Published 3 October 2019

Targeting the Right Buyer in The Web of B2B Buying Network

The B2B buying network is undergoing a revolution, with online research playing a significant role in decision-making. Developing a unique proposition that highlights the problem and the solution is crucial for generating leads. Choosing the right channels, such as social media platforms and digital advertising, is essential for successful outreach. Running test campaigns and monitoring performance metrics help refine targeting and improve engagement. Personalized content and strong branding are key to standing out in competitive markets.

Introduction

With more and more buyers gaining the decision-making power needed to influence buying processes, a revolution is underway in the B2B buying network for products and services. As a recent Accenture study observed, around 94% of B2B buyers have conducted an online research prior to making a purchase.

While many B2B businesses are experiencing success when it comes to identifying and targeting their key audiences online, several face challenges in terms of outreach and connecting with the right people. While your business might serve a need, it doesn’t help make your marketing strategy more effective. Here are a few points to keep in mind when pinpointing the correct buyer for your B2B buying network:

Narrow Down Who ‘The Right Buyer’ Is

To start off, your business enterprise should have a clear idea of the types of people who are likely to be most interested in the product or service on offer. This clarity will define the larger strategic goals of your organisation and help understand how to maximize sales. Already have a customer base? You can begin by assessing their individual backgrounds and find commonalities in parameters such as gender, geographical location, age group, household income level, marital status, occupation, etc.

If you are at the early stages, and are still figuring out your ideal customer, there are some tools you can use to fast track the process. For instance, get some data about interested users from Google Analytics, Twitter Analytics or Facebook insights. These tools break down website visitors by their location, gender, age and even the type of device they accessed the website from. In case you believe that the readership of a certain magazine aligns with the product or service you are offering, connect with them directly and request for a media pack.

This documentation usually includes demographic information about its audience. Finally, a simple and often underestimated tactic is reaching out to your immediate and secondary networks, to find individuals or organisations interested in supporting your cause and lead you to potential buyers.

Develop the Unique Proposition

This is a crucial stage in the process of generating B2B leads. When you know the people that will show interest, the next step is to decide on what your message will be. The message can be communicated via a strategically placed advertisement or online content or even a phone call. You need to stress upon the problem statement, and how your solution is the only one that will make a difference.

Grab an individual’s attention by highlighting what the problem is in an easily understandable format, then clearly convey the exact way your solution is solving it. The urgency and scarcity aspect should come across firmly, and strike a note of interest in potential clients. To see which message is most effective, have a trial period where you test different offers and change up the language accordingly.

Choose the Channels Wisely

Once you know the kind of buyer you are targeting, do some research and assess which channels are more effective for B2B leads generation. For instance, research shows that an estimated 75% of B2B buyers utilize social media for making purchases. Such platforms also evolve in their value, as LinkedIn has demonstrated over the years. According to a survey report, instead of being a means of networking for recruiters, it has become a way of sharing informative professional content for B2B buyers and have business-related discussions.

Being active on specific forums and groups will help track emerging trends in your industry and learn what is required to increase audience engagement. In addition, tapping into digital advertising channels such as Ads on Google, LinkedIn and Facebook can be a smart way to source new customers compared to traditional methods like television, radio and news media. For online ads, it is important to have a grasp of high intent and low intent keywords – these will appear when a user searches for them on the platform. Selecting the right channel will give you enormous reach and help to spread the word, even outside your target market.

Create and Implement the B2B Campaign

Only when you run a test campaign and monitor its performance, will you confirm the target customers in accordance with your criteria. Some advertising tools provide data on the number of people that match your selected parameters, e.g. IT professionals in New Delhi. When you launch the campaign, a few variables to watch out for include the following:

Bounce rate: This shows the number of people that are exiting your website after they have clicked through the ad. If this is higher than 35%, pay attention to revising the content, adding more visuals or making other changes to the landing site.
Average session: If these numbers are higher, it means that people spend more time on the website.
Pages viewed per session: This indicates the estimated number of pages that a person clicked through to, when they visited the website. When these numbers increase, it means the campaign is generating more interest among buyers.

To Conclude

With a plethora of choices in today’s market, buyers have a very short attention span and can switch to other brands at a whim. Studies demonstrate that current buyers already go through 70% of the decision-making process prior to first contact with a product or service. For it to truly stand out, customers need to know that the brand values them and understands their requirements. Utilising data analytics and extensive research, businesses need to hone in on the kind of content that is most engaging and disseminate it through platforms that are popular.

Personalised content delivered at scale by leveraging today’s marketing technologies, will allow companies to compete in ever-crowded markets. Further, as digital marketing tactics take the centre-stage, company branding must successfully lead to stronger relationships in the B2B buying network. Before considering prospects as best-fit B2B buyers, understanding that they are humans first, is essential to track down the right people and provide them with meaningful experiences.