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.

Freebie Friday: Using LinkedIn to Get More Leads

Posted on July 31, 2009 by Jodi Kaplan

We’ve all heard a lot about social networking; joined LinkedIn, commented on forums, or started to use Twitter. But, can you actually get leads from all of this? Or is it just a giant time waster?

Today’s Freebie Friday is a new case study from Marketing Sherpa. It spells out how one marketer uses LinkedIn to raise awareness of their products, qualifies leads he gets, and shares marketing materials (without being pushy and obnoxious). Find out how LinkedIn is different from other networks and lead generation tools and how to tailor your marketing to get more (and better) leads from it.

Hurry to read this (free access ends after August 5th)

Generate more leads with LinkedIn.

Does Your Voice Mail System Send Callers to the Twilight Zone?

Posted on July 28, 2009 by Jodi Kaplan

My dad wanted to buy some energy-saving light bulbs. He found a company online that sold light bulbs which were both energy-saving and bright. It was about 4:30 PM and he called the company because he had some questions about the bulbs.

He wanted information, but landed in… The Twilight Zone.

The system had no direct to operator option. The only choice was to spell out the name of the person you wanted to reach. Since he knew nobody there, he started spelling out common names, “Joe, Bob, Steve, until he finally got a name that matched. Of course, he had no idea if this was the CEO or the bookkeeper, but he left a message.

Why make it so hard for people to find you? Sure an option to spell out a name is helpful, but make sure you add “Press 1 for Accounting” or “Press 2 for Sales.”

Make it easy for customers to reach you, and buy your products, and you’re likely to get more sales. That light bulb company just lost one.

Photo: is0b3lpalm3rs0n

7 Sure-fire Ways to Get More Webinar Signups

Posted on July 24, 2009 by Jodi Kaplan

Whether you’re using e-mail, marketing on your blog, or building a landing page, following these simple 7 steps will get more signups.

1) Speak directly.

Use “you” and “your”, not “us” and “our.” Banish the gobbledygook and the fancy words, just talk plainly, in a personal, chatty tone of voice.

2) Offer to make something difficult easy.

Describe how you’ll walk people through the steps, share the secrets, etc. Nobody wants to hear about your “customizable advertising mechanism”; they won’t know (or care what is is).

3) Use emotional triggers, not “rational” arguments.

These include: earn money, minimize risks, save time, win praise, to make your audience sit up and take notice of all the special, great stuff they will learn.

4) Add extra goodies.

Not just the webinar, but a special toolkit with more secrets and templates (again turning something hard into something simple) your readers can use in their own businesses.

5) Multiple links.

Put links throughout the email or the landing page. Give people several opportunities to sign up, at different points in your copy. Some may be ready to sign up after your first paragraph, others may need more information.

6) Limited time offer.

Urging people to act immediately increases the sense of urgency. You can throw in an extra bonus (more templates, an audio recording, etc.) for the first X people who register.

7) Scarcity and exclusivity.

Don’t admit everyone, restrict registration to a specific number of people. To make it even more exclusive, you can make the call “live” only – no recording. Attend, or miss out.

Photo: cambodia4kidsorg

Who Wants to Win Awards?

Posted on July 21, 2009 by Jodi Kaplan

We all like to win awards. It shows that our peers recognize our genius and our hard work. Awards are great, but here’s a secret. Your customers don’t care that much about your awards, they care that you can help them get their message across (and make more money).

If you do win an award, say so. It is recognition by your peers. But, don’t base your marketing strategy on your awards. Don’t expect them to lead to profits either.

Instead of talking about the awards you won for your video, or your wealth of creativity and talent, tell a story. Talk about how people felt when they saw that video, not the techniques and equipment you used to produce it.

Eight Steps to Better Deals From Trade Shows

Posted on July 17, 2009 by Jodi Kaplan

Marketing Sherpa (7/16.09) reported that one trade show exhibitor did just that – and closed deals that were 36% larger! The exhibitor, a large insurance company, decided to “flip the whole thing on its head.”

Instead of talking about themselves, they decided to talk about their clients instead. So, they created “Client World,” transforming their exhibit into a display that highlighted their clients’ services, rather than their own.

Some of what they did relies on bigger resources than small companies typically have (such as paying for clients to attend, reserving an entire floor at a nearby hotel for meetings and networking, and purchasing client products), however, here’s the takeaway that you can adapt:

1. Feature your clients (not yourself).

Give them the opportunity to tell their stories in video testimonials. If you’re a video expert, you’ve already got the tools; if not a $200 Flip camera will do the job.

2. Write case studies from the clients’ point of view.

Highlight the ways that your products or services helped them sell their services.

3. Tell your clients what you’re doing.

Invite them to the show (if you can swing it). If not, showcase their products and services at your booth and feature them in a booth giveaway.

4. Hold your own mini-event.

Have a cocktail party (or other get-together including food) so that your clients (and the people you want to reach) can meet, talk to each other, and talk to you.

5. Give away clients’ products.

Feature the products in your booth and offer them as prizes.

6. Promote the event to your house list.

Generate advance interest, and encourage the recipients to register for the event and your networking party.

7. Use on-site scanners to record attendees’ badges every time they interact with you or your staff.

Each interaction equals another chance to win one of the prizes.

8. Follow-up after the show.

Add prospects to your database and offer post-show networking opportunities (perhaps online at your site) so that people who met at your party can continue to interact with each other (and with you).

Your clients will be delighted, it would be remarkable, and people would talk about it.