Category Archives: Business to Business Marketing Strategies

Tips for improving your business to business marketing strategies and campaigns. Learn how to find a market niche, and why having a niche is so important. There are also posts about finding your ideal client (and why you need that too). Trying to market to everyone only leaves you “spraying and praying” without actually hitting anything.

These pages also cover common business to business marketing mistakes (made by companies both large and small). If you’ve made one of these, you’ll learn how you can fix the errors you’ve made (and avoid future gaffes).

Need more clients? Or better clients? Check out the posts on lead generation, how to set and negotiate higher fees, and what red flags to look for when prospecting for new work.

Finally, there are posts on creating your brand and your company’s “story.” What you are selling isn’t necessarily what you think. The way you present your products and services can make a big difference in your results.

A Marketing Mistake You Should Never Make

Posted on November 4, 2009 by Jodi Kaplan

Yesterday was election day in the United States.

Among the races was a special election to fill a vacant Congressional seat in upstate New York (near Canada). The seat had been a safe Republican district for over 100 years.

But, this year was different. Not only did it attract national attention, but the Democratic candidate won.

What Happened?

Prominent conservatives thought the Republican candidate was too moderate, and refused to support her. So, they got their own candidate, and ran him under a Conservative party ticket.

The trouble was, he didn’t live in the district. When the local paper interviewed him, they discovered he knew very little about the issues that were important to the area. In a meeting with the paper’s editorial board, his high-powered Conservative advisers dismissed those issues as “provincial” and unimportant.

This is not about Republican (generally more right-wing) or Democratic (generally more-left wing) politics; it’s about what happens when you ignore your real customers in favor of your own needs and desires.

Run Again. And Again. And Again.

Here in New York City, the mayor changed the rules so he could run for a third term. He spent $100,000,000 of his own money to get it. He won, but just barely, against an underfunded opponent who could barely fight back. The mayor ran because of what he wanted, not because of what the people wanted.

Ignore Your Customers (and Lose Them)

The conservatives in upstate New York completely ignored what the voters in the district (the customers) wanted. A candidate for local office who thinks local issues aren’t important is doomed to failure. A company that thinks its own needs are more important than its customers’ needs is also doomed.

When you develop your systems, policies, Web site, or marketing, think what your customers want.

Photo: laverrue

What Every Marketer Can Learn from Fishermen

Posted on November 2, 2009 by Jodi Kaplan

fishing boat There’s an intense discussion going on in a forum I belong to, about whether you need a niche or not.

Do you? Or is it just a lot of nonsense? Why is a niche important?

Here’s why:

MORE MONEY

That’s right. More money. If you specialize you get more money.

In marketing, we call it a unique selling proposition – it’s a fancy bunch of words for whatever it is that makes you stand out (Hint: printing business cards for any small business is not a niche).

The reason that many people recommend finding a niche is that it’s much easier to market yourself that way. Trying to be all things to all people will doom you to failure.

There’s a nail salon near my home that also offers video transfer services. Would you trust your memories to a nail salon?

Think Like a Fisherman

Say you’re a fisherman and you specialize in tuna.

If you want tuna, you figure out where tuna congregate. Let’s see, tuna. Well they’re fish, so that eliminates land masses. You need water.

Now, what kind of water? Not ponds, or lakes, or rivers.

Oceans! Which part of the ocean? Cold water? Warm water? Close to shore? Far from shore? Etc.

You narrow down your target, instead of spraying and praying and hoping to hit something.

You Can’t Catch Fish with Strawberries

Then you think, OK I know where the tuna live, where’s the best spot to hang out to find them? What do they want to eat? What kind of tackle do I need to catch them? What can I do that will attract tuna to my bait?

So, You’re Not Really a Fisherman

A few more practical examples.

Say you’re a wedding planner. That’s not a niche, but what if you specialized in interfaith weddings – and the special issues that arise when different beliefs come together? You could make a name for yourself, and probably charge more money too.

Or, the Virtual Assistant for video producers. If you focus on video, you can go hang out at video industry events, read video industry magazines, and fix yourself in people’s minds as the “go to” person for the video industry. If you know who you’re talking to, and what problems they have, it’s going to be much easier to solve them.

See how it works?

What strategies do you use to attract your own “tuna”? Share them in the comments.

Photo: DeusXFlorida

Announcing a Painless Way to Stretch Your Marketing Dollars

Posted on October 29, 2009 by Jodi Kaplan

With all the cost-cutting and recession fears around, many companies (large and small) are worried about spending more money on marketing. This is actually the time when you should spend (or else you may end up out of business).

However, solutions to your budget worries may already be on your computer and in your files.

Take what you already have and recycle, reformat, or re-use it. It’s a good way to spread the word, save money, and save time (rather than starting from scratch).

Doing a free webinar? Record it and put it on your Web site. Or, include the link in your newsletter.
Share links to relevant articles or guest blog posts you’ve written.
Send (or post) links to interviews you’ve done.
Create podcasts from your speeches.
Turn a series of blog posts into free mini e-books

Even if you don’t have anything to recycle, there are lots things you can do for free. Check out these free online marketing tools and this list of ten free ways to market your business.

Freebie Friday is tomorrow.

Image: Chris Satchwell

How to Charge More and Still Have Raving Fans

Posted on October 26, 2009 by Jodi Kaplan

We’ve all seen the ads:

“Article Writers Wanted, $1 per 500 words” [oh joy]

“Copywriters weaving killer copies” [huh???]

There are lots of people out there seeking (or selling) high-level skills for low-level prices. How do you compete with this?

Why You

James at Men With Pens pointed out today that saying you’re awesome is not enough…”you have to explain to site visitors how your awesomeness benefits them. That’s how they’ll become your customers.”

Show a Benefit

For example, if you were approached by someone “selling” life insurance, you’d probably want to run screaming in the opposite direction. However, if that same person said, “I can help you keep your family safe and protected if something happens to you,” you’d be more willing to listen.

Why You’re Worth More

Or, say that you wanted to buy a new sofa. There were two stores that sold the one you liked. The first one, Stan’s Discount Sofa Mart, sold the sofa for $325. The second, Mike’s Furniture Festival, wanted $350. Seems like an easy choice, right?

But what if Stan’s store took 6-8 weeks to deliver, while Mike promised delivery in 5 days, plus let you schedule a delivery time. Stan’s price is lower, but Mike’s service means you get your furniture faster and don’t have to waste an entire day waiting for the delivery truck to arrive.

A store that respects my time? That offers quick service? And lets me choose (!) when I get my delivery? Wow!

Prospects will listen, read, and pay when you make their wants and desires the star (not yours). Describe what they’ll get by using you: more qualified prospects will visit their site, more people will click on their ads, more people buying their products, and you’ll get more business.