Where to Start with Business Marketing? 5 Current Tips

Hi marketer!👋 Starting your business marketing strategy now?

So follow this content because it was made for you!

Below you will learn about the main marketing concepts, understand how to get started, as well as take advantage of some essential tips that will prepare you for now.

What is marketing?

Marketing is nothing more than a type of science aimed at creating and disseminating value about a product, service or brand .

Marketing aims to draw the consumer’s attention, awakening desire or even “opening their eyes” to a problem, in order to, in the end, convince them to buy.

Not stopping there, “what is marketing” is just the tip of the iceberg of several concepts that encompass this science. 

Below we will go into two more explanations, check them out:

What is business marketing?

Business marketing is nothing more than the application of these strategies that we talk about within marketing in general, always focusing on achieving business objectives . 

For this type of marketing to work, it is necessary to understand the market in which the company operates, in addition to analyzing the public’s pains, needs and desires. From this, the company will be able to develop products and services that are aligned with both the business goals and the wants of consumers.

In other words, business marketing is a way of achieving the expected and planned results of a company.

What is B2B and B2C marketing?

The B2B and B2C concepts are related to a company’s operations, more specifically to those it sells to. Like this?

Well, B2B means business to business , that is, a business that sells to other businesses. B2C means business to consumer , a company that sells to consumers.

In other words, B2C marketing will directly reach the end consumer, while B2B reaches other companies so that they can ultimately reach the end consumer.

The main differences between these two concepts are:

• Buying process;
• Decision makers and influencers;
• Closing time;
• Average ticket;
• Form of payment;
• Marketing strategies;
• Acquisition channels;
• Seller profile;
• Sales arguments.

How (and why) to start applying marketing to your company

Many companies start with just a commercial department, but realizing the need to promote your brand more or be present on digital media can be a starting point to understand that you want to start investing in marketing.

Do you want to strengthen your company’s recognition? Strengthen your brand’s authority? Promote a new product or service? Increase your lead generation? Close more sales? Reach a new audience? Gain more customers?

Yes, these are just some of the situations in which you can already apply marketing in your company. If you fit into any of them, run to invest in this strategy.

Remember that, through marketing, the company better understands the market , identifies customer needs and develops new products and services that better meet these needs.

How important is business marketing?

Ok, we saw above in which situations you can (and should) apply business marketing, but what do you really gain from it?

Here we have separated 5 important points that arise from investment in marketing👇

It increases sales

If your company aims to make a profit, increasing sales will always be your main desire, right?

Well, this goal can be achieved through different types of marketing strategies.

When investing in paid media, content marketing, inbound and/or outbound marketing, you will have several tactics being applied to attract more users, educate your audience, convert leads and, consequently, increase your sales .

It communicates your brand values ​​to the world

When applying business marketing, you will be disseminating, through arts, content, rich materials, among others, the basic principles and beliefs that guide the public’s behavior and decision-making.

Marketing will be your communication channel with investors, employees, suppliers and the public. 

Builds relationships

Business marketing considers the needs and desires of customers, valuing greater satisfaction and loyalty to the brand . 

Through this strategy you can offer quality customer service, promote networking events, offer special promotions and discounts, among others.

Engage the team

Through marketing, you create a strong company culture , align objectives and even inspire employees to get involved with the brand . 

Your brand ends up encouraging its own team to create content and marketing strategies, as it will be much closer to the company’s values.

Builds customer loyalty

Finally, how business marketing will help you create a unique brand image, provide good service and also build a strong relationship with customers.

The results will be more loyal customers, quality service and who, most likely, will be those who promote the type of word-of-mouth marketing .

Step by step to start working with marketing in the company

Now that you know the importance of business marketing, let’s go step by step on how to apply it in your company!

1. Know the 8Ps of marketing

Also known as the marketing mix , and what was once just the 4Ps of marketing, the 8Ps are a set of elements that encompass a company’s main marketing and sales actions.

Before establishing any strategy, you need to understand each of these Ps and apply them to your business.

Discover each of these Ps below:

• Product P – the basis of your company, it will meet the needs of your consumers and thus there will be a return for your company;
• P for Price – what will bring revenue to your company, that is, it is the amount of money that the consumer pays for the product and the benefits generated;
• P for Promotion – these are distribution channels and points of sale used by your brand;
• P for Square – the strategies established to stimulate demand for the product among the target audience;
• P for People – here we are talking about relationship marketing, a strategy that aims to bring the customer closer to the company;
• P for Processes – called internal marketing, this P concerns the company’s internal actions, its flows and organization;
• P for Programs – integrated marketing, think about which programs are present in your marketing and sales strategy;
• P for Performance – performance marketing, is related to how you will measure your results.

