Are you aware of the business that B2B referrals can get you? In fact, around 50% of B2B marketers believe that referrals are the most valuable and useful lead generators. B2B referral marketing is an excellent strategy that B2B platforms can use to experience greater lead generation and conversion. If you get lucky, even a steady stream of recommendations can turn the tables for you and put you in a win-win position.

Are you planning on starting your very own client referral strategy? Here are a few useful tips to get you started.

1.Be Referable

Before you actually start making efforts to earn referrals, look in the mirror, and ask yourself, whether you are deserving or not. Do you think all your present and past clients are satisfied with your business? You should evaluate your business from a client’s perspective. Would you recommend your company to others if you were a client? Your answer will pretty much sum up what your next steps should be. If you don’t believe that your business has made the right choices, maybe it’s time you start fixing things around here.

2.Request for Referrals

If you are satisfied with your services and know that your clients will love to refer your business to others, you can make efforts to request for referrals. Many companies avoid client referral strategy without realizing the significance of asking for a referral. If your business is loved by its clients no one will mind recommending your products and services to someone else.

How you request is ultimately your choice. Whether you send them an email, make a call or ask them in person, if they like your business you’d never hear a no from them. In addition, you need to make sure that you pick the right time to request. The ideal time is right after a customer checks out.

3.Make it Easy

Your happy customers will mostly love to review your B2B marketplace or recommend it with someone else. However, they usually don’t know how to. If you can provide them with resources like online forms, then it would become more comfortable for you to understand how they feel after buying from you. Once you are done with that, identify all the happy customers and request them to review your services on specific websites or social platforms.

4.Refer Client to Them

As a B2B marketplace, it’s pretty apparent that you are in contact with many B2B buyer and suppliers. If you really want to win hearts, you can refer a client to one of your buyers so they can connect as well. By doing that, you won’t hurt your business as the relationship will improve and they will come back to you every time they need your products.

5.Remind Them

If you’ve asked for a referral from someone, that doesn’t mean your job is done. Without bugging them, you need to make sure that you remind them to refer your businesses every now and them. One great way to do that without causing any annoying distraction is by mentioning it in the newsletter that you send every week or month. In addition, you can also specify it every time the prospect makes a purchase.

6.Launch a B2B Referral Program

Once you realize how active referrals are in generating leads for your B2B marketplace, you can launch a dedicated B2B referral program. In this program, you can introduce a reward for every referral your clients make. For example, if a new client buys something from you through a reference, you can reward the referrer with an exclusive discount, offer or even a few bucks of credit which they can use next time they buy from you. Many top brands around the world are relying on referral programs, and you can also benefit from it.

The Bottom Line is…

Referrals are crucial in pushing your B2B portal ahead. With more recommendation, you also feel self-motivated and tend to work harder in making your business the best. The tips we have mentioned above aren’t something you’ll find on Wikipedia. Therefore, take note of them, share them with your close ones and follow them to experience your chart move upwards.

In the modern business-to-business (B2B) environment, where so many business activities are driven through digital experience, content has become the crucial aspect that steers a marketing plan to succeed. On the other hand, B2B marketers should use content development in the best manner to derive exceptional outcomes.

The process of content marketing is defined as a procedure in which entertaining, relevant, high-quality and informative content is used to attract and engage with a specific target audience. In addition, it is also used to generate strong leads that have high chances for converting into potential clients.

Due to the fact that competition is on the rise, B2B buyers have become more careful and harder to convince. Those days are long gone when a simple cold call could influence a purchase decision. Nowadays, content is the real game changer here, as it helps build a healthy relationship, demonstrates your expertise as well as leave an impact on the reader. These traits are vital in helping you finalize future deals. If that’s not enough, here are a few crucial perks of content that can improve your B2B marketing results.

•Immense Traffic

Are you running an online B2B portal? Then having the right number of visitors on your website is crucial. However, many businesses struggle in this objective as they fail to create content that is good enough to lure the readers. However, you can use the same content for social media marketing, if you are ready to use the content to market your business online.

