How We Build B2B Customer Acquisition Strategies That Reliably Drive Growth

How We Build B2B Customer Acquisition Strategies That Reliably Drive Growth

Running your tires in mud forces your vehicle to slow down and get stuck, and the more you keep pushing on the accelerator, the deeper your vehicle gets stuck. Unfortunately, ineffective business-to-business customer acquisition strategies are very similar!

Both slow down the growth of your business, the natural consequence of the latter being that you’re forced to spend time, money, and resources on a strategy that doesn't work. 

If you feel this way, you’re not alone!

1. Focus on The Buyer Journey 

The Buyer's Journey is a fundamental framework that every business should understand to engage with customers and drive sales effectively. It’s also the number-one factor on our list because it affects every single other aspect of your strategy.  This four-step process involves awareness, research, consideration, and decision. It serves as a guide for understanding your customer's mindset and their unique needs at each stage.

By understanding the buyer's journey more thoroughly, you can optimize and tailor your marketing efforts to align with the customers' journey and provide the information and support needed to move them through the funnel. 

For example, customers in the decision phase who’ve already decided to work with your company likely aren’t interested in product comparisons or features as they would be during the research phase. That’s why understanding where your ideal customer is in the journey and how to best reach them there impacts the rest of your strategy.

2. Have a Value Proposition and Differentiated Positioning 

Your value proposition should share what the business offers and why your ideal customers should choose you over competitors. A successful value proposition is persuasive, informative, and matches your brand in tone and delivery. It reflects a clear and concise understanding of your product. If people don’t read it and easily understand who you do or sell, there’s still work to do.

In addition, researching your market and its competitors will give you a competitive advantage in improving your value proposition. The more unique and compelling it is, the more it sets you apart from competitors, even those with similar products or target customers.

(P.S. if reading this made you realize your value proposition needs some work, this blog post can help!).

3. Create Customer Profiles and Personas 

An ideal customer profile is a hypothetical description of an individual employee at a company that could benefit from your product or service. These fake customer profiles are often called personas. 

Your persona should include fictional details like the company's annual revenue, size, industry, geographical location, and that individual’s job title. Studying their pain points and motivations can show you how to create content tailored to their problems and make you more likely to win their business.

Don’t just build these personas and forget about them. Revisiting and refining your ideal customer profile helps you stay up-to-date with market changes and ensure that your marketing initiatives remain relevant and practical to the customers you want to attract.

4. Conduct SEO Research 

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, tells you how to optimize your website and individual web pages so they rank more highly in search engine results. Conducting SEO research gives you insight into the volume of data for the keywords your audience wants to see, so you can cater content around them. 

When your content appears as the top results for relevant searches, you’ll attract more traffic and reach a larger audience. This strategy is incredibly effective because you're targeting and focusing on creating content people are already looking for and interested in.

5. Create Content That Matters 

No one wants to read useless content. So, the success of yours heavily relies on who and how you write it, as it directs the attention, pertinence, and attractiveness of your message. Your content should speak directly to the pain points of your ideal customers, or personas, during the various stages of the buyer's journey.  

Creating relevant content that speaks to buyers at each stage of the purchasing journey is essential for fostering engagement and driving conversations. Getting these prospects to enjoy engaging with you is the first step toward inviting them to purchase.

6. Build An Easy To Navigate Website 

Creating a user-friendly website with a professional design improves user satisfaction and increases the likelihood of conversion and customer retention. By providing an intuitive and seamless user experience, visitors are more likely to stay on the site longer, explore your content and engage with your brand.

Don’t just limit your access to desktop searchers. Mobile-friendly websites add adaptability and allow you to reach a wider, more diverse audience. In fact, we think mobile-friendly sites aren’t optional. They should be a requirement since an estimated 68 percent of searchers use mobile devices for their inquiries. 

User-friendliness isn’t just about SEO or content. Your actual website design plays a significant role in conversions. Strategically consider visual elements like where your customers want to click and where to place the CTAs (call-to-actions). Next, identify potential distractions–like ad placements or videos–that may hinder their journey and minimize them. By doing so, you can optimize the user experience and guide your customers toward the desired conversion point.

Don’t Build Your B2B Customer Acquisition Strategy Alone

Building a successful and effective customer acquisition strategy requires patience, research, and regular optimization and maintenance to succeed.

Taking the time to understand who your customers are, why your customers want or need your product, and developing content and messaging to most effectively communicate the connection between product and customer is critical.

At Lean Labs, we use SEO, keyword research, and content marketing to create relevant material and content your prospective customers want to read and interact with.

Ready to get started? Get in touch today.

A Growth Marketer by day, and a dancer, Disney fan, and designer by night. With over 5 years of experience working in Growth, Marvin is passionate about helping others accomplish their goals, and is always happy to lend his expertise or experience where applicable.

5 Min Read

Growth Marketing

May 30, 2023