What are the most effective B2B Marketing and Advertising channels?

David Salinas

I work for a company that has a SaaS product that I am trying to introduce to an automotive industry, specifically car dealers, but I am running in to a bit of trouble getting right people to listen. The software is quite unique and there is nothing like it on the market. I have tried telemarketing, email marketing, mail marketing, Facebook ads and so on. When I have an opportunity to pitch the product everyone loves it and 50% buy, the problem is that I can’t get enough right people to pitch to.

Any suggestions on how to generate more b2b leads? What are some most effective advertising channels to gain more exposure?

Thank you.

Ryan O'Bleness

@David Salinas, can you give me a high level overview of what problem your software solves for the automotive industry? I might have a better idea of how to help you then. 

To start off, I would definitely look into automotive niche social media groups (especially on LinkedIn), forums like this, but also in the automotive industry and also directories. Those are all things you can (likely) post about for free. 

David Salinas

This software solves a sales leads problem. Car dealers spend thousands of dollars a month on buying leads from 3rd party providers. Our software allows them to generate their own leads by targeting their local communities. There is nothing like this on the market and it actually works.

The problem is that decision makers are usually general managers or owners themselves. These people do not search google, pay attention to Facebook ads, or interact on LinkedIn. I have tried all of these channels and got no tangible results. We rank on google organically for key terms but again the problem is people who will be a decision makers in our case do not spend time searching google. I get a bunch of sales people who want to try the software for free but have no long term interest in purchasing a license.

All the other companies that would be considered “lead providers” are owned by one major corporation, Cox Automotive, this company owns 90% of all automotive market including KBB, Autotrader, and pretty much all software that is used by every car dealer in the country. Because they own the market they really don’t need to compete with anyone, and dealers know that.

The only 2 options that I see are phone sales and print advertising in automotive magazines/ online publications. But you can’t really scale with phone sales unless you hire tons of people.

I know that there is a solution; I just haven’t found it yet. Any help is appreciated.

Kylan Stanley

I think you should focus on social marketing^^
According to a report released by Content Marketing Institute, the Top Three B2b Content Marketing Social Media Platform for 2016 were LinkedIn, leading the scoreboard at a whopping 94%; followed by Twitter at 87%; and a 3-percentile difference from Facebook at 84%.

sterlingsolns

Purchase database of automotive industry decision makers and reach them multiple ways like email, direct contact numbers and more. Educate them about your product.

Helen Larsen

Hi! I think your way to promote your service is spreading the reviews on different social platforms and thematic forums. Also you need to cooperate with car dealers or influencers among your targeting audience. They can leave their feedback and suggest your app.

Carlbrewster

Well anyone can't say for sure which advertising channel works best for you more! my advice is to take some risk to try both online and offline marketing channel.

Ava Smith

Yes, atleast try out 2-3 marketing platform and analyze which works best for you!

charu

Hi David,

I think the most important thing is to analyse your competitors and go to their customers reviews and on the basis of that you can inform them about the solutions your company is providing through various social media posts.  I think this method would also be helpful.

JennyMax

While numerous organizations utilize customary promoting strategies to draw in new business and customers, others have included or totally replaced traditional marketing with new or creative advertising strategies. These new strategies frequently rotate around the Internet; organizations utilize web-based social networking tools and online promotion battles to grow their gathering of people. Organizations can create website pages or web journals that give updated data on their products or services.

Approaches to generate leads are

Content Marketing

Customer referral

SEO, SEM and PPC

Cross Promotion

Social media marketing

Direct Mailing

Be that as it may, these are a bit tedious, rather you can get leads through the business tools some of which are area particular. These tools are as follows,

Leadlake
ZoomInfo

Alberto G. Morrison

Top Business-to-Business Marketing Trends of 2018

Technology and consumer behavior continue to evolve, having a significant impact on how business-to-business marketers plan and execute their tactics. The “rules” change on a regular basis, so keeping a pulse on current trends will help firms improve their marketing effectiveness in 2018. Key trends to watch:

⦁ Content Marketing: 

⦁ Video Content: Live Streaming, Explainer Videos

⦁ SEM/SEO/Targeting

⦁ Integrated Marketing Communications

⦁ Big Data/IOT Marketing Applications