Before you read on, answer this question. What is the difference in thought process between buying a sweet new pair of Nike’s for your morning jog versus let’s say, Salesforce on the behalf of a business? Go!
All finished? OK.
As an educated guess, you probably said the shoes were more of an emotion-based purchase while Salesforce was a strategic, business-driven decision.
The point is, many people believe B2B purchases are based on logic and specific business drivers while B2C buyers are emotionally driven and buy what they like, not necessarily what they need. While on the surface, it may appear that way. If we dive deeper, we find that B2B buyers can be just as emotionally driven as B2C.
Beneath the base requirement of commercial viability, the B2B buyer is quite often looking for a pleasant experience with the business. You need to be able to trust the person on the other side. After all, isn’t it human-to-human at the end of the day? This is why we believe, when it comes to business decisions, emotion plays a large role alongside logic.
So, how can marketers take advantage of this knowledge? We’ve listed three key areas every marketing team should be leveraging when attempting to capture B2B buyers from an emotional standpoint:
Relationships
Customers need to feel like more than another dollar added to the bottom line. They need deep, long-term relations with a brand that inspires trust. This will result in brand loyalty that could last for decades to come, spreading further into company networks after each referral. By supporting and understanding the customer’s needs and communicating in a friendly, open way, you can earn a customer for life. Just remember, you can’t force someone to like you by following a process, it needs to be authentic.
Applying this in a B2B setting may be as simple as sending out nurture eDMs to prospects you haven’t heard from in a while. Perhaps a targeted direct mail (DM) that makes doing business with you seem more personal. The first step is making an attempt.
Communication
Next up is communication. It’s an area we consider just as important as the relationship itself. How your brand communicates direct to the consumer is paramount. Honesty and clarity is crucial. Keep up communication with all contacts in the process and ensure the messaging is highly relevant and professional. Consistent, honest communication will always be welcomed.
A business should have communication strategies in place that focus on multi-touch efforts. A study found 47% of B2B buyers viewed up to 5 pieces of content before engaging with a sales rep1. How can you maximise the chance of landing those pieces of content in the hands of your prospects? There needs to be consistent delivery of messaging through key marketing channels to see results.
Expertise
One thing that instils trust in B2B buyers is the expertise that you have. A study found 96% of B2B buyers want content with more input from industry thought leaders1. For bigger businesses, you need to source contributions from executives that flow into the market in the form of original content, such as videos. For smaller companies with smaller budgets, try approaching your managing director for a blog contribution.
The end goal is painting your company from top to bottom as having the industry know how. Always strive to build credibility and offer expert advice without expecting an immediate return. B2B buyers need to feel important and valued, but equally important that their investment will be worthwhile to their workplace. Provide a service above and beyond, combine it with a unique offering and watch the competitive moat build up around your business.
Relationships, communication and expertise. Bet you’re thinking that these are all pretty generic responses to our article headline. Well, sometimes doing the simple things well are what help you to succeed. Are you at 100% effort in each area?
Disclosure: we wrote this article because we work within the B2B marketing sector every day! We actually want to help people better understand their marketing requirements. Feel free to reach out to a member of the team or just keep having a read of RAW’s (awesome) content.
Sources:
Demand Gen Report, 2016, access at https://www.demandgenreport.com/resources/research/2016-demand-generation-benchmark-report/
Published on 08/10/2017