•Boost in Conversions

All B2B marketplaces operate to maximize conversions, but that isn’t so easy in this competitive world. However, with excellent content, not only do you start generating more traffic but you also experience a significant increase in the number of leads. More leads eventually mean more conversions.

•More Subscribers

Why do you have a subscribe now button in your website’s footer? Is it so that you can send newsletters to these subscribers? As far as I believe, the underlying reason to have subscribers is to generate a useful email contact list which can be used in the future for email marketing. Nowadays, it has become pretty difficult to ask someone for their personal contact details as everyone is afraid of spammers and cyber criminals. However, with exceptional content, you can easily make your readers loyal fans who don’t mind subscribing for your updates.

•Inquiries

As I mentioned above, high-quality content always creates hype in the market which leads to more customers knocking your door for questions related to the organization and products. You can shape your B2B platform and boost your leads in no time by publishing content that can’t be ignored.

•Reach and Exposure

Content marketing isn’t just a technique used to enhance your sales and leads. In fact, this marketing strategy can also only focus on making your brand credible and recognized in the industry. Brand awareness plays a vital role in making your business thriving in no time. You can shape your content merely to show your audience your expertise and how good the brand is. By educating your potential prospects how you are better than the rest, you can easily edge past your competitors.

B2B marketers can use various channels to market their content. The first is without any doubt on your own website. With good content on your site, you can improve your website’s worth in no time.

Apart from that, content can be shared via social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and even Pinterest. Social media channels are flooded with traffic, and you can capitalize on this opportunity by capturing your potential audience’s attention through these networks.

Wrap Up

If you want your B2B platform to excel and climb the staircase to success, you need to make sure that your content marketing plan is implemented in the best way. In our view, without an excellent B2B content marketing plan, you can’t expect to reach your goals or become a recognized brand within your industry.

As it is well understood the online advertising in B2B marketing is powerful and can drive superb results. To better grasp the advantages and disadvantages it is crucial that you know all about the technology that makes it this awesome. It is essential to understand how ad-targeting technology works?

Précised Audience

It is vital to know whom you want to target because there is no point in targeting professionals that are not in the position of decision making. If your company is working in account-based marketing (ABM) or account-based sales development (ABSD), the precision you can apply in targeting the ads is unmatchable. You can decide to mark people at key locations only by knowing their job title and seniority level, people in specific regions, and a group of buildings.

Personalized Ad Targeting

Imagine getting your hands on an improved technology that enables to personalize the ads to the greater extent at cost per thousand (CPM) or cost per engaged account (CPEA). This technology allows sending messages to the manufacturers and processing engineers simultaneously. It was not previously possible, and the concept is relatively new.

Two powerful technologies make this modified targeting easy; IP addresses, and cookie data. Both of these technologies are very different but complement each other in an effective way. IP addresses can be used to aim at accounts through their location. While cookie data on the web browsers allow analyzing the individuals.

IP Addresses

Internet protocol (IP) address is unique for every computer connected to the internet. This address allows the web to recognize each of the machines separately. Companies, on the other hand, own quite a handful of the IP addresses which they assign to servers. That way the traffic from these company-owned servers, bears the server’s address.

This is where third-party data services are used as they help in identifying the owner of IP’s. Data providers may even be able to let you know that which IP’s are for labs, admin, or any other departments in a particular organization. This precision helps to target the ads more efficiently. But still, it is not enough because there is a clutter of ads and your ad have to stand out.

This technology restricts you to target the employees who work from remote locations such as; hotels or their homes, or who keep shifting department wise. You cannot reach them after the work hours and through their smartphones. This brings us to the use of cookies.

Cookie Data

Many websites have coded information which is deposited into the browser upon visiting such sites. These codes are known as cookies. It doesn’t require the location of the user; it instead judges the interests of individuals through browsing behavior. When it is used with the IP’s, it provides on-point ad placement.

