B2B Marketing

UNIT II
 Customer Insights in B2B Marketing

• A customer insight, or consumer insight, is an

interpretation of trends in human behaviors
which aims to increase the effectiveness of a
product or service for the consumer, as well as
increase sales for the financial benefit of those
provisioning the product or service
 Ways to Gain Customer Insight
• Continually monitor customer activity.
• Marketers should always be
reviewing customer information
• Ask for input. You can get feedback from
your customers in a lot of ways
• Build relationships
• Measure twice
• Understand communication channels
 B2B Customer Insight
• Customer insight for businesses selling to
other businesses can be utilized in marketing
and sales to radically improve profitability
through better efficiency and effectiveness
A good customer insight approach would
• Provide an in-depth understanding of
customer segments
• Deliver actionable insights into buyer journeys
among different segments
• Shape content to resonate with customers
 BRANDING AND CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

• Brand management is one way that marketing creates

competitive advantage for the business-to-business
firm
• Brands only exist in the minds of the customer. Many
companies have demonstrated that being known and
having positive brand associations could be extremely
important in competitive situations
• Branding adds value for the customer because it
makes the buying decision process easier and helps
him to reduce the risk of buying the wrong product
 BASIS FOR COMPARISON PRODUCT BRAND

Meaning A product is an item which is ready for sale in A brand is something which distinguishes a
the market. product from other products in the market.

What is it? A product is What you need? A brand is What you want?

Uniqueness A product can be easily copied. A brand has a distinguished identity, that
cannot be copied.

Created by Manufacturers Customers

Can it be replaced? Yes No

What they do? A product performs the functions. A brand offers value.

Appearance A product may be tangible or intangible in A brand is intangible.

nature.

Time Horizon A product can be outdated after some time. Brand remains forever.
 Brand elements
• Brand elements are trademarkable devices
that identify and differentiate the brand. For
example, Nike has the distinctive “swoosh”
logo and the “Nike” name from the winged
goddess of victory
 5 Steps to Build Your B2B Brand
• Outline Your Vision and Core Values
• Define Your Target Market/Ideal Client
• Determine Value Proposition
• Create Your B2B Brand Narrative
• Promote Your Brand Internally
 Customer Experience
• Customer experience is defined as
how customers perceive their interactions
with your brand.
• For example, if your brand stands for
“simplicity and flexibility”, then that's
what customers expect from their
interactions–whether in-store, online, or over
the phone
 The business value of taking B2B customer
experience seriously
• High satisfaction does not equate to high loyalty
• A customer could be highly satisfied with a company’s
products and services, but that doesn’t mean they are
also loyal
• A competitor could lure them away with a more
attractive customer value proposition.
• Conversely, a customer may not be satisfied with a
company’s offering but could display loyalty simply
due to the barriers of inertia or the difficulties in
switching brands.
• Integral to both satisfaction and loyalty is
the customer experience
• We have entered the age of the experience economy
where customers expect more than ever before
• Brands are at battle to outperform on experience such
as making the customer journey easier and delivering
faster
• The more powerful brands connect more on an
emotional level with their customers by invoking
feelings such as pride and accomplishment, thus
challenging the value paradigm in that customers are
often seeking more than functional and rational
benefits
• A positive customer experience encourages
customers to spend more. By way of example,
Amazon – a leader in experience innovation
with the likes of Amazon Prime and Amazon
Dash – enjoys an industry-leading position on
its Net Promoter Score (NPS), and attributes
more than one third of its revenue to cross-
selling
What are the secrets of b2b customer
experience excellence?
A FRAMEWORK FOR BUSINESS MARKETING MANAGEMENT
B2B strategy insights: Innovation for growth

• When we think about innovation, the popular image

that comes to mind is the B2C company with its
formal focus on innovation centers, ethnographic
research, and new technology and product
breakthroughs
• Meanwhile, many B2B companies, especially mid-
sized, don’t think of themselves as innovative, let
alone have they developed an “innovation
capability” with dedicated processes, staff, facilities
and funding
 How do you define innovation?
• Innovation needs to be defined against the unique goals and
context of your organization.
• Don’t limit that definition to just new products or technologies
—innovation can include both continuous improvement efforts
(finding efficiencies in the core business) as well as new growth
efforts, and should encompass all aspects of your business.
• While there are indeed distinctions between innovation in B2C
and B2B, there are fewer differences than popular perceptions
suggest.
• B2B marketing leaders are uniquely qualified to drive
innovation in their organizations—but their roles, much like
innovation itself, must be tailored to the context of each
organization
 Customer Values Assessment
• The Customer Values Assessment provides
you with a detailed report on what values
customers appreciate about your
organization, what values they would like to
see given more emphasis, and what values are
important to your customers in their daily
lives
Buying criteria in B2B buying decisions

