B2B marketing is all about generating leads and profitable revenue.
A great B2B marketer understands her company’s financials, and makes investment decisions based on which types of channels and techniques achieve the goal of generating strong opportunities for the sales team to pursue and close.
It starts with a solid strategy, figuring out what marketing needs to be done and when. Creating content and collateral, implementing marketing tools, plotting out campaigns and tactics – all these actions take time and money.
While some companies achieve the former, the latter is frequently missing in action. So you get creative. You figure out what you can do on a budget that will show immediate results and also position the marketing department for long-term success, and then build from there.
B2C
B2C stands for business-to-consumer. It describes businesses whose customers are individual consumers, rather than professional buyers. Therefore, all of the businesses’ marketing is dedicated to the needs, interests, and challenges of people in their everyday lives. An oral care company that sells toothbrushes, toothpaste, and mouthwash to individuals.
- A real estate agency that rents and sells residential property to individuals, families, and students.
- A music platform that sells premium music-streaming subscriptions to individuals.
Consumers often want to find a solution to their problem immediately. This translates to you needing to ensure a seamless customer experience, the minute something doesn’t work on your website, and potential customers will give up and leave.
Think about the string of words consumers would use to find your product or similar products. Use those keywords in your ads, blogs, and product pages to rank in the search results. The closer you are to the top, the closer you are to getting consumers on your site versus a competitor’s site.
Personalize your marketing so that it shows you understand customer priorities and then push them to visit your site and convert. You can suggest related products in search results, and recommend relevant products and services based on their past interactions with your site. One way to do this is to encourage customers to write reviews by offering discount codes or store credit. Not only do reviews attract more prospects to your site, they also give you valuable feedback.
