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From losing money and clients to enabling remote working for employees, coronavirus has completely changed the way businesses operate. And this massive disruption brought by the pandemic has been causing a huge shift in pipeline cultivation and lead generation for B2B marketers.
While social distancing is an excellent practice for public health, it isn’t the same case for B2B businesses. What may have worked a week ago won’t be feasible now and as such, you need to react hastily so that your marketing tactics stay on point.
Here are 5 ways that will aid you in keeping you from losing your customers during the pandemic and beyond:
1. Pin Down Specific Growth Opportunities
The global pandemic has disrupted the demand patterns across industries, rendering traditional forecasting approaches unreliable.
In the years to come, the economic scenario will vary widely by country, based on the government, the impact of Covid-19 locally, and other factors. This means you can’t use the same business approach for every branch and expect to yield historical returns.
As such, re-analyzing the market adequately is necessary as it’ll aid you in unearthing opportunities to grow. After procuring these data, you’ll have an easier time identifying growth opportunities. Look for challenges that necessitate new decision makings, market behavior that calls for an adjustment in your branding efforts, or loopholes that need to be filled. Align your sales & marketing team with your new strategy, and allow them to make changes as per their preference.
2. Redefine Your Marketing Strategy To Match The New Normal
Because of the uncertainty the Covid crisis has brought about, many businesses worldwide have made some necessary changes in their current go-to-market tactics.
The outbreak has put an end to the key B2B networking mediums – Face-to-face meetings and industry events. This has necessitated the need for digital communication.
While you may think that this networking channel would lower the impact you can have over your prospects, it isn’t true. 90 percent of sales are now done digitally and reports suggest that it has been equally or more fruitful than the previous traditional methods.
As such, to adjust to the new market scenario, your employees must be equipped with the marketing methods of remote sales, something that requires solid management to stay on.
As most B2B organizations are moving towards remote sales tactics, you must get ready to do the same and redevelop your current marketing strategies, make use of online research, live chats, and emails to interact with your prospects.
3. Take Advantage Of The Recent E-Commerce Growth
Just because people can no longer throng to the market, it doesn’t mean it has stopped completely. This is the principle of e-Commerce, which isn’t new to the market.
While its significance has come to light just recently due to the pandemic, it has been existing as long as the internet. European e-Commerce mobile application installs have seen a rise of 30 percent during the lockdown period.
If you have one already, it would be wise to capitalize and improve it for a more streamlined and better user experience. Take note of your buyer’s challenges while they’re shopping online, devise solutions, and embed them to your eCommerce site effectively.
Shifting a huge part of your business to the digital space can be an overwhelming process for your teams. Hence, it’s your responsibility to assign work in a way that will prevent your new management from collapsing.
Make smaller departments or teams and allot them with different roles to fulfill. Determine which of your methods work and ones that don’t. In doing so, you’ll be able to master e-Commerce quickly.
4. Adapt Product Prices To Match Customer Needs
With the global economy moving towards a recession, there have been massive budget cuts across organizations even with volatile demand numbers.
As such, the current pricing of your services and products will be under enormous pressure from B2B customers. You’ll have to regulate your prices to support the production cost and pay the suppliers. Similarly, you don’t want your prices to be extremely high that you end up losing your prospects to your competitors.
To manage this challenge, you must come up with creative solutions that will not just accommodate your cost but also be fair for your buyers. Customize them keeping your prospects’ needs in mind. That said if your marketing & sales team is well-equipped to handle this, you’ll save a significant part of your business and also retain the customer-buyer relationship, which is the goal of every B2B company.
5. Introduce New Products & Re-engineer Current Ones
It’s believed that firms that prioritize innovation during trying times, bounce back quicker as compared to the others. So, despite taking various measures to conserve your customers’ interest, you should also focus on innovating your products.
The needs of the buyers are evolving every day and if you fail to adjust to these changes, you may not survive the fall. About 56 percent of consumers believe brands should come up with ways to solve key problems. This can be done either by launching a new product when it’s needed or by redesigning your existing products to adjust to the new requirements. Innovating in such trying times does pose a risk, however, the final outcome will make it worthwhile.
Final Say
Yes, it’s true that most of your consumers are either self-isolated or home quarantined. Nonetheless, that doesn’t mean you have to lose them. Despite the restraints and challenges, there are multiple effective ways to keep your clients in the loop with your brand. Keep being innovative, creative, and adaptable, and you’ll not just be able to keep your customers but also ensure some cash flow for your business in the meantime.