It also has limitations because the sets of data keep on getting smaller and smaller as B2B marketers keep on tightening the subsets of a population they want to target. It is precise, but then it is limited. Many countries still don’t have cookies on a remarkable number of websites which undermines the opportunity to use it as a tool of advertising.

With many new entrepreneurs emerging in the modern B2B environment, those who have failed to capitalize by following current trends need to change how they work. If these B2B marketplaces want to experience survival and the taste of success, then they need to step up by investment in the latest tech.

Due to innovative solutions emerging every now and then, B2B customers have grown more intelligent than traditional B2B buyers. If we go back a decade, many people didn’t have access to smartphones and the internet. However, since the 4G service was launched, many people started getting access to the internet everywhere. As pleasing as it sounds, B2B buyers began spending their time more on research, but due to this many traditional B2B companies started going down the line. Wondering why?

Because they weren’t able to provide enough content online for potential clients to read. Here are a few significant trends that that global buyers expect from you.

1.Diversify Your Approach!

Instead of sticking to two-three approaches of reaching out to potential clients, we prefer that all B2B platform should personalize and deal with them appropriately. Target their needs for a better outcome, with the organization’s data and past experiences. Once you have all the information, it’ll become more comfortable for you to solve their needs and meet their demands.

2.Humanize Your Presentation

Even though you are dealing with other businesses, they are humans. That means you need to humanize your approach and connect with your potential clients in the same manner. Try building a long-term relationship with them. That way, you’ll have a prospect who’ll stay loyal to you and maintain a habit of buying your products.

3.Stick to Your Promises

Are you a man of your words? If not, I’m afraid you’ll face many challenges trying to make a name for your brand. Business is all about keeping promises by meeting all deadlines as well as quality levels. If you fail in offering your clients what you promised before actually getting an order, not only will they refuse to accept the request, but will also spread the word in the industry about you not being a reliable business. Once your reputation gets damaged, it will become tough for you to convince any international buyer to place an order.

4.Experience

If you think that your first client will be a multi-billion company? Then, maybe it’s time you face reality. New or small businesses are the least likely to get a chance like that. International buyers are smart, and they take time in researching about sellers regardless of their size. Therefore, in order to become credible enough to deal with the big dogs, you need to first gain experience by doing business with companies of your own size. Once you grow your business and have a handful of loyal clients who can offer good reviews for you, your next sales pitch can be sent to a multibillionaire company.

5.Prove To Your Buyers That You Are Different

The chances are whoever you contact, will already be buying from someplace else. Unless they are a startup themselves! If not, then you need to use your communication skills to engage them as an expert salesperson. One thing that every salesperson needs to remember is that they need to think of points that differentiate them with the others. Give your potential B2B buyers a strong reason to invest their time and money in your products. If you fail to convince them, I’m afraid they’ll ignore your offer and start dealing with another supplier.

Wrap Up

As a B2B supplier, you need to face the crucial challenges of meeting your buyer’s demands and convincing them actually to buy from you. The points we have mentioned above are vital in helping you actually close your first deal. However, don’t forget to create an effective plan before approaching a potential global buyer.

Your customers are your stepping stones that lead to success. Therefore, in order to progress in growing your business and becoming a recognised brand, you need to keep your customers happy. Whether you are a B2C or B2B platform, you should make sure that there are no communication gaps between you and your prospects.

When we talk about communicating with a B2C customer, your job is to provide them support every time they reach out to you. However, in a B2B marketplace, entrepreneurs need to understand the importance of staying in touch with all their clients. A long-term relationship is ideal for a client to remain loyal to you. Here are four practical ways you can connect with your customers and build a healthy business relationship with them.

1.Don’t Use a one-for-all Approach

B2B customers are smart, and you can’t expect to convince them to stay loyal with a casual attitude in which you communicate with everyone the same way. The ideal approach is being relevant to every customer. For example, if you know that the client is a multi-national, then you should communicate with them as if they are your number one international buyer. On the other hand, you are free to be casual with a local Chinese supplier since their order will be significantly smaller.

