Trying to attract the attention of other businesses can be difficult as a B2B marketer. The target audience for a B2B marketer is other businesses, meaning their customers are far more informed and exert a much higher level of effort when evaluating their products. B2B marketers are typically promoting their products at a large volume to several decision-makers. They must be extremely specific and thorough with their presentations, as companies are making a serious, business-affecting commitment if they choose to purchase their product.
With that said, there are a number of fundamentals that every B2B marketing report should include. From the actual business model itself, to the strategies the business plans on implementing, precise measures must be taken to ensure the health of the brand. Paying close attention to the metrics of your business is vital to continuously grow year after year. A good B2B marketer should notice patterns in their data and adjust their business model to accommodate those trends. If you’re searching for further clarification, look no further; here are three insightful quotes from industry leaders about B2B metrics.
Cost Per Acquisition
When it comes to marketing, your most important metric is typically your cost per acquisition (CPA). Comparing your CPA against your lifetime value is a simple way to look at the health of your business.
- Darren Litt, from MarketerHire
A Superb Business Model
Growing up with my father as a veterinarian allowed me to see the concern pet owners have when it comes to their pet’s health. My father, one of Los Angeles’ most respected veterinarians, Dr. Jeff Werber, and I partnered together to create a platform called Airvet where pet parents have 24/7 access to quality veterinary care with the most trusted veterinarians anywhere in the country within seconds. Whether it’s 3 am or 3 pm, Airvet allows pet parents to talk to a live veterinarian through a video call for a flat $30 fee. On the app, parents are able to voice their concerns, questions, or fears. There are no time limits, so pet parents are able to address all concerns without feeling rushed.
- Brandon Werber, from Airvet
Constant Testing
In the last year at Miracle, we mainly focused our marketing strategies on Facebook and Instagram. They have the best ad platform and despite relatively high ad costs, when you dial in the right creatives you can scale to the moon. Both platforms are all about the creatives. You need to figure out what resonates most with your audience, keep testing new angels, and continuously scale your working creatives. Social listening was a huge part of our work on these platforms especially in the time of a global pandemic. Through engaging with our audience we were able to garner ideas to create future content that performs even better because it is derived from real and authentic consumer responses. By cultivating a community of consumers, we build trust and longevity for our products. Additionally, we also focused on email effectiveness and translating that to engagement on our social media platforms. We look at open rates, click rates, and conversions to determine the effectiveness of our email marketing. In terms of what looks good/effective, there are benchmarks per industry we work towards taking into account the size of the store, size/quality of audience, and opportunity for repeat purchases. Outside of this, we ultimately look for continued improvement over time. In the coming year, I predict we will further develop these marketing strategies to continue to spread our reach.
- Brandon Monaghan, from Miracle Brand
Conclusion
Though these aspects of marketing will certainly improve your overall business, to truly put it all together, you must cultivate the ideal audiences to apply it to. An essential part of B2B marketing is building and maintaining relationships. Besides having solid foundational standards, your B2B marketing report should include a plan to find partners to work with. Some B2B marketers employ conventional tactics like attending trade shows or dispatching sales reps to build these relationships for them.
Using a combination of both digital and traditional marketing is necessary to create strong partnerships with other businesses. Engaging in effective groundwork like attending a trade event is definitely more efficient than simply sending out a cold email. In this increasingly digital age, many conventional standards of marketing are flying out the window. However, some principles remain true. For instance, a creative, fluid business model is something that still matters greatly to customers. The brands that are able to find the perfect balance between these two extremes are the ones that will ultimately find success with their companies.