3 Elements to Include in a Compelling B2B Marketing Strategy for software solutions or platforms
B2B Marketing begins usually with a niche product and a defined target audience. You don’t want to paint the town red since it is not a product for the masses but for a select few. You have a great software product and it works like most of the other competition products. Your product offers some features and some uniqueness but at the same time is not cutting-edge. Nevertheless, the market is huge and you can always grab a market share.
A Compelling B2B Marketing Strategy for software solutions or platforms in such a scenario should address the following immediately:
- People should come to you for business
- Trust: You can deliver
- You gain word-of-mouth publicity, in short, get more Business.
Here begins the problem. People don’t know you and they don’t know if you can deliver and of course, why should they trust you? Your B2B Marketing Strategy should focus on 3 key things and they are
- Know how B2B business/Sales works
- Produce the right content
- Reach the right people
The B2B Sales is now Digital
B2B Sales have changed and it has turned Digital. In companies, people don’t need interaction with the sales team. All thanks to covid. They look for a problem statement on Google, they go to websites like software select, G2, or Capterra to find reviews. visit their websites, read their content and if you are new, or starting to make your mark, chances are you will go unnoticed or unselected in the preliminary selection process on the web.
The sales or buying Cycle in the modern world is beautifully illustrated by Garter below. It is now too complex, with multiple stakeholders, multiple influencers, and internal comparisons before even you get to make your first presentation with the company.
People are doing their homework and usually, it is not a VP or a GM or head of Departments. It is done by entry-level executives who have only a few years of work experience and at best a manager-level person. They are the key to your sales, they are your influencers and they are your new spokesperson. Wanna have a look at him. Here it is
Creating Content for a B2B Software Business
Now you know the typical Buyer. You need to produce the right content for him and anyone who is senior to the level of CEO. This could mean your content strategy should include content for beginners, experts, and leaders. Let’s look at The kind of content companies are producing
Clearly, companies are not producing enough Bottom of the funnel content and that could be one starting point. You can appeal directly to the users and maybe you will miss on the management committee but that’s not a big deal since Middle and Top of funnel content is usually me too and doesn’t take too much of an effort to publish.
However, if you wish to compete with Google, Microsoft, or IBM, Your team of engineers should be expert bloggers. Tech Blogging is not a marketing Job, it is the job profile of an engineer who is developing the solution. Also, the tech lead who is in charge of the product or the software.
Meticulously write about all the features of your product, and explain the in great detail and you never know which company in the world is reading your whitepaper or solution document and is about to give you a call.
At the same time talk about your company and your people. Your values. Why you are doing this, what is the purpose, and so on keep your leadership team busy with interviews, Podcasts, videos, and so on. You will ask me why? Well below is the reason for it.
Download the complete presentation for the B2B Marketing strategy
Reach the right people for your product
No one knows you. you hardly appear on Google. You don’t have money to pay to G2/Software Select and so on. So what will work without a marketing budget and without a sales team?
My strategy. Go Big. Go Global. Get the best people in your industry to talk on your Youtube channel Podcast or videos. This will help the company Build unmatched Authority in your product space. And Authority is what you need.
the content will get discovered by every Tom, Dick, and Harry and people will begin talking about you, searching for you and at that time you will be ready and you won’t disappoint them.
You will have a flawless website, with excellent Bottom of funnel content and this will generate a word-of-mouth cycle for people to bring you up in conversations, press citations, mentions, and ratings to back your software solution and products you offer.
Of course, implementing this B2B Marketing Strategy for software solutions or platforms is not easy. It is a lot of hard work but perseverance and patience will take you there.
Every marketing strategy relies on one great execution and you need to have a team who can bring this up flawlessly and ruthlessly. There is more to these 3 key points. Download the complete presentation for the B2B Marketing strategy and know more about where to begin. All the very best.