2. Study your market (and competition)

Do you have your 8Ps defined? Great, now let’s study your market and analyze how the competition is doing.

Conduct research, collect data, and study the latest articles and reports , as well as track your top competitors. 

This way, you will create a good segment analysis and will have a better basis for creating and applying your strategies.

3. Understand more about the people you want to reach

With the study done, it’s time to study your target audience, get to know the people you’re going to talk to.

Conduct marketing research that not only answers demographic questions, but also the needs, wants and behaviors of your prospects. 

Remember that the more you know about your audience’s pains and desires, the better you can adapt your product or service offering to meet their demands .

4. Define your priorities, goals and objectives

Do you know the film that won the Oscar in 2023, Everything in Everywhere at the Same Time ? Well, we can’t follow that in marketing.

For an effective business marketing strategy, you need to define goals, objectives and list your priorities, otherwise no action will be put into practice – especially with quality.

5. Establish whether you are going to hire a team or an agency

Will you create an in-house marketing team or opt for a marketing agency?

Both options have positive and negative points, let’s look at the differences:

An in-house team gives you more control and flexibility over your marketing strategy, but it can be more expensive and time-consuming. Your employees will always be your biggest defenders and scholars of the product.

An external marketing agency can be more practical (with specific demands) and have more experience in various aspects of marketing, but it can be difficult to control, in addition to having additional costs .

6. Continuously evaluate your processes

Finally, we have to analyze and evaluate your marketing processes periodically.

Only by tracking the performance of your marketing campaigns will you be able to determine what is working and what is not; what needs improvement and what should not continue.

Examples of successful business marketing actions

To conclude our content, nothing better than analyzing some real examples of business marketing actions that worked to inspire you.

Let’s go!

1. Conversational marketing + sending leads to WhatsApp

Let’s look at the story of Pós PUC PR Digital, a higher education company that launched a new course in the middle of the pandemic, economic crisis and social distancing. 

Due to the troubled scenario, instead of attracting more customers to the institution, the company saw students leaving the classrooms, until it decided to launch an innovative, distance learning course.

However, even with the new course, PUC PR found itself with another challenge: there were too many leads on the website for too few salespeople , they couldn’t handle it.

Until the college discovered Leadster and replaced its old WhatsApp button, present on the website, with the marketing and sales chatbot . 

Right away, the main problem was solved, through the proactive and instantaneous approach of the Leadster chatbot, which uses conversational marketing . From there, only qualified leads directed to WhatsApp, where they could already be added to a relationship ruler.

The company’s Head of Marketing, Jhieizer Santos, concluded that:

“Leadster fit our strategy like a glove, bringing us the virtual assistant and activations via WhatsApp, where we managed to double our conversion rate from users to leads.”

2. Cross-branding campaign that works

In 2012, GoPro and RedBull broke records that didn’t even exist when they teamed up for the RedBull Stratos cross-branding campaign. 

Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner jumped from a height of 39.2 kilometers. 🤯

This action makes sense for both brands, as they both support extreme sports and the philosophy of always going beyond your limits . 

In this case, RedBull gave Baumgartner wings, and GoPro was the only one capable of filming him flying, with two cameras on his arms, two on his legs and one on the pressurized suit helmet.

3. Campaign optimization with CRO

Today’s leading movie and series streaming platform, Netflix, is a great example of how you can use campaign optimization with CRO to improve user experience and increase customer retention.

Netflix runs A/B tests on its website to analyze different variations of its streaming platform . For example, the company tests different cover images for its series and films to see which ones generate the most engagement and views. 

The brand has also tested different variations of its sign-up process to see how it could simplify the process for users.

All of these tests help Netflix identify what worked best in terms of site design, layout and flow, allowing adjustments and improvements to be made to improve the user experience.

4. Marketing that goes viral

Has everyone here seen the “Cursed Ponies” campaign in Brazil?

Well, this Nissan campaign, in addition to going viral, left us with a bubblegum song in our heads that we never forgot.

Let’s go to the campaign in full:

5. Social Selling to engage the public

Before talking about the example itself, let’s explain what social selling is:

Social selling is a strategy that combines social networks, content and sales to generate more revenue and growth for startups.

Well, the American computer company, IBM, used this strategy and generated a 400% increase in sales . 

The company used corporate content and corporate social media to support the sales team. 

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Ready to implement Business Marketing in your business?

See you on our next article!