Things To Keep In Mind When Creating Your B2B Marketing Profile

Advertising is generally thought of as a description or presentation of a product, service or company in order to persuade people to buy it.  B2B marketplace is a great way to advertise or promote your goods or services. The amount spent on advertising in the B2B sector is very low compared to other consumer marketing.

Things You Should Know About B2B Marketplace

A B2B sale involves complex products unlike in a regular consumer sale. Generally, a consumer product is standardized and can be purchased without any technical knowledge of the product. On the other hand, an industrialized product has various complexities. In B2B sales, a raw material manufacturer might sell his product to an owner of a complex manufacturing plant. For example, a cotton manufacturer will sell his cotton to a mill to manufacture cloth. Here, an expert from the mill will closely scrutinize the quality of the cotton before purchasing it.

The advertising campaign should be drafted keeping in mind the quantity of goods to be sold. In a business to consumer sale (B2C), the quantity purchased by a consumer is much less, where as a business purchase is bought in bulk. This means a business client will surely put in great thought before buying your product since his large investment is at stake. A good trade discount or economic ordering quantities (EOQ) will induce the buyers to buy the product.

A B2B market is a common platform where buyers and sellers come together and hence it makes it easy for a company to find business leads though such a portal.

Business relations also play a vital role in B2B marketing. Cordial business relations help to generate trust and good business. In a B2B marketplace it is easier to create a long term business association once you satisfy the needs of your client. If the industry buyer is convinced about the authenticity of your product, you will find a long term business deal.

Some of the important things to bear in mind while creating your business profile are as follows:

• Rational Buyers – Unlike consumers, B2B has to target professional buyers. Hence, you have to keep in mind that mere blabbering about your product is not going to help. The buyer is going to closely examine your product to ascertain its quality and authenticity.
• Know Your Product – A professional buyer has prior knowledge of his requirements. So, any sort of pretence or efforts to sell your product might prove hypocritical. It will surely be obtuse to think that you can mesmerize the buyer with any promotional gimmicks. Therefore, make sure you have a logical presentation of your products before your clients.
• Know Your Market – Knowing your buyers need beforehand is very important. It is always beneficial to research a bit about the clients demand in advance so as to provide appropriate service.
• Research – A good market survey proves helpful to find the target groups or businesses for your product. A survey will give you confidence to present your product before the client. A B2B client is rational and hence cannot be tricked into buying your product. Here your market research will prove very vital to know the client’s demand.
• Advertising Strategy – An economic instability in the market fiercely affects the business. In such situations a highly good advertising strategy will help your business survive the economic fallout. B2B advertising might not lead to growth during economic stagnancy but will surely help you secure your position in the market. An investment in advertising during economic downturn portrays a positive image of your business before your clients.
• Look At Your Options – It is crucial to analyse all options available to reach your desired customers. The web is enriched with various business to business directories to directly contact your counterparts. All you have to do is market your products wisely on these portals. Other modes to promote your business include the print media, trade events, etc.
• Budget – While you indulge in various modes of advertising it is important to keep a track of your budget. It is advisable to formulate a budget for your advertising campaign well in advance. This will promote a good marketing strategy and yield desired results.

So start marketing your business today!

Main Source: http://onlineincometeacher.com/business-tips/creating-your-b2b-profile/

B2B Portal: A Business Platform to Ultimate Productivity Improvement

by: Surya Patra

If somebody tells you that your present corporate website can be converted to a B2B portal which will help you significantly improve your company’s productivity in both of the two primary factors: Revenue Growth and Cost Saving, and that the portal can be launched in a matter of months with a very reasonable investment, what will be your reaction? Read on to learn how corporations all over the world are missing out from an opportunity, which can revolutionize the way they manage their businesses.

What is a B2B portal?

A portal is defined as an access point to World Wide Web. A portal is a combination of web pages, features and services which become a primary destination for users. The word was first used to describe the sites of popular Internet access providers or search engines such as AOL, MSN and Yahoo! At a later stage, the word “portal” evolved into something bigger covering business websites, where a corporate portal or enterprise information portal acts as a base for employees, customers, suppliers and other associates of a company to access corporate information and web services. A B2B portal is a distinct kind of website with features to conduct electronic business and manage significant parts of corporate business processes.

Benefits of having a B2B portal

Today, B2B portals are not just a fancy idea! They are an absolute necessity for all enterprises of any shape and size. The advantages of having a quality B2B portal are massive. Implementation of a true high quality B2B portal could have immediate impact on company productivity.

Revenue Growth

Revenue Increase from Existing Clients

Existing clients get faster and easier access to product information, quicker response to their requests, get better customer support and are able to buy products online.

