Target B2B customers: the starting point for your business strategy!

How to identify your target B2B customers to devise winning marketing strategies

If yours is a B2B business, you have a big advantage over B2C businesses: you can have an accurate list, complete with names, of your potential customers. This advantage allows you to study your target B2B customers to the fullest, without making mistakes, and know every detail about them.

It will then be very easy to understand how and where to communicate with them, what they need, what to do to attract them, and why they choose your competitors.

As a direct result of this knowledge, you will be able to adopt business strategies with enormous probability of success.

However, the baseline is crucial in this regard: it is necessary to know which customers are the most desirable and then initiate further market research.

Yes, we talk about “additional” because to determine target customers you certainly cannot rely on chance.

You need to have data in hand, market analysis capable of giving you the information you need: ATECO codes (not a single code, then we’ll tell you why), geographic area, products and services offered, trends in turnover and profit, and more.

Only with this information can you intercept the really right customers for your business, those “on target”!

Not just ATECO: here are what factors you need to consider to choose the most beneficial clients

Whether you are starting your B2B business now or already have one, targeting the right audience helps you grow exponentially in your target market, acquire new (and good) customers quickly, and maximize the ROI of your marketing strategies.

What you need is market research based on online data, either from your own customer base or from your competitors’ customer base (if you do not yet have one) so that you can identify companies with similar characteristics.

Before the emergence of powerful market analysis software, the only way to identify target B2B customers to target was to obtain a list of companies for a given ATECO code.

If we still rely only on the ATECO code, we do not take into consideration the fact that companies carry out different activities, which do not always coincide with the code.

There is a risk of excluding some interesting companies that, however, have a different code than the one being considered… or of wasting time skimming the list because it is full of uninteresting companies.

So back to the birth of our market research software friends. Here is what information we can identify in addition to the ATECO code if we want to identify potential customers:

• Type of products/services covered
• Geographical area (city and region)
• Type of company
• Turnover class
• Risk Classes
• Turnover trends
• Profit trend
• Export activities
• Economic results
• Number of employees
• Contacts (including employees)
• Names

In addition, if you already have a trusted customer base, you can ask for opinions about the companies you would like to target.

This information, based on the study of data, allows you to identify the customers most desirable to you and draw up a profile to target in your business strategy.

How to get them?

By learning how to use analytics software, as our CMI Academy students do, or (a significantly faster option) by asking us for a B2B customer analysis report that we will deliver to you within 48 hours.

And then, off to online marketing activities! Yes but … on what to base them?

B2B business strategies: start with knowing your customers to draft a foolproof strategic plan

Once you have identified your target B2B customers you can tend to do three things to leverage the data you have obtained and devise excellent business strategies:

• Use B2B market report data to contact customers (indirectly) by proposing your services to them
• Request more reports available within 48 hours and get more information to draft your perfect business strategy
• ask for comprehensive market research

It all depends on your goals, your budget, and the time you have to acquire clientele!

During a free consultation we can advise you on the best path for you and give you useful details about these solutions, but we will anticipate some details in the next paragraphs.

Read also: Do you want to adopt winning B2B business strategies? Start with a report to get to know your target customers!

1. Contacting potential customers in a more or less veiled way

Trying to acquire new customers with classic methods, without investing too much on further data analysis, is the “slowest” solution, which could still be effective.

For example, you can use the contacts you find in the B2B market report to send out publicity materials (sales letter, company magazine, etc.) and use your company profile on LinkedIn to invite company stalwarts to webinars, workshops, and other free events.

In addition, you can start social and LinkedIn activity by showcasing your company’s strengths.

We call this a “slow” solution because over time it may give you good results, although unfortunately it cannot work magic.

Either way, it allows you to get noticed by companies that were previously unfamiliar with yours, with whom you may build a great relationship of trust and who may become your future customers.

2. Additional interactive market reports that add to the list of B2B target customers

Requesting additional interactive market reports, at a tiny little price, customizable and available within 48 hours is the quickest and most painless solution.

Among these reports,market analysis based on listening to the network, that is, studying what people say online, andonline competitive analysis are definitely for you.

Analyzing your own social and those of three competitors could also be very helpful if you want to study a great social media marketing strategy!

Read also: B2B communication strategies: why it is vital to start with Marketing Intelligence

3. Comprehensive market research on which to base your business strategy

The comprehensive but more expensive solution, namely full market research, is recommended if you have a good budget to invest in your business strategy and if you want to start with a bang (or grow exponentially with your business).

Comprehensive market research mainly includes:

• the study of your target customers
• thecompetitive analysis
• network listening(social listening)
• The study of market trends, your brand and that of competitors

Depending on your needs, they may also touch on other areas, such as studying the social strategy of your main competitors.

Are you ready to set up the perfect business strategy? Contact us now to book a free consultation!

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