Business to Business

Many companies contract business to business marketing agency for implementing various tactics increasing popularity in the B2B market. B2B marketing is the process of promoting goods or services to other businesses or companies. This form of marketing is multifaceted, involving different strategies and utilizes different channels.

B2B marketing is important for companies that produce products or offer services that other businesses may use. For example, a chemical manufacturer may supply raw materials to cosmetics and pharmaceutical firms. The chemical manufacturer needs to convince as many cosmetics and pharmaceutical firms to buy chemicals from them. The chemical manufacturer employs business to business marketing in this case.

Businesses commonly need to do B2B marketing at some point. Growing companies may provide goods and services not only for regular consumers but for other businesses as well. Being able to convince other business owners to buy your products is not an easy task. There are other businesses like yours that are also marketing their products. You should resort to creative tactics to convince other companies that you can provide what they need.

Here are some things to consider:

Doing Market Research

You cannot employ B2B marketing without learning current market conditions and knowing what your competitors are doing. Know the possible companies that would be buying from you. These pieces of information are important once you implement your marketing schemes.

Knowing Your Company’s Advantage

What is in your products that another company’s products do not possess? Is it the price? Is it the quality? Whatever it is, use it to propel your marketing campaign.

Understanding the Needs of Prospects

Keep in mind that prospects do not really mind much information about you. They are generally about what you can offer them. If you have something that answers their needs, you can become a highly regarded supplier. Continue Reading

Most businesses spend more time, money and energy trying to find new customers than they spend developing an outstanding customer service experience. Good customer service is not good enough anymore, it has to be a great “emotionally connected” legendary customer service experience. A recent Gallup survey showed a customer who is “emotionally connected” to your place of business is likely to spend 46% more money than a customer who is merely “satisfied” but not emotionally bonded. The logic behind providing a great customer experience is simple – not only will happy customers spend more money with you but they will tell their friends and family about your business and the way you treated them, resulting in the greatest least expensive form of advertising, word of mouth.

The most difficult task for a company’s leadership is developing a clear, compelling, meaningful vision of “sensational customer service” that comes alive on the front line, because front-line employees are the key to legendary customer service.
The company’s excitement, passion and determination about “emotionally connecting” with customers must be known, owned and energized everyday by front line employees.

Here are eight steps to building a legendary customer service culture.

1. The company must understand, first and for most, that it is in the customer service business and not just a retail, manufacturing or professional service business. Zappos sells shoes online bure. Customer service isn’t a department at Zappos it is the company.

2. Make aggressive efforts to determine the unexpressed wishes, needs and wants of your customers. Great, legendary customer service is obtained by providing something more than what customers traditionally expet they are extremely successful because they WOW customers, employees and vendors with their “total commitment” to a customer service cultuct.

3. Select the right people. In the book, From Good to Great, Jim Collins said, “People are not your most important asset, the RIGHT people are.” Most businesses do a poor job of hiring people. They hire just anyone and place them on the front-line with customers. Spend more time recruiting and hiring the right people with friendly personalities, that are passionate and enthusiastic about serving others. Continue Reading

Practicing green marketing in your business can make you reap more green on your bottom line. Green marketing is a popular catchphrase, and it can also be a marketing strategy that can attract more customers and bring in more profits. But you have to learn how to do it right. There are 3 things to consider when doing green marketing.

Three Essential Elements of Green Marketing

•    Be genuine
•    Educate your customers
•    Give customers an opportunity to participate

Being genuine in green marketing means you are actually doing the claims you make in your marketing campaign. Your business policies ought to be consistent with your effort to be environmentally friendly. These conditions have to be met so that your business can establish the environmental credentials that will make your marketing effort succeed. When you educate your customers about your going green campaign, you’re not only telling them about the what’s. More importantly, you disseminate information about the why’s. You’re telling your customers about the efforts you are doing to protect the environment, and at the same time informing them about why it matters. Insufficient information only leads to your customers asking “so what?” and your marketing campaign falters.

Allow your customers to take part in your green marketing campaign. Personalize the benefits of your environmentally friendly action. Let your customers participate in positive environmental deeds.

Fusing The 3 Elements In An Example

Here is an example of fusing the 3 essential elements of a successful green marketing campaign:

Suppose that your business decides to stop using plastic bags to wrap the purchases of your customers. It takes about one thousand years for a traditional plastic bag to decompose and you want to contribute your effort to stop the surfeit of plastic bags in landfills. Such an environmental action is apt to be popular to potential customers and at the same time a good opportunity to practice green marketing. Being genuine in your campaign means that none of your business practices contradict your claim to protect the environment. It will be disheartening if your customers would see a trash bin filled with cardboard, paper and plastic bottles. This apparently shows that you don’t care about recycling as you say in your campaign. Continue Reading