Business to business (B2B) sales involves transactions between two businesses; directly from the producer (supplier) to the wholesaler or retailer) in the same niche as between a business and the consumer directly. B2B involves different channels of distribution.

Let’s see an example on B2B: A store orders products from its supplier or producer at wholesale price and sells to its end users at retail price.

Supplier/Producer —>Wholesaler—>Consumer

Launching a product using the B2B realm is very effective. There are several benefits obtainable using B2B.

It increases sales for both businesses, as one business produces and gains when they sell in bulk while the other gains as they resell to the end consumers.

B2B also gives customers (end users) multiple access to purchase products as many channels are involved in distribution of these products.

B2B provides value to other businesses than to the consumer directly. B2B is very essential to have a successful product launch.

5 Top Steps For Launching A B2B Products

Here are the steps to follow while launching your B2B new products.

1. Define Your B2B Product Niche

A niche is a specialized aspect of a market which includes just a particular kind of product or service. To define your B2B product niche you need to choose the particular product you are interested in.

Focus your niche based on your interest; your product niche must be something you have passion for, and you are willing to sell. Ask yourself questions like; who do I want to sell to? What service would I like to render?

You must have answers to these questions. You also need to consider if the resources available are sufficient for the particular product before making that decision.

2. Conduct Market Research To Validate Your Idea

After deciding what niche to focus on, you need to conduct market research. Conducting market research helps you make a survey on the market; to know if your consumers are interested in your product, to know what’s trending in your industry, to know the challenges faced in your industry, and to  know your competitors.

Making research helps you get information on the product you intend to sell. Conduct one on one interviews with people in the same niche, ask questions about related products, this would help you in deciding the right marketing strategy to employ.

3. Create A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) To Test With Users

An MVP (Minimum Viable Product), is a marketing strategy whereby a form of a product is released to the market, with the essential feature.

An MVP helps to test the product and get feedback for this product before it goes to the main market.

When you validate your idea, create an MVP to test your product, these would give answers regarding your product, it would help you know consumers opinion about your product. These feedbacks would help improve your product.

4. Build A Strong Marketing Plan To Reach Your Target Audience

To reach your target audience, you need a strong marketing plan. To identify who your target audience is; set specific goals and conduct market surveys as said earlier.

Your target audience is the consumer of the product, locate where your target audience is active and decide what mode of advertisement you want to choose.

If your target audience is online, direct your advertisement to online platforms like Facebook, Instagram, twitter, etc.

When you create your advertisements, make sure you include essential information regarding your product to attract your target audience. Once your product is on the get go, you can also gain more audience through referrals.

5. Continuously Gather Feedback From Customers To Improve And Iterate Your Product

How will you know what your customers feel about your product if you can’t ask for reviews?

Surveys, interviews, reviews, ratings, support tickets, social media, and online communities are methods to gather feedback from your customers, gathering feedback would help you improve your product.

The information you receive as regards your product will help you know the issues regarding the product, or what they like about your product and the right decisions to make.

Building customer trust and satisfaction will lead to loyalty for your product.

You will retain more customers because they know you’re continuously iterating your products for them.

Tools To Help You Launch Your B2B Product

Here are the top tools you need to note. They include:

1. Product Launch Checklist

Before you launch your product, you need to make sure you can meet your customers demands.

To launch your B2B product, several steps are required. After defining your target audience and setting goals, decide the marketing strategy to incorporate, check your product advert; the logos, the font, etc.

If it’s desirable to your audience, ensure the advertisement write up contains all the essential features of your product, make sure your brand is appealing to the consumers before selecting your launch date.

2. Email Marketing Software

Email marketing software is a software that allows you to create, send and track emails to your customers.

You need to create a good email marketing strategy which would help you connect, build good relationships with your target audience and increase your sales.

Email marketing is very affordable. You can make good use of email marketing tools like; Mailchimp, Convert kit, Klaviyo, Hubspot, active campaign, MailerLite, etc.

3. Social Media Marketing Platforms

The use of social media marketing platforms is one of the best advertising platforms to consider.

We are in a digital world. Using platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and LinkedIn for your advertisement would increase your product awareness, and increase your customer base.

These platforms are user friendly and the cost for advertising is very affordable. You can also access your growth and test your performance for your product on these platforms.

4. Web Analytics Software 

Web analytics software reports the important statistics on a website. Ensure to conduct research and choose a web analytics software (google analytics, adobe analytics, etc.) suitable for your business.

Input your data and analyze the activities on your website to check your growth. This can be only applied to online businesses.

Other benefits of web analytics software are boosting your sites SEO (improving your visibility), stating your referral sources, analyzing your website conversion and studying the visitors on your site.

5. Project Management Tools

Project management tools assist in planning your project. It organizes your product development. These tools have special features which promote easier communication between your team members. Project management tools can also deal with risk management. You can make good use of this tool to guide the launching of your product.

Conclusion

You want your product out there? The world wants to know about it. Make a decision today by making good use of this article. This article has outlined the steps to consider in launching your B2B product. Follow up with the steps.

Focus on your interest, do research, set goals, create good content appealing to your customers and build your brand. You must launch that product you have in mind!