2.Respond to All Concerns

Never ignore your B2B customer! No matter what query shows up on your live chat or email, you can ignore it. Even if you don’t have a solution, you should discuss it with the B2B customer. By communicating, you’ll send out signs of concern towards the prospect. This behaviour can benefit you in the future as they may start trusting you for your kind gestures.

3.Be Personal!

By being more personal with your B2B customers, you can expect more leads and sales. If you have a habit of sending a default message to every other person who emails you, then it's about time to change that habit. We know how busy you are, but still, you can appoint a few email marketing agents to manage and reply to all your emails personally.

4.Show Your Appreciation

A simple ‘thank you’, can turn your sales around in no time. Who doesn’t love to feel appreciated? Once you consider your B2B customer a part of your business family, they’ll start reaching out to your and even buy products from you. Therefore, we suggest that all B2B platforms should connect with their B2B customers and appreciate everything they do.

Wrap Up

An international buyer has many options to go for. However, if you want your B2B buyers to stick to doing business with you, you need to improve your relationship. The best way to do that is by connecting with them and removing any communication gap there is between both parties. Follow our useful tips so that you can easily connect with and stay in touch with all your B2B customers.

Are you looking for a robust solution to improve communication in your small business? Chat tools can be the best option. Chat tools are more comfortable than making a call and faster than sending an email. This convenient communication option is especially useful for sending a memo, asking quick questions, an even for instantly shooting an idea. In addition, these chat tools can also be utilized for project management, file sharing, video and audio calls, reminders, and much more.

If you know anything about using a chat tool, I’m pretty sure you still remember using MSN Messenger or the Yahoo Messenger. However, both these platforms were grounded in 2014 and 2016 respectively. The good news is that we’ve have done the digging for you to bring you four of the best chat tools you can use in 2018.

1. HipChat

This user-friendly chat tool is our first pick due to its robust appearance and instant messaging facility. In addition, this chat tool also allows you to share files, share screens, create group chats and even indulge in a video conference with your peers. It’s also compatible with various third-party platforms like Google Apps, Facebook App, Salesforce and Dropbox. Therefore, you can rely on this solution to become your company’s ultimate communication network

2. Microsoft Teams

Microsoft can never fall behind in providing a useful solution. The Microsoft Teams is a chat tool that directly aligns with the Office 365 subscription. This all-round solution creates an advance digital workplace where all employees can collaborate in finishing specific tasks. You are free to invite others using this tool to chat with you, and you can also connect with Skype through it. If your B2B marketplace is based on all Microsoft tools, then this solution is perfect for you.

3. Google Hangouts Chat

The chat tool that was initially launched as a consumer app has been transformed into a business tool that lets you connect with all significant G Suite Apps. These apps include Docs, Calendar, Mail, Drive, Slides and Sheets. This chat app offers one-to-one conversations with threaded messages as well.
In addition, Google is also working on creating a built-in AI bot that’ll work within this chat tool. If you are planning to have a video conference from this app, you can invite up to 30 individuals to join in. If your company is firmly based on using G Suite apps for all your office work, then Google Hangouts is the best chat tool for you.

4. Campfire

Some portion of the Basecamp venture administration programming, Campfire is a digital chat solution that can be operated online. ¬– No need to install it on your systems! You basically make a secured talk room and welcome colleagues to enter. Users are also permitted to share files during these chat sessions. The following formats are supported in this chat tool, JPG, PNG, GIF, and the three primary Microsoft tools (Excel, Word, and PowerPoint).
The administration likewise accompanies such additional items as conference calls, talk transcripts, and other details for mix with mainstream Windows and Mac software. Notwithstanding the web, Campfire is open on cell phones and through the devoted Campfire iPhone application.

Takeaway

Chat tools have become essential in today’s fast-paced business environment. Every second counts and you can’t afford to waste it. Therefore, we recommend all B2B marketplaces that are low on budget to use one of the top chat tools listed above. Not only will you have a better communication channel, but you can also interact with your clients on the same network. Remove any and all communication gaps that there may be internally in your new business with these helpful and advance chat tools.