Revenue Increase from Value Added Services

Once a B2B portal is set as the primary sales channel, freed resources can be used to create more value added services for clients. Some of the services that the portal may offer also could be utilized to generate more value.

Cost Savings

Order Processing Cost

If the B2B portal integrates supply chain management solution, it will reduce the cost of processing orders drastically. Studies show that similar solution can reduce cost of processing a purchase order from US$ 70 down in average to US$ 6 only.

Sales and support costs

Automated sales and customer support features integrated in the solution is capable of reducing overhead costs up to 30 percent.

Inventory keeping costs

Clearer visibility and forecasting ability thanks to various features of the B2B portal may help companies considerably reduce inventory keeping costs.

Other key benefits include:

Low customer acquisition cost

Branding the portal on the Internet effectively will help attracting customers from new sources. The cost of acquiring customers through online channels is always cheaper than other traditional methods.

Improve customer service

Ability to have constant interaction with customers through the B2B portal helps companies serve customers better. The B2B portal solution allows tracking the whole ordering process from payment to delivery and brings greater efficiency in customer service.

Reduce sourcing time cycle

The customers can select products from the integrated marketplace of the B2B portal and either sends purchase orders or using the shopping cart buy products out right. Buyers handle all their procurement related correspondence from a consolidated working page, which helps them react instantly and reduce time in document processing.

Community participation

Company buyers and sellers can create communities surrounding the B2B portal’s discussion board. This helps getting valuable feedbacks on time, building new partnerships using the networking ability of a community, and disseminating important information through out the members easily.

Real time access to current product information

Current information of a product is vital for an accurate buying decision. Updating product content and other information using customized forms as it is necessary, the company can help buyers and other associates take critical decision promptly.

Control rogue spending

Consolidated and automated procurement and approval method stops maverick buying in a company.

Main components of a B2B portal

Supply Chain Management

Supply chain management solutions can deliver great values to company’s existing systems. Implementation of these solutions will help achieving incredibly high return on investment and will have tremendous impact on company’s business, which include: better productivity, faster order processing, greater visibility, the elimination of maverick; or unplanned purchasing, etc.

Marketplace

This is the venue where the enterprises can post their products for sale. A sophisticated shopping cart will be integrated into the electronic marketplace in order to automate the buying process.

Auction

Electronic auction system can use both English and Dutch auction methods. For convenience the auction component can be integrated into the electronic marketplace. Online auction helps liquidate surplus goods easily.

Reverse Auction

This solution allows the company to automate electronic procurement, where suppliers compete for business real time online.

Storefront for Participants

Each associate of the B2B portal will get a Storefront that may reflect profile of the company, its products, services or other information.

Forum

A Forum or a Discussion Board is an organized, on-line interactive message board where participants conduct discussion on a set of topics by posting questions, comments and responses.

Internal Messaging System

Sophisticated Internal Messaging System allows a participant of the B2B portal send and receive messages from other participants and the company. Since the messages do not leave a secured server, participants would not be worried about sending sensitive information over the Internet.

Classified

Catalog based bulletin board allows company associates to post important notices in various predefined formats.

Directory of Companies

This is a listing of all registered associates of the B2B portal either by business category or by alphabetical order. An advanced search engine tool is incorporated in order to find a company based on data provided.

E-catalog

E-catalog a?? a hierarchy of product and service categories based on UNSPCS, a global products and services classification method that covers the broadest collection of industries and commodities available today, and designed to facilitate e-commerce transactions by providing geography-independent common nomenclature system.

Product Content Adding System

Product adding mechanism based on either easy-to-use wizard or simple but detail forms allow users to integrate products or services with accurate and up-to-date information.

Product Notification

The system can generate an alert and send by email to a user, who requested to inform once a particular product or service gets added to the E-catalog.

Numerous other features could be incorporated to an existing B2B portal depending on requirement, such as: News Aggregation using RSS feed, Contact Management, Electronic Journal, Press Room, Document Repository, etc.

Time needed to set up

Using ready made B2B Portal components from a provider like Rusbiz.com a medium size portal can be build or integrated to existing website within three to four months.

By developing a B2B portal ahead of your major competitors you can give your business a significant boost and make your company stand out from the crowd.

