The B2B
marketing teams across the world have only recently begun to look beyond the
myth that says that “branding is relevant only in B2C categories”. They have
finally awoken to the fact that if they understand and utilize the concept of
branding, they will fare better than their competitors. They are realizing that
developing brand awareness among customers’ customers can help capture a larger
share of channel margins and build loyalty that can protect them against price-based
competition.
However,
there are some basic dynamics that impact B2B marketing significantly and these
need to be taken into consideration while developing branding and marketing
programs for the B2B segment.
For
one, there are, usually, only a few buyers and more over, they are not as
transitory as the buyers in the B2C space tend to be. Therefore, both
developing and maintaining relationships becomes an important part of the
marketing agenda. While this is rather obvious to the B2B marketer, he tends to
forget the fact that there is a need to constantly evaluate and thereby
strengthen these relationships.
Secondly,
the positioning of a B2B brand needs to be done in a way that will ensure a
proper fit, accuracy and relevance.
Marketing research plays a crucial role in helping B2B firms define this positioning.
Thirdly,
B2B marketer’s survival kit is, good information about the size and structure
of the market. Knowing the size and structure of the market is very essential
for the company to enable it to formulate its strategic objectives. Most B2B
companies specialize in a narrow market sector and therefore it is necessary to
assess the market size and structure from a number of different angles. This
adds precision and confidence to the figures and will increase the
understanding of how the market is constructed.
Finally,
marketing teams in B2B firms suffer from a tendency to look at all marketing
effort from a rational, sales-driven, and short-term perspective. Often, by
virtue of their technical backgrounds they fall a little short in being
creative in their marketing approaches. And so, marketing and communication
becomes rather dry, rational and standard across brands, making differentiation
very difficult, thus leading to the simplest choice factor, Price.
Obviously, market research has the potential to play an
important role in B2B marketing; however, amazingly, most B2B
companies conduct no market research at all to speak of. Or, to put it more precisely, they
concentrate on various technical statistical data but make no effort to find
out the emotional responses within their target group toward their industry's
products and/or services.
Since
the B2B market is based on manufacturing and producing goods / services whose
need is factual, it is assumed that the decision-making process is equally
completely rational. It is believed that "we B2B experts are completely
logical and never allow any emotional impulses to intervene in our
decision-making process..." but this is not exactly so… What is forgotten,
however, is that we are human. Human
nature predetermines behavior and so, every action is triggered by an emotional
impulse. We do almost nothing that does
not have some emotional impulse to trigger it off.
Logical
thinking is the keyword within the B2B industries because it is the ideal which
is sought. However, even though theoretically, it is possible to do something
without emotion, even routine activities carry some conviction of emotion, be
it boredom or the feeling of responsibility or the emotion of being forced to
do it against one's own willingness. The emotion is not often obvious to the
person because it's so interwoven with thinking, and that just makes emotional
impulses more hidden.
Market
research in such a setting, is not something researchers look forward to. For
the market researcher, B2B research is usually seen as boring. It is so much
more interesting, exciting and glamorous to discuss the new ad for a soft
drink, rather than listen to engineers talk about the merits of a new
development in a pumps brand. The challenge is to get away from the rational
'work mode' in which these projects normally take place.
B2B
marketers, for their part are very skeptical of research output, as they are
inclined to question the very approach that research adopts, feeling that they
are more suitable to the B2C. Industrial
and B2B market survey projects are practical, accurate, and reflective of
the particular client needs and the nature of the targeted B2B market. Technology
market research, therefore, often requires the researcher to be both
knowledgeable in the language and concepts of technical issues, while bringing in a
fresh approach to technology marketing issues.
The
crucial thing in B2B research (as in B2C) is choosing the right approach.
Traditional
quantitative methods face many challenges like –
- Choosing
the sample size – given that the universe itself is small in the case of
B2B, even the usual simple random sampling becomes expensive as it requires a complete list
of the companies from which to make the selection. In a country like
India, putting together such a comprehensive list is almost impossible and
even in cases where it can be done; it is tedious, time-consuming and very
expensive.