I’m pretty sure that as a B2B marketplace, you are aware of the fact that in order to transform a potential prospect into a sales lead, you need to produce engaging content. However, many B2B marketers still fail to find any success in this approach due to the fact that they aren’t clear on what B2B buyers really want from their content.

For example, a few years back, a few exciting blogs could positively influence a buyer to make a purchase decision. However, as the competition is becoming more intense, buyers are more interested in the credibility of the content. That means you can’t just write anything you wish too. Your content has to be of high-quality and should highlight a credible source.

If you are trying to boost your sales team’s performance, find out what international B2B buyers are hungry for.

B2B Buyers Are Looking for a One-Stop Solution

Have you ever felt how easy it is to grab everything you need to buy from a nearby Target or Walmart? Well, it wasn’t always that easy. You’d have to go from one store to another to purchase products from electronics to groceries.

In today’s modern world, with technology trying to make our lives easier, B2B buyers also are in search of a one-stop solution. Prefer to connect with a B2B marketplace that can provide them with a wide range of products and services. That way, it saves them the time and effort. In addition, a one-stop solution also helps you build a long-term relation and trust amongst each other.

They Want You to Tag Along

Global buyers have grown smart, and they are not in search for sales reps who don’t contact you once a deal is closed. They want you to join them on the ride and experience how buyers struggle in searching for the right supplier. In addition, they want a supplier on whom they can rely on and trust. They want you to provide the ideas and suggest alterations in their marketing strategy.

Suppliers are also strongly encouraged to provide after sales support to all their international buyers. It may feel like you are their assistant, but I believe it’s worth it as they’ll give you the business you need to survive and generate a good ROI. If you are lucky and find success in building a good relationship with a buyer, you’ll have a long-term client who’ll give you a good business for many years to come. With the help of technology, this process has become quite more comfortable than it ever was.

However, one thing that all B2B marketplaces need to remember is that when they expect you to build a relation, they also trust you to maintain it. You can’t merely stop replying if they don’t give you an order for some time. Wait it out and try convincing them to buy from you again.

B2B Buyers Want You to Communicate

It’s actually pretty annoying when you buy something from a company in bulk and never hear from them. Well, that’s what your B2B buyers expect from you. They want you to stay in touch and ask for feedback every now and then. If not, even a general email regarding an offer will do in most cases. A friendly hello email can pull the trick. Communication is a crucial business aspect, so maintain it both internally and externally.

Always be Transparent with Your B2B Buyers

Never lie! Many salespersons have a habit of over exaggerating regarding their products. At the end of the day, when buyers purchase these products they never feel the same satisfaction they had expected all thanks to sales reps. Therefore, B2B buyers simply want suppliers to be transparent with what they are selling. If you can highlight the good points about a product, feel free to clarify the bad ones as well. B2B buyers also need to sell the products they buy from you. Therefore, if they aren’t fully aware of what they just bought, then they’ll face difficulties in selling them.

Are you fed up of trying to lure global buyers to purchase your products? The truth is that almost every B2B marketplace is busy focusing on similar digital marketing techniques to capture leads. I’m not saying that digital marketing is ineffective, but if you want to edge past your competitors and increase your market share, you are going to have to alter your marketing strategy.

Our advice is to focus on video marketing and capture leads by grabbing your potential audience’s attention. Here are a few stats to support my opinion.

• According to Wordstream, 59% of executives have stated that they prefer watching a video than reading


• According to HubSpot, 55% of their users have stated that they pay more attention to videos than any other types of content.


• According to Google, Almost 50% of all internet users look for videos related to specific products before actually going to the official store.


• According to Buffer, businesses that use videos in their marketing strategy have a 34% higher conversion rate and 27% higher click-through rate than those companies that don’t.

Having that said if you are convinced by now that videos can help you gain more leads than here are a few ways you can use this type of content.

