B2B marketers often experience longer sales cycles than in the fast-moving B2C world. Their products and services are complex and more people are involved in the purchase decision process. To engage B2B buyers, CMOs need to put the message before the channel. They need to use digital, social and mobile channels as conduits for communicating their firm’s thought leadership and expertise in solving the buyer’s problems.
Does the way you engage business buyers really differ so much from consumer engagement? And isn’t the B2B Buying decision model very similar to the consumer’s buying model?
“Let’s look at what B2B and B2C have in common. They’re both about people-to-people – People within your company connecting with people who are potential buyers.” says Jeff Ernst, Principal Analyst at Forrester Research
In his presentation at the Digital Marketing conference track on May 5th, Jeff will share some examples where marketers made a success of using digital, social and mobile to engage their potential customers. He will also explain some of the fundamental processes that make social media campaigns successful.
Take Cree as an example: They are manufacturers of LED lighting products such chips, modules and LED lights. With the “Lighting the LED Revolution” campaign they enter the rapidly evolving field of energy saving and environmentally friendly products. Everyone can join the revolution and make a stand against inefficient lighting, just by filling out a simple form, becoming a fan on Facebook or by following their tweets.
With entertaining videos they raise awareness of their campaign. By using proactive content on emerging topics in their blog, they show competency and create a dialogue around the lighting industry. Finally they have numerous case studies showing which B2B customers already switched to environmental friendly LEDs. All this encouragement they get from fans, friends, followers and from B2B customers showing their support helps them gain new prospects for their business. That is a great example of viral marketing in a B2B environment using digital channels.
See the full program of the Digital Marketing Track or sign up for the conference now.
