B2B Monday Myth: B2B Buyers are Different From the Average Consumer
by MGB2B
The Myth: B2B Buyers are different from the average consumer.
The Truth: B2B buyers are more like B2C consumers than you may realize.
B2B buyer behavior is commonly thought to differ greatly from that of B2B consumers. Many assume B2B buyers are solely logical consumers who are more cautious when it comes to making a purchase. Marketers, therefore, take a very factual tone with this audience, without adding in any emotion or depth. This can actually hinder your attempt to drive B2B buyers to purchase. For they are more like B2C consumers than you may realize. The myth that there are two different types of consumers you must market to is just that – a myth.
Here’s the the lowdown:
- B2B Consumers Are Emotionally Driven. B2C consumers are considered impulsive buyers who base their purchases on their emotions. Many marketers think B2B consumers, on the other hand, are capable of removing emotion from their decision-making process. Because of this perception, B2B marketers often assume that these customers want their content to be dry and informative. Many forget that B2B buyers are often driven by emotion as well. In fact, 71% of buyers who see personal value – as opposed to business impact – in a B2B purchase are likely to move forward with that purchase.
- They Buy Online. B2B consumers, just like the average buyer, prefer dealing with purchases online. This is despite the assumption that they purchase using more traditional methods. Last year, Forrester Research discovered that 59% of B2B customers prefer not to interact with a sales rep and 74% prefer the convenience of making purchases online. B2B buyers research products heavily before making a purchase to be confident in their decision, just like B2C customers.
- They Are Big On Reviews. You may assume that B2B customers are not reading your reviews online. They are, and they value the content of these reviews more than you might think. Just like B2C customers, B2B customers want to trust your company enough to make the purchase, and a significant number of people find that validation through reviews.
- B2B Buyers Are Not Robots. B2B customers are emotionally driven and shop online. Yes, they value reviews. Because they are human. Sure, they need to be informed and value the insights your company can give them, but the way you approach the content you distribute to prospects shouldn’t be markedly different from the way you would approach a B2C consumer. All consumers, to some extent, value convenience, clarity, and quality. Talk to them like you would if you were making a recommendation to a friend, not like a stiff salesman in a spiffy suit. Keep it conversational and helpful, and you may just earn their trust – and their business.
Email Marketing: What Manufacturers Are Missing
by MGB2B
In today’s fast-paced business world, it’s important to avoid email marketing mistakes. Email marketing is more than just a way to blast out new products and company news to your prospects; it is your company’s way of driving leads to your site and further along in your sales funnel.
For manufacturers, email marketing is a must, but it requires solid strategy, attention to detail, and good timing in order to be effective. Recently, IBM did a study on email marketing and its effectiveness for eighteen major industries, manufacturing among them. They focused on important benchmarks like unique open rates, bounce rates, and click-through rates. And the results might surprise you.
What’s Working for Manufacturers:
- Prospects Are Opening Your Emails. On the whole, the manufacturing industry has an average unique open rate of 25.9%. That’s higher than the Travel, Entertainment, Financial Services, and Retail Industries, just to name a few.
- Prospects Are Clicking Through to Your Site. If you’re like the majority of manufacturing companies, you have a unique CTR of around 3.5%. Again, this a solid showing, about smack in the middle of where other industries rank. That means you have good content that is relevant to whatever subject lines you’ve used.
What Manufacturers Need to Fix:
- The Bounce. Hard bounce rates for Manufacturers are higher than any other industry (1.59%). Manufacturing was the only industry with a bounce rate above one percent. It more than quadrupled industries like Retail (%0.285) and Real Estate (%0.315). A hard bounce rate is the percentage of emails that are sent which get rejected and are never received. This can be due to a typo, nonexistent email, updated email, etc. The number typically increases as time goes by if the errors aren’t fixed.
The study suggests that infrequency might be the root of the problem, and it very well may be a large part of the problem. So it’s a good idea to look at increasing the frequency of your emails. But there are a few other ways to lower your bounce rate:
- Keep Your Lists Updated: It is as important to update your lists as it is to send out emails. The longer you wait to update your list, the more changes need to be made. One way to avoid this altogether is to double opt-in your lists. This will ensure that your list is made up of quality leads who are interested in what you are selling.
- A Good Lead is the Best Lead: Leads are good. Good leads are great. It is important to make sure when searching for manufacturing leads that they are reliable and accurate. Purchasing a list of one thousand leads with three hundred errors and outdated prospects will hurt more in the long run than a list of five hundred top-notch leads. Quantity is important, but quality is even more important. It will be more cost-effective to enter only quality leads (preferably sorted into segments) than it will to buy a mass list and opt-out the bad ones.
- When You See Bounces…BOUNCE: As soon as a bounce comes across your desk, get rid of it. This is the most crucial part in lowering the hard bounce rate. If you send out ten thousand emails and your bounce rate is one percent, that’s 100 leads you need to delete. This lowers your bounce rate and increases your unique open and click-to-open rates, driving them into the sales funnel, where you can nurture them and eventually convert them into customers.
B2B Monday Myth: You Need to Get a Brand Video Made — Quick!
by MGB2B
The Myth: You Need to Get a Brand Video Made — Quick!
The Truth: Figure Out the Content Before You Move Forward with Video
Video marketing isn’t just for the consumer market. The best perks of video marketing include engagement, brand awareness, and lead generation — which are all very important for B2B brands. But this isn’t breaking news. According to the 2016 B2B Content Marketing Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends — North America report, 79% of B2B marketers are using video as a content marketing tactic. So if you haven’t created or shared any videos, you should shoot a quick one and get it out there ASAP, right?
Wrong. The content of your video matters. Good video content doesn’t need to be high-quality (though if you can afford better production, you should do it) nor does it need to go viral; it just needs to have a message that matters to your customer base and triggers a connection to your brand, product, or even other customers. If you can pull this off in an entertaining or insightful way, you’ll be miles ahead of the poor video content that is out there today.
More than anything it’s important to sit down and plan. What are your potential customers looking for? What do they need from you and how can your video help deliver it? Always start with strategy.
In the meantime, here are a few video content ideas you can look through and see if any might be a good fit for your customers.
Engaging B2B Video Content Ideas:
- How-To Guides — Before turning to you, customers may try to tackle their problems on their own. Help them with the first steps, and you will be top of mind for when the problems become too big for them to handle on their own.
- Case Studies — This is a great way to showcase what you have to offer. Remember though that your customers don’t care about you, but rather about solving their problems. Use this format to address how your products or services have solved challenges they can connect to.
- Weekly Podcasts — A series is a great way to keep people coming back for more. If you stay committed to this sort of project, you will have created for your company an archive of useful problem-solving content. But you have to make sure you have someone (maybe you) in your organization who is willing to make the commitment and stick with it. It’s not something that can be done sporadically.
- Customer Testimonials — There is nothing more powerful than an emotional connection. And it is easier for people to form connections with other people than it is for people to form a connection to a product. If you have clients or customers who can do heartfelt testimonials and have a good demeanor on camera, see if they’ll be willing to help out. You’ll be surprised how many people will be.
Yes, video marketing has skyrocketed across all industries, but that doesn’t mean you should rush into filming something that no one will care about. Take the time to focus on the content of your video and, more importantly, what you want the video to accomplish before diving in head-first.
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