Strategies For Business Marketing

 

B2B branding

B2B branding is different from B2C in some crucial ways, including the need to align corporate brands, divisional brands and product/service brands and to apply brand standards to material often considered “informal” such as email and other electronic correspondence. It is mainly of large scale when compared with B2C.

 

Product (or service)

Due to the fact that business customers are focused on creating shareholder value for themselves, the cost-saving or revenue-producing benefits of products and services are important to factor in throughout the product development and marketing cycles.

 

Target market

Quite often, the target market for a business product or service is smaller and has more specialized needs reflective of a specific industry or niche. A B2B niche, a segment of the market, can be described in terms of firmographics which requires marketers to have good business intelligence in order to increase response rates. Regardless of the size of the target market, the business customer is making an organizational purchase decision and the dynamics of this, both procedurally and in terms of how they value the product offered, differ dramatically from the consumer market. 

There may be multiple influencers on the purchase decision, which may also have to be marketed to, though they may not be members of the decision making unit. In addition the research and decision making process a B2B buyer undertakes will be more extensive. Finally the purchase information that buyers are researching changes as they go through the buying process (see sample decision map).

 

Pricing

The business market can be convinced to pay premium prices more often than the consumer market with appropriate pricing structure and payment terms. This pricing premium is particularly achievable if it is supported with a strong brand.

 

Promotion

Promotion planning is relatively easy when the decision making habits of the customer base and the vocabulary unique to their segment are known. Specific trade shows, analysts, publications, blogs and retail/wholesale outlets tend to be fairly common to each industry/product area. Once it is figured out for the industry/product, writing the promotion plan is simple. Promotion techniques rely heavily on marketing communications strategies (see below).

 

Sales and distribution

The importance of a knowledgeable, experienced and effective direct (inside or outside) sales force is often critical in the business market. When selling through distribution channels also, the number and type of sales forces can vary tremendously and success as a marketer is highly dependent on their success.

One of the distinguishing features of the B2B sales cycle is it's comparably longer lead times compared to B2C. The result of this longer lead cycle affects the entire B2B marketing process.

 

Communications methodologies

The purpose of B2B marketing communications is to support the organizations' sales effort and improve company profitability. B2B marketing communications tactics generally include advertising, public relations, direct mail, trade show support, sales collateral, branding, and interactive services such as website design and search engine optimization. The Business Marketing Association is the trade organization that serves B2B marketing professionals. It was founded in 1922 and offers certification programs, research services, conferences, industry awards and training programs.

 

Positioning statement

An important first step in business to business marketing is the development of a positioning statement. This is a statement of what is done and how it will be better and more efficient than competitors.

 

Developing messages

The next step is to develop messages. There is usually a primary message that conveys more strongly to customers,what is done and how the customers benefit from it. This is often supported by a number of secondary messages, each of which may have a number of supporting arguments, facts and figures.

 

Campaign plans

A comprehensive plan to target resources where they will deliver the best return on investment. The infrastructure to support each stage of the marketing process has to be in place and entire organization must be geared up to handle the inquiries appropriately.

 

Briefing an agency

A standard briefing document is usually a good idea for briefing an agency, as well as focusing the agency on what's important in the campaign. It serves as a checklist of all the important things to consider as part of the brief. Typical elements to an agency brief are: objectives, target market, target audience, product, campaign description, product positioning, graphical considerations, corporate guidelines, and any other supporting material and distribution.

 

Measuring results

The value in results measurement is in tying the marketing campaign back to business results. Metrics to measure the impact are e.g. cost per acquisition, cost per lead or tangible changes in customer perception.