B2B Marketing

Communications
 B2B
Promotion Mix
• Four More Ps:
–Personal Selling
–Paid Advertising
–Sales Promotion
–Publicity
 What’s different about
industrial promotion?
• Differences due to:
– Products are more technical
– Fewer buyers
– Buyer location
– Long, complex buying process
• Therefore, advertising, sales promotion
and publicity play support roles to
sales.
 What else is different about
industrial promotion?
• Not much mass media.
• Mostly print advertising
• Messages logical/factual, vs. emotional
• May need different promotion to
different organizations, or even people
within a single organization.
 Available Promotional Tools I
• General Business Publications: Forbes
• Trade Publications
– Horizontal: Job/Function focused: purchasing
– Vertical: Industry focused: steel, agriculture
• Industrial Directories: Thomas Register
• Trade Shows
• Catalogs
 Available Promotional Tools II
• Direct Mail
• Videos
• Technical Reports
• Web Sites/Internet
• Samples
• Publicity
• Novelties
• Telemarketing
 Spending Promotional Dollars
• Specialized business pubs: 23%
• Trade shows, exhibits, displays: 18%
• Direct Mail: 10%
• Electronic Media/Internet: 9%
• Publicity/Public Relations: 7%
• General Magazines: 6%
• Dealer/Distributor Material: 5%
• Directories, Yellow Pages: 5%
 Cost/Effectiveness of Promo Mix
Cost/Contact Effectiveness
High High
Field Salesperson
Inside Salesperson
(Telemarketing)
Trade Shows
Medium Medium
Direct Mail
Catalogs/Manuals
Trade Journals
Low Other Advertising Low
 Review of Buying Process
• Problem Awareness: Sr. Mgmt/Current Users; use
Trade Shows and Trade Publication Advertising
• Solution Identification/ Information Search:
Techies; use Catalogs, Samples, Trade Journal Advertising,
Sales Force (defense)
• Evaluate Alternatives: Purchasing Mgrs.; use
Comparative Adv., Testimonials, Sales, Tech Reports,
Publicity
• Decide/Purchase: SALES: negotiate, persuade, adapt
• Post-Purchase Evaluation: Advertising, inside
sales, direct mail
Why businesses should advertise.
• Can reach people in the buying center that
sales can’t reach

• Good tool for prospecting (1-800; reply card)

• Can lay groundwork for salesperson’s call

– Creating awareness
– Providing general information
Why businesses should advertise.
• Can reduce cost of sales call

• Motivate/support intermediaries/distributors

• Can create pull for customer’s products,

leading to increased derived demand

• Can convey desired image

 Print Media
• Advantages
– Not fleeting like broadcast
– Can include technical information
– Buyer can go back and see again
– Buyer can go through at own pace & focus on
what she/he is interested
• Disadvantages
– Can’t possibly include all pertinent information
– May not be seen
– Difficult to assess effectiveness (like all adv.)
 Advertising Objectives
• Express as sales or market share (easy to
measure)
• Could also use awareness levels or changes
in attitudes, beliefs, or perceptions
• Might just be reminder (esp. in decline)
• Post-sale reassurance (reduce cognitive
dissonance)
• BE SPECIFIC: Time and Audience
• Unfortunately, most managers don’t know
or understand their objectives
See how many objectives this IBM ad targets ☺

IBM ad.flv
 Advertising Objectives II
Objective Strategy Characteristics

Awareness Corporate Diffuse, Long Term Benefits; Low

Generic Persuasion Informative, not
comparative
Knowledge Preemptive Establish superiority. Informative,
moderate persuasion
Liking Brand Image Focus on benefits, not competitors
Emotion, moderate persuasion
Preference Positioning Focus on differentiation vs. competition.
Conviction High/moderate persuasion
Purchase Unique What comp. Does not do. Hi persuasion
Appeal to action Incentive to act. High persuasion
 How much to spend?

High Low
Standardized Products Customized Products
Broad product line Narrow product line
Superior product quality Lower product quality
High price Low/Average price
 The Message

• Need visual magnetism: get attention

– Color, contrast, angles, straight lines, oddities, …
• Select the right audience
• Invite reader into the scene: identify with ad
• Promise reward (benefits, good performance)
• Back up promise: support claim
– Testimonials, tech standards, …
 The Message ….contd
• Organize ad to present message in logical
sequence
• Speak to reader as an individual, personalize,
keep simple, ACTIVE VOICE
– Avoid Clichés
• Easy to read
• What vs. where or who: Focus on product or
service first, not the company (except…)
• Reflect company’s character & personality
– Be consistent, takes long time to develop and
maintain image
 Choosing Media …
• General B. Publications (Forbes, Business
Week)
– Good for products with broad appeal to large # of
customers, who are geographically dispersed.
– Good to project image to business community.
– May be best to reach upper level management.
– Cost up to TEN TIMES price of trade journal ads.
 Choosing Media …

• Trade Journals (Modern Metal, Purchasing Today)

– Special Interest. Knowledgeable readers.
– Vertical vs. Horizontal.
– Useful for directing specific, technical messages
– Can reach technical people who read these journals
 Choosing Media …contd…
• Industrial Directories (Thomas Register)
– List suppliers of variety of product types
– Also Catalogs, like Sweet’s
• Telemarketing
– Incoming and outgoing
– Complaints, inquiries, orders, service requests
• WWW
– Catalogs, orders, email, phone directories,
information on company and products
• Direct Mail: Brochures, Intro letters
 Evaluating Advertising
• Compare outcomes to goals.
• Look at bottom-line increases in sales. Be
sure to account for other factors (pricing,
sales efforts, competitor actions)
• Nonlinear relationship, diminishing returns
• Time lag can be months
• Was target audience reached?
• Which medium was most effective? $/sale
• Effect of adv on audience attitude,
awareness, recall, behavioral intent (to buy)
 Sales Promotion
• Supplements and complements sales
• Samples
• Contests for distributors
• Advertising Specialties: Trinkets and Trash
• Trade Shows, conventions
• Catalogs
• Distribute Technical Reports
Trade Shows
 Benefits of Trade Shows
• Formal exhibition of products
• Opportunity to make lots of contacts at once
• Good for customers to ask questions and
compare competitors
• Introduce/demonstrate products
• Build awareness
• Make personal contacts
• Parity with competitors
• Recruit employees, reps, and distributors
Tips while participating in Trade Shows
• Need to identify goals
• Measure effectiveness
• Know which shows to focus on
• Displays and Literature: Location, Quantity/Quality
• Static Displays: Well trained salespeople.
• Attention-Getters: Contests, Shows, Games, Gimmicks
• Audiovisual Presentations: Tapes, Computers, Films
• Live Product Demonstrations: 10 Minutes ±
• Be on MUST SEE list
• Take-Aways: Literature, brochures, samples
 Catalogs
• Contain information on the
company’s line of products.
• Might include price lists &
warranties.
• Can customize
• Use Direct Mail, Trade
Shows, Sales to distribute
• Put on-line
• Publish in industry
directories
 Technical Reports
• Describe product and its
use
• Gives fairly detailed
specifications (customer
understanding, no trade
secrets)
• Graphs, charts, illustrations
• May give results of product
testing
• Distribute via direct mail,
trade shows, sales
 Publicity
• “FREE” (or at least less than advertising)
• Credibility: Objective 3rd Party
• Events: Seminars, etc
• Sponsorships (even sponsor lunch, tour, etc)
• Press releases
• Press conferences
• Public speaking (CEO invited…Bill Gates)
• Article Writing in trade journals
• Supplemental Role: Inform about new products;
Generate inquiries; Increase awareness