B2B Marketing by size of customer
Many companies decide on their marketing strategy without
considering the differing needs of their potential clients in how
they handle information.
Yet it is clear that a Small Business will have much more limited
resources for processing decisions than a large one. So how
can you best adapt your strategy to your customer needs?
MarketingSherpa has recently just published a study of marketing
tactics used in the USA by companies marketing technology -
hardware, software and services. I believe many of the
findings are relevant to the UK.
When asked to rate various online marketing channels for
effectiveness, respondents chose their top 5 preferences as follows:
|
Effectiveness for
targeting Large organisations |
| 1 |
Webinars / Teleseminars |
| 2 |
Search engine optimisation |
| 3 |
White paper syndication services |
| 4 |
Solo emails to house lists |
| 5 |
Online ads on general business sites |
|
For Medium
organisations |
| 1 |
Search engine optimisation |
| 2 |
Webinars / Teleseminars |
| 3 |
Paid search ads (Google etc) |
| 4 |
Solo emails to house lists |
| 5 |
Online ads - industry specific |
|
For Small organisations |
| 1 |
Solo emails to house lists |
| 2 |
Search engine optimisation |
| 3 |
Offers in your email newsletter |
| 4 |
Webinars / Teleseminars |
| 5 |
Offers in 3rd party newsletters |
Since larger organisations normally have either
a formal or informal buying committee with time for someone to
do some online research, the whitepaper syndication services are
particularly useful as a source of expertise in many areas.
By ensuring your articles are present in the right places you
increase the chance of being found and improve your credibility
as an expert in the area.
Small companies may have just one person
fulfilling multiple roles without the time to do much research,
so active marketing by email is more important.
Overall it shows the importance of email
marketing in the USA which is often overlooked on this side of
the Atlantic. The main reason for its lesser use here is
that companies have spent less time actively building their
email lists. As` a result they do not have ready access to
warm prospects.
Of course people react to different triggers.
So the main message is to use a range of channels and always to
try to find and build up new ones.
Talk to you next month!
Stephen Orr
|
