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.

Direct Mail Isn’t Dead!

Posted on April 3, 2009 by Jodi Kaplan

Image via Wikipedia

Some people think that direct mail is old-fashioned, a dinosaur in an age of Twitter, Facebook, and e-mail.

However, The Wharton Business School reported last year that the “Dead-Tree Medium” Often Beats Digital.

Why paper is better

The report noted that approximately 103 billion pieces of mail were sent at the standard (third-class) rate in 2007. Why? Because paper feels special. It can be personalized, it’s more flexible, and you can make it longer.

Mail can’t eat your computer

Emails are perceived as cheap, or free, sent without thought or consideration. Readers toss email without thought (but they spend a few precious seconds looking at your mail piece).

People hesitate to open emails from “strangers”, fearing viruses, pitches for drugs, or worse, but mail is danger-free. Open it and read it (or even toss it) without fear of catching anything.

Once it’s open, it may catch your reader’s attention. It takes more time and effort to write and mail a letter. When people feel you have invested in them, they are more willing to invest in you.

Is Your Product a Solution Without a Problem?

Posted on March 31, 2009 by Jodi Kaplan

I was surfing the Web the other day and stumbled on a bra dryer. I can’t post the picture here (copyright issues), but it looks like a mesh sports bra or workout top. The idea is (apparently) to strap a bra inside it and it will dry faster or not lose its shape or something.

Trouble is, it only seems to come in one size, and well, women come in lots of sizes.

Also, for you guys out there, bras can be hand-washed, hung up to dry, and forgotten about. Drying them faster is NOT a pressing problem.

I point this out not because I want this blog to regularly focus on underwear, but because the men who came up with this contraption never stopped to do any research to see if anyone wanted, needed, or cared about their product. Yes, successful products (say the iPhone) can often come from a product nobody KNEW they wanted (until they saw one). But this, this is just silly.

Before investing time, money, and effort in a new product or service, check and see if there’s any interest. Show potential vendors a prototype, do some market research. Google the problem. Check with users. Find out their reactions. Is it wow? Or is it are you kidding??!!

Photo: hoyasmeg

Does Your Tech Business Have a Niche?

Posted on March 26, 2009 by Jodi Kaplan

Does your technology business have a marketing niche? Sometimes what businesses think is a niche isn’t really a niche at all. Is your niche a real one? How do you tell?

For example, Alicia on Marketing Professionals said, “I need a domain name, and I’m having trouble finding one. My niche is fitness…can you help?”

Her problem isn’t really finding a domain name. Her real problem is that “fitness” is much too broad. If she opens that gym, she’ll be competing against huge corporations, and established gyms with existing members and clients.

She’s not differentiating herself in any way. “Fitness” by itself isn’t really a niche, it’s a general category.

A real niche isn’t a broad term, like fitness. A real niche is a single slice of the fitness pie.

She needs to focus on that one slice, rather than trying to eat the whole pie all at once.

Why you need a niche

Say, like Alicia, you want to start a gym. You’re going to have a lot of competition. You’ll need to figure out a way to stand out from all those large companies, the ones with gyms in nearly every town, or even more than one location per town. You don’t have their staff, their resources, or their brand recognition.

So, you need to be different instead. Doing that, focusing on just one small piece of an enormous market, will help you in two ways. One, it builds that brand recognition. Two, it helps you focus your marketing efforts.

How to choose your niche

Staying with the gym example, pick something that the other all-purpose gyms don’t (or can’t) offer.

Cater to a specific group of people, and only those people.

For example, say you decide to focus on new moms. Now, instead of trying to sell to everyone (and we know how that works) you could target sites run by mommy bloggers to get the word out.

Have day care for the kids while mom exercises. Or, offer “mommy and me” classes so both child and mom can exercise, have fun, and play together. Your domain name might be stayfitmoms.com

Or, maybe you want to concentrate on stockbrokers. A fitness center geared to them could open very early (for a workout before the market opens), have TV screens playing CNBC or Bloomberg TV, offer massages to relieve stress, etc.

A gym that targeted baby boomers might focus on fitness for aging bodies, offer nutrition help, or 20 minute workouts for busy people.

Once you have that, you can start telling your story and the rest of your marketing falls naturally into place.

Find customers more easily and cheaply

Instead of looking for everybody and anybody, you concentrate on “your” market. You know who they are, and they’ll know who you are. You’ll be “the gym for stockbrokers,” instead of just “the gym down the block.”

If you’re “the stockbroker gym” you’ll have a better idea of what your website and your facilities should look like. You’ll want something that says “Wall Street”, rather than something that screams Disney. No cartoons, no animation. Instead, go for an atmosphere that’s buttoned-down, corporate looking, and geared to people who are driven and hard-charging.

Having a niche geared to stockbrokers also tells y ou what hours to open, where to locate, and what services to offer. You’ll also know where to advertise and what to put in your ads. The appeals to stockbrokers would be very different than the appeals to new moms.

The best part is, you’ll save time and actually make more money marketing to fewer people.

Photo: Daniel Philpott

Four Simple Steps to Great Marketing with AIDA

Posted on March 25, 2009 by Jodi Kaplan

Marketing your products and services can sometimes seem pretty hard. There are so many things to do and worry about – the quality of the product, reaching the right people, having the right message.

But, there are four simple steps that can make creating your marketing materials a whole lot easier. It’s based on using a direct marketing concept called AIDA. It sounds like an opera, but using AiDA in your marketing can make a big difference in the results you get. Here’s how it works (in four easy steps).

Step one – Attention

First, get your prospects’ attention. Your promotion won’t work unless your target audience stops and reads (or listens to) your message.
For instance, let’s say you’re selling a solar-powered furnace. Trumpet the savings that your customers enjoy by purchasing your product. For example, “Cut Your Heating Bills by 75%!”

Step two – Interest

Address their interests and outline the problem. In this case, the homeowner’s interest in saving money, and frustration with high heating bills. Then, you can tell them about your solution.

Step three – Desire

Discuss the benefits customers get by using your product. In this case, a solar-powered furnace cuts costs, eliminates reliance on foreign energy sources, and frees you from the whims of large oil companies.
“You’ll stay comfortable and warm all winter long, for only pennies a day. And, there’s a backup system in case of too many cloudy days.”

Step four – Action

Now that your prospects want to learn more about your product, tell them what to do. Ask them to call now, mail a form, etc.

Putting it all together

Imagine you’re standing in front of a room full of women and you put up a big sign that says:

Free Manhalo Blahnik shoes!

Since this is an imaginary room full of mostly women, I bet that would get their attention.

Now why?

One, you said FREE – everyone likes free stuff

Two, you said shoes to a room full of women and women love shoes.

Three, you said the free shoes were famous designer shoes – and they were FREE

Four, you told them where to go to get the shoes (go that way).

Now, you try it. Share your ideas here.