The days of companies relying only on printed media for reaching out to their customers have long since passed. Newspaper bylines and online press release websites are no longer the only means by which brands and businesses can market themselves.
The best practice for targeting B2B audiences is to find out what is popular and in demand. Today, many of these mediums are being used by companies to market themselves in an altogether different way – online marketing strategies. These strategies are designed to help marketers target their audiences and target markets more effectively. Below are some of the best B2B audience targeting strategies that help marketers connect with prospects:
1. Lead Generation Vs. Lead Capture:
This is a huge issue for most companies. Lead generation involves gathering information from prospecting sources and using this information to make business decisions. On the flip side, lead capture involves speaking with prospects to market the products or services they offer. While both are important in any type of b2b audience targeting strategy, there is a difference in the time required for each.
2. External Lead Generation VS. Internal Lead Generation:
One of the major differences between external and internal b2b audience targeting is how information is gathered. Internal information gathering methods include cold calling, referral networks, and telemarketing.
On the other hand, external information gathering methods include using lead generators, telesales, and web surveys. All these methods help prospective buyers decide whether or not to pursue the services or products that a particular business offers.
3. Target One Specific Group or Entire Workforce:
When it comes to B2B audience targeting, there is a clear difference between targeting one specific group of people and the entire workforce. To effectively target job titles, marketers need to make sure that they get specific information about which people within that workforce will be interested in certain services and products.
The best way to do this is to conduct focus groups within your organization. Conducting focus groups can help you identify key influencers within your business. These key influencers can be considered the “target job titles” for which your company will want to attract new talent.
4. How Audience Data Is Mined?
There are two main ways in which B2B marketers go about getting the information they need to make effective B2B decisions about audience targeting.
- One strategy is to acquire the full list of all existing contacts;
- The second is to use opt-in lists to get an idea of how likely new contacts are to convert into customers.
Although most of today’s social media systems provide tools for opt-in list acquisition, it still pays to use external sources like focus groups and web surveys. While social media systems can be useful for B2B decision making, it is important to consider whether your company has the resources necessary to build a large and relevant opt-in database.You can use social media and paid surveys to find out what is the topic of conversations that your target audiences are engaged with. Using these platforms will help you better understand how your target audiences think about particular topics. The platforms will also help you to understand the thoughts and opinions of your target audiences, allowing you to create content that addresses these needs. This will help you create content that will help you connect with your target marketing audiences on an emotional level.
