B2B portals enable export oriented companies to successfully market their products internationally by allowing them to present their company, products and product specifics to a broad range of international B2B buyers. In doing so, they offer B2B companies and especially SMEs major advantages for entering new markets and acquiring global customers.
Online visibility to prospective customers
B2B buyers use portals or marketplaces to specifically search for required products and services because they yield more appropriate results than generic search engines. Consequently, being present in online portals helps B2B companies to connect with uncountable potential customers early in their investment decision process way before an initial contact between interested buyer and potential supplier is made. A comprehensive and felicitous online presentation of company and products can convince buyers to consider a company as a potential supplier and will generate qualitative leads characterized by high conversion rates.
Cost efficient way to gain leads
Furthermore listings in B2B portals are a comparably cost efficient online marketing tool. Most portals offer a standard account which is free of charge while offering an upgrade to a reasonably priced premium account with additional functionalities. Choosing a premium account significantly improves a company’s ranking within the directory’s search results and offers many other functions like multilingual entries or sub-accounts.
Verification services for international customer acquisition
Many B2B portals also offer verification services in order to make international customer acquisition secure and rewarding for all parties. That could for one thing be a mandatory registration of all users or peer reviews. Some portals have also created platforms for users to share experiences.
Improved search engine ranking and rise in traffic
Additionally, listings in B2B portals will improve a company’s ranking among relevant search engine results. That is because platforms themselves run expensive search engine marketing campaigns for important keywords and will thereby optimize a company’s own ranking. These top positions also mean that a lot of traffic from search engines like Google or Yahoo will be redirected to trade platforms.
Great targeting and minimal scattering losses
Using B2B portals also enables a great targeting of specific markets or industries. Many platforms focus on a certain industry connecting companies worldwide. Others specifically focus on certain areas and are appropriate if a company aims to serve a specific region or country. Thus, companies benefit from an optimal targeting and minimal scattering losses.
Conclusion
B2B portals offer SMEs numerous advantages some of which have just been presented. That is why all export oriented SMEs should integrate listings in B2B portals into their marketing strategy in order to benefit from the great potential and to remain successful in today’s global competition.
To learn more about portal marketing, visit www.kyto.com or read my blog post on how to use portal marketing and which crucial success factors to bear in mind.
