Marketing to Marketers: Business Consumers Use Digital, Too

Every marketer knows that to be successful in this day and age you have to go digital, and more recently, mobile.  Consumers spend considerable time on their laptops, tablets, and smartphones, so if we want them to notice us, those are the places we need to be.  At this point, that’s old news.

But it isn’t just your individual consumer who spends his time in the cloud.  Your business and marketing customers spend their time there, too, and you’ll want to meet them in those spaces if you want to communicate to them effectively.  I recently read two articles that discussed companies doing just that.  

Boston.com is a local news website that, with its new Insights tool, “allows advertisers to share unique blog content directly with Boston.com readers.”  And from a more recognizable source, Google now has a Google Analytics App Google Analytics App that allows marketers to track their success on the go.

Your business consumers live in the cloud, too

Based on these readings and some of my own insights, here are three steps you can take to most effectively communicate with and appeal to your marketing customers:

1.       Recognize that Marketers are Consumers, too

The debate rages on whether businesses are people, but what I can tell you for sure is that businesses are consumers.  Marketers and other businesses have needs just like anybody else, and need those needs to be fulfilled by companies that know how and where to talk to them.  Whether businesses are people or not, they are certainly made up of people, and those people spend as much time as anybody on their computers and smartphones.  Companies, like Google with its new Google Analytics App, need to recognize that servicing marketers is really no different than servicing any other consumer.  Google knows consumers as well as anybody, so it’s no surprise that they figured out that their business and marketing customers have as great a demand for mobile apps as anybody else.

2.       Research your Marketer Markets

Now that you understand your business customers as any other consumer, it’s time to research them in the same way.  What are their needs and where can you help them?  Where will they notice your messages and how should you talk to them?  Boston.com understands the marketers they service, so they know that they are looking for ways to reach their consumers digitally beyond passive banner ads.  Boston.com created their Insights tool so their marketing customers could reach their consumers in more personal and meaningful ways.

3.       Make it Happen!

Now that you know all about your target business and marketing markets, it’s time to give them what they want.  Create that digital advertising tool or develop that market-tracking app.  Marketers know as well as anybody how to please a target audience, so they’ll appreciate getting the same treatment from the businesses that exist to please them.

Matt Slater is an IMC student and soon-to-be marketing professional in Chicago.  He is interested in marketing strategy and analytics.  And baseball.  Questions or comments about the blog or anything else?  Find him on Twitter @MattSlaterIMC.