B2B customer acquisition is more elaborate than B2C, involving various stakeholders in decision-making. Accordingly, it makes the process extra challenging and requires the right strategies to boost sales and expand one’s customer base.
Getting new clients is a perpetual task for businesses, and it is vital to prevent the company from stagnating or going on a downward trend. Enterprises constantly lookout for effective marketing campaigns that can help them reach broader audiences and convert them to loyal clients.
Acquiring customers in the B2B market is often a tedious and lengthy process, but implementing ideal techniques is fruitful in the long run. Here are some time-tested customer acquisition strategies to help B2B enterprises attract more clients.
Leveraging Search Engine Optimization
Search engine optimization (SEO) is a way of attracting new customers organically. It improves the business website’s ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs) and boosts its online visibility.
In the B2B market, users often look for information or solutions to address certain issues. By implementing SEO, businesses can use the right keywords their target audiences utilize when searching on the internet. They can optimize their online content around these relevant keywords and generate useful articles or blog posts that can answer the customers’ problems.
If the website appears in the first few pages of search engine listings, it gives the business a higher chance of being found by prospective clients.
Investing in Video Marketing
Video content has become a powerful tool for generating leads and converting them to loyal clients. Target audiences increasingly spend more time watching and engaging with online videos – a growth that the COVID-19 pandemic has precipitated.
According to a recent survey, a staggering 94% of people watch explainer videos to gain a better understanding of a product or service. In turn, about 84% are persuaded to make a purchase.
Image taken from Wyzowl State of Video Marketing 2021
Relevant online videos containing information that may solve a target customer’s pain points can help businesses foster trust among clients. Consequently, companies should focus on creating product videos, explainers, or webinars as part of their B2B customer acquisition strategy.
In addition, video content with customer testimonials can further the trust-building process between the business and the target audiences, serving as proof of what the company can do to solve clients’ pain points.
Email Marketing
This strategy enables B2B businesses to connect and foster customer relationships effectively. Through email marketing, they can reach online visitors regularly with pertinent messages, showing them the value of what the company offers.
For example, enterprises can send product demos to their target clients to better understand how the business works.
The purpose of email campaigns is to send relevant information to customers that can guide them in solving specific problems.
Implementing Paid Customer Acquisition Strategies
Organic strategies alone might not be enough to sustain customer acquisition efforts. Businesses also need to invest in paid campaigns to boost their activities and reach more clients.
They can use paid ads optimized around the correct keywords that their target audiences enter when looking for solutions to their problems. Ideally, they should also use compelling call-to-action to prompt visitors to click on their ads and interact with the business.
Maximizing the Power of Social Media
Maintaining a robust social media presence is as important as sustaining strong visibility in other parts of the web. Many businesses are already on social media. And if one wants to garner more customers for their B2B enterprise, they must create an extensive business profile in this domain. This lets their target audiences know about the company and how it can help them address their needs.
Social media lets businesses connect with their target customers and foster relationships organically. Natural interactions such as joining social media groups and answering prospects’ queries in these groups can help exhibit one’s expertise and establish trust.
Guest Posting
Guest posting is a great way to amplify the business’s visibility and reach more target readers. It allows the enterprise to be seen from places other than the company website or landing pages.
Ideally, businesses should reach out to industry-specific sites with high domain authority and adequate monthly traffic. They should also ensure high-quality content that reflects their prowess to build trust and encourage engagement.
Relevant and informational content can increase the likelihood of target clients clicking through to the business website, leading to more conversions and a larger customer base.
Enhancing Your Website for Better Accessibility
People expect a pleasant user experience when navigating a website in today’s fast-paced digital environment. Slow loading speeds, mobile-unfriendliness, and visually unappealing designs will hurt the business, pushing prospects to competitors.
Consequently, enterprises must ensure that their websites are up-to-date, providing easy navigation with an excellent design. Furthermore, it is sound practice to place the most relevant information in locations visitors can see easily. Target customers will not want to waste too much time finding what they look for on the website.
Participating in Online Community Forums
An online forum is a great platform to engage target customers. Here, B2B companies can provide useful and in-depth answers to questions posted by target clients, helping them in their search for solutions.
Likewise, they can also post queries to encourage engagement and nurture trust among prospective clients. Interacting in an online community forum enables businesses to draw target readers to learn more about the company.
Offering Free Trials and Discounts for Your Products and Services
Free trials, discounts, and other marketing incentives are profitable and efficient means to attract customers and boost sales.
For businesses in the Software as a Service (SaaS) industry, including free trial offers as part of their customer acquisition strategy allows target clients to have a firsthand experience of how the services work. Often, free trials are available for two weeks or one month.
This way, target customers can better understand the company’s value in addressing their pains. Afterward, they can subscribe to the business to continue using its services.
If the company offers products, a discount can shift target customers’ attention to the business, bringing in new prospects while reinvigorating existing ones. It can also create a layer of urgency among target clients, which can help propel sales.
Referrals
Referral marketing leverages recommendations and word of mouth to grow the clientele. In this customer acquisition technique, businesses can offer discounts or provide additional features to their products or services to encourage existing customers to make referrals.
Loyal and satisfied patrons will typically recommend the business to others since they already know its value. They will want other customers to enjoy the same products or services they have been using.
The Takeaway
Stringent marketing efforts are required to grow a business and expand the customer base. In the B2B industry, customer acquisition becomes more complex as the target audiences need to know about the company before doing business with it and eventually become loyal clients.
Implementing the right strategies to acquire and retain customers remains paramount, especially with the ongoing pandemic and constant industry changes. B2B companies must stay on top of their customer acquisition efforts to produce desired outcomes.
References:
https://www.semrush.com/blog/complete-guide-customer-acquisition-2020/
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/why-people-leave-your-website
https://wyzowl.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/pdfs/Wyzowl-Video-Survey-2021.pdf
Jomer B. Gregorio is a well-rounded expert when it comes digital marketing. Jomer is also known as a semantic SEO evangelist and practitioner. Check out our Digital Marketing Services today and let us help you in achieving positive and profitable results for your business.