3 Tips To Make Sure You Stand Out in B2B Marketing

Often in B2B marketing, connecting with your buyers means standing out from the crowd and showing why you’re not just another commodity. These three simple, but powerful tips can make you successful in that pursuit.

Connecting with your B2B customers can be simple if you remember to just tell your story. Every company has some special strength they bring to the table in their industry. You may have several competitors that are similar, but none of them have your team, your vision or your way of delivering customer satisfaction. That is the “secret sauce” what sets you apart from the crowd. I sat in on a presentation from branding expert Bruce Turkel at a conference and he summed it up nicely, “Sell who you are, not what you do”.

Try these 3 tips to tell your story:

Remember how to be social – almost all sales begin around a relationship, they always have. Your personality and thought leadership forge that partnership and your company delivers the goods. Today with all the tools available to build connections, like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and others, many companies often just fall back to corporate speak and broadcast themselves all over these various channels. It’s called social media for a reason. People crave conversations and connections in life and business. They like hearing from real employees, other customers and what you can bring to solve their issues. Don’t hide behind a logo or PR blasts, get out there and mingle.

Shut up and show it – B2B marketers tend to like to write it all down and toss it to customers. It’s all too much copy in the form of sell sheets, white papers and product features. Showing what you know is often more compelling. Video is a powerful tool in any content marketing arsenal, and using simple, cost-effective tools and recording devices, it’s easily within any company’s budget. This is a powerful opportunity to show off your personality. Also don’t forget to record presentations and product demos for additional content. Videos with yourself, your C-suite, your employees and even your customers show why you’re the company to be with, in a transparent and authentic manner.

Let everyone else talk about you – people buy more often based on word of mouth and recommendations. This truth has become even more evident with the rise in social media sharing and reviews. To get in front of this, gather your customer testimonials every way you can. They can come together in many forms: written, audio recordings and even video. All you have to do is ask and most customers are happy to give you an honest endorsement. At worse, they say no and you move on to the next opportunity. Over time you can build a nice library of these various success stories told by your customers.

Building an authentic personality and voice for your company’s B2B marketing activities will pay huge dividends. It just takes some time, effort and creativity – but is much more effective and powerful than a room full of stale newsletters, bland brochures and the next press release.