5 Marketing Tactics B2B Tech Companies Should Avoid

If you are a B2C marketer looking for advice, a simple Google search will give you a ton of useful advice – even great books on the subject. Sadly, in B2B marketing things are a bit different, especially when it comes to the tech industry. The main reason is fairly easy to understand: everybody is fascinated with gadgets and consumer electronics and they won’t stop teaching you how to sell them better. But what do you do when your product isn’t designed for the end-user, but for other companies? Well, first of all, you avoid these things:

1. Focusing too much on promotions.

   This is an ideal tactic for B2C companies, who want to appeal to as many customers as possible, but for you, the B2B marketer, the focus should be on getting only the clients that you know you can rely on. Companies can be as changing as end users, leaving you behind to join your competitor who has a better promotion this month. This is a bad outcome for B2C companies, too, but for B2B ones it’s even worse. Why? Simply put, because client acquisition costs more. A lot more.

2. Using fluffed-up content.

   Trust me, this doesn’t even work for B2C companies, let alone B2B ones. If you don’t have enough time to create relevant and valuable new content each week, it’s better to adjust your content calendar to accommodate your schedule than to post only for the sake of filling up a blank page. You want to help your (potential) customers with GOOD content, content that establishes you as a market leader, as a thought leader who has a say in how the industry works and who, consequently, would be a great partner.

3. Having no unique brand voice.

   Once again, most of the branding success stories you’ve read are from companies that appeal to the end-user. From Apple to Facebook and back, you already know them by heart and, let’s be honest, you also envy them a bit because you believe no B2B brand can have this “glam”. Sorry to say this, but you’re wrong; first of all, both Apple and Facebook have a B2B segment and their revenue from selling to other companies is not small at all. In fact, this is what Facebook lives off of. So, instead of envying them, maybe learn something from them: a strong, easy to recognize brand is useful in any industry.

4. Avoiding some social networks.

   No, Instagram is not only for teenagers who post selfies, just like Pinterest is not only for brides-to-be searching for their perfect wedding dress. Even the biggest corporations are formed of people and these people spend time online on all networks. In fact, quite recently, one of my clients signed a huge deal with a lead we converted from Instagram. And yes, obviously, it was a B2B type of deal. Bragging aside, what you should remember from this is that people are behind every company and these people are sick and tired of being talked to as if they were nothing but corporate robots. The more personal you get, the more business you will get.

5. Welcoming everyone on board.

   I’ve said it before and I’ll repeat it as many times as necessary: not all clients are good clients. We’ve all done this mistake – did EVERYTHING just to get that damned contract signed so that we can add another client to the portfolio. Cost of acquisition aside, there are clients who aren’t worth as much as they bring in. Go back to the numbers and check out a few basics: the discount you offered a client, the volume of business he brings in, the number of people required to tend to his business and the number of times he’s contacted support. Are all these numbers much higher than for your average client? Then it’s high time you dropped him!

Need help reaching more IT buyers? Then you have come to the right place; clicking the button below is the first step:

Photo source: worldpropertyjournal.com