B2B (business to business) marketing is the practice of individuals or organizations to facilitate sales of their goods to other companies or organizations that in turn resell them or use them as components in their own products or services.
Due to the nature of the business, offerings are often specific and marketing efforts should be similar to that of niche marketing in that the products or services are specialized.
B2B companies have special needs when implementing a marketing strategy.
Jump off your site for a moment and look at things from the average shopper's point of view.
It's a fact that people prefer to buy from someone they trust but generally trust is not easily given or gained.
Companies are no different.
They're run by people.
In addition, by the numbers game, if you're a B2B company or individual, you have less chance of cushioning this specificity with tons of other products or services.
You have what you have to work with.
Increasing your online presence and gaining trust in your field and your company should be a prime focus in your marketing strategy.
This can be accomplished by approaching companies on a more human level, earning your reputation and networking.
Many B2B companies overlook or misunderstand using social media as an option in their marketing efforts.
This is a mistake.
Many B2B buyers use Facebook primarily for business networking allowing companies to relate to each other without the fluff.
If you're a B2B company and not using social media in your marketing efforts, you're losing out on a host of opportunity.
By the same token, writing articles for article directories can also be a means of adding viewers, therefore potential customers to your site.
In the same manner as social media, writing an article for an article directory can expose you to the reader on a more personal level.
People have become wary and possibly cynical when they read facts on a website about why they should buy from that site as opposed to others.
By presenting articles related to your specific goods or services, other companies or employees of those companies might take notice of your expertise and therefore trust you more than they do one of your faceless competitors.
They will probably remember the personal info and if they see it again on another article, chances are they will begin to be naturally curious as to your place of business or your website.
A recent study done by KnowledgeStorm states that of a wide sampling of B2B companies, 90% participate in video promotions, 80% participate in blogs, the same percentage participate in Wikis, and 69% participate in social networks.
Another recent study shows that professionals are the fastest growing segment of Facebook's new members.
Blogs, wikis and video promotion might be a little hard to digest right now but learning how to go about utilizing both social media and article writing as a means of further establishing yourself or your company may just be the knowledge you need to take your business onward and upward and is most definitely an excellent place to start.