Every year, many startups fail for multiple reasons. The most significant reason is the need for a growth strategy. According to research, 42 per cent of startups fail because there is no market for their solutions, while 29 per cent run out of cash.
Both a lack of market and cash are caused by strategic flaws. Every B2B startup needs a growth strategy to address both issues by ensuring product-market fit and revenue streams.
So, what is a growth strategy?
A startup’s growth strategy encompasses everything from idea generation to project wire-framing, identifying revenue streams, and more.
Getting the growth strategy right can help your B2B startups generate more revenue and profits. This article focuses on some of the best growth strategies B2B startups can use for their business.
First, let’s understand why you need a growth strategy.
B2B growth strategy: Why do you need it?
B2B is different from D2C in terms of customers. B2B customers expect omni-channel engagement with on-demand solutions from their vendors.
According to McKinsey, 78 per cent of top-tier B2B customers want performance guarantees during the sale. Similarly, there are four other key attributes that every B2B customer seeks out,
- Product availability
- Omni-channel engagement features
- Real-time customer service
- Consistent customer experience
What’s changed over the years is how tech-savvy modern B2B customers are. As a startup, you must offer on-demand solutions across channels. Here are some key strategies to achieve this and improve your B2B startup growth.
Top B2B startup growth strategies
An essential aspect of B2B growth is undistracted effort. You need to narrow your focus on specific growth pillars and go all in.
However, the question that most startups face is where to focus. Here are some of the best strategies you can focus on to ensure B2B startup growth.
Shift to outbound
Most startups focus on inbound leads, leaving behind a more extensive audience section. The real growth opportunity lies in capturing the audience outside your market.
Yes! This may seem odd, but 95 per cent of the buyers who aren’t looking to make a purchase right now are your most significant opportunity! Every business has a specific bottleneck, but CEOs and CTOs often are unaware of the problem.
As a B2B startup, you need to tap into this audience. Create campaigns highlighting specific problems in these businesses’ current offerings to create a long-term cycle of leads. When you target a specific audience looking for solutions, they know the competition.
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So they will compare your services and make decisions, which leads to less lead generation. However, if you can highlight existing issues in businesses that are not looking for your services in the first place, you’ve hit the jackpot!
Take, for example, Salesforce’s “No Software” campaign. The SaaS company boldly opposed CRMs with on-premise infrastructure. To amplify the campaign, Salesforce had employees protest the streets with signboards.
Build resource banks
Conventional B2B demand generation strategies for startups have been to acquire a net new pipeline. This strategy focuses more on the net value of new sales opportunities rather than taking a holistic approach.
Break away from this conventional approach and leverage a modern B2B growth strategy for your startups. You can build a resource bank that caters to businesses’ needs across the funnel. This growth strategy does not focus solely on new sales opportunities.
Instead, it helps attract, nurture, and convert more leads through resources across interaction points. For example, you can create content on the bottlenecks and issues of specific businesses.
Similarly, you can provide its solutions, pitch your services, and add critical comparisons. This wholesome resource makes you the go-to brand for anything niche-specific.
Have a real omni-channel presence
Being on all digital channels is now a norm for any B2B startup. The reason is simple: Your target audience is present on multiple channels, so you need to be there.
However, it’s not just about being present in a snooze mode. Yes, you need to prioritise real connections and customer engagement across channels.
Executing bots to communicate on your behalf on such platforms can be off-putting. Instead, have your team present on omni-channel, communicating, engaging, and nurturing leads.
Make your customers self-dependent
This B2B growth strategy can confuse many startups. Because entrepreneurs may argue that if you are making them independent why will they engage with the startup?
So, the answer is self-service portals. You don’t need to make them self-reliant on the service side but on the support side. This is also important on the sales side. If you can have resources that provide answers B2B customers are looking for without interacting with your sales team, “It’s a win-win.”
Also Read: AI, personalisation, and 5 marketing activities you should be doing
According to Gartner, 72 per cent of B2B buyers want to buy without sales team interactions. This shows how making the customers self-reliant early in your interaction journey can impact conversions.
Obsess over your customers
Obsessing your audience correctly can be a startup’s best B2B growth strategy. This means spending time researching each aspect of your audience. From profiling, account-based research, communications, and one-on-one sessions, customer obsession has no limit.
Diversifying your efforts is key to B2B growth. Have a team of researchers, data analysts, and salespeople work continuously on understanding the audience.
Knowing the target business well helps you cater to custom solutions and become their go-to partner.
Offer on-demand flexibility
As you know by now, a key demand by B2B businesses is for on-demand services and solutions.
Most businesses need help dealing with the changing customer demand. So, providing on-demand flexibility regarding tech, infrastructure, workforce, and other resources is crucial. It will help your startup create long-term partnerships and a customer base.
Hear what your customer says
Startups can narrowly focus on customers if they spend enough time listening rather than talking. One key B2B growth strategy is to capture the Voice of Customers (VoC).
It is a systematic approach in which you hear your customers on each aspect of the problem, from how they feel about your product or services to the improvements they need.
To ensure trust, you must be open to criticism and make quick changes. This includes ensuring security and privacy in your systems. Maintaining user data privacy during sales communication and customer services also helps build trust.
All of your security efforts must be conveyed to customers across channels. You must also get feedback on security aspects from your customers and implement quick measures. This allows your startup to gain more trust and improve conversions.
Get your whiteboard ready
The B2B space is getting extremely crowded. With many startups building solutions catering to customers’ varying needs, you need a strategic advantage. Using these B2B growth strategies, you can gain a competitive advantage in a saturated market.
Most importantly, these B2B growth strategies allow you to tap into a broader market. Plus, you will have a holistic approach to engaging with the target customers and ensuring better lead conversions.
However, you must analyse your target audience, market, competitors, and product before implementing the above B2B growth strategies. You should also conduct a comprehensive audit of your campaigns to ensure result-oriented efforts.
A best practice for the above strategy is to conduct A/B testing. It will help you understand the impact and fine-tune strategic efforts.
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