Transparency in B2B Marketing
Transparency is the key that opens the door to the informed buying experience customers have grown to expect and demand. This is especially true in the B2B marketing world.
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With Mayple marketing experts, seeing is believing in your B2B partner
Modern-day buyers are not only digitally savvy, they’re also willing to put in the extra effort needed to research the products and services they seek before purchasing. They want to know what it is they’re buying, and they want to know, for certain, that the brand they’re buying from is trustworthy and reliable.
Lucky for them, in today’s hyper-connected reality, most buyers have access to a variety of options they can look into and select the one that best meets their needs. In B2B marketing, which is based on long-term relationships, transparency plays a crucial part.
Transparency is key
Transparency is the key that opens the door to the informed buying experience customers have grown to expect and demand. This is especially true in the B2B marketing world. As digitization has indirectly led to the distancing of connections between members of the B2B supply chain.
B2B brands can now partner with developers, manufacturers, marketers, vendors and others, located in remote locations across the globe, maintaining control and visibility of all members of the brand’s network, and conveying said control and visibility in the form of a transparent marketing strategy, is of critical importance.
The benefits of transparency in B2B marketing are clear
Forrester’s reports that the three most important qualities a B2B brand should ideally possess are all directly related to transparency. They are: clear full pricing, visible inventory, and content about company processes.
This is because these qualities help inform B2B customers’ critical decision-making processes, by highlighting the brand’s added value and competitive edge. And for B2B buyers, who are often looking to establish long-term working relationships over performing a one-off transaction, a clear understanding of who their future partner is, what they stand for and how they operate, has become non-negotiable.
As such, when done right, transparent B2B marketing provides B2B brands with the following additional benefits, with each subsequent benefit building upon its predecessor.
Brand integrity
Being open and forthcoming in a brand’s B2B marketing materials allows each buyer to get to know and trust their potential new partners. For digital B2B marketing managers, this means being honest about your products and services, highlighting their strengths, their USP, without ever downplaying or distorting their weaknesses.
Humility and authentic proof are key - your B2B customers don’t just want to hear how trustworthy your brand is via carefully crafted B2B marketing materials - they want to see it with their own two eyes: social media and social proof are two great ways of encouraging and conveying brand identity through B2B marketing campaigns.
Showing your brand’s trustworthiness is akin to placing your brand’s trust in your B2B customers to identify it and make the right choice - buy into your B2B marketing messages and buy into your offering. This, B2B customers can easily understand and internalize - and they do.
Brand loyalty
The natural consequence of internalized brand integrity is brand loyalty, the entering into and perpetuation of long-term, brand-customer relationships. This is true in both the B2C and B2B marketing worlds.
As the digital buying world is intrinsically less personal than the traditional consumer experience that involved physically sitting down with sellers, learning about their offering and striking a deal, B2B buyers are spending more time and effort getting to know potential partners through their B2B marketing materials, and once they’ve invested these resources and have discovered brand integrity, they are more likely to stop looking elsewhere and become repeat customers.
Economic success
Finally, with brand loyalty and repeat business from satisfied customers comes economic success for your B2B brand.
It’s really quite easy to understand. After all, the more customers buy into your brand’s image, mission and vision - and buy the products and services highlighted in your B2B marketing materials, the more your brand will enjoy and benefit from profits, economic stability and long-term sustainability.
And that’s yet another crowning jewel you can include in your integrity-forward B2B marketing campaigns. The cycle comes full-circle, all because you applied the principles of transparency to your B2B marketing strategy and campaigns.
One prime example of a B2B2C company that has successfully implemented transparency in its B2B marketing activities is Zappos. The online shoe and clothing retailer created an extranet that grants vendors access to company information.
Another is Xerox, which uses humor in its B2B marketing campaigns to talk honestly and openly about its products and services and gain significant hits on social media (over 1.7 million views on YouTube alone).
Big brands are in-housing their media buying to overcome a lack of transparency
To overcome the lack of transparency in the B2B marketing world, big brands are adopting the trend of in-housing their media buying and other B2B marketing activities. Rather than turning to expert B2B marketing freelancers and agencies, these businesses are spending months upon months honing their internal capabilities, in an effort to reap the transparency benefits highlighted above.
But this seems to be a luxury only the big, rich brands can afford - and one with its fair share of risks. Although the B2B marketing in-housing trend has spawned into a full-blown movement, particularly in Europe, the practicalities and challenges that come part in parcel with taking control over your B2B marketing activities in an attempt to curb costs and enhance transparency and flexibility remain.
While 91 percent of surveyed brands claim to have moved at least part of their digital marketing activities in-house, 56 percent admit that the biggest barrier to in-housing success is a lack of necessary existing talent and skills. As such, 61 percent of brands run an internal marketing department with support from an external agency, which, essentially, defeats the purpose of in-housing media buying and other B2B marketing activities, doesn’t it?
How can big, as well as medium and small brands successfully overcome the barriers pertaining to transparency in B2B marketing, without falling prey to yet another set of barriers, this time pertaining to the in-housing trend - lack of talent/skills, lack of resources, lack of confidence, lack of internal support, etc.?
The answer: Mayple.
Mayple offers full transparency - and can serve as your B2B brand’s trusted adviser
Mayple is a hybrid solution of technology and human touch. Our end-to-end solution simplifies all aspects of the marketing service-provider management process, from matching & hiring to measurement & quality assurance, to keep marketing managers like you in control and assure high-performance and transparency with respect to the B2B marketing services you manage.
Using an AI-based matching algorithm, Mayple has managed to build a simple solution capable of matching businesses with vetted marketing experts experienced in their business’ industry and niche, creating a perfect fit with the business’s unique needs and characteristics.
Our Mayple experts are qualified to manage results-oriented projects and ensure high-performance. They will provide you with the transparent B2B marketing materials you need, and will engage in transparent B2B marketing activities, so you can breathe easy, knowing your brand, its B2B customers and profitable future, are in the best hands.
Our Mayple experts and your own, assigned Maypler advisor will provide your brand with the B2B marketing services and results you seek, to maximize transparency, benefitting your brand and your B2B customers.
Are you ready to go transparent with your B2B marketing activities? Contact Mayple today!
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