They are very influential people, but often difficult to reach because they are extremely busy running large companies. Yet it is they, the so-called decision-makers, who give the green light to make a purchase or an order in the B2B sector. Indeed, it is considered that nearly 65% of senior executives act as the final decision maker in B2B purchasing. Without their advice, it is difficult to achieve positive B2B buying decision making.
So, if you work in a marketing team for a B2B company that aspires to present its product or its services to executives or managers who have this decision-making power, you necessarily have a lot of competitors, who also want to capture the attention. Of these key people. Because it is the decision-makers who have the power to make important decisions, and above all, who hold the purse strings. It is for this reason that many B2B marketers want to reach them at all costs, directly or indirectly, through adapted strategies that use both digital channels, but where the human aspect still prevails.
But the competition is fierce to succeed in attracting the attention of these executives, managers, directors, etc. It is a generally much stressed audience, bombarded with e-mails and messages from salespeople, and whose schedules are overloaded.
So how can you promote and market your products to this exclusive audience of decision-makers? How can you ensure that your B2B brand like mask buyers in europe gets the attention it deserves, and especially on digital channels, which have become essential today?
We must not lose sight of the fact that this category, which is located at the very top of the business pyramid, represents a specific audience, with whom it is difficult to establish a relationship, but is nonetheless eager for content and relevant information. High quality, which can help them make the right decisions. B2B marketers and sales people who understand this and are working in the right direction can really hope to catch its famous decision-makers in the cracks.
Below, you will discover constructive and mainly digital strategies that your B2B marketing team can adopt in order to attract the attention of major decision-makers in your market segment or industry.
Offer ideas that others do not have
A good idea before setting up your marketing campaign is to check your competitors’ newsletters, blogs, and social networks and media. Chances are, most of the topics and trends that these B2B companies write about are both redundant and actually provide little exclusive and original information to executives and decision-makers who might read them.
In B2B, hard-to-find information is a real asset that decision-makers are fond of, and which has a much greater impact, especially in niche B2B marketing, than general low-value content. .
Even though this type of content attracts more traffic in terms of online search, recent and unpublished information of a unique nature is more likely to appeal to the experts and decision-makers of the companies targeted by your marketing department.
White papers, surveys, and original research that goes far beyond the first page of search results are things that will set your business apart from the competition and other vendors.
If for example you are selling SaaS type software, you should definitely try to explore ways to use your customer data, with the aim of revealing the latest trends in your industry. And then, not all digital channels do: you have to start conversations with old and existing customer contacts and ask them what solutions would be able to improve the performance of their business. Always be on the lookout for existing initiatives from your existing or potential customers.
Use the results of this research to inspire your digital marketing, through long and short format content that your prospects won’t be able to find elsewhere on the internet.
Providing your B2B customers with authentic and innovative research that will shed light on important questions or provide them with explanations that simplify complex topics are two great ways to get noticed and be recommended to decision makers.
This strategy makes your expertise relevant to the decision makers you are targeting, and keeps them engaged throughout the buying process.
LinkedIn recently released its All the Voices That Matter in International Business list, which features professionals from various industries whose impact on the social media platform has been shown to be powerful, through their posts, blogs and comments. .
It is essential to note that most of the professionals recognized and promoted by LinkedIn were senior executives and people with strong decision-making power within their companies.
So this clearly means that your business needs to put in place a specific social media marketing strategy geared towards decision makers.
Today, digital dominates the purchasing journey of consumers, whether in the fields of B2C or B2B. In a recent study on B2B professional service buyers, it was found that around 70% of pre-purchase research and business evaluation is done on digital platforms through online searches, consulting blogs, webinars, podcasts and social media.
Articles, research reports and guides are freely shared between teams of buyers. These scour the websites of B2B marketers and now search for their potential suppliers on Google.
If you want to be where your B2B prospects are, digital channels should be an important part of your marketing strategy, and can position you ideally against today’s time-pressed decision-makers.
It’s up to you to choose the social networks best able to initiate a buying process on the part of the customers you are targeting. Depending on your industry and the profile of the buyer, one channel in particular may be more beneficial than another.
Let’s see what the 3 most used social media platforms currently used for social selling marketing can do for you.
LinkedIn: it is a recognized and ideal platform for B2B networking and an excellent tool to present your leadership projects and your partnerships, and which has very interesting means to disseminate your advertising and retargeting campaigns online, with LinkedIn Ads.
Twitter: This well-known social network is impeccable for sending out concise updates quickly and connecting with an impressive amount of media.
Facebook: This channel is a great way to show a more personal side of your business that your audience can relate to.
Used together, these social networks can be a powerful lever to boost your digital marketing initiatives, and significantly increase the engagement of the decision makers you are targeting to sell your products or services.
Writing personalized emails
According to a recent Harris Poll survey, more than 6 in 10 executives and businesses say they frequently receive personalized sales offers from marketers on behalf of B2B companies. The results suggest that leaders are more likely to respond favorably to relevant and personalized awareness that relates to their industry or a specific issue in their business rather than their own role within the company.
Even though reaching high-level decision-makers and leaders seems like an impossible task, it is possible to make a first contact through a simple email. The e-mail is an effective way to access the maker’s inbox without upsetting their time.
A complete database with the list of executives and senior executives of the companies you are targeting will definitely help you fulfill your mission. Email marketing is widely accepted by marketers as an effective tool for digital marketing campaigns.
However, the effectiveness of this method will largely depend on the quality of the email addresses as well as the content that is sent to the recipients. Personalization of email content has the effect of increasing transaction rates and the return on investment of marketing campaigns. So, don’t hesitate to use as much relevant data as possible on the affected customers, so that your emails are opened and read.
Thus, nearly 90% of business leaders or decision-makers consider that personalized awareness-raising adapted to their company’s sector of activity (for example, knowing their company, their needs or associated technologies) is either absolutely essential (42 %), which is very important (47%) when B2B professionals contact them at the start of the sales process.
Target the team, not just the decision-makers
Today’s leaders operate in an ecosystem where new and essential information and options can come from many directions.
How many hours per day, on a typical working day, does a business manager spend researching suppliers, learning about emerging technologies in their field, or watching product demos ? Probably much less than executives or managers who occupy positions one or two levels down in the management team.
In the B2B sales industry, these executives or managers are known as influencers.
Business leaders and top executives rely heavily on their subordinates for research and investments related to new technologies available. Especially during the discovery phase of the sales cycle, where all of the buying members – below key decision makers – can be very important people to target with online content and advertising campaigns.
So make sure you do not forget in your targets influencers such as executives, managers, and sales representatives, purchasing managers or heads of department concerned. Their exact titles will vary depending on the industry that interests you, but in any case, it may be useful to speak with them in order to identify the professionals who generally have a say in the purchase of your solution.
Therefore, the most direct route to the real decision makers of a B2B client company is often through their subordinates.