• The stages of business buying includes

recognizing the problem, developing product
specs to solve the problem, searching for
possible products, selecting a supplier and
ordering the product, and finally evaluating
the product and supplier performance
Framework for customer value assessment
5 Steps to Create More Customer Value
By focusing efforts on your best customers, you can
increase customer value and grow your business
• Step 1:  Understand what drives value for your
customers
• Step 2:  Understand your value proposition
• Step 3:  Identify the customers and segments where you
can create more value relative to competitors
• Step 4:  Create a win-win price
• Step 5:  Focus investments on your most valuable
customers
 6 steps to crafting effective value
propositions
• Step 1. Understand the market and clients
• Step 2. Determine your true differentiators
• Step 3. Articulate unique value based on
customer need
• Step 4. Quantify value
• Step 5. Elicit feedback, then revise
• Step 6. Collaborate with sales to communicate
value propositions
Step 1. Understand the market and clients

• Conduct primary and secondary research, concentrating on

knowing your clients better. Develop market segment profiles and
personas representing the key roles targeted within those
segments

• Convene in a workshop with a cross-functional team that has a

balance of client-facing, technology-focused, and creative skills to
craft the actual value propositions

• Craft the actual value propositions in template form, then

transform them into storytelling prose backed by proof points.
Step 2. Determine your true differentiators
• To be successful, value propositions must express why the
company’s products, services, or solutions are superior to
the competition’s. What makes the company’s offer
unique?
• Examine your business
• Analyze the competitive landscape. Who are your
competitors? How are they positioned? What do they
offer? What are their value propositions, key
differentiators, and strengths and weaknesses?
• Construct a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and
threats (SWOT) analysis
• Conduct a 360-degree brand research study of
your clients, prospects, employees, influencers,
investors, and business partners. How do they
perceive you and your competitors? What makes
you stand out from the crowd? Ask clients what
benefits they get from doing business with you

• Present this information during a workshop, and

actively engage participants in building and
refining SWOT analyses. Also look at
differentiators to really notice if yours are unique.
 Step 3. Articulate unique value based on
customer need
A Proven Value Proposition Template
• Strategic Core Message:
• Who is your target audience?
• What are their needs or problems?
• What will your services do for them?
• How are your offerings unique (in terms of client perception)?
• How can you prove and quantify the benefits?
• Why should they prefer your offerings over the competitions?
• Your value proposition is:
• For (target segment) our (offering name) (primary functions/benefits). By
selecting our (offering name), you will experience (description of experience).
This offering will support your (cost reduction/revenue growth/profit growth)
objectives by… Unlike (competition), we (primary differentiator).
 Step 4. Quantify value
• Value propositions are most compelling when the
target audience can see what they are getting for
the price paid
• As buyers move through the buying process, their
needs for quantifying the benefits increase
• At the same time, the company learns more about
the client’s specific needs and can hone value
propositions to address specific client needs.
Step 5. Elicit feedback, then revise
• Now the value propositions are ready for testing,
validation, and revision. It is important to get
feedback from representative samples of business
segments and geographies
Make sure you:
• Have your best clients assess the value propositions.
• Validate value propositions with your sales force.
• Test, revise, and test again through a series of
conversations and more formal research approaches.
 Step 6. Collaborate with sales to
communicate value propositions

