Marketing consumer stuff is SOOOOoooo… much easier than marketing B2b stuff (products or services).

“There I said it!”

Springtime is a perfect example. There are two types of people: those who want to save money and those who want to save time.

People who want to save money will go to great lengths to convince themselves they are saving money. They will mow their lawn, manage their yard, and even insist that only they can keep their pool clean. They'll spend their whole weekend on DIY projects, happy with themselves for saving a few bucks here and there because they didn't hire it out.

People who want to save time will gladly justify any expense because they feel like their time is worth more than the money spent. They will outsource the task so they can go hiking, biking, or golfing. Sure, there might be the occasional person who will mow their yard and outsource their pool or vice versa, but they're happy paying someone else to do the job they don't want or don't believe they have time to do.

All you have to do is market your service to the consumer who feels that spending money on it is valuable enough to them (and then do a good enough job to keep them as clients).

But B2b business marketing is much more complex.

B2b Business Marketing

In B2b marketing, you are dealing with a business… A business comprised of people with different and often opposing views of what they want or need.

• Some may want to save time.
• Some may want to save money.
• Some don't want to hire internally to solve the problem.
• Some may see this as a long-term or short-term need.
• Some may not even know that a problem exists.

B2b Marketing is mainly about three things:

• Identifying a person who perceives a problem is worth solving and paying for it to be solved externally.
• Convincing them that you can solve the problem in a way that will show the cost vs time benefit.
• Empowering that person to make your case up and down the management food chain, and making them your Company Cheerleader.

Then do a good enough job to keep them as clients. But that's not where most businesses go wrong.

Business Schizophrenia

I know too many marketing professionals and companies that lack a clear understanding of what they do or who they serve. I call this: the amoeba in search of a pulse and a wallet. They fear that if they niche too much, they may miss an opportunity, and they are 100% right. They will miss opportunities, but that could be a good thing.

I recently received a call from an old consumer client asking why their website was down. I said I would take a look and found that their domain bill had not been paid. He asked, “How was that possible? We just recently rebuilt the website after that happened with the old website.” I dug deeper.

Last time, their domain was with Register.com, a significant business domain registrar with tighter security than Fort Knox. We had them purchase a new domain at A2 Hosting (where their site was previously hosted), assuming they could go live while sending DNA samples and 23&Me Family history to Register.com to reclaim their domain. We could point both to the same website, and the problem would be solved.

You guessed it. The email from A2 was going to spam, and they missed all of them, resulting in unpaid bills and account cancellations. When they asked, “What's next?” I said, “You need to contact a new local web developer and start over.”

Yup… I did it. I fired the customer. Needless to say, none of us were happy, but I told them I am no longer in the consumer marketing business.

Focused on the Customer Base

The first problem is to know who you serve (and say no to the rest). In my case, I had to be willing to sacrifice hundreds of dollars in business to attract thousands (bigger budgets vs the number of customers). Though I had the time and ability to solve the problem, I also recall the numerous phone calls and emails I never billed for (as I knew they could not afford to spend more).

I have predefined what I wanted my business to look like. I have bandwidth for only four customers. Each of those customers has a technology sales business, and they sell to other companies in the business world (not business-to-consumer). There is a minimum budget of $5,000 per month. I bend that rule for some, while others blow by it. But that is who I serve, yet it's hard to say no to a client who helped build my business before.

I worked with a business coach who helped me focus on that and learn to say no to others. I could have offered to rebuild that website for $5,000, but that would have been an insult since it exceeded their annual marketing budget, and they are in the business-to-consumer market.

Who Are You?

The second problem is how to define your business to the marketplace.

In the marketing space, there are three main roles from my perspective: the (fractional) CMO, the Consultant, and the Coach.

I also see some well-established “sub” roles for the Freelancer or Specialist as well as the Agency or Niche Marketing Firm. Freelancers and specialists can juggle dozens or more clients, as they often have a revolving door of project work. Agencies often employ both employees and contractors, and must sell to their strengths (or offset their payroll costs).

But for the main roles…

Coaches typically work one-on-one with an individual. They can utilize freelancers to complete tasks, but their primary focus is on helping one person resolve one or more problems their business is experiencing. They often have a limited-time relationship (which is generally true for all of these), but when the problem is solved, the need disappears, and they realize it.

Consultants tend to work with systems or teams in niche capacities. Some consultants focus on technology, helping people optimize software and hardware systems or assist in installing a new system to streamline operations, while others might focus on sales teams. There are even some who can be business-wide, like HR or operations. But the one thing they all have in common is that there is a focus. (Marketing could be one of them if they have a partial or total team in place.)

CMOs manage marketing teams to execute marketing plans primarily defined by the client and the CMO. In the case of fractional CMOs, they hire the best specialists they can find for web, writing, graphics, email, social, programming, and more. I often classify what I do as ‘Just In Time, On Demand Marketing'.

Closing Thought

I used to call myself an ‘Online Marketing Specialist'. The word specialist lost its luster when, at a networking meeting, the plumbers and the HVAC guys started calling themselves ‘water or air distribution and reclamation specialists'.

Your customers who choose you and, more importantly, stay with you, can help you better define what your business is and does. Use that, but also get some feedback from a mastermind or business group to help you solidify your business “who”.

We are often too quick to look at our businesses as forests and miss the trees. By the way, the client I fired ran a successful tree-trimming business. I just wish I could have gotten them to (as with most business contractors) focus on the branches of their business that still had live growth (like a business website, and paying the bills for it).

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Comment below and share your thoughts, ideas, or questions about business-to-business sales and marketing today! Do you have a sales or marketing communications strategy that works for you? What tips or techniques can you share that work for you and your business?

To learn more about this and other topics on B2b Sales & Marketing, visit our podcast website at The Bacon Podcast.