The foundation of the business world is built upon two forms of business activities, B2B and B2C. B2B refers to business to business, whereas B2C refers to business to consumer transactions. B2B marketing in India is done through various ways. This article proposes a basic understanding of B2B marketing in India and lists the various ways, by which you can do it.
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B2B marketing is the process of marketing, applied to the B2B ie. business to business form. Numerous issues are linked to the concept of B2B marketing in India like B2B marketing cost, ways to generate B2B leads in India, B2B marketing strategies, etc. B2B marketing in India is can be done by promoting your business through the following ways:
1. Classified sites/ Yellow Pages for B2B marketing in India
Classified sites are websites, showcasing advertisements, focused at sale and purchase of things. People looking for purchasing products and services, regularly scroll through classified sites. Under the strategy of B2B marketing in India, the three recognized and popular websites can be used to generate B2B leads in India:
- IndiaMART
- Sulekha
- JustDial
In order to provide listings on the above websites, various packages can be opted, with the following cost structure:
- For IndiaMART- you can promote your business on IndiaMART using the Mini Dynamic Catalog at around Rs.25,000 yearly. The paid listing option provides a good number of leads. It also provides free listing option, in which it gives leads for free.
We have experienced a very good number of leads via IndiaMART from the free listing option and our team is able to convert most of them considering their quality. IndiaMart also dose not provide the leads to a large number of businesses at the same time. You can get at least 10-12 good leads every month via the free listing option on IndiaMART. - For Sulekha, you can contact their customer care and it will respond with the suitable package details. It provides a free listing option as well. However, we can’t expect any leads. We aren’t quite sure of the quality of leads and the number of leads one can get by availing a paid package from Sulekha.com
- For JustDial, the listing costs start from around Rs.30,000 yearly and it provides up to 20 leads per month. The disadvantage of using JustDial is that the leads are shared with multiple organizations. It provides the free listing option as well. However, you can’t expect any leads from the free listing option.
From our personal experience, we can say that JustDial was surely the best before a couple of years. However, the quality of leads provided has drastically deteriorated in recent times. We can also not be sure about the customer service experience.
Classified advertisements are an effective way to generate B2B leads in India, since they play a significant role in enabling you to widen your reach.
2. Digital platforms for B2B marketing in India
Social media platforms: You can spread the word about your business in India through digital marketing- using social media platforms. Creation of attractive pages of your B2B firm on Facebook, Instagram, along with appealing profiles on LinkedIn works as a productive pointer, in the strategy of B2B marketing in India.
- The price of a good social media campaign varies upon several factors. It depends upon the agency (the quality of services which they provide), the nature of the product to be marketed, the target market, etc. In terms of social media marketing, there are two types of costs involved: First is the social media management, cost which is charged by the agency for strategizing the campaign and executing it, writing of copy, designing of collateral, etc. The second type of cost is the paid spend on the social media site. This amount is directly paid to various social sites like Facebook and Linkedln.
- The cost of social media management can vary. It can be as low as ₹10,000 per month and can go up till very high amounts, depending upon the agency and campaign requirements.
- The amount of paid spend is in the hands of the advertiser. The company can spend any amount according to their budget. The results are directly proportional to the amount invested. Most of the websites ask for a daily budget to be set.
- As far as the results are concerned, it depends upon a lot of factors. First is the agency that is doing social media marketing, the amount being invested and the nature of product and industry. The results generated from social media marketing can yield very good benefits for the company in terms of generating leads and also building a good brand presence. Therefore, selecting a good agency is very crucial for getting the right benefits out of social media marketing. You can contact us for getting a quote for social media marketing for your business.
Visit our blog on ‘NEED FOR DIGITAL MARKETING IN TODAY’S BUSINESS WORLD‘ to learn the importance of digital marketing in the present corporate scenario.
SEO: You can inculcate SEO in your digital marketing strategy to attract the audience to your website. SEO takes time for results to show up, but when the results show up, the benefits can be reaped out in terms of generating quality leads. The lead in such cases passes through the initial stage of prospecting and can be considered as more qualified than any other source.
- The cost of good SEO can start from anywhere around ₹10,000 per month for an average business website.
- Once the website shows up on the top results of a search engine for particular keywords, a person can expect a good number of leads depending upon average monthly search volume of the keyword.
- The customer also goes through the website before putting the query, ensuring a high probability of good quality leads.
You can expand your customer base by putting in digital marketing in your strategy of B2B marketing in India.
One can also go for other digital marketing strategies for generating leads. Such strategies can include search engine marketing on Google AdWords. Though effective, generating leads via Google Adwords is costlier as compared to social media marketing and SEO. It is, however, cheaper than most of the other conventional ways of marketing.
3. Conventional marketing for B2B marketing in India
Conventional marketing is a system, wherein independent business organizations come together to take up the process of marketing. There are numerous ways of doing conventional marketing like newspaper advertisements, radio advertisements, television advertisements, etc. The demand for products and services is built that helps to generate B2B leads in India.
The cost of conventional marketing is very high, making it an expensive marketing approach. It is able to achieve results in the long run, whereas in the short run it continues to be a risky approach to marketing. We can’t expect a fixed rate of investment from conventional marketing as it doesn’t achieve results at one go.
4. In house sales executives to generate and convert leads for B2B marketing in India
A B2B businesses can hire in house sales executives to generate and convert leads. They have high expertise in the process of selling and can be used to generate and convert leads for the organization in a constructive manner. The cost of an experienced sales executive who has worked in the industry for at least 5-6 years, would be starting from anywhere around Rs.30,000 per month and it can go up till an indefinite value based upon the individual candidate.
Hiring a sales executive to generate leads would also invite other costs such as recruitment costs, overheads, perks, training and development costs, etc. The number of leads generated by the individual would mainly depend upon the individual’s skills and abilities and the company systems and culture.
The above points can be inculcated in the strategy of B2B marketing in India. You can focus on the B2B marketing cost involved in all the above methods to promote your business. An implementation of the above ways with a tactical mindset, will lead to successful B2B marketing in India.