• Training. Marketing must train sales on the value

propositions and provide tools and templates to help
customize them.
• Tools. Develop interactive sales tools that guide the selling
process, enabling salespeople to engage in conversations
with clients based on the clients’ challenges.
• Account-Based Marketing (ABM). With ABM, marketing
and sales collaborate to create a strategic account plan and
marketing plan that treat the client like a market of one.
 Segmentation, Targeting & Positioning
• Segmentation comprises identifying the market to be
segmented; identification, selection, and application of
bases to be used in that segmentation; and development of
profiles.
• Targeting is the process of identifying the most attractive
segments from the segmentation stage, usually the ones
most profitable for the business.[2]
• Positioning is the final process, and is the more business-
orientated stage, where the business must assess its
competitive advantage and position itself in the consumer's
minds to be the more attractive option in these categories
Concept of STP
STP
Stages in Target Marketing Strategy
Development
 B2B Business Model
• It is a conceptual structure that supports a company
and explains how it is functioning, and making a
profit. Every company has a business model
irrespective of its size and turnover
• Mostly, business models consist of a few basic things,
such as the design and details of the products or
services, followed by methods of selling and finding
the target audience for the same and concluding
with how the consumers will pay and the company
will benefit out of the same.
• With the rise of technology, B2B models have become
extremely common and we often come across phrases
like B2B services and B2B sales
• It mainly refers to transactions or business activities
between two companies
• It involves one company selling products or providing
services to another company
• In simpler language, a company is another company’s
consumer
• The model is significantly different from Business-to-
customers or B2C models
• If you own a company that sells products or services to
another business, then it has a B2B model.
• Like every other business types, a B2B
business can also be classified into a few
categories
• Each company is supported by B2B providers or
suppliers as well as partners
• Various types of B2B business models work in
several sectors such as payroll and tax, research
and development, webpage designing and SEO
services, call centers, human resource and
recruitment, marketing and advertising, etc. As
you can see, it has a wide range of coverage
• With the help of the internet, a B2B business
can easily approach other companies out
there
• They can explain their products/services and
the benefits of using them through online
platforms
• In most of these models, both the parties have
negotiating power to some extent
 Customer-Centric Model
• This is a type of model that refers to a particular business type
where the customers have equal value even after the sale has
taken place
• This particular approach is applied to keep the existing
customers in hand to do profitable business from them again in
the future
• Here customers are the main priority and they have a significant
influence on the business operations as well as the brands that
engage with them
• The best example to cite this is Amazon and Flipkart. Both the
leading eCommerce giants follow a customer-centric approach
towards retaining their loyal customers. It takes years of reliable
service and value offered to every customer which has gained
such a level of engagement. 
Customer-Centric Model
 Buyer Centric Model
• This model is mainly used among the big corporate companies as they have a
higher rate of purchases
• Here the buyer sets a portal where the sellers and providers quote their ways
• The sellers approach the buyer with different quotations and various bribing
words to make them understand the benefits they are eligible for providing
• Then in the final stage, it is the buyer’s call to choose the most suited
company regarding its specifications and budget
• The best example that can be cited for this type of business is Walmart.
Walmart has its business all across the globe and influences a lot of suppliers
based on the locations. Thus Walmart has to set up standards of supplies and
the suppliers abide by it. Generally, bidding is placed among suppliers of the
local region and the highest bidder gets to supply for the organization
Buyer Centric Model
 Intermediary Centric Model
• This is one of the popular B2B model, which provides a common platform for
both the sellers and buyers to interact and transact with one another
• This common platform is formed by the intermediaries. In return, the
intermediaries get their fair share as commission from the parties that are
involved
• Many times the buyers miss out the relevant products that are available in
the digital market
• A third marketplace is not only a great additional platform but also it helps in
driving out many important businesses
• For instance, eBay and OLX bring you a platform where you can connect over
with potential buyers for your product or service. You agree to the terms of
the commission that these third-party vendors would charge. For every
transaction made or sale happened, the intermediate earns a certain sum of
money. 
Intermediary Centric Model
B2B Models that Can Help in Connecting with
Your Trading Partners
The direct connection B2B model
• This model outlines the process in which your business is
connected directly to all your trading partners for transferring
electronic documents amongst them
• The IT organization connected with your business is considered
to be responsible for all sorts of business-related tasks like
translation, tracking of all documents, assisting technical
support, and mapping
• Once the community grows under this model, the immediate
priority goes onto continual monitoring of communications and
managing trade partner calls to resolve their issues quickly.
Network B2B model
• The inception of this model came into the picture when
the direct model resulted in multiple complexities
• Thereby, the companies decided to execute exclusively via
a B2B Service Provider, which was known to be a Value-
Added Network (VAN), before the invention of the
internet
• Under this model, a single connection was established to
the Service Provider who used protocols like AS2, SFTP,
FTPS, FTP over VPN, RosettaNet
• Similarly, the trading partners connected with the Service
Provider by choosing the respective connectivity protocol
that was most desirable as per the company’s
requirements
Hybrid B2B model
• The conjoined combination including the direct and
network models gave birth to this particular model
• In a motive to save on the Service Provider
transaction fees, businesses will get in touch
directly with their trading partners with whom they
have the maximum volume of transactions through
the medium of internet
• Doing this, the business is constantly benefitted
from the Service Provider for the cause of trading
with a huge number of lower-volume trading
partners.
Managed B2B model
• This model is a platform where the company outsources
its entire B2B process requirements to an outside service
provider and benefits by lowering the resource needs
• This also cuts down the additional costs and complications
of the process
• The model works on a system that lets the Service
Provider receive the business documents through a direct
medium of your ERP system
• It is then responsible for activities like mapping,
translation, data center operations, technical support, and
document tracking
• The Service Provider will deliver the ready documents to
your trading partners directly or through the network
 Advantages of B2B Business Models
• B2B businesses witness more stability
• Unlike B2C models, where customers can easily jump from one provider
to another, business predictability is much better in B2B models
• The relationship between two business houses (buyer and seller) evolve
with time
• B2B companies can easily plan their revenue budgets accurately.
Collaboration in the distribution channels have to lead to higher customer
loyalty and that is a plus point for businesses in this field
• Business relying on other business for products and services are not fickle
like the customers we get to witness in B2C models
• Both the parties have mutual understanding and the buyer relies on the
seller for consistency in product or service quality, dependability, value,
etc.
• Moreover, the selling cycle is shorter as well.
• Overall, B2B business models help in reducing overall expenses as
well. This can be primarily attributable to advanced supply-chain
management, lower chances of errors and undue expenditure.
• Another pro feature of this model is that it depends on factual
data for streamlining the entire process. The calculation of sales is
much easier this way.
• From the buyer’s point of view, they can get their products at a
cheaper rate through online auctions. It is easier for them as they
get so many estimates without even having to leave the office.
There are so many types of B2B business models, which are
highly beneficial.
• However, it is true that despite all the above-mentioned
advantages, there are some cons such as smaller customer pool,
etc. But with the right plan, you can even overcome the same.