Table of Contents
What is Business Marketing?
Business marketing is a process through which a business markets and then sells its products and services. Government, private or public institutions, or commercial businesses and organizations use business marketing for the promotion, selling or reselling.
Business marketing also goes by many names like business to business marketing, industrial marketing, and business to government marketing.
Importance of Marketing of a Successful Business
As we know that marketing is important for your business, whether you want to grow your business or increase sales. Here are some of the reasons why marketing is important for your business;
A source of Information
As a business person or a salesman, you know the features and characteristics of your product or service. What value the product or service or can add in customers’ life. But with the help of marketing, you can communicate with your customers and explain to them different features of your product. When your customers are better informed, then it’s highly probable that they’ll buy your product.
Equalizes your Business
If you compare today’s social media marketing with traditional TV, Radio and Newspaper marketing of your business. Then you would find a huge gap in terms of finances. Before the era of social media marketing, the traditional type of business marketing has been very costly and expensive. Social media has made it very simple and easy for an ordinary business to market and grow. The only way you can be successful with social media business marketing if you’re certain about your target market, its locations, and demographics. When you have such information, then you can compete in the market with a bigger brand.
Provide Businesses Suitability
Another misconception about business marketing can fix all of your business problems. It is said that marketing is more like the food of your business rather than the medicine. It means that marketing is necessary for your business in terms of communicating, building and maintaining relations with your customers. Marketing is also an ongoing and consistent process of your company. But it doesn’t mean that marketing would fix your problems like low sales, lack of customers’ engagement or supply and distribution issues.
Customers Engagement
In the past and still, customers visit the outlets, shops, and stores of their famous brand, where they talk to the sales personals of the company about the latest product in a certain category. When Companies and brands launch promotional events, then they invite customers to visit and check out the latest products. The purpose is to increase the customers’ engagement with the company, and consumers want to be a part of the brand that they like.
In today’s era of social media marketing, companies can easily increase consumers’ engagements by asking them simple questions like the favorite thing about the brand. How they would like to make improvements in the brand. Such questions can increase users engagements.
Drives Sales
As we know that the ultimate goal of marketing of any business is to increase sales. If a company successfully sells its product, then the profit from the sale would cover its expenses. Therefore, good marketing is necessary for the smooth running of your business. By good marketing. I mean that you should better communicate with your customers about the product or service that you’re offering through marketing. If the marketers of your company convey the exact message, then customers would buy. Remember marketing is bait, and you should use the bait wisely.
Ensures the Growth of Your business
If your business has a good customer’s database, then marketing can also help your business to grow further. By offering gifts to those who invite their friends to buy something, companies use such offers to make their existing share their experiences with their social circles. Social media sharing has made such business marketing much easier.
Types of Business Marketing
A business has to sell its products and services in various markets, here are some of the following types of business marketing as follows;
Business to Business Marketing (B2B)
B2B marketing is where you sell your products and services to the other businesses, instead of end consumers. This type of marketing doesn’t involve emotional selling just like we experience in the business to consumer marketing.
B2B is more like a long term educational type which involves long term contracts and relies on personal connection rather than ads.
Industrial Marketing
Industrial marketing is where you sell your products and services to other industries for further reuse. Like mechanical parts of vehicles and cars, furniture showrooms, and other supplies. In the industrial marketing, we call the seller supplier. Suppliers develop relations with its clients and try to solve their issues, rather than adopting a selling approach.
Services Marketing
Professional service marketing is also the subcategory of B2B marketing which comprises of such firms and businesses that offer professional services to the other businesses. Like human resources, recruitment firms, financial consultations firms, and payroll management firms. These firms specialized in one category offer their services to the other businesses.
Business to Government Marketing (B2G)
Business to government marketing also falls in the subcategory of B2B types of marketing. It is where the government has contracts with the local business and other clients. Establishing a contract with the government is a lengthy procedure, which involves a lot of documentation, filling out forms, sending bids and its approval; bidder must fulfill many requirements and finally being awarded the project. Then your business would be able to work with the government.
Business Marketing Strategies
When we talk about the marketing strategies of your business, then more reach, visibility, customers’ engagement, and exposure come to our mind. Here are some of the following tools and strategies that businesses use for marketing;
Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is one of the most effective ways of getting more exposure to your brand. It is because all of the major social media platforms have over a billion users. You just have to do your homework, find your target market and customers. Compose an attractive message to communicate with your audience, and then post it. If you can’t do it, then you can also hire social media managers to manage your brand page if you have the resources. Even you can use the paid advertisement tools of social media to reach more audience.
Use Email Marketing
Email marketing is the direct and automated type of marketing. It’s only possible when you have the email list of all of your target customers who have previously attended your event. If you do have the list, then you can send an automated soliciting message to all of your previous attendees. It could be your new product, an event, or an update. The purpose is to invite them again. It would not only increase customers’ loyalty, but it would also give a personal touch.
Newspaper and Magazines
Marketing through newspapers and magazines is an old traditional type of marketing. It is effective, but costly. However, marketing of many business and companies still rely on the advertisements of newspapers and magazines. There are different newspapers in different regions, and they have different reach. When it comes to choosing a newspaper or a magazine for ads, you should keep these things in mind.
Keep in Content Marketing
Content marketing means marketing of your products and services through written, video and audio content. In content marketing, you use an indirect approach and convince your target customers. You don’t directly tell them to buy your product, but the way you describe the features and utility of your product. Consistency conveys the same message. Through content marketing, you manipulate the mind of your customer into believing that he’s making his own decision. Instead, it is you in the background who is triggering it.
Local Marketing
Pamphlets, banners, and posters fall in the category of local marketing. The magnitude of this type of marketing is low, but they are good and effective at a local level.
Work with Influencers
Interviews and shout out videos by some actors and influencing members of the society are also the type of marketing. Where they advertise and promote certain products and services by sharing their personal experiences. Their followers check out the product after watching and listening to their leader.
LinkedIn Can Also Help You
LinkedIn is a professional networking platform. If you maintain a good professional activity on this platform and promote your product and service, then LinkedIn marketing could equally be helpful to your business and company. But the functionality of marketing on LinkedIn is completely different than other social media platforms.
Business Marketing Examples
Here are some of the examples of business marketing as follows;
Slack
Slack is a specifically designed tool and a platform for business and startup teams to work and communicate with one another. Business partners and team members can communicate and share files at a single platform.
Spotify
Spotify is a musical media platform, which allows you to listen to hundreds of songs for free. It creates a separate personalized musical playlist on a weekly, monthly, and yearly basis which they have to discover and check it out. You would be able to know the personal choices and preferences of people with Spotify, and you can market effectively with such information.
Conclusion
After reading the whole article, you must have got a clear idea about the importance of business marketing. Its different types and various strategies of business marketing, and they vary from business to business. Therefore, you must know about your business category and apply the marketing strategies accordingly.