In today’s dynamic retail landscape, promotion is crucial for B2B business owners. An online presence will bring traffic to your store, but that may not be enough. If you want to increase your online sales, you need to promote your B2B online store.
Factors and tips to consider when promoting your B2B online store
#1 – Content
Overview
Content marketing has proven to be a successful venture for B2B online stores. Below are some tips to promote your B2B online store by offering engaging content via multiple channels.
Tips
Other blogger’s sites
Posting regular, engaging content (e.g., blogs, articles) on your website can increase the visibility of your online store, but this may take months or even years to increase your business and product rankings. But that doesn’t mean you should discontinue this method. Consider sharing your content on other blogger’s sites that are relevant to your industry and audience. Such sites will offer you a platform to promote your B2B online store to a large audience of potential viewers.
Email your blog posts
Another great way to promote your B2B online store is to email your blog posts to potential clients. If you track navigation behaviors on your website, you can identify potential customers for your business. The next step is to collect their email addresses by either asking them to fill up the form on your website, or by purchasing bulk data.
You cannot always expect people to seek out your blog. Hence, it’s smarter to adopt a two-pronged strategy to get your content to them using blogs and email marketing.
Press releases
Consider using the power of the press to promote your B2B online store. Many B2B owners overlook press releases because they don’t think anything newsworthy is happening at their company. However, announcing events like the launch of a new product/service, completion of a project, or a new partnership in a press release can help promote your business to a wider audience.
Establish a social media presence
A social media presence offers unique and cost-effective opportunities to reach potential customers. LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook will help you reach clients who have the same interests, whereas Instagram and Youtube can be used to promote your business through videos.
#2 – Search engine optimization (SEO)
Overview
SEO isn’t just for B2C companies. Incorporating SEO tactics to promote your B2B store will make it easy for online users to find your store, website, and content. However, tips for B2B SEO are slightly different from that of B2C.
Tips
Incorporate SEO basics
Make sure you incorporate these SEO basics:
- Load time for your site: Your website should load quickly, even on relatively slower devices.
- Dynamic design: Your website should load seamlessly across devices: Computers, tablets, phones, etc.
- Efficient navigation: Visitors should be able to reach their desired webpage without unnecessary steps.
- Relevant page titles: All the webpages should be aptly titled so visitors are not misled.
Infuse keywords and links in the “About Us” page
The “About Us” page is a good opportunity to give potential customers an overview, so provide meaningful content that will help searchers get information about your business and its products/services. You can also add links to specific pages and services, directing users to the most important pages of your site. Using Google’s keyword planner tool will help you determine keywords that are most relevant to a user’s search.
Frequency and optimization for better results
Frequently update your website content page and blog using keywords that will show up in the user’s search results. The more unique and relevant keywords you include in your content, the more you are likely to appear in search results.
Add quality inbound links to your website
Including inbound links to your website is the backbone of SEO. Search engines consider quality inbound links when evaluating a website as a signal to relevance. Thus, ensure you add quality inbound links in relevant pages of your site to get better results in search engines.
#3 – Social Media
Overview
Social media can be used for B2B promotion as well since it has already worked wonders for B2C promotion. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube will help you grow your audience by targeting potential customers who search for information about your business. If you have not adopted social media to promote your B2B store, get started using the following tips.
Tips
Enable social share buttons
Some of the leading social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn have a “share” button. Enabling social share buttons on your website will allow users to share your content, product images, and videos. This way you can divert traffic to your B2B online stores with little effort and cost.
Offer promotional content to people who “like” and “share”
Once you create a social media business account, you’ll start getting likes, and users will share your content in their networks. Offering promotional content to people who like and share your content will encourage them to promote your business and bring more loyal customers to your online store.
Regularly update your social media business accounts
People will like and share your content only if they are offered something unique. Regularly update content for your social media accounts to engage users and gain more traffic.
Inspire loyalty among your customers
Target your new customers to help them become your loyal ones. Social media users look for businesses who offer meaningful content and service. If you live up to their expectations, they become your loyal customers.
#4 – Mobile
Overview
More people are accessing online stores over their smartphones. Making your website mobile friendly and having a mobile app for your business will allow smartphone users to access your products and services on the go.
Tips
Promote your mobile app on your website
Users who have reached your website using their smartphone are likely to sign up for your mobile app. Advertise your mobile app on your website to encourage users to download the app. Offering a promotional discount to download your mobile app will increase traffic drastically.
Feature your mobile app on leading app stores
Several leading app stores allow businesses to promote their app for increased visibility. Potential users frequently visit such app stores to get information, so featuring your B2B mobile app is an effective way to promote your B2B online store.
Include a link with every email you send to customers
By including your mobile app link in every email communication you send to your customers — customer service emails, purchase confirmations, product announcements — you can increase visibility, allowing easy access for customers to make purchases on the go. This is also a great opportunity to offer customers an incentive for making another purchase using your mobile app.
Display a link to your mobile app on your business cards
Another great way to increase visibility for your mobile app is to display a link on your business card. This will help you expand your reach and boost traffic for your online store.
Make your app visible on social media
Promote your mobile app link on your social media accounts.
#5 – Traditional marketing approach
Overview
Traditional marketing has always been and will continue to be a part of B2B. Take these opportunities to let customers know that your business also has an online presence.
Tricks
Advertise your online store at events and shows
If you host in-person events to promote your business or a new product, use these opportunities to advertise your online store.
Include links to your online store and mobile app on print ads
If you use print ads to get more visibility for your B2B store, include a link to your website, social media accounts, and mobile app.
Take the next step
Once you’ve established an online presence, and you’re consistently offering updated and quality content to reach potential customers and engage with loyal ones, you’ll need to be ready for increased traffic to your online store. That’s where DEAR Systems comes in. Contact our sales team to learn more about our enterprise-class B2B ecommerce automation solution to streamline and improve your operations.
