Hitting the target

Fleur Doidge explores some key factors to aim for when marketing B2B, and asks if social media is delivering results

How should marketing to businesses differ from marketing to consumers, and what techniques should IT providers use and develop?

Michael Breeze, marketing director at open-source and derived offerings specialist distributor Interactive Ideas, says they successfully target both B2C and B2B markets. And while there are a number of techniques employed across both areas, he says, some things work only for a particular audience.

The key is to focus on the right audience, message and communication channels. "When I am asked about particular techniques that work, I advise that these vary from company to company and from marketing campaign to marketing campaign," Breeze (pictured, below right) says. "Marketing is not a set procedure."

That said, new approaches are constantly developing that may or may not be worth using. The channel, he says, should think about a company's individual needs and what the customers might need or want. "Ask why what you are trying to sell is of relevance to them and how you can make your company or product stand out in order to drive engagement," says Breeze.

Buzzwords that currently hold sway in the industry -- such as cloud, mobility or consumerisation -- may also be worth exploring in relation to customer needs, although researching the prospect will still be needed.

Defining the differences

Market research firm B2B International maintains B2B marketing has developed into a clearly separate discipline in the past 10 years. Its white paper B2B Marketing: What Makes it Special?, written by directors Matthew Harrison, Paul Hague and Nick Hague, confirms that the main difference is that it is about meeting the needs of other businesses, even though the demand for the products ultimately is likely to be driven by consumers.

B2B decision making can be more complex, dynamic and lengthy, particularly when the product being marketed is itself more complex, such as an IT solution or service that may also have to work with other products or services.

The trio writes: "The target audiences are amorphous, made up of groups of constantly changing individuals with different interests and motivations. Buyers seek a good financial deal. Production managers want high throughput. Health and safety executives want low risk. And those are just their simple, functional needs."

It is more important for B2B marketers to demonstrate a high level of expertise, in all their interactions with the target audience, as well as diligence and patience. However, the analysts also warn that B2B buyers, like consumers, do not make their decisions based solely on reason - they cannot help but bring their psychological and cultural baggage to the table, and that will have an effect, even in the most strictly reasoned negotiations.

B2B buyers do not want to risk buying an unreliable product and service. And perhaps counter-intuitively, this can make feelings of trust and security critical.

"This places great emphasis on brand, reputation, case studies and other factors which convey reliability and consistency over the life of the product or service being purchased," the analysts write.

A small number of customers -- as in consumer marketing -- are likely to prove the most valuable in sales terms. However, there are likely to be far fewer market segments than in consumer because business behaviour varies less - price and volume being two key segments for the channel. This is partly because more people tend to be involved in a business decision, and partly because personal whims are further from the equation.

This needs to be taken into account when marketing an offering, and makes database management and CRM critical. Key accounts must remain the focus and branding must be rigorous as relationships are developed.

"Indeed, B2B key accounts are increasingly moving beyond requiring effective product, services and good prices; they are now looking for partnership. They are looking for suppliers that will hold stock on their behalf, provide technical consultancy, calculate product efficiency and added value, and offer long-term onsite support," the writers confirm.

Beyond relationship building, the marketing medium chosen varies but is less about advertising than in the consumer space, says B2B International.

Getting more social

Perhaps the biggest buzz in recent years has been the potential of social networking, especially on Twitter and YouTube. However, it seems the promise social media offers business marketing in general, let alone in the channel, is yet to be fulfilled.

According to Thomas Brown, head of insights at the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), there remains a skills gap, which means many businesses are not getting the marketing value from social media that is believed possible. Business use of social media is far from reaching the mature state that many predicted would be seen by 2012.

"We are a long way away from this at the moment," Brown says. "In the coming year, businesses will need to address the widespread skills gap that this survey has uncovered. The gap between businesses that perform well on social media and those that do not will widen dramatically."

The institute polled 1,500 businesses around the world in its first bi-annual social media benchmark survey, announcing the results in February 2012.

Only 10 per cent of businesses surveyed said they have the skills to employ social media effectively as a marketing tool. And 20 per cent described their firm as "fundamentally ill equipped" when it comes to social media. Forty-five per cent added that they did not have the time or resources to manage it.

Furthermore, Brown says the poll suggests that only one third of marketers strongly believe that social media channels can be used to help their businesses grow. About a third indicated their involvement with Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Facebook is still only experimental - and usually related only to a single campaign - when it should be used, according to CIM, as a standalone, ongoing function generating new business in itself.

This is "somewhat at odds" with businesses expanding investment in social media, Brown adds, and CIM maintains that social media does indeed hold significant potential for marketers. They might just need to work harder to get social media projects supported by their employers.

Forty-seven per cent of the 71 per cent of respondents that uses Twitter said they tweet at least once a day. Only 56 per cent use Facebook, 53 per cent LinkedIn, and 41 per cent YouTube. More than half of all the marketers polled said Twitter would be "significant" within five years, and more than half said their social media use provides little valuable market or competitive intelligence, let alone generates prospects or enquiries.

"If companies fail to invest in the skills, time and training necessary, they will find themselves left behind in a medium that they themselves admit is here to stay," Brown maintains. "The true sign of social media maturity in business will be when it is treated as just another channel, with its own characteristics and skills requirements."

UK-based CIM also notes that marketers need to keep abreast of the latest regulatory issues surrounding marketing.

Consumer law has recently been harmonised across the EU, but about 87 per cent of marketers reported in CIM's 2012 marketing trends survey that they had only "poor or non-existent knowledge" of the relevant Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) and Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) codes. The CAP code also covers online or digital channels, such as social media.

"This helps with brand building, avoids potential contention in litigious cases and also leads to a relationship between company and customer based on trust," says CIM. And maintaining the status of a trusted adviser is similarly key in the IT channel today.