Need to connect with B2B buyers? Start here.

First impressions in marketing (and in life, for that matter) have always been a big deal. You could argue they’re even a bigger deal today due to the plethora of available marketing channels. If you’re on a marketing team in a B2B company and you want to connect with your prospects, remember this simple formula and incorporate it into everything you do:

Instead of talking to your prospects like buyers with budgets, talk to them like humans with needs and emotions.

Time and again, we’ve seen B2B companies create attractive website homepages that lead with copy about who they are, what they do, and in some cases, how long they’ve been doing it. This is all good information that a prospective buyer needs to know—eventually. But upon their first encounter with you? Nope.

To illustrate my point, put yourself in this situation:

Your company makes flanges for the Dinosaur Dental Equipment Industry. Now imagine you’re a buyer of those flanges and you’re looking for a new supplier. Rather than calling your distributor or a sales rep at a company you typically buy parts from, you head to Google because it’s fast and easy (and that’s how you shop for things at home, so why wouldn’t you do it at work, too?)

Your search comes up with 5 companies that sell special DDE flanges. You click on each one and quickly read over their homepage (because you’re a busy flange buyer who doesn’t have time to spend an entire day on this). You quickly notice that all the sites look and feel similar, and each one says their flanges are the best quality because they’ve been making them for 25 million years.

Then you get to one that talks about your needs and the goals you’ve been tasked with, and how their products can specifically address those needs and help you meet your goals. You’d probably take notice, right?

Here’s a before and after example that illustrates the difference…

Before:

We make the best flanges in the industry. Our unrelenting testing and highest-quality standards make our flanges the perfect fit for any DDE manufacturing environment. We think you’ll love our flanges and all the other Dinosaur Dental parts we make.

After:

Take the unexpected setbacks out of your day. You’ve got goals to meet, and downtime can stand in your way of meeting them. Our DDE flanges will eliminate equipment downtime, save money, and will make you look like a hero.

See the difference? It’s pretty simple. Just tell them why they should care.

Worried about how this will affect your SEO? We get it. But don’t. There are plenty of ways to get important keywords into your website through blogs and other content that can be created as needed and will address buyers at whatever stage of the funnel they’re in.

Worried about the time it will take to get your website updated? We get that too. Consider starting with a landing page to get your new and improved message out there. These digital one-pagers can be beneficial in many ways. If you’re in the manufacturing industry (or even if you’re not), check out this blog we wrote on the benefits of using landing pages. It includes visual examples, which are also shown here:

Pro tip: This trick isn’t just for your website. It should be the basis for all communications, like emails, social posts, brochures, ads, tradeshow materials—virtually everything that goes in front of prospects who don’t know you. The more you start creating content that leads with the benefits to your audience, the more naturally it will come to you. And the more connections you’ll make.

If this all seems a little overwhelming, we can help. With a simple rework of your messaging, you’ll start to see an increase in quality leads immediately from prospects who aren’t noticing you now. How can you say no to that?