Why you need to know your B2B target market, how to identify and segment them, and the best ways to start reaching out. 

---

In the competitive B2B landscape, knowing your Audience is the key to winning big. You’ve got to find the right decision-makers and connect with them effectively.

Understanding your target Market isn’t ground-breaking, but the game has changed. The digital revolution has brought new opportunities and challenges. So we’re exploring the essential steps and techniques to navigate this dynamic terrain and build meaningful relationships with your B2B target market. Let’s dive in. 

Why do you need to know your target market? 

You wouldn’t plan a journey without researching the best way to get there. If you’re looking to create marketing and sales efforts that actually work, you can’t rely on guesses and assumptions.

Knowing your target market is like having a cheat code for your business. It helps you create products that people actually want, craft marketing messages that hit home, and spend your money and time where it counts. Plus, it gives you a leg up on the competition and helps you dodge costly mistakes. 

Bottom line? You’ll build stronger relationships with your customers, making them more likely to stick around and even bring their friends. So, understanding your B2B target market isn’t just a good idea—it’s business-critical.

Target market vs target audience: what’s the difference?

“Target audience” and “target market” are terms often used in marketing, and while they’re related, they refer to slightly different aspects of your business strategy:

Your target audience

Your target audience refers to a specific group of B2B buyers who are most likely to be interested in your product or service. This group is defined by various characteristics such as demographics (age, gender, location, income), psychographics (values, interests, behaviours), and other relevant factors. Your target audience is more about understanding the individuals who would find value in what you offer.

Your target market

Your target market is the broader segment of the market that you aim to serve with your product or service. It encompasses not only the specific individuals who make up your target audience but also the larger context in which your product exists. This context includes potential customers who may not fit all the characteristics of your target audience but could still be interested in your offering.

How to find your B2B target market

Treating your B2B target market as a homogenous group is no longer effective; you need to approach them as a diverse set of individuals with unique needs and preferences. It’s crucial to tailor your marketing strategies accordingly to achieve success in this dynamic landscape. 

Imagine having the ability to craft marketing campaigns and messages that resonate perfectly with each of these segments – that’s the power of having a solid understanding of your target market. Picture the impact of your tailored approach as it speaks directly to the heart of their concerns and aspirations. This level of personalisation isn’t just effective… it’s transformative.

Step 1: Know what problem you’re solving 

Beating people over the head with the features of your product or service is not the way to sell. Instead, shift your focus towards the ways these features directly solve our customers’ problems. 

Delving into the solutions your product provides will not only shed light on its potential impact but also illuminate the specific B2B audiences grappling with these challenges.

Step 2: Look at your existing customers

If you already have customers, you already have a treasure trove of information which can help you define your B2B target market. 

By analysing your existing customers, you gain a clear picture of who’s already engaging with your product or service successfully. Allowing you to refine your targeting efforts, and tailor your messaging to resonate with those common pain points, needs, and preferences. 

Step 3: Know thy competitors

So you have a good idea of the people you’ve already sold to and the people who’ll enjoy your offering, But what about the groups you’ve missed? This is where competitor research steps in, shining a light on the audiences that might have slipped through the cracks.

See what keywords they’re ranking for, the industries they’re going after, and their notable clients. From this vantage point, you can deduce the groups they’re zeroing in on.

Not everyone your competitors are targeting will be relevant to your business, but it’s important to equip yourself with this information so you can ensure you’re not missing out on entire pools of prospects who could love what you do. 

Step 4: Use sales engagement for accurate data 

Enter the world of sales enablement, where B2B target market data is unmatched. Forget trawling through websites and LinkedIn profiles, you can map your entire market using live data, allowing you to hone in on the precise B2B target audiences that align with your specific requirements.

Using multiple data points, Sopro gives you finely-tuned company searches, segmenting and getting really granular with your target audience. Think company revenue, geographical location, tech stack, event triggers, and the intricate tapestry of prospects’ job titles and seniority levels.

This treasure trove of data points isn’t just for show. It’s a powerful compass guiding you toward discovering fresh audiences that might have otherwise remained hidden. Use our free Market Mapper to see your entire target market in less than 60 seconds. 

Step 5: Create your Ideal Customer Profiles (ICP)

ICPs help you focus your efforts on the most promising prospects. This prevents wasting resources on leads that are unlikely to convert and allows you to allocate your time and budget effectively.

Creating an ICP involves analysing your existing customer data to identify common demographics, behaviours, pain points, and attributes. From this analysis, define a detailed description of your ideal customer that encompasses these factors, allowing you to tailor your marketing strategies and product offerings to resonate effectively with your most promising prospects.

Step 6: Keep reviewing your target market

The world around us never stands still, and neither does your market. It’s a living entity, shaped by innovation, shifts in culture, and evolving society. Just as your audience’s preferences transform, so must your approach to stay in sync.

