Features of promoting B2B sites on the Internet

B2B (business to business) is a business model in which goods or services are sold not to the end consumer, but to companies, for example, equipment for timber processing, a remote accountant, equipment for a manicure room. Even raw materials in large wholesale lots can be sold via the Internet.

But the promotion of sites that belong to this category has its own characteristics that must be taken into account when drawing up a promotion program.

The main differences of Internet marketing in the field of B2B

B2B and B2C markets in terms of marketing have enormous differences, the leveling of which can lead to the fact that Internet marketing for business will simply be ineffective. Among the characteristic features:

• Decision makers. In the vast majority of cases, this is an expert group of people from the management team, for example, a manager, head of department, director or owner, representative of the financial service or accounting department. Each of them evaluates the proposal according to its own criteria.
• Long sales cycle. Actions aimed at the end consumer have the goal of selling quickly. Came to the site, saw the offer, bought it. In B2B, everything works differently, the main part of the work, the negotiation of conditions, the execution of the transaction takes place outside the site. And this may take considerable time (depending on the amount of the contract – up to a year).
• It is difficult to analyze the effectiveness of the measures used. Due to the fact that the decision to cooperate and purchase is not made immediately, and even offline, it is difficult to understand how a client came to you.
  Search engines and marketplaces are used to find the right product or service. At the same time, there is not always a link to the company’s website.
• First of all, it is not the goods or services of the company that are evaluated, but its expertise, customer focus, accessibility, so the site must be designed accordingly.
• The goal of B2B promotion is not to sell immediately, but to make sure that the client finds and chooses you. And then personal contacts, direct communication, work with objections and all that is characteristic of contracting come into the picture. It is also a good opportunity to establish long-term cooperation.
  We figured out the differences, now let’s see how to apply them for promotion on the Internet.

Emphasis on trust and work with conversion

Without a properly created website, effective promotion work is impossible. On the Internet, the customer is not looking for the product or service itself, but for a partner who can satisfy his needs. Oddly enough, but it is the product offer that fades into the background here.

Features of promoting B2B sites on the Internet: tips for effective business promotion

By the way, Western experts found that B2B leads from search results are 3 times more leads than B2C, but contextual advertising is less trusted. The thing is that here, in the best possible way, the trust in those who fall into the top five of the TOP in the search is displayed. And by going to the site, the user should not be disappointed.

To inspire confidence, the site must contain the following information:

• Portfolio – list the clients you work with. If there are well-known companies in the industry, this will instantly increase your credibility, because if the best use your services, then you can really be trusted.
• Create a section in which upload images of your licenses, diplomas, certificates. Such documents demonstrate professionalism, confirm that you are qualified to help the client solve his problem.
• Testimonials, letters of recommendation work even better than portfolios and certificates. Ask your customers to write something nice about you – it’s completely free, but it will endear you to a potential customer.
• Warranties and the possibility of a return. The B2B market is expensive transactions, so it is important for the client to understand that he will be able to return the money in case of certain circumstances. And if, for example, something happens to the equipment, the supplier will change or repair it.In this category, customers are more demanding than end users, so you also need to take care of such seemingly small things as page loading speed, the absence of broken links, the 404 error page. And adapting the resource for mobile devices will help not to lose a single lead.