17 May 2022
According to WPForms Blog, 35% of small business owners feel that their business is too small for a website. 25% of small businesses have no idea what their lead generation conversion rates are.
B2B online platforms connecting buyers and sellers give smaller brands the opportunity to compete on an equal basis with the business giants. Due to the high traffic via B2B online platforms a supplier reaches the audience hundreds of times larger than that of any online store. The platform team undertakes the marketing and promotion of products, while the seller’s task is to make his virtual showcase as attractive and convenient for buyers as possible.
Let’s review the main rules for the design of such a showcase, for convenience all examples will be from one sphere – food products.
1. Put yourself in the clients’ shoes
Constantly monitor how your online presentation looks like compared to the showcases of competitors. This is an obvious rule, but not everyone follows it.
Check how your digital showcase stands out from other companies – is the logo visible, are there enough product photos, is it clear immediately what you’re selling and for whom.
Offering a comprehensive approach to creating a digital presentation of your company, Booster solutions help you properly shape your virtual showcase to draw the attention of your potential customers.
2. Focus on the company profile
Along with a logo and a name, it is important to add a company description presenting its advantages. There is no need to duplicate information in various sections: for example, the profile phrase ‘fresh pastries with delivery in Paris’ is meaningless – the customer will see your region in the list of confectionery manufacturers. You should briefly specify exactly what you offer: for example, ‘gluten-free bakery’ or ‘food for diabetics’.
Some online platforms allow you to add key products to your company presentation. Remember, key products are not the ones you really want to sell, but the ones that are popular with your customers now.
So, if unrefined edible oils are ordered from you once a week and refined oils are ordered 15 times a day, no doubt you should bring refined edible oils to the top in your digital showcase, it’s your corporate business card.
There is nothing complicated about creating such a profile, just follow the guidelines provided by the online platforms. For example, under the global display option Booster International you will be offered to fill in sections “Contact details”, “Logo”, “Geolocation”, “Financial information”, “Export and import data”, “Products and services by international classification”, “Business description in 28 languages”, “Product posts”, “Video”, “Digital catalogs”, “Keywords”, “News”, “Promotions” and much more.
3. More attention to each product post
The product description should have information that is useful to the customer. It all starts with the name of the product: many sellers, especially in the food industry, like to give products extremely original names, forgetting about the principles of keyword searching.
We assure you, the buyer will not search for ‘Fireworks of flavors’ – he’s more likely to enter the query ‘cakes’, so it is better to add a suitable keyword to the product title.
Information in the product post should be comprehensive and answer all possible questions of the client: main characteristics, size, color, weight, for whom it may be recommended. For food products it is necessary to specify the composition, storage conditions, as well as the ratio of proteins, fats and carbohydrates.
It is important not to duplicate information in different fields: if the online platform suggests writing the description of the product in a separate field, do not repeat it in the general description. We also advise not to use emotional phrases: it is better to tell the customers about the product unique qualities than to tell them that it will ‘make them happy’.
The main point is to have photos and videos showing the product from various angles and demonstrating its functionality. If you offer cheeses, take a picture of them in cross section, or better yet, add a short video to the product post showing the cheeses from multiple perspectives.
A similar approach is implemented in all Booster options, drawing attention of your target audience to your company digital showcase of products and services.
4. Make the most of the online platform
According to Statista, one-third of B2B buyers complete half or more of their purchases on marketplaces. In September 2021, 26 percent of the B2B shoppers surveyed made between 50 and 74 percent of their B2B purchases on marketplaces, while about one in ten surveyed respondents (9 percent) relied on this kind of websites for 75 percent or more of their B2B purchases.
This means that the trend of making B2B purchases online is increasing, and registration on B2B digital platforms for whatever business – small, medium, large, locally/globally oriented – is becoming mandatory.
When registering on a new platform, explore all the tools you can use – for free or for an additional cost. One of the effective ways to promote your company via online platforms is to make it visible at the top of search results. Figure out exactly how you can get to the top of search results, choose the best visibility package, and tailor all elements of your online presentation to your goals.
