Search engine optimization, or SEO, is one of the most powerful ways to get attention for your website. Work in the field of B2B is aimed at the interaction between corporate clients. They are mainly engaged in sales of industrial equipment, consultations, creation and development of dealer networks, IT, and other services. Promotion of a B2B site requires an integrated approach, where various tools are used at different stages of the chain of interaction with a potential client. B2B SEO Agency offers services such as on-page work, amazing content, good link-building, and digital PR strategy. In the B2B sphere, they buy in bulk or order a package offer.
What are B2B and B2C companies?
B2C is the designation of the commercial relationship between business and consumer. This is a familiar model when goods and services are bought immediately by the end user for personal purposes. B2C sales volumes are small, but they happen frequently. This sector of the market includes beauty salons, clothing and pet supplies stores, and catering.
B2B is the interaction of legal entities, in which companies are sellers and buyers, and products are purchased from a wholesale warehouse or manufacturing enterprise to develop their own business line or further resale.
What is the difference between B2B and B2C SEO strategies?
Depending on the type of end customer, B2B (business-to-business) and B2C (business-to-customer) sales are distinguished. In B2C sales, goods are purchased for their own use. B2B is the use of the purchased product primarily for making money. The main differences between these types of sales are based on the following parameters:
● way of selling goods. B2B transactions are made less often, but for large amounts, which allows you to ensure the operation of the enterprise for several months in advance. With B2C, sales are frequent, but in much smaller volumes;
● making a purchase decision. Work in the field of B2B involves the calculation of the prospects for the upcoming transaction, its rational assessment, analysis of the price/quality ratio, etc. And purchases by the end consumer (B2C) are often made spontaneously, based on the adoption of subjective decisions;
● marketing strategies. Since the motives for purchasing goods in different segments differ radically, the ways of interacting with potential customers will also be different. In the B2C segment, the emphasis is on meeting the specific needs of the buyer, and B2B is on making a profit when reselling the product when it participates in the production chain.
In the field of B2B sales, completely different rules apply – it is a mistake to apply B2C laws here. To enter a niche and stay on top, use the following principles:
● Each received client is a guarantee of large profits and long-term cooperation. Make personalized offers, respond quickly to requests, and value your customers – and they will recommend you to their partners.
● Don’t skimp on employees. Talented seller in B2B – 75% of success.
● Refine the site. This is the business card of your company, which will help you to pass the selection at the stage of preliminary acquaintance with potential applicants for the tender.
B2B SEO strategies
To be successful, B2B companies will need to develop a flexible multi-channel model of interaction with their consumers, work on improving the professionalism of their managers and pay attention to improving the quality of service in general. SEO for B2B companies is built on some principles:
1. Study the target audience and its needs. It is important to study the companies that refused to buy from you: if you understand the reason for the refusal, you can improve the product or sales script so that they buy.
2. If you already have a customer base, segment it into different groups that differ in product consumption, geography, or other criteria that you feel comfortable separating them. This will help to look for new companies with the same features and build a separate strategy for interacting with each of these groups on the Internet.
3. Make a map of the target audience with specific proposals for each of its needs. Develop a funnel according to the scheme: the client does not have a need, the need has appeared, the client chooses a product, and is ready to pay, and existing customers.
4. Map a product with advantageous benefits and analyze competitors’ products and online behavior to identify their strengths and weaknesses. In addition, you should work on your weaknesses, if they are found in the analysis of competitors.
5. Analyze which Internet sites have your target audience. Then launch advertising campaigns on them or create community communities, depending on the specifics of the channel. It remains only to constantly test the results and optimize campaigns based on the received analytics. Add negative keywords, cut off unnecessary user segments, change creatives, and refine offers and proposals.
How to increase B2B and B2C sales?
The first thing you should pay attention to when promoting B2B sales:
● Dive into the client business. Only by understanding what difficulties your target audience faces, you will be able to correctly draw up a commercial offer, present a product with key advantages for a partner, and show your own expertise.
● Use digital channels. With the active transition of the business sphere to the online development of a B2B site, SEO and SMM promotion is already an obligatory stage in the promotion of a company. Digital channels allow you to attract a “fresh” audience, and manage your reputation.
● Keep in touch. Partnerships between companies can last for years. In the B2B sphere, it is important to regularly contact customers, and collect feedback in order to track when you need to improve your own product or offer something different.
● Expert content. Structured case studies, training guides, statistics and forecasts, and webinars with specialists allow you to “hook” a B2B client.
Some tips for B2C marketing:
● Build a strong brand. B2C consumers trust well-known brands and are willing to pay more for a popular name.
● Ensure the convenience of ordering on the site. If a person needs to fill in a dozen registration fields in order to purchase one cup, he will immediately close the tab. Buying should be easy.
● Encourage shopping. Discounts, sales, promotions, bonuses for large or repeated purchases – all this activates the B2C audience.
● Emotional content. Various useful posts, videos, life hacks, and positive feedback from customers are suitable for promoting B2C products.
Modern B2B Sales Trends
Recently, sales in this segment have changed a lot, therefore, the strategies that marketers are recommended to use are also becoming different. The main changes are related to the following transformations:
● the client has become more independent and responsible in choosing goods. Previously, sales that were conducted under the supervision of experienced managers were more predictable. Now, before the first meeting with the seller, the potential buyer collects all available information about the offer, studies reviews, and recommendations, gets acquainted with analytics and reviews;
● confidence in the consultants of the selling companies has decreased. On the one hand, this is due to a decrease in the professionalism of their individual representatives, on the other hand, to the fact that clients do not like it when even minimal pressure is put on them. Recent survey data show that more than half of consumers seek to find information on their own to avoid imposition;
● increased transaction cycle time. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, more people now take part in it, and secondly, buyers spend more time on an independent analysis of the qualities of a product.
It is quite possible to understand what B2B sales are and deal with their intricacies. But at the same time, you will have to devote all your working time to studying trends and introducing new approaches.