Marketing to many different market segments poses more challenges compared to marketing to consumers or other businesses. Business to many (B2M) marketing requires knowing your separate audiences, their needs and addressing each at the same time. Sure, you could create separate marketing campaigns for your business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C) customers, but you’ll spend more money and spread yourself too thin.
About 63 percent of businesses say generating new leads is one of their top marketing challenges. The methods for generating new leads are sometimes quite different for B2C versus B2B campaigns, though. Fortunately, there are areas where the two cross over and methods which work in marketing to both.
Here are seven different ways you can effectively market your B2M business no matter what goods or services you sell.
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1. Offer Multiple Sales Funnels
When visitors land on your home page, are there options for both your business and consumer clients? While you might give one more weight than another, everything should be clearly labelled so each type of buyer knows what journey to take through your website. You can accomplish this with columns or through your navigation structure.
Lulu is a classic example of a book publishing business serving both segments. They serve authors by offering services that help the author get their book into print. However, they also serve consumers by selling books directly to them, and they provide information on their current catalogue. Lulu does a good job of defining the relationship so the user goes where needed. For example, they have sections titled “Author Services,” “Bulk Discounts” and “Shop Our Store.”
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2. Use Account-Based Marketing (ABM)
Around 87 percent of companies reported account-based marketing (ABM) increased their return on investment (ROI). With an ABM approach, you look at the accounts which bring in the most money and push your marketing dollars toward reaching them and customers like them. This grows your business rapidly because you gain large accounts rather than small ones.
For a B2M business, you might team up with another company who has a wide database of consumers for the B2C portion of your business and focus on big corporations for the B2B part.
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3. Highlight What You Do
Figure out how to summarize what you do for every member of your target audience in the fewest words possible. Once you know what value you offer both businesses and consumers, you can share this information on your website, social media pages and on additional communication platforms. Think of your highlights as a sort of elevator pitch that gets your offerings across succinctly.
Green Home Pest Control uses images on their homepage to show how they serve both residential and commercial customers. They also list out their green initiatives by showcasing organic options, which appeals to both audiences. They then list some of the more popular pests they handle. While some separation happens by listing out both residential and commercial services, there isn’t a notable difference in the overall process to learn more or receive a free quote.
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4. Utilize Scarcity Marketing
With scarcity marketing, you make an item or service more attractive by marketing it as rare. Scarcity marketing works with both types of clients because it taps into a psychological need to have something before it sells out. You want to define the urgency in taking action for both target audiences.
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5. Add a Gallery
A gallery of photos showing how you serve both segments allows businesses and consumers to see your capabilities, especially if you run a service-based business. Display your best photos of both commercial and residential projects and show them in two segmented galleries on your website.
Gibbs Landscape Co. segments their site into residential and commercial/HOA areas. When you click on either option, you’ll see the types of services offered in that category along with some sample photos of the landscaping projects they completed in the past.
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6. Start Social Media Groups
You might not have the energy or time to keep up multiple social media pages for B2B and B2C customers. However, you can add groups on sites such as Facebook and tie them into your business page. Since your business customers likely have different questions than consumers, separating the groups gives you a chance to answer questions and market to each more effectively.
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7. Partner With Other Businesses
When you start your business, you may have a small marketing budget. It’s tough to reach your different buyer personas when you have vastly different target audiences served within the same business. Opt to team up with like-minded businesses for promotions as a way to get more eyes on your products or services without spending too much money. For example, if you serve consumers who like to golf, you might team up with some golf courses for marketing opportunities.
Allison Sargent Events is a good example of a company teaming up with others to get the word out while also doing their work as an event planning company. Event planning naturally serves both organizations looking to raise money through charity events and individuals who attend the events. An event planner might plan a big corporate gathering or a small backyard birthday party.
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Meshing the Best of Two Worlds
To effectively market a B2M business, you must know both target audiences well. Study your internal data and look for similarities between your two audiences. Areas which intersect are your marketing sweet spot and allow you to reach your B2B and B2C customers at the same time.