There are two kinds of commerce active in the world marketplace: business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C). Companies involved in the latter form of commerce spend a lot of time and effort marketing to individual consumers they believe would be interested in their products or services. But what about companies involved in B2B commerce? How do they market?
Marketing in a B2B setting is far different. Rather than taking out ads and attempting to get attention by developing catchy marketing slogans for an audience with a limited attention span, companies have to be more thorough and technical in their presentation to other like-minded businesses. This is where the B2B portal becomes so important.
A B2B portal like ExportersIndia.com is essentially an online marketplace that brings companies in the B2B sector together in one large online meeting place. Any company involved in B2B commerce should be a member of at least one of these portals. Memberships on multiple portals are even better.
B2B portals offer members the ocean of benefits that are hard to achieve any other way. Those benefits are as follows:
1. Global Exposure
In terms of raw exposure, there is nothing quite like a business portal. Any portal with a reputation for success is one with a global reach. It is a portal that brings together multiple industries and their players from around the world, connecting them via business listings and other opportunities.
The kind of exposure your business would get by listing on ExportersIndia.com, for example, is far greater than you would get by trying to make global business connections by yourself. The portal has done all the heavy lifting, all you need to do is sign up and create a profile.
2. Instant Communications
Have you ever wondered why B2B portals are so important to business growth? It’s all about communication. Unlike B2C commerce, B2B companies are not investing millions on marketing campaigns geared to the general public. They are soliciting new business by making cold calls and connecting by way of in-person meetings. Communication is at the center of both. Without a fast and effective means of communication, doing business in the B2B world is much harder.
A B2B portal offers instant communications with the click of a mouse. Business representatives can browse listings in a variety of categories, looking for other businesses that would benefit from their products or services. Then those businesses can be contacted directly through the portal rather than having to hunt down an e-mail address or the website contact form. What you can do through the portal to contact others are the same things they are doing to contact you.
3. Buyer Attitudes
The third benefit of B2B portals is the fact that buyers love them; and why do they love them is because a large portal with enough members gives buyers access to lots of different options in one place. Working within the portal means they don’t have to spend hour after hour searching online for what it is they need; they just browse the different categories and click the listings that interest them.
From the buyer’s standpoint, the B2B portal is the best way to find products and services with as little effort as possible. They are also more likely to trust companies they find on the portal than those they don’t. It’s a matter of trust by association.
4. Sales Automation
With so many buying/selling options at your disposal, it can become a little difficult sometimes to find the right type of business to contact; however, the B2B Portals let you configure certain alerts that notify you every time a supplier or a buyer posts a lead relevant to your business. Also, you get an option to follow the activities of the companies that are of importance to you and get notifications of their latest moves.
Chucking out the leads that aren’t relevant for your business help you focus on the opportunities that promise you better returns.
5. Market Analysis
B2B portals are perhaps the only platform that lets you carry out business alongside your competitors and offers you an excellent opportunity to study their products and pricing strategies in detail. With B2B Portals, you cannot just analyse different businesses in your niche, but also leverage upon the strategies they have adopted to enhance your sales.
A B2B portal is an excellent tool for businesses of all kinds. Joining a portal gives the company access to a virtual ocean of marketing benefits that are simply incomparable to any other platform.
Author Bio: Ankit Gupta owns and manages ExportersIndia.com, one of the largest searchable buyers and sellers marketplace in India.Owing to his passion for writing, Ankit keeps sharing his valuable insights with marketers of SMEs and start-ups, to keep them upaded with the latest business news and trends.
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