Business To Business Email Marketing
A business to business email marketing strategy faces different challenges than a consumer-based marketing promotion. Basically, the phrase (also known as B2B) refers to suppliers who sell products and services to other companies instead of the consumer market. These suppliers may sell products or services to manufacturers, wholesalers, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, or institutions such as hospitals, schools, and prison facilities. The products may be very specialized. For example, helicopter manufacturers need to either purchase blades or purchase the materials needed to make blades. They need to find suppliers for the helicopter parts and materials. In contrast, the products may be something as generic as paper products. A hospital purchasing department is not going to go to the local discount or grocery store and stock up on paper towels and napkins. The hospital department manager will have a relationship with suppliers based on such factors as pricing, availability, delivery, and reliability. For their part, suppliers work hard to build and retain positive relationships with clients. These relationships often have much more impact on purchasing decisions than the relationships required for the broader consumer market. Similarly, a business to business email marketing strategy usually has a different tone than bulk emailing directed to consumers.
Suppliers often have a sales force that personally calls upon clients and potential clients at their location, whether this is a factory or an institutional compound. This contrasts with the consumer market which usually has the customer going to a store or an online website and making purchases. The customer seldom knows the names of store clerks or the people behind the website store. But in B2B, the purchaser usually knows the supplier's salesperson. A relationship develops that paves the way for future purchases. An effective business to business email marketing campaign builds on these kinds of relationships by delivering messages consistent with the supplier's company image. Keeping with the above examples, the suppliers of helicopter parts and materials will probably want to project a company image of durability, respectability, and strength. A supplier of paper goods may have a more relaxed image while still stressing the ability to fulfill large orders on a timely basis. Both types of suppliers will want to have a business to business email marketing strategy that is consistent with the image and increases brand awareness. The importance of image and brand cannot be overstated. Once a supply company identifies its unique image and brand, the management needs to ensure that every aspect of the company reflects and upholds that image and brand. People often hear a certain brand name and immediately have a response built both on the company's advertising and their own experiences. People are no different in professional relationships. They want to buy their products and services from reputable companies and from people that they like. King Solomon wrote: "He that walketh uprightly walketh surely: but he that perverteth his ways shall be known" (Proverbs 10:9).
To develop a business to business email marketing strategy, suppliers may create an in-house team of employees or contract this function to a third-party vendor. Either way, the company will need to establish goals and objectives for the marketing campaign so that its success can later be evaluated. Software applications have been developed that provide detailed statistic reporting to help in the evaluation process. Experts suggest that B2B companies run tests of their marketing messages to see which ones are most effective. Two or more messages can be created and distributed to different segments of the distribution list and the response to each message can be tracked and evaluated. By taking this test step, the B2B staff or vendor can come up with the most effective message for their clients. The test messages may have different subject lines and the tracking software can provide the testers with the response rate for each one. This tells the testers which subject line was most effective in motivating recipients to respond to the business to business email marketing message. The most effective subject lines usually have some type of teaser that stands apart from the competition and makes the recipient curious enough to open the email. For example, the helicopter supplier may get more results from a subject line that says "Steel Blades for a Steal" then one that says "Steel Blades for Sale." Creativity and imagination can mean the difference between an email that is read and one that is sent, unopened, to the trash folder.
Experts also suggest that the supplier's offer or call to action is positioned in the message so that it is visible in the recipient's preview or reading pane. This way, the most important part of the message may still be seen by a recipient who is scanning through her inbox. When done effectively, the recipient may be motivated to open and respond to the supplier's business to business email marketing message. Experts also believe that the timing of the delivery can be important. A employee usually faces a full inbox first thing on Monday morning and may zip through the messages fairly quickly. The supplier's message may be overlooked or deleted. At the end of the work week, the recipient may be trying to wrap up loose ends before leaving the office. With the person's mind on other things, emails from suppliers just aren't a priority. For these types of reasons, experts suggest that suppliers send emails midweek and midday. This contrasts with consumer marketing strategies which sometimes recommend sending emails to subscribers on the weekends. In addition to testing specific messages, suppliers or their vendors can utilize software applications that provide templates for customized newsletters. These business to business email marketing newsletters, which can be sent to subscribers on a regular basis, can provide B2B customers with information about innovative products and special discounts that may be offered by the supplier's company.
Suppliers often have a sales force that personally calls upon clients and potential clients at their location, whether this is a factory or an institutional compound. This contrasts with the consumer market which usually has the customer going to a store or an online website and making purchases. The customer seldom knows the names of store clerks or the people behind the website store. But in B2B, the purchaser usually knows the supplier's salesperson. A relationship develops that paves the way for future purchases. An effective business to business email marketing campaign builds on these kinds of relationships by delivering messages consistent with the supplier's company image. Keeping with the above examples, the suppliers of helicopter parts and materials will probably want to project a company image of durability, respectability, and strength. A supplier of paper goods may have a more relaxed image while still stressing the ability to fulfill large orders on a timely basis. Both types of suppliers will want to have a business to business email marketing strategy that is consistent with the image and increases brand awareness. The importance of image and brand cannot be overstated. Once a supply company identifies its unique image and brand, the management needs to ensure that every aspect of the company reflects and upholds that image and brand. People often hear a certain brand name and immediately have a response built both on the company's advertising and their own experiences. People are no different in professional relationships. They want to buy their products and services from reputable companies and from people that they like. King Solomon wrote: "He that walketh uprightly walketh surely: but he that perverteth his ways shall be known" (Proverbs 10:9).
To develop a business to business email marketing strategy, suppliers may create an in-house team of employees or contract this function to a third-party vendor. Either way, the company will need to establish goals and objectives for the marketing campaign so that its success can later be evaluated. Software applications have been developed that provide detailed statistic reporting to help in the evaluation process. Experts suggest that B2B companies run tests of their marketing messages to see which ones are most effective. Two or more messages can be created and distributed to different segments of the distribution list and the response to each message can be tracked and evaluated. By taking this test step, the B2B staff or vendor can come up with the most effective message for their clients. The test messages may have different subject lines and the tracking software can provide the testers with the response rate for each one. This tells the testers which subject line was most effective in motivating recipients to respond to the business to business email marketing message. The most effective subject lines usually have some type of teaser that stands apart from the competition and makes the recipient curious enough to open the email. For example, the helicopter supplier may get more results from a subject line that says "Steel Blades for a Steal" then one that says "Steel Blades for Sale." Creativity and imagination can mean the difference between an email that is read and one that is sent, unopened, to the trash folder.
Experts also suggest that the supplier's offer or call to action is positioned in the message so that it is visible in the recipient's preview or reading pane. This way, the most important part of the message may still be seen by a recipient who is scanning through her inbox. When done effectively, the recipient may be motivated to open and respond to the supplier's business to business email marketing message. Experts also believe that the timing of the delivery can be important. A employee usually faces a full inbox first thing on Monday morning and may zip through the messages fairly quickly. The supplier's message may be overlooked or deleted. At the end of the work week, the recipient may be trying to wrap up loose ends before leaving the office. With the person's mind on other things, emails from suppliers just aren't a priority. For these types of reasons, experts suggest that suppliers send emails midweek and midday. This contrasts with consumer marketing strategies which sometimes recommend sending emails to subscribers on the weekends. In addition to testing specific messages, suppliers or their vendors can utilize software applications that provide templates for customized newsletters. These business to business email marketing newsletters, which can be sent to subscribers on a regular basis, can provide B2B customers with information about innovative products and special discounts that may be offered by the supplier's company.
Business To Business Email Marketing
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