The 3 Most Effective Channels for B2B ECommerce Marketing

1. The 3 Most Effective Channels for B2B E-Commerce Marketing • It’s easy to see the eCommerce world as one, big, universal market. After all, it’s just about selling products and services online, right? • While that may be true, there are some vast differences between the B2C eCommerce and B2B eCommerce. • The B2B eCommerce industry is already gaining a lot of momentum in 2018. A common trend (amongst many) is that B2B eCommerce merchants need to invest more time and money into technology in order to better manage their business and stay competitive.

2. The 3 Most Effective Channels for B2B E-Commerce Marketing

3. Shifting trend from B2C to B2B • The report by Statista on B2B eCommerce in 2017 has estimated $2.3 trillion B2C sales online while for B2B it is $7.7 trillion which is more than double the B2C market value. What are causing these huge shifts? Here are some reasons: • The rise of self-service has increased with 57% B2B customers wanting to access their accounts and orders online. • 65% of B2B customers want scheduled deliveries and simplified ordering experiences, from B2B eCommerce portals

4. B2B growth rate by selling channel • Today, the B2B eCommerce industry has multiple business models, including distributors, manufacturers, retailers and wholesalers, selling online. Compared to their online sales in 2016, B2B companies have witnessed significant growth in 2017: • Distributors grew 6.2% • Manufacturers exhibited 7% growth • Retailers acquired 26.6% growth • Wholesalers gained 5.8% growth • The average growth rate across all businesses was 7.1% in 2017 from 2016.

5. The most effective B2B eCommerce online marketing channels • Lead acquisition is the lifeline for any business, and B2B eCommerce businesses have multiple online marketing channels to utilize. If we look at the percentage share of each channel, we can draw some useful conclusions for preparing B2B marketing strategies: • An eCommerce website acts as the most effective channel and needs all the possible integrations and enhancements to be most effective. • Email marketing campaigns may be the “old school” marketing approach, however, it is still regarded as a highly effective channel.

6. SEO is also highly effective as it can directly improve your brand awareness • Social media is also very powerful. If it is done right it can add real value to the business from building thought leadership to deepening customer relationships.

7. Build relationships • Know the differences between B2B strategies and B2C strategies. The goal of a Business-to-Consumer website is to make a sale when the prospective customer visits the page, whereas B2B websites are designed to build long-term relationships with companies who will consistently return to that supplier. This means that immediate sales are unlikely; the goal should be to initiate a conversation and start the selling process.

8. SEO

9. Know which metrics are important • When we run Analytics reports for B2C websites, we focus heavily on conversions with regards to how many people have made a purchase. For B2B websites, conversions often take place offline and are not as reliable an indicator of success as B2C conversions. More relevant Analytics indicators would be factors like Time on Site and bounce rate, both of which indicate how interested prospects are in learning more and forming a partnership. You can also set up custom goals that track, for example, how many people download a whitepaper or enter their contact information to request a quote.

10. Choose keywords relevant to your B2B market • Perform market research on your target audience so you can know how to speak to them, and then select the right keywords. Beware of the keyword “wholesale,” which is often used by B2C websites that sell in bulk or offer discounts, which leads to a misuse and saturation of that keyword. This doesn’t mean you have to throw it out altogether, but do supplement your strategy with keywords that are highly relevant to your target market, like “industrial machine equipment suppliers” or “material handling systems supplier.”

11. Consider other avenues for communicating information • Website content is especially important in the B2B world, as your prospects will be looking for as much information as possible prior to making their decisions. Consider the B2C consumer, who can look at a photo of a product and make a purchase. Now contrast this with the B2B consumer, who will be interested in price points, the efficacy of the product, supporting options and maybe even specifics like engineering techniques or a commitment to environmentally-friendly practices. White papers, resources pages, Slideshares, product videos and infographics are all especially helpful forms of content for the B2B market.

12. Don’t forget the fundamentals • Of course, best practices for SEO continue to apply. This includes keyword-rich metadata, technical optimization, high-quality on page content and white-hat link acquisition strategies. B2B websites also have a relatively untapped opportunity to use Schema markup to their advantage.

13. PPC

14. Create thorough landing pages • B2B buyers tend to do a lot more comparison shopping. It’s rarely a quick sale, as these purchases are often larger in scale. This means it’s important to make sure your landing pages are very thorough. Be sure to include a lot of helpful information, including testimonials from other businesses, phone numbers clearly displayed for easy contact, FAQs with answers and details regarding bulk purchases (if relevant).

15. Tailor your calls to action • Make sure the ads clearly speak to a business. The “buy now” or “order today” call to actions aren’t ideal for businesses. You’d be better served with phrases such as “best in class,” “award-winning,” “contact us” or “see what we can do for your business.” Also, mention price points if you’re able. It will help businesses know more information about what you sell and will increase the quality of the buyer who clicks on the ad.

16. Add on business modifiers • Use keywords with a business mindset. So if applicable, use the “bulk” terms or phrase add-ons such as “for business,” “for companies” and “corporate.” Additionally, businesses typically know exactly what product or service they want, so make sure to target those specific keywords. Use the correct acronyms, part numbers, model numbers, etc. Customers may have some idea, but businesses know and will search for those exact things.

17. Run ads during work hours • Monitor your ad schedule. Maybe businesses are only shopping for products and services during the week from the hours of 7am-7pm, so you’d omit other hours and weekends. • Re market to stay top of mind • Finally, remarketing is a great tool for businesses. As noted, B2B products and services tend to have long buying cycles, and remarketing can help close those deals.

18. Email Marketing

19. Define the goal of your email marketing • What is your goal when you send emails to your customers? Do you want to provide discounts? Promote yourself as an authority? Release new products or catalogues? • Defining a goal will help direct each newsletter template, layout and what the primary callout is. This will give your email marketing strategy a cohesive feel instead of seeming disjointed. This will also help in design, where the primary calls-to-action are based on email goals.

20. Test the frequency of email launches • Use the data from your efforts to determine the best time and day to send your newsletters. • How many emails should you be sending? • Determine what qualifies as a reasonable turnaround for your company. • Weekly, bi-weekly, once a month, quarterly? • Make sure you’re reaching your subscribers when the timing is best for them. • Consider running a second pass newsletter to capture subscribers at a later date who didn’t open the first one.

21. Create an email marketing calendar • As soon as possible, create a calendar for showcases, promotions, holidays, seasonal trends and so on. This can be quarterly, bi-yearly or mapped out for the entire year, and will give your email marketing efforts direction and a full strategy. Your calendar should reflect your seasonality, and you can use metrics year-over-year to grow and refine your efforts. • As you can now see, 2018 looks to be a great year for the B2B eCommerce industry.

22. Thank You