Business to Business (B2B) lead generation involves the marketing of a company's products and services to other companies.  This type of marketing is used in many industries including IT and technology sales.

The main objective of B2B lead generation is to firstly generate interest in the company's products and secondly to convert this interest into actual sales.  Some businesses will deal with their own marketing in house while others choose to outsource to a third party.  Whether in house or outsourced any B2B marketing strategy will most likely involve the same three steps.  These steps are identifying a target market, setting objectives and building the marketing program.

In B2B marketing selling processes are often complex and lengthy.  This complexity has a number of causes including the size of the transactions and the fact that there are often a number of people involved in the decision making process.  Much of the B2B sales process involves creating a business relationship between two companies and the individuals working for them.  This business relationship is in many cases an ongoing one in which further purchases are made as and when needed.

Although there are similarities in them Business to Business marketing differs from Business to Consumer (B2C) marketing in a number of ways.  As stated in B2B sales there tends to be a number of decision makers involved.  This differs from B2C where as only one person is responsible buying decisions can be made quickly.  Additionally business purchasing decisions are focused on what the company needs as opposed to consumer buying with is more based on want.

The IT and technology industry is just one example of where B2B marketing is common.  Many companies in this market choose to outsource lead generation for its products and services to a third party.

A solid market strategy is the key to creating success. Most people know that marketing involves the use of communications tools such as advertising and public relations, but a truly effective market strategy encompasses much more.

The definition of marketing that we like is from the American Marketing Association:

Marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational objects. Marketing is everything that connects the value that a company creates with its end users or consumers. At Kingsford, developing a market strategy for a client is a step-by-step intensive process which includes:

Situation Analysis

The starting point for most projects is a meeting with company executives during which we do a qualitative assessment of the company, its internal strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Just as a professional athlete will play to their strengths (and away from their weaknesses) a company must also work within their capabilities.

Market Research and Analysis

In any situation, you need to understand how large the opportunity for a given product or service might be. When doing market research, it is important to distinguish between existing markets and markets that have yet to be developed (addressable markets). In some cases a very large market may attract too many large competitors - better to swim in a small pond than be shark food in a large pond (the big pond can wait).

Competitive Analysis

Another aspect of a market strategy is finding what kind of competitive forces may be at work in the desired markets. a€œCompetitiona€ must include not only direct competition, but also alternative solutions to the problem our client is trying to solve. In some cases the biggest form of 'competition' is inertia or fear of change.

Failing to recognize and confront this can be fatal. Another frequent form of hidden competition is the DIY approach.

Buyer Behaviour

Once a market has been focused upon, we develop a profile of target clients to try and understand what factors would influence how a company would go about buying the particular product or service in question. This process is very important in developing a customer engagement strategy.

Positioning

Typically in a workshop environment, we work with the client to develop a unique Positioning Statement. A Positioning Statement explains an organization's business focus, taking into account all factors including skills, resources, competitive forces, stakeholder needs and official mandates. It will define the target market, what problem we are addressing for them, what category of product or service is being offered, what we see as competition and what our unique selling proposition is.

Once the analysis phase is complete, we can start to move to action plans. These include:

Sales Channel Plan

The channel is simply the way in which the value the company creates is transferred to the customer. The type of customer being targeted, how they buy, where they are located and a host of other factors will determine what type of sales channels will be required. Once defined, a channels support process must be created in order to establish and keep the channels operating effectively. The rapid adoption of the Internet as a marketing channel is causing many changes in the channels. Channel conflict and territory management can become complicated.

Communications Plan

The communications strategy is the lubricant that makes the channel work effectively. It should create awareness within the target market, establish the company's credibility and support the customer engagement and recruitment process. In public firms there is also a related function of Investor Relations which effectively markets the company's equity to investors. These two functions need to be well coordinated to avoid sending mixed messages into the market. In most markets the aggressive use of public relations activities can provide excellent returns.

A sound market strategy would encompass all of these elements. Some firms choose to use internal resources for all these elements, some outsource the entire process. Still others will use outside resources to test certain market assumptions, develop buyer behaviour profiles, elaborate a Market Communications strategy or some other subset of the Marketing strategy.

Published in September 2007.

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Are you in the medical profession and are you looking for innovative new ways to increase your client database? When you are looking for ways to improve your medical business, you should seriously consider getting into online marketing. These days, for several good reasons, an increasing number of medical businesses are looking towards the internet for medical advertising techniques. Don't know where to start with marketing your medical business online?

Here are 3 ways that you can successfully improve your medical marketing strategy when you are online:

1. Make use of medical SEO articles

There are hundreds of article hubs located throughout the internet. You can have a professional writer create articles that will contain SEO content that will help with your medical marketing efforts. Making use of article hubs is one of the easiest ways to not only increase interest in your medical business but also to get inbound links to your website. This helps you to earn money through more avenues. For one thing, the links helps you to get the targeted traffic that you are looking for. Moreover, the more links that you have that direct to your website scattered throughout the internet, the more your medical website will rise in the search engines, helping you with your medical advertising. SEO stands for search engine optimization and means using keywords that will promote the medical solutions that you are offering.

2. Make use of social networking sites

Social networking sites can be an ideal place for you to use your medical advertising. You can use paid ads on these sites or simply promote your medical solutions by having a page on these sites. These days, more and more people from different walks of life are registering at social networking sites. The more people understand about what it is that you are promoting, the more apt they are to follow up and see what you have to offer. Online marketing often employs the use of social networking sites and your medical marketing techniques should be no different. Design a page that outlines all of your medical services and see what a difference it makes.

3. Submit your medical services website to the search engines

By submitting your medical services website to the search engines, you have a better chance of someone finding them who is seeking the information that you can provide. You should make sure that your medical advertising includes submission to the main search engines as your website is likely to get most of its traffic in this manner. By using medical SEO content as well as inbound links, you can raise your rankings in the search engines for your site. Do not just assume that your medical solutions website is featured in the search engines. You should submit them to the main search engines so that they can come up on the search engine results pages for those who are seeking out the services that you provide. The main search engines that you want to hit are Google, Yahoo and MSN. You should make sure that your medical website is also included in directories as well.

Medical marketing is like any other type of online marketing. No matter what type of medical solutions you are offering, you can gain a huge increase in traffic and you can also improve your business by using the internet and all of the marketing techniques that are available to you in this media. You can greatly improve your medical advertising by making use of commonly used internet marketing techniques. You will start to see an improvement in your business when you make use of these marketing strategies.