7 B2B Examples That Show How to Win in the Digital Age
B2B marketing is not what it used to be. Gone are the days of cold calls, trade shows, and print ads. Today, B2B buyers are more informed, more demanding, and more digital than ever before. They expect personalized, relevant, and engaging experiences across multiple channels and devices. How can B2B marketers meet these expectations and stand out from the competition? Here are seven B2B examples that show how to win in the digital age.
1. HubSpot: Creating a Content Marketing Machine
HubSpot is a leading provider of software for inbound marketing, sales, and customer service. HubSpot has built a content marketing machine that attracts, educates, and converts millions of visitors every month. HubSpot’s content strategy is based on four pillars: blogs, ebooks, webinars, and podcasts. HubSpot produces high-quality, SEO-optimized, and buyer persona-focused content that covers every stage of the buyer’s journey. HubSpot also leverages social media, email marketing, and lead nurturing to amplify its content reach and impact.
2. Slack: Leveraging Customer Advocacy and Word-of-Mouth
Slack is a cloud-based collaboration platform that enables teams to communicate and work together more effectively. Slack has grown rapidly since its launch in 2013, reaching over 12 million daily active users and 750,000 paid customers. One of the key drivers of Slack’s growth is customer advocacy and word-of-mouth. Slack encourages its users to share their positive experiences and feedback with their peers and networks. Slack also showcases customer stories and testimonials on its website, social media, and case studies. Slack also partners with influencers and industry experts to create co-branded content and events.
3. Shopify: Empowering Entrepreneurs with Ecommerce Solutions
Shopify is a leading ecommerce platform that enables anyone to start, run, and grow an online store. Shopify has over 1.7 million merchants in 175 countries, selling everything from fashion to food to furniture. Shopify’s mission is to empower entrepreneurs with the tools and resources they need to succeed in ecommerce. Shopify offers a range of solutions, such as website builder, payment gateway, marketing tools, analytics, app store, and support. Shopify also creates educational content, such as blogs, podcasts, guides, courses, and webinars, to help merchants learn and grow.
4. Salesforce: Building a Community of Trailblazers
Salesforce is a global leader in cloud-based CRM software and platform solutions. Salesforce has over 150,000 customers and 36 million users worldwide. Salesforce’s vision is to create a community of trailblazers who use its products to transform their businesses and careers. Salesforce’s community strategy is based on three elements: Trailhead, Salesforce User Groups, and Salesforce Events. Trailhead is an online learning platform that gamifies the learning experience and rewards users with badges and points. Salesforce User Groups are local or online groups of customers who meet regularly to share best practices, tips, and feedback. Salesforce Events are global or regional events that bring together customers, partners, developers, and experts to network, learn, and inspire.
5. Zoom: Delivering a Seamless Video Conferencing Experience
Zoom is a cloud-based video conferencing platform that enables users to host or join online meetings, webinars, chat rooms, phone calls, and more. Zoom has over 300 million daily meeting participants and 467 thousand customers. Zoom’s value proposition is to deliver a seamless video conferencing experience that is easy to use, reliable, secure, and scalable. Zoom’s features include HD video and audio quality, screen sharing, recording, transcription, live captions, breakout rooms, polls, emojis, and integrations with popular apps like Gmail, Outlook, Slack, Dropbox etc.
6. Mailchimp: Offering an All-in-One Marketing Platform
Mailchimp is a leading email marketing service provider that helps small businesses grow their online presence and reach their customers. Mailchimp has over 12 million active users and 2 billion emails sent per day. Mailchimp’s offering has evolved from email marketing to an all-in-one marketing platform that includes landing pages, websites, social media, ads, CRM, and automation. Mailchimp’s features include drag-and-drop editor, templates, segmentation, personalization, A/B testing, analytics, and integrations with e-commerce platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce etc.
7. Canva: Making Design Simple and Accessible for Everyone
Canva is an online graphic design tool that enables anyone to create stunning visuals for any purpose. Canva has over 30 million monthly active users and 3 billion designs created. Canva’s mission is to make design simple and accessible for everyone. Canva offers a library of over 60 million images, icons, fonts, templates, and layouts
that users can customize with ease. Canva also supports various formats such as social media posts, presentations, flyers, logos, infographics, and more.
These are some of the B2B examples that show how to win in the digital age. By creating valuable content, leveraging customer advocacy and word-of-mouth, empowering entrepreneurs with ecommerce solutions, building a community of trailblazers, delivering a seamless video conferencing experience, offering an all-in-one marketing platform, and making design simple and accessible for everyone, these B2B companies have achieved remarkable results and earned loyal customers.
How B2B Ecommerce Is Changing the Way Businesses Sell Online
B2B ecommerce is the process of selling products or services between businesses online. Unlike B2C ecommerce, which targets individual consumers, B2B ecommerce caters to the needs and expectations of professional buyers, such as wholesalers, retailers, manufacturers, and distributors. B2B ecommerce is growing rapidly, as more businesses realize the benefits of digital transformation and seek to optimize their sales channels and customer experiences.
Some of the advantages of B2B ecommerce include:
- Increased efficiency and reduced costs by automating manual tasks and streamlining workflows
- Enhanced customer satisfaction and loyalty by providing personalized, convenient, and seamless buying experiences
- Expanded market reach and customer base by reaching new segments and geographies through online channels
- Improved data and analytics by collecting and leveraging customer insights and feedback to optimize marketing, sales, and product development
B2B Ecommerce Examples
There are many examples of successful B2B ecommerce businesses across different industries and niches. Here are some of them:
- Picky Bars: A company that sells energy bars, oatmeal, and granola to retailers in various countries. Picky Bars offers a quick order option, a brand assets page, and detailed product descriptions to its B2B customers.
- SwagUp: A company that sells branded products, such as t-shirts, mugs, and stickers, to other businesses for their employees, customers, or events. SwagUp allows customers to build custom packs, select preset packs, or buy individual products in bulk.
- Microfiber Wholesale: A company that sells microfiber products, such as towels, mops, and dusters, to cleaning professionals. Microfiber Wholesale provides detailed product information, videos, reviews, and FAQs to help customers make informed buying decisions.
- eFashion Paris: A company that sells clothing and accessories to fashion retailers. eFashion Paris offers a variety of products from different brands and categories, as well as filters, sorting options, and wishlists to help customers find what they need.
References:
https://www.infosys.com/about/knowledge-institute/insights/Documents/future-customer-engagement.pdf
http://fortune.com/fortune500/2015/
https://archive.org/details/ecommerceformula00plan/page/26
https://www.shopify.com/enterprise/b2b-ecommerce-website-examples
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/btob.asp
https://www.hubspot.com/
https://slack.com/
https://www.shopify.com/
https://www.salesforce.com/
https://mailchimp.com/
https://www.canva.com/