- Setting
quotas within an already small sample size, to ensure that you can get the
required width and depth of analysis becomes an additional challenge.
- Designing
the questionnaire itself, requires the researcher to have a thorough
knowledge of both the company and the category. Attribute listing becomes
critical to the exercise.
- Identifying
the right individual for administering the questionnaire- each industry
and often each firm within an industry tends to follow a different process
for choosing a supplier. The people involved in the decision making
process can vary drastically as can the decision making process itself.
The final decision maker can also vary, from company to company.
Therefore, identifying the right individual to meet, becomes a challenge
and requires significant time and effort.
- Industrial
interviewing is often carried out over the telephone for expediency and
economy. Although there will be some loss of data, the cost will be one
tenth of a face to face interview. The telephone handicaps the interviewer
and respondent in some ways. One can never be sure that the presence of
other people at the respondent's end is not influencing the answers, and
both parties are inhibited by their verbal powers of description. As a
result the face to face interview is cherished in industrial market
research, calling for special skills in both obtaining and conducting the
interview.
So,
qualitative approach is more suitable to B2B research? Not necessarily.
Qualitative research faces its own challenges in the B2B space –
- Geographical
spread of the sample proves expensive, even for convenience based
qualitative research sample
- Access
and availability of respondents is a time-consuming process and can end-up
consuming twice as many man-days as budgeted
- Multiple
interviews within an organization become essential to cover all
information and to be able to validate it enough to be able to get a
comprehensive perspective.
Therefore,
it is essential that industrial market research studies begin to use hybrid
designs, incorporating both qualitative and quantitative methods.
Quantitative
methods using technology can prove to be more effective is B2B research. Email
surveys, web-based discussions can be used extensively and relatively
economically to produce valuable information. The fact is that industrial teams
respond more positively to a computer screen that allows them the flexibility
to complete the survey at their convenience, while also letting them
cross-check facts as and when required, than to a researcher sitting across
from them and wanting the answers there and then.
Qualitative
research methods need to go beyond the traditional depth interview approach
that is typically used in B2B research and explore possibilities of using
ethnographic observations, projective techniques, visual cues etc to elicit
responses that go beyond the rational and delve into the emotional.
Therefore
while planning and conducting B2B research, researchers as well as marketers
need to ensure the following
- Plan
the research extremely carefully
- Carefully
put together the list of key information areas and be clear on how you
are going to use the information finally
- Evaluate
the information already available through secondary sources – from
industry information to comprehensive contact lists.
- Evaluate
accessibility – the geographical spread of the sample and the levels of
people that you need to meet
- Evaluate the number of people you need to meet to get relevant information
- Evaluate
different research approaches to identify one, or a combination of
approaches that will give you maximum input, in the least time consuming
and at least cost
- Ensure
that you allocate sufficient time and people for assignment
- B2B
research interviews will often involve a great deal of waiting time; will
often be re-scheduled and also cancelled. Therefore the time-plan needs
to factor in all these eventualities.
- B2B
research needs a lot more effort on planning and therefore ensure that
- All meetings are planned
- Obtaining a market research interview is not easy - the respondent believes (with some justification) that he is giving up his valuable time and may be getting little in return. The best way of approaching a respondent is to be confident, clear, pleasant and businesslike.
- To the extent possible, fix meetings directly with the respondent and not through others in the organization
- Background
info is collected before primary phase commences
- If
using quantitative method, ensure that there are enough open-ended Q’s that open the
possibility of asking “why is that”
- If
using a qualitative interview approach, they should be semi-structured
with sufficient probing
i. Avoid
sending out list of topics for discussion, questionnaires etc as it always gives the respondent a reason to
back out
- Ensure
that you leave a door open, so that you can follow-up for additional
information if needed.
- While
analyzing it is necessary to take a bird’s eye view, rather than focusing
on the details so that patterns emerge more clearly and more valuable
insights can be drawn.