10 Winning Tactics for Marketing Online to Other Businesses
B2B is its own marketing genre but there are many avenues online for getting a dialogue started with the people you need to reach.
By Rocco Baldassarre •
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With over 364 million registered members and the official business atmosphere, blogs on LinkedIn are a popular choice when it comes to getting B2B customers. Besides generating stellar content, businesses can drive more traffic faster with online marketing. If you have been considering advertising online and need B2B customers, chances are high you will find one or more profitable marketing solutions in the list below.
Here are 10 online marketing ideas that have proven to be effective for B2B businesses.
1. Advertise to selected Twitter accounts.
Twitter ads are a gold mine for businesses. Instead of targeting the Twitter accounts of the businesses you would like to target -- which takes an enormous amount of time to set up -- target the followers of accounts that your target group is most likely to follow. The setup time is minimal and the reach is much larger.
Related: Twitter Is Selling Ad Space in Your Following List
2. Sponsored updates on LinkedIn.
One of the best ways to advertise to businesses is Linkedin. You can target company size, seniority levels, job titles and employees of specific companies. By promoting your own articles or blog posts, you reach your target group and advertise your business page and brand at the same time. If you are looking to advertise in German speaking countries, consider Xing.
3. Activity on Linkedin groups.
Participating in discussions of relevant LinkedIn groups is an effective way to establish yourself as an expert and source of knowledge. Consider creating a free ebook and contact the group admins for a chance to be featured in the weekly group notification emails. Those typically have a higher click-through-rate than group discussions.
4. Target job titles on Facebook.
If LinkedIn turns out to be expensive or unprofitable, try targeting job titles on Facebook instead. Having your ad surrounded by holiday photos of your potential customers' best friends and family can give your ad the edge it needs to outperform LinkedIn.
5. Target behaviors on Facebook.
The target "small business owners" for Facebook Ads is listed as a behavior targeting option. Explore what other behavioral targets are relevant to your target group. Split test it with job titles and interests to find out what works best.
Related: 3 Social Media Marketing Plans for Every Startup Budget
6. Advertise during how-to videos on YouTube.
In contrast to popular belief, you don't need a video to advertise on YouTube. While video ads are great and you should absolutely have a video ad running somewhere right now, the reality of business is that creating a video ad is not always straightforward and can be time consuming. If business is going well, your time is better allocated exploiting elsewhere.
7. Banner ads on industry-specific websites.
Find out what your target group is reading online and place banners on specific websites or pages that are relevant to your business. One of the easiest ways to place banners on websites that your target group visits is targeting the Display Network with Google AdWords.
8. Promote Google+ hangouts.
Google+ hangouts on air are a great way to get conversion rates of webinars up because attendees see each other. You can record it automatically to show on YouTube, feature links or an ecommerce product feed in the sidebar and have people point out their favorite moments. Invite Google+ profiles of potential customers or send out notifications to all your Gmail contacts. Don't forget to use descriptive hashtags to increase reach on Google+!
9. Contributing to online magazines.
This is an effective strategy for B2B businesses that want to put a face to their name and benefit from long-term relationships between sales people and customers. Publishing outstanding content on the right websites is a cost-effective way to leave your mark and attract the right kind of customer - quality over quantity!
10 Technical long-tail keywords on Google AdWords and Bing.
Instead of driving lots of traffic for all kinds of relevant keywords, focus your budget on the most profitable products or services and target keywords that are as technical as possible and have a clear purchasing intent. Long-tail keywords consisting of three or more words with industry abbreviations and terms are your best shot.
Related: 5 Ways Small Businesses Can Compete With Giants in SEO