When seeking new B2B target audiences, the blueprint remains the same. Return to the steps we’ve laid out earlier, revisiting your B2B market research to spot any shifts or trends. By embracing this continuous cycle, you’ll become the master of change, always one step ahead in the ever-evolving game.

B2B target market segmentation

When you look at your target market, you’ll notice it’s not a monolith. There are distinct groups within it, each with its own unique needs and behaviours. If you want to connect with them in a meaningful way, segmenting these groups is crucial. Tailoring your marketing strategies to these specific segments can make your campaigns more effective and ultimately drive better business results.

What is B2B target market segmentation?

So, what’s B2B market Segmentation all about? Well, it’s a way to identify and categorise different groups within your business-to-business market. These groups share common characteristics, needs, or behaviours. 

By focusing your marketing efforts on these specific segments, you’re more likely to engage them successfully. Without segmentation, your marketing could end up being a one-size-fits-all affair, which rarely resonates with anyone.

Firmographics-based segmentation

You can think of Firmographic data as the B2B version of demographic data. You’re categorising businesses based on things like their industry, size, and location. It’s a straightforward method and a good starting point, as the data is reliable and available. However, you can always enrich this basic data with more detailed information to get a fuller picture.

Needs-based segmentation

Next up is needs-based segmentation. This method is all about understanding what your customers actually need from your product or service. It’s a bit more subjective and requires you to really get into the heads of your customers. You’ll need to accurately identify these needs, which often involves talking directly to customers or doing some deep-dive research.

Behaviour-based segmentation

This approach focuses on how potential customers interact with your business. Are they finding you through social media? What kind of content are they engaging with? While this method gives you valuable insights into what your customers want, it can be a bit tricky to connect these behaviours to specific needs or future actions.

Tiering or profitability segmentation

Tiering or profitability segmentation is all about the money. You’re categorising leads based on their potential value to your business. This can be super helpful for allocating your resources to the most profitable leads. In reality, it can be tough to predict a prospect’s lifetime value, especially if you’re just going by firmographics.

Customer sophistication segmentation

Last but not least, we have customer sophistication segmentation. This doesn’t have anything to do with wine preferences or opera tickets. Instead, it’s about understanding the business maturity and acumen of different companies. It’s great for tailoring your campaigns to companies at different stages, but like the other methods, it comes with its own set of assumptions and risks.

Whether you choose to segment by firmographics, needs, behaviour, profitability, or customer sophistication, it all boils down to knowing your audience and targeting them effectively.

How to contact your target market

Reaching out to your target market requires a thoughtful and strategic approach. And the effectiveness of each approach can vary based on your industry, target audience, and specific goals. 

A combination of methods, tailored to your unique circumstances, can lead to a comprehensive outreach strategy that maximises your chances of engaging with your target market effectively. Here are some of the best ways to engage with your audience:

Create great content

Create high-quality and relevant content that addresses your target audience’s pain points, questions, and interests. This could include blog posts, articles, videos, infographics, and more. Distribute your content through your website, social media platforms, and email newsletters.

Get social

Identify the social media platforms where your target audience is most active and engage with them there. Share valuable content, participate in conversations, and use targeted advertising to reach specific demographics.

Proactively reach out with email

Reach out to potential clients directly through personalised emails. Research their needs beforehand to tailor your message effectively and build a list of interested prospects and send them targeted messages. Personalise your emails and provide valuable insights, offers, or updates that resonate with their needs.

Compliment email with multichannel outreach

Email is the top performing single channel when it comes to B2B outreach, but the absolute best results come from coordinated multichannel outreach. Adding corporate gifts, syncing your website activity to your prospecting campaigns, reaching out on LinkedIn, picking up the phone once a dialogue has been established… these other methods help to personalise prospecting and drive even better results.

Embrace Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

Optimise your website and content for relevant keywords so that your business appears in search engine results when your target audience is looking for solutions like yours.

Use paid search

SEO is a brilliant channel, but it takes time to start seeing real results. Pay-Per-Click Advertising (PPC) uses platforms like Google Ads to display your ads to people actively searching for products or services related to your offerings. Getting you to the top of search results while you work on your organic search strategy. 

Host webinars and workshops

Host online webinars or workshops that provide valuable insights or solutions to your target audience’s challenges. This positions you as an expert in your field and fosters direct engagement.

Get networking

Attend industry-specific events, conferences, and trade shows to connect with potential clients face-to-face.

Partner up

Form strategic partnerships with complementary businesses that share your target audience. This can help you cross-promote and tap into each other’s customer bases.

Get talking to your target market right now

Gone are the days of sifting through endless databases and making cold calls to understand your target market. Sopro does the heavy lifting by automating the process of identifying potential customers, reaching out to them, and putting them in front of you – ready to be converted into happy customers. 

Our fully-managed service uses smart technology and up-to-the-minute data to reach out to the right people with the right message. So you can sit back and watch those high-quality leads roll in. Plus, you can view and manage your entire campaign 24/7 from our live and interactive portal. 

The post How to identify and contact your B2B target market appeared first on Sopro.