Maximizing Your B2B Marketing ROI with Offline Tactics

B2B marketing, or business-to-business marketing, promotes goods or services from one business to another. Unlike B2C marketing (business-to-consumer marketing), which targets individual consumers, B2B marketing focuses on other businesses’ needs and interests.

Maximizing your B2B marketing is crucial for any business looking to achieve a return on investment (ROI) and succeed in today’s competitive marketplace. ROI measures how much profit a company makes concerning the amount of money invested in marketing efforts.

Although social media platforms, search engine optimization (SEO), and email marketing are

some of the most popular digital marketing channels, that doesn’t mean offline B2B

marketing is dead. This article will discuss how you can make the most out of your B2B marketing efforts through offline marketing tactics.

Understanding B2B Buyers

Unlike B2C buyers, who make their purchasing decisions based on emotion, B2B buyers make rational decisions based on their business needs.

A lot goes on when your customers are businesses; they consult with their accounting department to judge whether it’s a worthwhile investment and consider their stakeholders’ interests before deciding. They may even need approval from the board for certain transactions.

They are also more informed and require more information about the product or service before making a purchase decision. For example, a business may take days to review your product’s quality, reliability, and whether it’s worth the investment in the first place.

This means you need to target B2B marketing tactics toward persuading decision-makers and influencers within the organization to give the green light to buy.

Digital marketers are familiar with how vital understanding their buyers is because it allows them to segment their audience to deliver promotions relevant to them. Some popular digital marketing methods that benefit from understanding B2B buyers include search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.

However, understanding B2B buyers will also benefit your offline marketing efforts.

Examples of Effective Offline Tactics for B2B Marketing

While online marketing tactics such as SEO, PPC, and social media are essential, offline tactics can also be very effective for B2B marketing. Here are some examples of effective offline tactics for B2B marketing:

Trade shows

Trade shows are an excellent way to showcase your products or services to a relevant audience. These shows allow businesses to connect with potential customers face-to-face, demonstrate their products or services, and generate leads in person. According to one survey, respondents generated 70% more leads and brand awareness from attending these events.

Whatever you sell, there is bound to be a trade show you can participate in. For example, if you sell supply chain management software or run a customer insights platform, you could join a logistics-industry trade show. There, you can meet customers who might not have even realized that they needed a product like yours in the first place.

Conferences

Although many companies hold virtual conferences, roughly 2 in 3 respondents in a recent survey believe in-person events will return to pre-pandemic numbers.

Conferences are events that bring together professionals from a specific industry or niche. These are prevalent events for professionals to network and connect. A common method for you to market your brand is to become the conference’s guest speaker. This helps you establish expertise and authority for your business, which can attract more business opportunities.

Another way you can market your business here is to become an event sponsor. This allows you to prominently display your business across event collaterals and materials, such as banners and shirts, so you build brand awareness.

Networking events

Business owners understand the importance of their network since it can open doors for their organization or even act as a safety net for trusted individuals when they struggle with business financing.

Networking events are a great way to connect with other professionals in your industry. They provide an opportunity to meet potential customers, partners, and industry experts. For example, a business that provides HR consulting services could attend a networking event that caters to the human resources industry.

Direct mail

Direct mail marketing involves sending promotional material such as brochures, flyers, and catalogs to potential customers via post. While direct mail may seem old-fashioned, it can effectively reach decision-makers within an organization. For example, a business that sells office furniture could send a catalog to a company’s procurement department.

Integrating Offline and Online Marketing Efforts

While offline tactics are effective, combining them with online marketing efforts can help you achieve maximum impact. For example, if you have remote employees, you can leverage social media to promote their trade shows or conference participation internationally.

This combination can help generate more leads and build relationships with potential customers before the event. Similarly, you can use email marketing to follow up with the leads you generate from networking events.

Measuring ROI for Offline B2B Marketing Tactics

You can never be sure if you’ve reached a return on your investment if you don’t measure the outcome of your efforts. Metrics are excellent efficiency tracking of your offline B2B marketing tactics. Some metrics you can begin monitoring include leads and conversions.

These simple yet effective questions can help determine whether your efforts are working.

• Have your B2B marketing efforts resulted in any rise in sales?
• Have more people contacted you, showing interest in your product?

You can also try gauging your ROI through customer feedback. Customer surveys are great tools for measuring customer sentiment for offline marketing efforts. You can ask them their opinions about your talk at a conference or how your trade show booth helped them.

Wrapping Up

Achieving ROI is a significant milestone for any business; you’ll need to do as much as possible to reach it. Although B2B and B2C marketing tactics differ, both require you to develop a deep understanding of your audience first. This will allow you to target your marketing efforts better.

Offline efforts such as trade shows, conferences, and networking events allow you to get to know your customers while planting the seeds for a fruitful and potentially long-term business relationship. You can also use direct mail marketing to reach key decision-makers in a company when an email can’t.

After launching your offline B2B marketing efforts, always check whether you’re progressing toward your goal. Measure how many leads got back to you and how many products you’ve sold since meeting prospects. You can discover offline B2B marketing can still be highly profitable if you strategize the proper approaches and measure the right metrics.