Marketing to Businesses vs. Consumers
Even though your goal as an Internet marketer is to make sales, there are subtle differences in how to convince other business owners and everyday consumers to make a purchase. Using a one-email-fits-all-approach will not work when marketing to both. Tailoring email content to persuade businesses and consumers that your goods and services are for them is a better approach - yet another reason why you need to segment email lists!
Marketing to Businesses
Those who fall under the business category include small and large business owners, CEO's, managers, supervisors, equipment or software buyers, engineers, human resources personnel and any other person who works for a business and who has a say in the purchases a business makes.
Business people are usually well educated in the industry they work in. Sending worthless sales information that boasts how powerful your product or service is without concrete data won't result in many sales. You need to prove that you're serious by providing data in form of statistics, surveys, scientific research, case studies, testimonials, white papers and other proof on a constant basis.
You also need to prove why a business could not live without your product or service. This means having a full understanding of the industry you're selling to and providing accurate information to back-up your claims. If you don't have a background in the industry you're trying to sell or at least a basic understanding of their needs, learn as much as possible before launching an email campaign or hire a professional copywriter with direct experience in the industry as business people can smell a fake a mile away.
Marketing to Everyday Consumers
In most cases, marketing to everyday consumers may be easier than marketing to businesses. Even though consumers like to have some type of proof that your goods and services will benefit their lives, they are a little less demanding when it comes to data and statistics. In fact, sending a scientific report to consumers may actually result in an increase in opt-out requests.
Create marketing materials such as testimonials, conversational white papers (less technical), case studies that feature ordinary consumers, webinars, video demonstrations and other content that is less rigid and academic.
Choosing Between Markets
In most cases, your goods and services will fall into the business or everyday consumer category - not both. But it you happen to have a product that can be used by either market, use it to your advantage as this means you have more opportunities to sell. Just keep in mind that you will need to create two separate email campaigns to entice both groups.