B2 B Marketing Top Tips

Business to Business Marketing

Shane Redding, Think Direct

A little bit about me

30 + years in marketing

Consult, train and & lecture

Own 2 companies and hold 3 NEDs

Built and sold 3 marketing led businesses

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In 30 mins!

Time to think! Focus – what is ONE thing that will

make the difference Keep it simple Shared learnings Questions Action Plan

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Top Tips to grow your business profitably Your brand Who are your customers? Where are your customers? How to reach them? Top tips for marketing tactics that

work

Marketing today

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Know Your Brand

The essence? Can you sum up your difference in one sentence?

Creative: dare to be different, surprise, delight - but get it right

Live, breathe, deliver it Every touch point NOT just marketing Consistency

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The 4 Cs

1. Consistency: people + attention to detail

2. Content: tell the story, make it relevant

3. Collateral: engage all the senses

4. Customer Service: where the brand fails

If you get it right….. 04/10/237

Successful Brands = £££

Loyal customers (keep coming back and buying more)

Customers do your marketing for you (WOM/social media)

Have clarity of vision which supports growth

Your brand values have a £ value

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ACTION PLAN Your brand?

What is your compelling proposition as to why people should buy from you?

Is it clear enough? Does it leap off your home page? Do all your staff understand it?

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An example

4 solicitors All different – but does the difference

stand out?

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Who are your customers?

Market segment(s) in your business plan

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Who are your customers?

The basics: Immerse yourself!Online research – competitors, market statistics, media, channels to market (associations), influencers (bloggers)Offline research – talk to your potential customers!

Top Tip: “A day in the life of”

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Market and Customer Insight – What is it FOR?

The CRUNCH is to DRIVE sales!

1.Insight + Action = Sales

2.Capture Contact Data at every touchpoint (legally) (name/address/phone/email/mobile)

3.Build a CRM database (ideally as part of your transactional system)

4.Track channels by value

5.Look at the data and use it!

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Where are your customers?

Focus on your chosen route to market

Local, National, International?B2B or B2C or both?Direct or Indirect?Online and offline

First Find them!

Geography Behaviour Media

E.g. Hunts Transport customers include event and exhibition organisers, their

association is http://www.aeo.org.uk/

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2nd Help them find you

Search – are you there? But improve YOUR Website FIRST,

especially content, keywords and links Then check rankings Links – track which work (Google

analytics)

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2nd Help them find you

External directories (the more listings the higher your natural search):

General: freeindex, yell, thomson, Local: e.g. This is my kingdom Specialist: Often media or trade

association owned

Top tip: Get on all the free listings first then paid!

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Target and cultivate influencers

Bloggers BUT the ones that matter!

(see http://www.invesp.com/blog-rank) Journalists (what’s the story?) Trend setters (product placement) Thought leaders in your customers

areas of interest Customers!

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Customers: Keeping them = Keep in touch!

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Don’t forget to

Say thank you Tell them what else you do Ask for testimonials Offer rewards for referrals Keep in touch (collect their data!) Make it personal!

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Marketing Tactics that work

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1. Put Data at the heart of your business

Choose systems that enable data driven marketing (cloud/api)

Easy to access, analyse and use Keep data accurate and up to date

by USING it Ensure a value exchange Data = customers (so treat with

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2. Target using the 3 R’s

1. Right person

2. Right place

3. Right time

This will give you the best return on your marketing - more than anything else!

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3. Free Marketing = Word of Mouth

Social media BUT target Recommend a friend (reward £) – can

be Facebook likes, email f2f, linked in endorsement, physical (2f1)

Make it easy: provide links Track your best referrers Don’t ignore the negative!

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4 . Copywriting

Attract

Interest

Desire

Action

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4 . Copywriting

AIDA: apply to all your marcoms Personalise – treat customers

differently Your headline/subject line are key

messages Most powerful words = thank you! And always ask for the order

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5. Your Website

Again AIDA

1.Strong clear brand message

2.Clear easy to use navigation

3.Be consistent

4.Action: Keep it simple

5.Make sure it’s compliant

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6. Copy the best

1. If you open an email and buy ask yourself WHY?

2. 1 - click works

3. Reminder marketing works (use Google analytics)

4. Recycle, repurpose, reuse content

5. Helping the customer – call them!

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7. Email marketing

1. Collect the email – doh!

2. Make it easy, relevant and compliant

3. Check: links, spam filters, rendering, spelling!

4. Test SMALL

5. Make Mobile friendly

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7. Email marketing

1. Start small – use a free esp (mailchimp etc.)

2. You pay for what you get – so expect to outsource as you grow

3. Integrate – email to social and back

4. Newsletters are great but send them “regularly” not “monthly” – only send when you have something to say

5. and what do you want them to do?

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8. Choosing the right media

1. Don’t ignore gut feel!

2. Get under the skin of your target audience, walk the walk, feel their pain!

3. Target: less is more!

4. Go to them – flyers, mailers, POS, package inserts, side of lorry!

5. Only pay if you can measure it!04/10/2336

9. Partner marketing

1. Powerful, but choose with care!

2. Brand affinity (charity, person)

3. Product affinity (wedding dress/photography)

4. More important = Customer group

5. What do you have, that the partner wants/needs?

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9. Measurable marketing

1. ROMI for every £1 you spend you want to know what profit you made

2. Any marketing that asks for a response is measurable, so always ask for a response!

3. Your metrics will change over time from number of new customers (CPR), Value of sale (CPO), value of customer (LTV)

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9. Measurable marketing: What to measure and Tools

1. Online: Referral sites, page views, Ad ROI, Google Analytics (free)

2. E commerce: Google Checkout

3. Email: depends on esp but opens, clicks, hard bounces, soft bounces

4. Offline: Media by Unique code

5. B2b: tools like Lead Forensics

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Lead Forensics: Leads to Sales

Takes the IP address of your visitors and matches it to the UK business universe

So you know which companies by size/sector/geo are on your site

Provides phone number to follow up You can link to YOUR database to

score leads and track customers

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10. KISS

1. Focus

2. What do you do well?

3. What do you NOT do well?

4. Outsource for growth

5. Keep doing it better

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4 E’s = trends to exploit

Product is Experience Place is Everywhere Price is Exchange Promotion is Evangelism

Rory Sutherland: Ogilvy

ACTION PLAN Marketing Tactics

What are you going to do differently? How are you going to do it? Who is going to do it? When will it be done?

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Thank you!

Shane.Redding@thinkdirect.biz

Slides on Slideshare and linked in

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