The internet is full of articles on how to best market your business to your target audience. If you are a start-up entrepreneur, you might find these extremely useful. When I first started my business this type of online content certainly assisted me a great deal. However, many of the articles you will find aim to help businesses market their products to individual customers, and not to other businesses.
So what if you are in the business of marketing your enterprise to other companies? In my case, I often work directly with other businesses, so while online information is useful when I’m targeting individual customers, I found that when marketing to other entities in the community, you need to alter your approach. Here’s my top tips on marketing business to business:
Networking is essential
When targeting other companies, you need to be where they are and that will usually be at conferences, talks or business dinners. The more the business community is familiar with your name, your chances of crossing their mind when they require a service will be higher. Webinars are also an effective way to network with people from across the globe without ever leaving your office, or your home for that matter. An acquaintance of mine who works in the social services field invests her time tuning in to different podcasts and networking with the speakers afterwards. It has helped her with her business and also expanded her knowledge. Social media also provides another great way to network, and this is where websites such as LinkedIn come in handy.
Share your stories
Your website is likely to be the first place your potential business customers will come to find out more about your company. So share some testimonials from other business clients you have worked with. This adds to your credibility and will also help potential clients with their decisions to work with you or not. You could also share case studies and examples of the work you have done with certain clients. Sharing stories gives your clients a glimpse into how you conduct work. Do not limit your stories to your website. Share them on your social media accounts as well. Keep them short and concise though, as the social media attention span tends to be shorter; you can then link them back to your website< where they can learn more about your business.
Share your expertise
When one business wants to work with another, they usually look around to see who the best in the field is. Share your expertise by becoming a thought leader in your field. For instance, be a contributing columnist in a certain publication you know your potential clients tune into, or arrange workshops/networking events where you bring together people from related industries. You could also start a blog on your website, or set up a blog separate to your site where you share your expertise, engage with other experts and build your credibility along the way. LinkedIn also allows you to publish posts that can be read by your online network. Establishing yourself as a thought leader takes time to build, but accompanied by networking and always engaging with the business community, it will reap results and you will become recognised in your field.
Consider paid ads on social media
Professional platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook are ideal for this. The great thing here is that they can be used to target individual customers or specific businesses. LinkedIn, for instance, allows you to target your audience by job title. Facebook allows you to choose who you target based on their age group, interests, and where they live, thus making your reach more effective. Consider this when you are writing an article. Your style, tone of voice and the language you use should completely differ, depending on the reader you are writing for. The same applies when approaching your target audience; the same product should be sold in two completely different ways for individuals versus businesses.
Manar Al Hinai is an award-winning Emirati writer and communications consultant based in Abu Dhabi. Twitter: @manar_alhinai
business@thenational.ae
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