B2B advertising is a unique marketing animal. But how unique? Unique to the point where likely no one in your company has ever been specifically trained in B2B advertising.

Small Numbers

You don’t market to millions of B2B companies. Your customers are not counted in billions or millions. In fact, many B2B companies often receive the bulk of their revenue from hundreds or even dozens of customers. The kicker is that, unlike consumer advertising, B2B advertising deals with small numbers — not millions and billions.

That makes a big difference in how you go about finding, satisfying and nurturing customers. Your B2B advertising and marketing communications can’t be the same as those of a soup company. In B2B, the sales cycle is a much longer, multi-tier process. It requires special attention all throughout the B2B buying process.

Imagine that your company wanted to put in place a new, integrated data processing, communications, and customer relationship management system. This would require an analysis of potential system vendors, applications, software capabilities, and implementation ramifications. A process that could take many months, sometimes years…before you buy from a vendor you trust. In this scenario, think of all the people in your company that are involved and have a say. There is nothing like it in the consumer world. Consumers don’t buy soup by committee.

Relationships Matter

B2B advertising takes place over time. Many venues and media tactics are coordinated to garner brand power through consistency.

How important is nurturing customers? In B2B, it’s critical. Retention of major customers may noticeably impact the health of your brand. In the consumer world, buyers don’t know, or may not even care who makes the product. The product is the brand. A single person controls purchases…for instance, you, the buyer.

At Schubert B2B, we deal in B2B technology marketing. Everything above applies with the addition of the complexity of the brand, whether it’s computer software, chemicals, biotech or instrumentation. It all requires being in tune with the B2B buying cycle and making the advantages of our clients’ capabilities clear every step of the way.

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All marketing tactics should be thought of as part of a larger whole, rather than separate pieces. By strategically integrating all marketing tactics, the marketing programs become more effective and cost efficient. As a B2B agency, we developed B2B 360 Integrated Digital Marketing to meet this improved performance need. To learn more about B2B 360 and how it will benefit your business, download our free eBook: B2B Top-Tier Tech Marketing.

Joe Schubert founded Schubert b2b in 1978 to raise the performance of tech marcom to new heights. Before falling in love with B2B marketing, Joe started his professional career as a computer engineer out of Villanova and University of Pennsylvania, and worked for companies including Unisys, IBM and AT&T.