B2B Marketing Techniques

8/3/2019 B2B Marketing Techniques

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BRANDING STRATEGIES IN B2B:

A strong brand is about building and maintaining strong perceptions in theminds of customers.

1. The brand name and its associations are shorthand for everything thatis being offered.

2. The product quality, the reliability of delivery, the value for money, areall wrapped up in people’s perceptions of that brand.

3. Working out what people associate with a brand is only one part of theequation.

It is necessary to go a step further and put a monetary figure on thosebrand values.

1. For a new entrant:

When a new company enters into the B2B markets, it is very important forthe new entrant to differentiate itself from the rest of the existingcompanies, as there is immense competition in the market. The existingcompanies already have their set of customers and vendors, which makesit more difficult for the new entrant to make a distinctive identity of itself and build trust, as that is the key component in any B2B operation.

In order to create a distinctive position in the B2B markets, the newentrant should leverage on the following:

1. Global competitiveness

2. Total Quality Management Philosophy3. Technology Enablers

4. Industry Restructuring

Also,

• Origin of goods

• Process of manufacturing

• Company’s history/background

•Competitive landscape

• Occupied spaces and white spaces

• Cost and quality

• services

CORPORATE BRANDING:

Visually spoken the corporate brand serves as some kind of umbrella and

encapsulates the corporate vision, values, personality, positioning, andimage among many other dimensions.



A strong corporate branding strategy can add significant value to anycorporation since it facilitates the implementation of the long-term visionand provides a unique position in the market place. It helps a company tofurther leverage on its tangible and non-tangible assets leading tobranding excellence throughout the corporation.

2. For a new product:

When a new product is launched by an existing company in the B2Bmarkets, it is very important that the company does its branding verycarefully. The name of the company is associated with the product, whichtransforms it into a brand. In addition to this the following strategiesshould be adopted in order to make the new product a strong brand:

• Tagline (or Slogan)

It is an easily recognizable and memorable phrase which oftenaccompanies a brand name in marketing communications programs. Themain purpose of a slogan is to support the brand image projected by thebrand name and logo. These three brand elements together provide thecore of the brand.

The following are the other brand building tools:

• Personal Selling: In business markets it is by far morecommon to serve business customers directly than in

consumer markets.• Direct Marketing

• Public Relations• Trade Shows and Exhibitions: Trade shows and exhibitions

are of majorimportance in the B2B environment. They also providecustomers with access to many potential suppliers andcustomers in a short period time at relatively low costscompared to regular information gathering methods.Customers can easily compare competitive offerings at one

place.• Sponsoring: Sponsorships of public events.

Corporate goals for sponsorship can be: increase revenue,create a platform for developing relationships, and providean opportunity to entertain customers in a uniqueenvironment as well as to generate benefits for employees.

• Advertising

• Sales Promotion

3. For repositioning:



When a product is launched in the market with a certain positioning andtarget group, it’s not necessary that it gives the desired results. There aretimes when the marketers and the companies reconsider their brandingand positioning decisions and later on reposition the brands.

Repositioning of brands in B2B is very different from B2C. In B2C thecompanies uses the IMC (Integrated Marketing Communication) tools inorder to convey their messages to the customers which is mostly masscommunication. On the other hand in B2B, the communication, in most of the cases is streamlined to the specific target markets and customers. Theentire B2B markets, work on trust and long term relationships, thusmaking it mandatory for the companies to communicate the repositioningproperly and accurately. This requires a high involvement with theexisting and potential customers and vendors.

The following methods can be adopted apart from advertising, publicity,

trade shows, etc. for repositioning of the brand:• Create and actively interact with customer advisory boards. Invite

the most influential opinion leaders to participate in event.

• Create and actively interact with strategic partner boards about thebrand repositioning decision the respective goal to do so.

• Create external “expert councils” for all major new products as wellas for repositioning of the existing brands. Invite the mostknowledgeable and influential outside experts to participate,involve them in the strategy building itself.

• Hold conferences and seminars, inviting current satisfied customers,prospective customers and internal and external industry experts.Present case studies, the latest innovations, ask the experts tospeak and focus on networking.

• Record testimonials from the most supportive customers andcommunicate the same.

• Develop and disseminate a portfolio of customer case studies toreinforce specific brand repositioning benefits to specific targetcustomers.

• Develop a speakers’ bureau and actively orchestrate speakingengagements at key industry events – conferences, trade shows,industry association meetings, etc.

• Make the following people and organizations aware of the brandrepositioning and its latest accomplishments:

o Industry analysts

o Financial analysts

o Resellers and other strategic partners

B2B Marketing Techniques

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