Ways to Use Video Content

Regardless of how the stats mentioned above help you make up your mind that videos are actually useful for you, it doesn’t answer the question of how to use them. For that very reason, we are going to tell you how you can use videos to improve your returns in no time.

1. Social Media

Social platforms are currently the most crowded websites these days. In fact, around one-third of the global population has already signed up to at least one social media platform. Social media platforms are where people share their stories, thoughts, and experiences with their fellow friends, relatives and even the general public. In addition, these platforms also allow users to interact with brands and vice versa. Uploading videos are incredibly easy on these websites, as well as sharing them across profiles and networks.

2. Blog

Though uploading and sharing on social media platforms is considered easy, you cant only rely on that specific channel. If you are already using content in your marketing strategy, with a video added to a blog you write, that piece of content will grow in value. In addition, you can expect more people to go over it with a reduction in your bounce rate and a rise in your average user on page time. Apart from that, this tactic will also attract many international B2B buyers who are looking for high-quality content.

3. On Your Website

The first thing that every organization should have in back up with their digital marketing campaign is an excellent user-friendly website. In addition, you may use video content on that website anywhere you can. We already mentioned using it on internal blogs, apart from that you can publish it as a product tutorial, product review, or simply as a welcome note on your homepage. Believe, all these types will work.

4. External Video Platforms

Apart from using your website, content and social profiles, you can also share and upload your videos on external video platforms. The top three being YouTube, Dailymotion and Youku. You can upload your video content on these platforms to generate views. You can even put links in the description of the video to generate traffic back to your website.

Takeaway

Video marketing is known to be an effective way to attract global buyers to your B2B marketplace. Though other digital marketing techniques are crucial, by adding videos you can expect better a ROI and click through rate. If you are facing problems in finding buyers, use videos to make them come to you.

The first thing every business looks to achieve is survival. Companies can survive even with a minimum amount of profit or even at the break-even point. Now that you have turned out to become a surviving entity, you should set your eyes on the real prize, maximum profit. All businesses operate to achieve maximum profit. Easy to say, but hard to pull off! If you’re planning to walk on the road to maximise your revenue, take a look at these useful tips to help you improve your business profits.

1.Raise Prices

The fastest and easiest way is to increase the prices of your products. If you think you have won consumer’s hearts with your products, you can positively charge higher rates. That doesn’t mean to double it. Make slight changes that won’t affect the purchasing power of your consumers. We all know that there will always be natural inflation present in the economy, so you can always increase prices accordingly to earn more profits and bring no harm to your reputation.

2.Knockout the Competition

The revenue of an industry is distributed according to the market shares obtained by each business. A great way to boost your profits is by eliminating others from the race. As the competition decreases, you’ll find more customers coming to you regardless of your prices. However, instead of targeting the big dogs, take out the small and new ones. It’ll save you the time and efforts, but still, come up with rapid results.

3.Cut Your Underperforming Workforce

If you have too many employees, cut your costs by firing the underperforming workforce. You can hire better individuals if you need to, but never keep the ones for long who aren’t giving anything back to venture. Lower cost means higher profits.

4.Relocate

Tired of paying too much rent? Relocate to a reasonable and cost-efficient location where the rent is lower. Now that you have to pay less, your overall cost will decrease, eventually leading to higher business profits.

5.Provide After Sales Service

You may be thinking why I would advise doing something that increases your costs. The reason is that by investing in your customer support, your regular consumers will stick to buying from you. This is a grand strategy that will maintain rising profits in the long-run. For the time being, you may see a rise in total cost of production, but it will wear off as time passes.

6.Reach out to Your Inactive Customers

Your customer data is a goldmine for your business that comes in handy at any time in the future. Whenever you’re free, dig out details of your inactive customers and reach them with e-mails, texts or phone calls. Offer them an excellent deal that convinces them to return to your list of active customers. A great way to increase sales!

