5 Tips from Beck Ag's John Finegan

Not all your customers are everyday consumers. Many, in fact, are your fellow businesses. Like consumers, they buy stuff -- and they buy a lot of it, too. Unlike consumers, however, they aren't easily sold, says John Finegan, CEO of agricultural WOM agency Beck Ag Com.

To successfully motivate business buyers, consider John's five tips for using word of mouth in the BtoB marketplace:

Tip #1. Practice integrity
Successful word of mouth marketers aren't perceived by businesses as marketers at all, according to John. They avoid making hard sells and are able to appear objective about their product. "Part of the reason word of mouth marketing has been so successful through the centuries is that it occurs between trusted sources and not because a marketer or agency is driving it as a 'new medium,'" John says.

Tip #2. Establish credibility
Credibility is key in marketing to business, according to John. That means making sure your advocates are believable and perceived as being genuine and real. "Situations where advocates are paid in cash or product generally do not work, especially in the BtoB world," John says. "If our audience feels the advocate has a vested interest in the product or service, there is low credibility. People see right through you if you're not credible."

Tip #3. Be professional
Quality and professionalism are of the utmost importance in BtoB marketing. "It's critical to offer our audience well-designed and implemented programs with fully trained and knowledgeable moderators," John says. "We cannot waste our audience's time." He adds that organization and functionality go a long way in proving reliability to business customers.

Tip #4. Add value
John encourages word of mouth marketers to remember the following acronym: WIIFM -- What's In It For Me? That's a question most business people ask, he says, especially when considering an investment of time or money. "We must bring value to our audience or the first program will be the last program," he says, adding that Beck Ag Com's mission statement includes a line about helping customers improve their business results. "If we continue to keep that goal in mind, we'll always bring value to our customers."

Tip #5. Raise the bar
Complacency is a disease, John suggests. To cure it, he recommends always striving to grow and get better at what you do. Don't settle for the types of campaigns you know will work -- be willing to get creative and to try new things as you learn more about your profession and your audience. "By always raising the bar of quality in everything we do," he says, "we increase the value that our audience gets from our programs and ultimately raise the ROI for our clients."

More about John:

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