Do B2B companies need to market themselves?

Expensive. Difficult to measure. Need to prioritize other things. The objections to investing in marketing are unfortunately still numerous in a wide range of B2B companies. But is it really expensive or is it more expensive not to? Isn't it relatively easy to measure impact in today's digital world? And are there really more important things to prioritize than investing in your long-term growth? In this blog post, we thought we'd give those of you responsible for communications and marketing in a B2B company some new ammunition when fighting for your budget.

Skeptical by tradition

It's not surprising that many B2B companies are skeptical about the value of marketing. Traditionally, this type of investment hasn't been prioritized in the same way as it has been in B2C, where it has been seen as essential for generating sales and growth. To some extent, the skeptics are right. Start-ups and B2B companies in the early stages of their development can often do quite well anyway. When a company goes to market, they tend to initially sell themselves through word-of-mouth. And if the company and products are innovative enough, interest can last for a while.

Maintaining higher growth over time

But unfortunately, virtually all companies reach a point where growth slows down. Cost and price have been pushed as far as possible and the low-hanging fruit in the form of early adopters is starting to fall. This is as evident in B2C as it is in B2B. So what is it that causes growth to slow down without marketing? It is due to something called "The Bass Diffusion Model", which was mapped out by Frank Bass back in 1969, and which shows that growth almost always follows an S-shaped curve. By adding marketing at an early stage, higher growth can be sustained over time.

Increased attendance means increased shares

There is also clear evidence that the relationship between share-of-voice and share-of-market in B2B works in exactly the same way in B2C. That is, if you increase your share-of-voice by investing more money in marketing, you will also automatically increase your share-of-market - regardless of whether your communication is good or not. Similarly, as you reduce your presence, your market share tends to decrease. A logical correlation that reinforces the importance of being top-of-mind because we humans only have room to take in a certain number of companies, products and brands in our brains.

Important study in B2B

Is there a good study that shows the importance of marketing in B2B? Yes, The B2B Institute, a think-tank created in partnership with LinkedIn, has taken a closer look at how to create growth with the right communication in B2B. The study, conducted in collaboration with researchers Les Binet and Peter Field, is based on data from the UK IPA Databank, which has collected data on 1,500 marketing campaigns over the past 40 years. The study has concluded that there are 5 principles that govern how well you succeed with your communication in B2B if you want to grow. You can read more about these principles in the blog post "5 principles for B2B growth".

Long-term sustainable growth

So, marketing is just as important when communicating with hard-core B2B decision-makers as it is when reaching emotional and irrational consumers. They are the same people. Just different dress code and time of day. Is it expensive? Yes, it costs a lot, but as we described above, it can be even more costly not to. Difficult to measure the impact? Not if most of the investment goes into activities in digital channels where there is plenty of data and measurement points. Are there more important things to prioritize? Sure, but marketing to generate interest and attention should be high on the list - at least if the company is looking for long-term sustainable growth...

Start with inbound marketing

An effective way to market yourself for long-term sustainable growth is to start working on inbound marketing. Make a plan for the year with activities on the website in the form of blog posts, downloadable content, videos and cases that you then share and spread in your social media and other digital channels according to an editorial calendar. In this way, you ensure that your presence on the market remains high. If you want to read more about inbound marketing, download our e-book "Everything you wanted to know about inboundmarketing".