What Is B2B Marketing?

B2B marketing means business-to-business marketing. It’s any marketing strategy or content used by one business to target and sell to another business. For instance, companies that sell services, products, or SaaS to other companies or organisations typically use B2B marketing.

Two good B2B marketing examples are Monday.com’s B2B brand strategy on LinkedIn. Another out-of-the-box example is the way Gong plans and executes its Super Bowl adverts. It’s companies like these that sell solutions to help businesses automate or enhance their processes.

The goal of B2B business marketing is to attract and convert leads into customers. In the digital age, this means that you need to be able to capture a prospect’s attention quickly and keep it. This can be done through educational content like white papers or value-driven blog posts.

5 steps to building a B2B marketing plan

The B2B buyer’s journey is unique in that you’re not selling to an individual but to an entire team or group of people, all of whom might have a say in the purchasing decision.

And the journey is no longer simply about prospecting, demoing, and closing. It’s about educating, offering value, and solving pain points.

1. Establish your TAM

Start by outlining your ideal customer profile and TAM. This is an essential part of B2B product marketing and ensures you only target the right leads for your business.

2. Decide on your goals

Secondly, set actionable goals for each member of your marketing team. By tracking B2B marketing metrics and KPIs, you can stay on top of and optimise your team’s performance.

3. Establish your value proposition

Consider what you can offer prospects that your competitors can’t. Then, decide on your messaging and value drivers for each target audience and key account. (You might be interested in using account-based marketing for this.)

4. Plan outreach

Take everything you’ve learned from the above steps and plan your outreach content to drive revenue.

5. Create content

Start creating educational content that drives demand, adds value, and builds brand awareness.

If you’re interested in learning about B2B marketing strategies that work, read Cognism CMO Alice de Courcy’s Diaries of a First-Time CMO. These accounts document Alice’s lived experience after 5+ years as a CMO in marketing, scaling Cognism’s ARR from $3m to $50m to over $100m.

5 examples of strategies for effective B2B marketing

There are several B2B marketing activities, channels, and strategies you can use when marketing to B2B.

Here are five examples of the most important B2B marketing strategies that have been proven to assist in the revenue growth of B2B companies:

1. B2B Campaign marketing

Campaign marketing plays a significant role when marketing to B2B organisations.

A campaign to sell your product or service requires extensive planning before execution. This type of campaign is typically conducted through B2B email marketing. The results are analysed to measure each campaign’s effectiveness.

However, companies like MailChimp have launched multi-channel campaigns with great success. For example, Mailchimp’s “Did You Mean Mailchimp?” campaign was a creative multi-channel marketing initiative that played on humorous mispronunciations of the brand’s name, such as “MailShrimp” and “KaleLimp.” This approach reinforced brand recognition and positioned Mailchimp as a leader in email marketing.

The campaign included a series of short films, music collaborations, and even unique products like “FailChips.” These creative elements were designed to engage audiences across various platforms and media.

But if something of that scope is outside of your budget, you can stick to email. Check out Cognism’s best B2B marketing campaigns.

2. B2B Content marketing

B2B content is arguably the most important step of a B2B digital marketing strategy.

Online and offline content aids in attracting, converting, and retaining buyers. It typically consists of written, audio, and video content published on an organisation’s blog and then shared across social media channels for more organic traffic.

Organic traffic is a crucial part of a B2B content marketing strategy. You’ll want to invest in hiring a Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) expert to get the top result for your product or service when buyers search online. If you don’t already have an SEO expert, then have a look online for a beginner’s guide to SEO or check out Moz’s Whiteboard Friday. The SEO team provides weekly educational videos where industry experts break down B2B digital marketing topics.

AI can augment the content creation process, enhancing efficiency and creativity, but it’s not a standalone solution! The human touch remains crucial for strategy, tone, and authenticity.

Whatever you do, ensure that every piece of marketing content is valuable and informative and keeps your audience top of mind.

3. B2B Digital marketing

Also known as B2B online marketing, digital marketing helps promote your brand so you can better connect with prospects.

Your strategy’s digital side includes email, social media, paid channels like Google ads, text messages, and B2B influencer marketing.

B2B marketers understand that posting generic content on social media is no longer an option. Instead, brands are expected to create a social presence, building themselves as experts in their field. If a customer can’t find you on social media, it will result in a lack of trust. That’s why B2B branding is so important.

Many brands seek influencer marketing for a brand boost, while others are experimenting with Instagram and TikTok.

LinkedIn has created the best B2B campaign opportunities for Cognism. Here’s a guide to our LinkedIn marketing strategy.

4. B2B Performance marketing

In relation to digital marketing, performance marketing combines digital channels with paid advertising, such as Google ads, and B2B brand marketing across channels.

Performance marketing allows you to manage your company’s digital advertising spend, generate targeted leads through ads, and build brand engagement.

The preferred channels are Google, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Here’s a guide that explains how to create powerful Google Ad campaigns for your B2B products.

5. B2B Product marketing

Product marketing builds brand awareness of a B2B service or product and promotes it at scale. Product marketers are responsible for a product or service’s positioning, messaging, and value proposition.

Customer case studies, webinars, and sales collateral are all vital approaches to B2B marketing, helping to encourage business audiences to buy.

To achieve the best results in product marketing, you need to first research your customer’s needs. Then, discover their pain points and ensure each piece of content includes messaging that resonates and offers a solution.

A good example of well-thought-out product marketing is Salesforce’s Trailhead – a free, interactive learning platform designed to help individuals and businesses master Salesforce’s Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system.

It offers a gamified experience, allowing users to earn points and badges as they progress through various modules and trails. These trails cover a wide range of topics, from basic introductions to advanced Salesforce functionalities, catering to all skill levels.

By providing hands-on challenges and real-world scenarios, Trailhead enables users to apply their knowledge practically, thereby enhancing their proficiency with Salesforce tools. This approach not only educates potential customers but also encourages the adoption of Salesforce products by demonstrating their value and applicability in real-world situations.