Main Source: http://www.internetseer.com/services/article.xtp?id=26140

China completes the largest building in the world - architecture designboom art technology

it's one of the superlatives destined for a record book: 'what is the world's largest building?' a year ago the answer would have been dubai's international airport terminal 3, but as of july 1st the new century global center in the fiercely-growing mega-city of chengdu undoubtedly takes the title.  with 1.2 million square feet spread out over 18 stories in a glass and steel structure, the program includes what one might expect for a building of this scale: a 14-screen imax theater, shops, restaurants, offices, hotels (yes, plural), the reconstruction of an entire mediterranean village, an artificial beach with realistic sunsets and sea breezes orchestrated by the help of an LED wall (in a contemporary 'truman show' fashion), and a 500,000 ft2 art center next door designed by none other than zaha hadid. to make some spatial comparisons, the building could comfortably house three pentagons or 20 sydney opera houses. it's important to add as well that the entire structure was constructed in just a year, and stands as a testament to the will and ability of the chinese
The world's biggest building in pictures

A Look Inside The Largest Building In The World, China’s New Century Global Center

10+ Essential Research Reports & Guides for B2B Marketers

B2B marketers struggle with common challenges. At the forefront are lead generation, lead nurturing, and building a brand that distinguishes the organization from the competition. A growing list of tactics and technological opportunities further complicates the process.

Research, guides, and marketing surveys help guide B2B marketers down the right path. Sometimes they provide new opportunities and directions. Other times they reinforce the existing direction of marketing tactics and strategy. Here are ten B2B marketing related research reports and guidelines we recommend for review and a brief explanation on why they are important

Optify’s annual B2B Marketing Benchmark Report details the performance of the primary sources of traffic to B2B websites, extracted by analyzing over 62 million visits, 215 million page views and 350,000 leads from more than 600 small and medium-sized B2B websites.

Key takeaways for B2B marketers include expectations for seasonal traffic trends, traffic source percentages, and quality metrics associated with various B2B marketing strategies. The report also does a “deep dive” into organic search, paid search, and social media metrics.

View Full Reports

Marketing Profs 2013 B2B Content Marketing Report

The 2013 B2B Content Marketing report, created by Marketing Profs and the Institute takes an in-depth look at budgets, benchmarks, and trends to watch for with B2B content marketing. The report provides insights into where B2B content marketers are focusing their efforts and the key challenges and opportunities associated with roles and budgets.

View the full report

For B2B software marketing professionals, the Content Marketing Institute just released a new study on content marketing, tailored to specifically to that vertical. We plan on having some analysis on this report in the coming weeks.

B2B Research Defining the Modern Marketer

B2B Research, in coordination with Eloqua, surveyed hundreds of online marketing professionals to uncover the core competencies of Modern Marketers. The results of this survey provide insight into how the marketing community views their role and how it needs to evolve in the future.

Per blog post highlighting the report, the information “underscores research from a comprehensive survey created in conjunction with B2B Magazine, and explores the skills and technologies marketers need to improve ROI (of their marketing efforts).”

View the full report

IDG B2B Lead Generation Report

Marketing professionals are under immense pressure to deliver results and justify significant program and headcount investments. The B2B Technology Marketing Community on LinkedIn conducted the 2013 lead generation survey to better understand how B2B marketers are adjusting to new challenges, and to identify new trends and best practices.

View the full report

Social Media Use in the Industrial Sector

Global Spec recently conducted its third annual Social Media Usage Survey of engineering, technical, manufacturing, and industrial professionals. Although the survey shows that use of social media for work-related purposes among this audience is focused on a few select platforms, adoption is steadily increasing.

This report continues to look at how these specific B2B sectors are leveraging social media for research, marketing, and business decision making in the buying process.

View the full report

Google Search Quality Guidelines

Google relies on raters, working in countries and languages around the world, to help measure the quality of search results, ranking, and search experience. While Google indicates that search quality rating guidelines are in constant flux, this outline provides insight into how Google thinks about relevance and quality of search results. It’s an essential read for marketers that place an emphasis on their traffic from Google

View the full report

Mobile: What Consumers Really Need and Want

While a consumer oriented survey, the data provides important usability points for B2B marketers that are investing in developing a mobile strategy to reach the B2B buyer.

View the full report

For B2B marketers looking for more depth specific to broader mobile trends, Forrester offers a premium report, “2013 Mobile Trends for Marketers” in addition to a blog post highlighting key findings.

The Definitive Guide to Marketing Automation

Marketo’s guide provides background and overview on marketing automation technology, how it differs from other applications such as CRM and email marketing, and how B2B marketers can build a business case and convince internal stakeholders on the investment.

View the full report

Constellation Research offers a premium report, “Scaling Up with Marketing Automation Software” as well. A free 15 page excerpt can also be obtained through form submission.

Marketing Sherpa’s 2012 B2B Marketing Benchmark Report

The only premium report specifically recommended in this list, Marketing Sherpa’s annual report analyzes the strategies and tactics of top performing B2B organizations, providing survey data on successes, challenges, and tactics designed to increase the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.

View the full report

Aberdeen Group: Lead Scoring Prioritization

Aberdeen’s guide to lead scoring is a few years old but still relevant and frequently referenced. Per Executive Summary, “The report identifies best practices in lead scoring and prioritization by analyzing the processes, capabilities, and performance of top performing organizations.”