7.Initiate an Effective Marketing Strategy

Advertisements and brand marketing are still the most effective ways to boost your revenue. They will cost you a penny and bring you a dollar in return. That is if you have worked out a robust marketing plan. If you think you don’t have the skills to do it, reach out and connect with one of the best b2b marketing agencies to see better outcomes. If you’re looking for more cost-effective marketing techniques, you can always use different social media channels to attract new consumers to convert.

8.Discontinue Low Performing Products

If you have products that aren’t living up to the mark, discontinue them and come up with something new and better. Keep track of all the trends and plan accordingly. Keep a highly qualified R&D department that brings innovations to improve your business. Don’t stick to one product, diversify so that other goods can cover up for the under-performing ones. That way your profits will show improvements.

These were some useful tips that’ll undoubtedly boost your profits. All the above methods indicate that you don’t have to make any substantial changes to improve your revenue. These simple tips can lead you to quicker results. You can try any, or all of them, to enhance your business’s performance. However and connect with one of the best b2b marketing agencies to experience faster results. At the end of the day, the choice is yours! Share this with others if you found it helpful. Kindly provide your feedback in the comments section below.

There was a time when you could maintain your sales with the help of outbound marketing on TV channels. Radio and billboards. However, the time has changed, now people prefer using the internet more than watching TV. Therefore the process of outbound marketing became less effective. Today, if you are looking for ways to increase your sales, then you should surely approach inbound marketing. There are three primary inbound marketing techniques which can be used; content marketing, social media marketing, and search engine optimization.

Which One is better?

Are you still wondering why people would read a 500-1000 words article rather than watch a three-minute video before purchasing a product? It's all because of the rising competition. I do not deny the fact that TV ads generate sales, but not as much as they used to. On the other hand, content marketing is more effective because the consumer can learn much more about the product and differentiate it with competing products.

The top three content marketing tactics are blogging (65%), social media (64%), and case studies (64%) - LinkedIn Technology Marketing Community

Inbound marketing is being in the right place at the right time. E.g. Facebook has 1.13 billion daily active users (Statista, 2016), this means if you start running ads on Facebook you can expect to have many visitors to your site depending on your budget. The same case is with other social networks like Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. You can promote your B2B marketplace on these social networks sitting at home without hiring a marketing team. It’s that simple!

81%+ of marketers found that increased traffic occurred with as little as 6 hours per week invested in social media marketing. - Social Media Examiner

If you want people to know about your B2B marketplace, then being listed with a good ranking in Google is necessary. Google accounts for over 76% of all global desktop search traffic, followed by Bing at 8%, Baidu at 7.5% and Yahoo at 7% (NetMarketShare, 2016). The process of improving your ranking is called search engine optimization (SEO). It’s all a game of keywords which are most commonly searched. With the help of a keyword, you can generate organic traffic and gain visitors which will eventually turn in to customers. Once again, all you need is a laptop and an internet connection for this technique.

Marketers see SEO as becoming more effective, with 82% reporting effectiveness is on the rise, and 42% of this group stating effectiveness is increasing significantly- MarketDive, 2016

A significant business objective is to lower its expenses and earn more profit. If organizations continue outbound marketing then eventually the expenses will not come down. On the other hand, inbound marketing has proven to generate sales at a much lower cost per sale. Not only that, even sales have shown an increase. It’s ultimately your choice which marketing strategy you prefer, but as time is passing by and technology is taking over everything, there will undoubtedly be a day when inbound marketing completely overlaps outbound marketing in every industry around the world.

Wrap Up

Everything takes time! You can’t expect to boost your sales within days. Therefore, we suggest that you stick to making good long-term goals. These goals can be used as a roadmap on which you need to walk on. Instead of closing deals, focus on increasing your company’s credibility and developing trust from your potential audience.

In order to become successful in modern sales strategies, you need to put time and focus on changing your approach. Lead generation isn’t a simple cold call anymore. It involves getting to know both your customers and competitors better. Follow our useful tips to enjoy your new sales journey and get your name listed as the salesperson of the year.