Acquiring customers is essential to driving business growth. It is also a key challenge for many start-ups and SMEs. This can be attributed at least partially due to current B2B buying behaviours.
A study conducted last year has shown that 79% of business buyers are aware of at least three suppliers at the start of the buying process. Also, 28% of those surveyed did not look at any additional suppliers.
The top three sources for potential suppliers for business buyers are:
- Internet Search (39%)
- Referrals from professional advisors (34%)
- Talking to colleagues and peers (33%)
If you are looking to pursue growth through business markets, you cannot rely on your sales teams which typically interact with buyers much later in the buying process. Instead, you must focus your B2B marketing on creating awareness and engagement among the buying group (ie buyers, influencers and change agents) within your current customers and prospects even before they are looking to buy.
Start-ups and SMEs must look to adopt new approaches that will make business buyers buy. The implementation of new marketing strategies by your company that is significantly different from current methods is referred to as marketing innovation. It’s one of the innovation approaches within the Listen Innovate Grow B2B Framework and should be given strong consideration as part of your company’s overall growth strategy.
The marketing innovation every start-up and SME needs to drive business growth
Any start-up or SME serious about acquiring business customers and driving business growth must make advocacy marketing a core component of their B2B company strategy.
Advocacy marketing is about using your existing clients or customers who like you (or better yet love you) to endorse and promote your company’s products and services to other prospects in your industry and markets.
Advocacy marketing has two key benefits:
- It’s deemed to be far more trustworthy and authentic due to the peer to peer dialogue involved
- Can be done effectively at low cost which is important for start-ups and SMEs which often have limited budgets
Advocacy marketing is comprised of the 2Rs: referrals and references
Referrals: Suggestions that buyers will seek from people they know and trust such as colleagues, employees and friends
FACT: 84% of B2B decision makers start the buying process with a referral and peer recommendations are influencing more than 90% of all B2B buying decisions. (Source: How B2B Sales Can Benefit From Social Selling, Harvard Business Review, November 2016)
Companies with formal referral programs have reported high customer lifetime values and higher conversion rates
References: customers or clients speak on your company’s behalf to potential customers or media advising them on the products and services your company provided, their experience in dealing with you and the impact it had on their business.
References may be delivered in a variety of ways:
- Case studies
- Testimonials
- Prospects visiting customer premises
- Customers speaking on behalf of your company to media and/or industry or company events
Which activities to use for your customers will be determined by your buyers’ “shopping experience” (i.e. where they look, what they want to look at and who they wish to speak to). Therefore, a key component of your company’s B2B marketing strategy should be to establish a formal Advocacy program to drive references and referrals.
The key to advocacy and growth: show customers the love!
For your company to turn customers into advocates that will drive the growth and success of your business, there are some key things which that your Start-Up or SME must do.
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Deliver an AWESOME B2B Customer Experience Every Time!
- This means that “WHAT YOU DELIVER” (ie your product, service or solution) as well as “HOW YOU DELIVER” (ie your processes, customer service and support) must exceed both BUYER and USER expectations every time
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Reward Your Advocates
- Provide various ways for recognising your advocates when they make efforts on your company’s behalf. They should not be monetary. Suitable options
- Free report
- Free product
- Free service upgrade
- Opportunity to trial a new offering
- Contests and promotions
- Provide various ways for recognising your advocates when they make efforts on your company’s behalf. They should not be monetary. Suitable options
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Make Them Feel Special
- Provide your advocates with opportunities that are not available to other customers. Some possible options include:
- Opportunities for professional development
- Exclusive access to a C-level event
- Wine them and dine them by hosting Advocacy dinners
- Provide your advocates with opportunities that are not available to other customers. Some possible options include:
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Let Them Shine
- Provide your advocates opportunities to showcase their strengths and expertise. This could be achieved through various ways such enabling them to:
- Contribute content to your blogs, videos or podcasts
- Participate as a speaker or panel member at a company event
- Provide your advocates opportunities to showcase their strengths and expertise. This could be achieved through various ways such enabling them to:
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Make Them Feel a Part of Your Team!
- Enable advocates to:
- Participate in surveys or research you are conducting
- Collaborate and provide input into your product development initiatives
- Provide feedback on your proposed marketing initiatives and product roadmaps and service enhancements
- Enable advocates to:
Tips for establishing a formal referral program
- Tell advocates what you are looking for in an ideal prospect
- Types of organisations
- Roles that you want to connect with
- Business problems they may face
- Make it easy to refer
- Identify the best (and preferred) ways for advocates to refer
- Have tools and processes in place to make referrals easier to manage and to distribute to your sales/client teams for follow up
- Know when to ask for a referral
- Find particular points of delight along the customer journey when it would be an opportune time to ask
- Define how referrals will be managed?
- Determine how the referees will be managed
- Determine how you will follow up with the advocate that referred
Take action now
Make use one of your strongest sources for growth.
Identify your customer fans and seek out how you can both help them and your company.