A LinkedIn specialist demonstrates how to break the rules for more effective B2B marketing

4 B2B marketing ideas to outperform your competition

Haley suggests these ideas could make a big impact on your marketing income.

1. The 95-5 rule

In the world of branding the rule 95-5 refers to the 95% out-of-market category buyers who aren't ready to buy as well as the 5% of market buyers ready to make a purchase.
Because of this breakdown, advertisements are often targeted to people who aren't ready to purchase today. To create more demand marketers should make use of branding to reach buyers who aren't in the market today, so that when they eventually do get into to the marketplace, they perceive you as an established brand with the ability to meet their needs.

"The greatest ads don't go out. They stay. They are on our screens for long periods of time, building memories that have the power to impact us for years afterward."   Haley Pierce, Marketing Engagement Lead Haley Pierce, Marketing Engagement Lead B2B Institute at LinkedIn

2. Situational awareness

The way people remember brands is by brands more than others based on the circumstances they encounter while shopping for a new item. For your brand to become more popular, your brand must be linked by association to important buying scenarios.

It is important to be very careful when evaluating situations. Make sure to connect your brand to the most relevant purchasing situations as is possible. It's not all the product of what consumers think about your brand but when they imagine it.

"People remember great ads. But the interesting nuance is that memory doesn't exist in isolation from situations since memories are innately contextual."   Haley Pierce, Marketing Engagement Lead, The B2B Institute at LinkedIn

3. The illusion of product

Most B2B ads we see are attribute-based and are focused only on the positive outcomes. This is referred to as product illusion and it doesn't always succeed. The top product is not the one with the most sophisticated attributes. Instead, the best product is one that the customer already knows.

This is why brand marketing is essential -- familiarity sells. Thus, having a distinct and memorable brand is already just half the fight.

"Because B2B buyers are risk not interested, they tend to go to the brands they are comfortable with and are familiar with."   Jann Martin Schwartz Founder and Director of the B2B Institute at LinkedIn

4. Reach maximalism

It's much more effective to contact 1 million people once instead of reaching 500,000 repeatedly. For a B2B company, this can be far more effective since excessive advertisements can degrade the effectiveness of the message.

It is recommended to adopt a maximist strategy for your media strategies and be focused on reaching as wide a range of category potential buyers as is possible.

You can break the B2B rules to sell more

Haley believes that going against the standard B2B marketing practice can help improve your marketing strategy and increase sales.

The key takeaway is to focus on advertising your company to a potential buyer, who is yet to choose. This way, when they are ready to buy then you'll be the company they'd like to purchase from.