Defining Your Target Audience for Effective B2B Digital Marketing Strategy

Here is the first one of the B2B digital marketing tips as I mentioned in my previous article:
https://sevimors.medium.com/6-1-tips-for-b2b-digital-marketing-strategy-a92eaf9bc853

One of the key methods you can make sure that your digital marketing strategy works as effective as you need it to is to first define your target audience online. Your digital marketing campaign is a waste if you are not prioritizing potential buyers over the general audience. It’s possible to concentrate and target the core audience and limit your premium marketing material to potential buyers with a strong B2B digital marketing strategy.

Knowing and understanding your audience will additionally provide essential information required for developing brand messaging, finding out what types of content your audiences seek, and applying tactics that will lead to engagement and business relationships. In the consumer space, that often means working on emotion, ambition, even worry or fear. In B2B marketing, the emphasis can be very different. While you still need to make that connection, effective B2B digital marketing services will focus on business solutions, value, and long-term outcomes rather than emotional impulses.

Yet in both B2B and B2C spheres, it’s vital to know who you’re marketing to. If you don’t know your target audience, you can’t reliably find the right buttons for your content to press, whether that’s on the emotional level or while making a hard-headed business case.

So, what can we do? Let’s jump in.

To define your target audience, your team must first segment the market and consider the firmographics and geographic location. Within each segment are focal points that contribute to your overall personas. Knowing where to direct your attention will assist in creating more effective content and marketing plans.

Firmographics are the shared qualities of your buyers’ organizations, including company size, years in business, annual revenue, industry classification, and more. Variations in these specific elements, among other firmographic data points that may apply to your specific industry, factor into key buyer decisions. When developing your marketing strategy and target audience, there are several ways:

Industry: Unless you market a niche product designed only for a particular industry, it can be immensely helpful to know which industries leverage your products the most. Know what industries your buyers are in and understand what strategies work best for each. Marketing strategies that work for the finance industry might not be nearly as effective when marketing to manufacturing or logistics companies. Consider the size of the company that your products are most popular with. Does it coincide more with mid-size companies or small startups?

Number of Employees: Are your products most popular with small startups? Growing mid-sized companies? Sprawling enterprises? Knowing what size business your product is most attractive to tells you where to go to find more like-minded buyers.

Location (Geographic): Are your customers concentrated in Turkey or spread across Europe? Should you run more marketing campaigns in France or in Istanbul? Potential prospects at different geographic locations can value different aspects of products or services, depending on their needs, resources, and industry focus. Understanding variations in the buyers at geographic locations will assist in the creation of your target market and marketing plans.

Executive Title: Who usually makes the purchase decision to buy your products? The CFO? CEO? A middle manager? Discover which job titles represent your most dependable buyers. In each case, focus on how the details of each persona can direct the approach taken by your content. And remember, in larger organizations, there may be several people involved in each buying decision, and a different persona for each role will likely produce the most effective results.

Sales Cycle: If you don’t understand the sales cycle, you can easily waste lots of time and effort marketing to businesses or individuals who never actually intend to buy. Find out the length of time a buyer usually takes to conduct diligent research and make an informed purchase decision versus how long a shopper with no intent to buy might waste your time.

Additional Firmographics to Consider: What time of year is the busiest season for your customers? What is their climate like? When do they need to stock up on your products or take advantage of your services? Knowing them is the ticket to marketing to them successfully.

To sum up, defining a target audience is an essential key to B2B marketing success, but it can be a complex task. Take a look at your previous customers, particularly those with the highest value. What characteristics do they share? Which questions can you ask to build an accurate persona? For the clearest picture, use both hard sales information along with the insights of your sales team, if applicable. You may also want to use the services of an external marketing analyst to talk directly to some of your customers on your behalf. They can provide insight to better understand what aspects are important to them and why they choose to use your products or services.