In coordination with Eloqua’s Grand Guide to Lead Scoring, these resources are must have lead scoring references for B2B marketers.

View the full report

We hope the information found in these reports proves valuable in supporting B2B marketing initiatives. If we missed a critical report or guide, please let us know via comments below.

Visit Main Source Link:

http://www.komarketingassociates.com/blog/b2b-marketing-research/

How Do B2B and B2C Marketers Use Social Media?

Last year we analyzed the tremendous growth of social channels and discovered that social diversity also was growing quickly. Our analysis begged the question: Do consumer brands and business brands use social channels in different ways?

This week we analyzed the referred traffic to Eloqua B2B and B2C customers from 36 of the top social sites and pulled benchmark data that comprises the top 95% of traffic for each segment.

Stunningly, B2C brands rely on just 5 social media sites for 95% of this type of traffic, and 75% of this audience is hooked into Facebook alone!

On the flip side, B2B marketers are sporting a much more diversified portfolio – with almost twice as many sites comprising the top 95% and no single source contributing more than 36% of that.

With that much experimentation going on, it would seem that B2B marketers are forging paths that their B2C counterparts have either less need or inclination to spend much time on other than with Facebook.

Visit Main Source Link: http://blog.eloqua.com/socialmediabenchmarks/

10 reasons why your business needs the toboc.com b2b marketplace?

What is a b2b marketplace?

The world is moving online- everything from daily consumables to complex educational courses is now available over the World Wide Web. Naturally, business between buyers and sellers too would move online. A business to business (b2b) marketplace is a platform through which buyers and sellers can interact, and conduct quality, mutually beneficial business.

Are you a Startup, SME?

The common limiting factors in the case of Start ups and Small & Medium Sized Enterprises (SME) are money and time. Unless very well-funded, these companies must find reliable sources of business outside their immediate sources to be profitable. B2B Marketplaces like Toboc.com provides start ups and SMEs a reliable platform to conduct profitable business by acting as a strong ‘middleman’ between the prospective buyers and sellers.

10 Reasons why your business needs Toboc.com!   

Expand the size of your Market- Toboc.com has over 200,000 active members over 210 countries. This allows you to meet interested buyers or sellers from around the world.

Joining is simple, and FREE- Setting up a FREE account on the Toboc.com b2b marketplace takes only about 5 mins. You don’t need to be an expert at computers to create your account – thanks to Toboc’s very helpful registration wizard.

Choose among-st the 200,000+ buyers or sellers- Unlike your traditional marketplace, you have a bigger selection of buyers and sellers to choose from. You can also take your time and carefully understand the pros and cons of trading with a b2b marketplace member before easily contacting the selected Buyer or Seller through inquiry messages, a feature available on Toboc.com.

Save Money on Offline promotions- With a powerful portfolio on Toboc.com, you can reduce your spending on advertising and other promotions offline. Your online account on the Toboc.com b2b marketplace and traditional offline marketing will combine to reach out to interested buyers or sellers.

Powerful website with lots of features- Toboc.com is loaded with many buyer and seller friendly features, yet is essentially a very simple b2b marketplace. The website has been designed to be easily understandable to you, while helping your business in a non-complicated, reliable way.

Experienced Customer Support- Toboc.com employs an expert team of professionals to help you with all your queries and concerns. The website provides many simple modes for the buyers and sellers to communicate with the Toboc.com team, including email, phone and chat.

Online Marketing Services- Toboc.com isn't limited to being just a pioneer b2b marketplace. Toboc’s sister concern includes an Online Marketing company whose services can be hired by a Toboc.com member to build a corporate website, promote their website through Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and over social media websites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

‘All in One’ Business Services- the Toboc.com membership isn't limited to just Buyers and Sellers. The members of the website also include Brokers (members who specialize as both Buyer and Seller), Transporters and other Business Services. All that you need to conduct a successful trade is easily available on the website.

Tuned for your Profit- as a Seller, you can choose buyers from a region wherein your products earn higher value. As a buyer, you can purchase finished products or raw materials from markets where they cost lesser than your traditional sources. Toboc.com is a rapidly evolving website that brings you the best b2b marketplace techniques and features, thus always keeping you a step ahead of your competition.

Worldwide presence and affiliations- Toboc.com boasts of an International presence in terms of its offices located at Canada, USA, Brazil, France, India and China. Also, this pioneer b2b marketplace is affiliated with International organizations such as The World Bank, Dun and Bradstreet, London Garments Expo and the Federation of International Trade Associations (FITA). 

Thus, are presented 10 Reasons why your business requires the Toboc.com advantage. What are you waiting for? Register your FREE account today. Contact us if you have queries or concerns.

Visit Main Source Link: http://blog.toboc.com/