Business-to-business marketing entails the sale of one company’s service or product to another company. This is also known as B2B marketing and there are many innovative ways in which these principles can be carried out.

Consumer marketing is similar, but there are a few differences to note. Consumers buy products based on price, hierarchy, popularity and mental triggers.

However, B2B buyers make choices based on just price and potential for profit.

Building relationships for B2B marketing via social media is a popular talking point at the moment. Platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter can open up a two-way conversation between businesses.

Businesses are more likely to buy from companies whom they follow on social media. Success in B2B marketing doesn’t stem from advertising a product on the television or radio, it is all about making your mark in the industry and making your product seem essential.

Executing B2B Marketing

There are several ways in which you can carry out B2B marketing for your business. You could set up booths at relevant trade shows, host live or scheduled webinars, use email marketing, stay active on social media platforms and build face-to-face relationships with buyers at an industry event.

Consider the following outstanding B2B marketing examples and see if your company can replicate their success.

B2B Marketing Examples To Learn From

‘The Furrow’ – John Deere

Around a century ago John Deere executed a solid B2B marketing technique. Deere was a Blacksmith who helped farmers struggling to turn weighty soil with conventional plows.

He published the magazine “The Furrow” to assist farmers in learning about new technologies in the industry.

By honing in on the consumer’s issues, questions and confusions rather than John Deere’s products themselves he could capture his target audience. “The Furrow” is still in circulation today both in print and online formats.

Upwork Uses Humor in its ‘Hey World’ Campaign

Humor has been an integral part of B2B marketing campaigns since they first came into existence.

Although many B2B brands tend to take a more tentative approach, companies don’t always want to play the fool or appear too funny in case it damages their professional image.

Upwork is a freelance coordinator business that relied on plenty of humor in their “Hey World” business-to-business marketing campaign.

They used bright designs, stand out colors and clever branding to call out to NASA, Dwayne Johnson, also known as the Rock, The President and many more influential people.

With their impressive and bold campaign, they could repurpose this content over and over to create commercials that were just a few seconds long, images on public transport and many more vital advertising platforms.

As they took risks and caused a little stir in the usually calm and professional business-to-business marketing methods, they grabbed the attention of their target audience and improved their visibility.

‘Work Can Work Better’ – Xerox

By utilizing humor Xerox was able to push their rebrand forward; they no longer wanted to be all about hardware so wanted to push their business services too. Their ‘Work Can Work Better’ campaign successfully allowed them to break into the digital age.

Instead of just being seen as a printer and photocopier firm its new campaign offered several business solutions. The advert shows a businessman being overwhelmed with work, but Xerox helps him with an array of business solution plugs along the way.

By appealing to human emotions and emphasizing how they can help boost efficiency it works successfully as a B2B marketing campaign.

‘Year in Search’ – Google

This video has been called one of the best advertisements ever made. Since the ‘Zeitgeist’ report was released encompassing the top ten searches on Google that year, they used this list to create a three-minute long video advertisement.

This content hits the viewer about how much everybody depends on Google daily. With a range of moods, Google still makes it possible to bring everybody together by the end of the footage. Once again, this B2B campaign successfully taps into people’s emotions and understandings.

A Website Transformation – Adobe

This successful desktop publishing business wanted to expand its brand beyond this when it teamed up with Omniture, a marketing analytics business. The company needed a method to capture the attention of marketing professionals, which was their main target demographic.

Adobe came up with a winning B2B marketing method by capitalizing on Omniture’s website CMO.com. Over time it transformed this site into a hub of creative and innovative content where many businesses went straight to whenever they needed marketing solutions.

This is an example of B2B marketing that is a slow burner, but sometimes this is all you need to win the attention of other businesses.

Appealing Blog Posts – Buffer

Buffer used B2B marketing to grow from a tiny business into a globally used tool. The Buffer blog encompasses everything that any company could want such as social media, marketing techniques, productivity tips and creative ideas.

Their target audience soon became businesses who needed to gain control over their social media and this is exactly how they grasped their attention. By talking about problems and issues that many business owners encounter, they were able to sell their app on a huge scale.

With nearly a million Twitter followers, Buffer has been successful in its efforts.

Microinfluencers Assist Bosch Power Tools

When you think about micro-influencers you don’t always consider B2B marketing as something they would normally advertise. B2B influencer marketing is quite unique in that you don’t need big audiences to make an impact.

This method is all about seeking the most relevant audience and targeting them with the content. Bosch Power Tools used this B2B marketing method to appeal to their target audience in an inexpensive and innovative way.

Their goal was to convince tradespeople to upgrade their power tools, so they gave tools to volunteers and accumulated them into a cohesive set of video reviews. These videos helped Bosch to reach their audience due to the authenticity of the micro-influencer reviews.

Barclays Corporate Banking

One of the main things that appeals to B2B buyers love is a heartfelt story that touches them and relates to their own story.

In Barclay’s B2B marketing campaign they focus on a managing director of Low-Cost Vans; the video doesn’t explain the history of the company or mention Barclay’s association with them. Instead, it focuses on his personal dream of, “I think every young lad has a dream of playing for your local club. My dream as a child was to play with Swansea City.”

Although Barclays portrays how they can help small businesses and how they have help companies like Low-Cost Vans succeed, they tell it from an emotional perspective that people will relate to on another level.

Multipurpose Videos By WeWork

Video production isn’t as expensive as it used to be all those years ago, but it will always be one of the best go-to types of content for B2B marketing. Consumers are watching huge amounts of video content so WeWork used this to their advantage.

This business produced a series of thirty-second long videos which explained how small businesses can upgrade their office environments. These videos were designed so the message could be portrayed in just a few seconds.

You could even take screenshots and create GIFs of the videos for social media, which made this an especially powerful B2B marketing tool.

A Final Note

The campaigns mentioned above are uniquely successful because the businesses understood their B2B buyers intrinsically. It’s true that these kinds of buyers are still attracted to authentic, relevant and unique marketing much like everyday consumers.

However, these examples are only successful due to their deep understanding of their customers and target demographic.

It is clear that successful B2B companies can create winning content for their websites and blogs. If they can to do this for their company, then there is no reason you can’t use it for your B2B company.

Content marketing is thriving so you need to get on board with the techniques mentioned above.

Business-to-business marketing is only successful when valuable, long-lasting relationships are built with customers. This is an important goal for any company looking to implement B2B marketing strategies.

It’s true that the B2B market is the largest of all and exceed the consumer market in value. This goes to show how valuable B2B marketing could be for your business.

If you’re looking for success in business-to-business marketing it depends mostly on your understanding of your target audience. If you think you have work to do in this department, then use our B2B marketing examples as a catalyst to find out more about the people who matter most to your business.