B2B Marketing: A Radically Different Approach for Business-To-Business Marketers - Hardcover

Minett, Steve

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 027365425X ISBN 13: 9780273654254

Publisher: Financial Times Management, 2002

Synopsis

What do you think will impress a potential business customer most?  A slick marketing pitch or a concrete example of  how your products or services have helped genuine businesses make real money?     Here is a  radically different approach for business-to-business marketers, based on proof not promises.Business customers and traditional consumers do not buy the same way; they are driven by different impulses and respond to different approaches. Business buyers behave differently and it's time we marketed to them differently.  B2B and B2C marketing satisfy their respective customers' needs and wants in different ways. B2B product development is driven by technological progress, B2C driven by fashion and trends. B2B purchases are often a considered, group decision while B2C purchases are personal and more impulsive. Here, for the first time, is a definitive guide to B2B marketing to help you adopt a more targeted approach to getting better results with business customers.  B2B marketing requires a new set of strategies and tools, and business is looking for a new breed of B2B marketer. This book will give you the essential know-how to becoming a successful B2B marketer.  Combining insight and practical advice, the book explores:
- the basics of B2B marketing
- fundamental differences between B2B and consumer marketing in terms of product development and purchasing behavior
- how these differences affect branding and communications in B2B marketing
- strategy models and actual practice, based on interviews with prominent, world- wide B2B practitioners.The book contains 9 'maxi-cases', specifically written for the book, about how some B2B companies have actually been practising Case-Based marketing, in areas such as strategy, branding and e-Business. These cases described the practise of major global companies, including ITT Industries, Ericsson, Sandvik Steel and Alfa Laval, but also smaller companies in Sweden, America and the UK.   "There are few good books for B2B marketers, despite the fact that they form the majority of the profession. Steve Minett's excellent and highly originally book is a welcome exception: every B2B marketer should read this book," Charles Nixon, Chairman of Cambridge Marketing College.

About this title

About the Author

Steve Minett, PhD has spent most of his working life in B2B marketing for large European and North American multinational companies. He has a BA from the University of Sussex, and an MA and PhD from Stockholm University. He is also a chartered marketeer who undertook postgraduate work at Oxford and Minnesota Universities, and lectured at Stockholm University.

In 1991, Steve established his own agency, Minett Media, which works with a wide range of clients from multinationals to companies with less than ten employees. He has written over 300 articles in more than 200 different international journals.

From the Back Cover

A radically different approach for business-to-business marketers.

Business customers and traditional consumers do not buy the same way; they are driven by different impulses and respond to different approaches. Business buyers behave differently and it's time we marketed to them differently.

B2B marketing requires a new set of strategies and tools, and business is looking for a new breed of B2B marketer. This book will give you the essential know-how to becoming a successful B2B marketer.

There is growing realization that marketing consumer goods to individual buyers is very different from marketing business-to-business products to business customers.

B2B and B2C marketing satisfy their respective customers' needs and wants in different ways. B2B product development is driven by technological progress, B2C driven by fashion and trends. B2B purchases are often a considered, group decision while B2C purchases are personal and more impulsive.

At the moment marketing literature and courses are overwhelmingly B2C focused. It's time for a change - here is the definitive guide to B2B marketing to help you adopt a more targeted approach to getting better results with business customers.

Combining insight and practical advice, the book explores:

• the basics of B2B marketing
• fundamental differences between B2B and consumer marketing in terms of product development and purchasing behavior
• how these differences affect branding and communications in B2B marketing
• strategy models and actual practice, based on interviews with prominent, world-wide B2B practitioners.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

ForewordBy Thomas R. MartinSenior Vice President and Director, Corporate Relations ITT Industries, Inc.

ITT Industries is a classic example of a business to business enterprise. Very few of our products are sold directly to consumers. The overwhelming majority of our revenue come from products and services bought by businesses, municipalities, government agencies, and other organizations. Clearly, this "B2B" marketplace thinks differently, acts differently and has a different set of communication expectations when compared to the business to consumer or "B2C" market.

When I first joined ITT Industries in 1996, the company was faced with a serious identity problem. In the 1960s and 1970s, the old ITT had personified the cliche of the conglomerate, acquiring and divesting scores of companies each year in diverse fields, from financial services to forestry, from insurance to hotels, manufacturing, and telecommunications. In December of 1995, the huge company split into three separate organizations: one focussed on insurance, one on gaming and hospitality, and finally ITT Industries, a diversified manufacturing company.

Yet our customers and investors, even our employees were unsure of exactly what we did. In an effort to address this confusion, we launched a comprehensive campaign in 1998 aimed at unifying our many strong product brands under a clarified corporate brand. As part of this effort, we adopted a new tagline, "Engineered for Life" and began to tell our stories through the voice of our engineers. Steve Minett and his company have helped us tell those stories.

In this new book, Minett skillfully explores the unique selling and communications needs of the B2B market. As he explains, organizations are motivated by a particular set of market drivers and a purchasing decision process that is quite different from the consumer market. B2B purchasing decisions are driven more by needs than wants, more by technological applications than changing fashion.

As a result, the B2B marketplace lends itself especially well to the use of case studies, stories of successful applications and end-use solutions made possible by the products or services provided by the selling organization. In many ways, these case stories help spark the imagination of the buyer, presenting a range of new possibilities not always obvious from a simple description of product features.

Steve Minett's ideas aren't just interesting theoretical suppositions; they actually work. On behalf of ITT Industries, Minett Media has, in recent years, placed approximately 350 articles in the international trade press. In terms of the cost of equivalent advertising space, these placements represent a value of around $2 million, while the cost of achieving these results (including the cost of article production) has amounted to less than $150,000, less than 7.5% of the value. More importantly, this editorial coverage leads to actual buyer interest and, ultimately, sales.

Trade publications are eager for material that is of interest to their readers. Minett's approach in telling interesting stories helps to break through the clutter and connect with an audience of interested prospects. It may seem glamorous to be featured in Fortune, Forbes, or BusinessWeek, but articles in these major media rarely lead to direct sales. Trade coverage, on the other hand, often does.

Minett is clearly on to something. Anyone trying to sell a product or service in the B2B world will benefit from his advice. Businesses are more than a sum total of tangible assets; at heart, organizations represent a collection of imagination, solutions, and ideas. Steve Minett taps into this imaginative world in a novel and creative way. Enjoy his story.

Edition details

• Publisher: Financial Times Management
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 027365425X
• ISBN 13: 9780273654254
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256