The desirability of a digital presence in B2B
The e-commerce in the generally sluggish economy, shows an undeniable dynamism. According FEVAD Federation of e-commerce and distance selling, sales generated by online sales in France exceeded 45 billion this year alone, 2012, still growing by nearly 20% over the previous year. The health of e-commerce is not a local epiphenomenon in Europe, 550,000 merchant sites generated a turnover of 312 billion euros from a market of 250 million buyers web.
B2B is also concerned with selling online. According to a study FEVAD, 14% of B2B companies are now selling directly online, and 19% are already buying on the internet. Creating a Web site is conducive to the development of sales for many B2B companies, which could well expand their audience and get a differentiating positioning ahead of their competitors.
Certain services may not be sold online. Customized according to customer expectations, they demand a fine expertise often through the implementation of a customized estimate. And, once again, the Internet plays a predominant role in the recruitment of new customers, B2B: according to the study of the FEVAD cited above, 73% of professionals use Internet to order, and 32% use the same channel exclusively digital.
Take stock of its digital strategy is often to ask, at first, this question:
“My website as it allows me to sell my services online, selling them directly or by collecting requests for quotes or information?”
Stand out from the competition
An explicit commercial speech allows visitors to get to know you, and marketing online service or related set of solutions turn those visitors into potential or actual customers. However, owning a website is only a preliminary step, as useful – even essential – it is, to develop its B2B business on the Web.
The Internet facilitates the search for information and comparing offers from several competitors. By performing a simple search on a search engine like Google, a professional can review many providers and discover your site as much as those of your competitors. It’s the same for social media like Google+, your competitors may also invest – and have probably already invested.
The second question to ask, for a brand wanting to establish a digital communication strategy could be formulated as follows:
“How my site and my other digital spaces there may exist against those of my competitors’
A consumer demanding, searching for meaning
Facilitating access to information, facilitating the comparison of offers, but also by creating a distancing from the virtualization of exchanges, the digitization of the economy has complicated the relationship that may exist between a brand and its customers. A brand to exist and develop in a B2B perspective, must differ quantitatively and qualitatively from its competitors.
Meet the requirements of your customers
To exist on the Internet, the proposed content must show direction. B2B brand on its website or social media, bring interesting information to its customers and prospects, able to certify its professionalism and skills, able to formulate a concrete response to an identified need.
A digital B2B presence, therefore requires the creation of unique content value-added, emphasizing the qualities of a brand in its market, this value their expertise and provide concrete responses to the demands of its customers. This expectation could be formulated into a question:
Gain visibility
But all content to be read, must be seen. A comprehensive digital strategy also includes a section on SEO (SEO) and in addition, to advertising. For example, by being positioned in the first places on a search engine for expressions associated with its business, by being shared on social media are being referenced on professional websites related to his field of activity. The question to ask is so simple:
“My digital content is it visible from my potential customers?”
The principle of inbound marketing
We are all called upon repeatedly by brands: turning the radio or television in the morning, moving by car, public transport or on foot, surfing the Internet, by picking up the phone, consulting mails or texting her…
Advice The agency believes that a person is exposed to 3,000 advertising messages a day: that hype can affect the visibility of a promotional discourse, both in B2C B2B approach. Pervasive advertising, solicitation may be perceived as intrusive and therefore negatively impact the image of the issuing brand message. It is in this context that fits the outbound marketing or traditional marketing.
In response to these abuses, the inbound marketing takes full advantage of digital resources. This marketing approach favors the development of a relationship based on the active participation of customers or prospects. Unlike advertising, sometimes perceived as sustained, a brand whose communication relies on the inbound marketing proposes to its customers, who choose whether to accept the relationship.
Clients and prospects are encouraged to engage on their own in an ongoing exchange with the brand, joining a social account, subscribing a newsletter or by agreeing to leave their details to download a white paper. They are also free to end this report with a mark with a single click. This approach, meaningful, lasting strengthens the bond of trust and complicity that unites brand to its commercial target.
To find out if you can develop an approach to inbound marketing, you can ask yourself the following question:
“Am I able to look at medium and long term my business targeted by attractive content, quality, which corresponds to their deep expectations and will engage with me? »
Selling online: succeed in convincing
Stand out from its competitors and offer its target quality content, to engage with them in a lasting relationship, still not enough to ensure the success of a digital B2B strategy. The final objective is pursued in the vast majority of cases, the significant growth in sales or requests for quotes for powering commercial service.
Virtual handshake to the conclusion of a sale, a successful digital communication strategy involves optimizing its conversion channels. One brand, for effective Internet presence, must take into account all the steps followed by a prospect to lead to the conclusion of a sale. Ensuring a thorough statistical analysis, it can identify the most relevant paths, and identify the steps that present difficulties.
To conclude this brief introspection, the last question to ask might be this:
“Am I able to identify conversion channels to my own digital presence and measure performance to improve them?”