For example, the Booster premium options provide different digital visibility packages depending on your tasks and objectives: whether you are planning to expand locally, nationally, or internationally, Kompass is here to offer you the most optimal online visibility model.
5. Use promotions and special offers to be visible
As a rule, online platforms visually distinguish companies that offer special conditions to their customers. So, even a small price reduction and information about it can significantly increase clicks, lead generation and sales.
For example, the ‘Promotions’ feature is designed to promptly inform your target audience of discounts, promotions or bonus offers that are valid for a certain period. Just fill in this section and set start and end dates – and everyone who opens your company profile on Kompass.com will be notified of your current special offers.
6. Complete your digital showcase to the fullest extent
There’s a misconception that for testing an online showcase it is enough to publish one or two product posts and, if they sell well, to publish the entire assortment later on. However, an empty online showcase is as confusing to customers as empty shelves in a physical store. Imagine putting up a ‘Close’ sign and promising to replace it with ‘Open’ only after the first sales.
The more products and services you put in a virtual showcase, the more likely they are to draw attention to your company. Some online platforms – such as Kompass.com – rotate premium customer products and services (‘carousel’) on the home page, and display them in relative search results.
To summarize, all the “non-obvious” rules are in fact clear and easily explainable by consumer behavior, and therefore bring a guaranteed result. Nevertheless, not everyone uses them, which gives the most competent sellers a head start.
Now let’s talk about why premium visibility on online platforms is better than developing your own online store.
– Design and customization of the interface
There are lots of online store builders today. But have you ever tried to order something on a website that was developed via such builders? Often the pages are not technically finalized (unattractive design, no product sorting, no search filters, etc.).
The most common objection of the company owner when creating an online store: ‘This is difficult, I will need a specialist’. After all, to properly configure the site will need to connect plug-ins (modules that expand the capabilities of the page). You need quite a deep dive into development and compare more than a dozen online stores to understand what plug-ins to add to your site. Many refinements are to be paid extra.
Unlike an online store, a digital company presentation via B2B online platform is very simple to set up and design and does not require a specialist to be involved.
Online company presentation is a virtual company profile and a showcase with a ready-made design templates. There is no need to pay for any plug-in, because all basic modules – sorting, search, product grouping – are already built into the solution.
It’s as easy to set up an online showcase, it’s like managing your social network profile: you upload your avatar (logo), enter your name (company title), enter your city (corporate address), add a couple of lines ‘about me’ (activity description), and regularly publish product posts, news and events instead of social posts.
Any company owner, marketing manager or SME specialist can do it – all you need to do is to choose the best option of Booster solutions and fill in all sections and fields in My Space zone.
– Product Upload
How big is your product range? 30? 500? 1,000 products? Do you want to upload them all to the online store and add images and descriptions? Be prepared to spend more than one day or a lot of money to hire a specialist.
Of course, you will have to upload the same product line to the digital showcase. But in the case of online platforms, there is a ready-made solution for uploading all the product positions at once with one click. For example, Booster premium visibility solution provides an uploading process via Excel file with all the products listed on it.
– Technical Support
Who do you run to if something on your site goes wrong? Depending on the problem, you will need to contact different experts – the developer, the hosting owner, the rep of the payment provider… There is a chance that you will be sent from one developer to another.
If something goes wrong with the digital showcase on the online platform, it will be sufficient to contact the technical support team to fix any problems.
– Creation Costs
Your own online store can cost a pretty penny. The cost depends on the complexity of development, the chosen payment system and the need to involve someone for the content uploading and processing of documents. Also additional costs will be related to promotion (online advertising).
The creation of a digital presentation at the start can be absolutely free (minimal). Further promotion will require a small investment – depending on the choice of visibility option and the objectives that you set yourself for expanding in the domestic or foreign markets.
Having created your online showcase, you will be able to receive the first customer requests in a couple of hours. And you will be able to track the company profile visits, but also the geography of hits, type of devices, number of views per product post, number of clicks on the company website, number of phone number views, number of messages and inquiries received, and much more.
Choose the best Premium Booster visibility option at Kompass.com today – and get new leads and orders tomorrow!
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