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Many founders:ins and startups wonder what they need to do to get media attention and coverage.
In our step-by-step guide for founders:ins and startups, we show you how to find thematically and geographically relevant & appropriate media and create media-rich press releases.
You have developed a new product or offer a new service and are now looking for customers. Without proactively addressing potential new customers on all channels, you will fail sooner or later as a B2B service provider, because: No matter how much online advertising you place expensively, the number of potential leads via search engine marketing is very limited compared to B2C business and is usually not enough to cover your costs in the first place. Therefore, deal comprehensively with the topics of cold calling, advertising letters & lettershop as well as customer acquisition via LinkedIn, Facebook and social media.
Most of your eventual buyers are NOT currently looking for
No matter how great your product or service is, most of the customer groups you have in mind won't need it. Don't expect the number of searches on Google and other search engines to be enough to get enough leads from which you could generate any customers at all. In reality, over 80% of your potential customers are not currently actively searching for your product or service, and therefore not Googling for it. So the only way you will reach these customer groups is through a phone call or letter.
The price is NOT the central decision criterion for your customer
The actual price charged is secondary in terms of your customer's buying decision. More important is to clearly present the benefits of your product or service to the customer in spé and build trust. Address the individual needs, which can be not only the current, but also the future needs of the customer, and see where the shoe pinches, or where problems and potential for improvement lie.
Make sure that potential customers get information on your website
Most of your website visitors are gone faster than you can look. You've invested thousands of euros in redesigning your website? Congratulations, but you would have been better off investing that money in telephone sales. Often, your website is only called up and visited a few times after the successful initial contact and your offer is scrutinized before a positive purchase decision is made. You should therefore make sure that you collect the contact details of prospective customers, e.g. through a newsletter registration, request via contact form incl. the declaration of consent for a later contact.
Most buyers of your products will NOT use them
If you have managed to convince your potential customer of the benefits of your product or services (by identifying and addressing their pain points) and have created a level of trust through communication, the customer will buy - regardless of whether they currently need the product or will use it in the future. The average B2B customer typically buys an opportunity, potential, tool, or even a way to improve his situation, situation, or opportunities that he will want to access and benefit from in the future when he will actually need it. In this sense, he is buying an additional item in his arsenal.
A few of your potential customers are swimming in money, but most are not far from insolvency
Make sure that your offer is aimed at a clientele that is solvent enough to pay the prices charged - and on time. Nothing is more annoying than unpaid invoices, chargebacks and avoidable reminders. Depending on the scope of your service, installment payments or monthly lump sums may be an option. In addition to the option for customers to order on account, you should also offer payments via PayPal, Klarna (formerly Sofortüberweisung) and possibly by credit card. However, note here that additional costs arise.
Without networking and personal network you will not be successful
Without referrals from actual customers who, in good conscience, introduce your products and services to acquaintances and friends entrepreneurs, agency owners or other self-employed and freelancers, you will not grow sustainably. Referral marketing should be a central part of your marketing strategy. Therefore, also consider setting up your own affiliate program to benefit from the network effect.
The question of the optimal product price for the own offer drives many founders and entrepreneurs around. If you do not have a comparable product or service, i.e. no direct competition, the price is not formed on the market by competition, but primarily through your pricing and thus according to your internal calculation.
When pricing, always keep in mind: The lower the price, the higher the probability that you will sell to problem customers. Because: You can never please customers with a cheap-is-hungry mentality.
Keep away customers who can't afford your products or services or don't value your time.
Generally, B2B prices must be higher than retail because the volume, i.e., the number of customers you can acquire in a month or year, is much lower.
Customers who look at three- or four-digit product prices with their "consumer glasses" quickly consider you overpriced or usurious and are quickly put off by them, but completely disregard the fact that the cost of acquiring a new B2B customer, the so-called customer acquisition cost, e.g. through high online marketing costs for advertisements or a telephone sales team is usually several hundred euros or dollars. At the same time, the number of potential customers is limited, but the number of competitors fighting for the potential deals is not.