B2B-Trends

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CURRENT TRENDS IN B2B-MARKETING AND B2B-COMMUNICATIONS sps-marketing.com

B2B-TRENDS IS THERE A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN B2B AND B2C? UPON CLOSER EXAMINATION, THE ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION IS A LITTLE MORE COMPLEX THAN MANY ADVERTISING EXPERTS LIKE TO ADMIT IN THEIR DEPICTIONS. THE DIFFERENCES ARE MANY-FOLD. THEY ARE FREQUENTLY EVIDENT ONLY IN SUBTLE NUANCES AND MUST BE IDENTIFIED IN BOTH, STRATEGIC MARKETING AND WITHIN THE DISCIPLINE OF COMMUNICATIONS. DIGITALIZATION, GLOBALIZATION AND THE EVER MORE INTENSE PRESSURE TO PRODUCE EARNINGS REVEAL THE DIFFERENCES. THIS IS EVIDENT IN THE EVALUATION OF THE CURRENT AND FUTURE TRENDS.

Social Media While the major consumer brands are successful in multiplying their fan communities at the speed of sound using pure lifestyle messages on Face Book and YouTube and will always have the opportunity to anchor their products in potential customers‘ brains, achieving the same feat will be much more difficult for a medium-sized system manufacturer. Consequently, social media has its limitations when it comes to its use as a sales tool in the B2B segment.

Networking yes – but the goal is a different one Nevertheless, industrial enterprises will have to make investments into this marketing channel. However, their objectives will have to be different. Companies eager to maintain and improve their reputation can use these resources to make important contributions.

These network platforms have already become indispensible for companies in the market for new, talented expert staff. They provide the opportunity to present one’s business to the adequate age and target group as an attractive employer and reap the benefits of the

“everyone-knows-everyone” effect of the large communities. One critical factor is to make sure that the content is in fact relevant. Those who view Facebook et al only platforms for fun and post nothing but jokes will not enjoy the desired success.

Employer branding – a megatrend Many companies consider employer branding a trend that was emerged a few years ago and is therefore already obsolete. Those who share this line of thinking are wrong. Employer branding is in fact a megatrend – especially in the industrial sector. The demographic developments in Western Europe and the increasing global competition in the solicitation of expert and management staff clearly point in one direction.

The aim is not limited to the successful recruitment of new, highly qualified employees, but also to retain productive employees who are already on board. Many who are now 50 and 60 years old will be highly coveted experienced professionals in just a few years – and even head hunters will be keenly interested in them.

Consequently, it is absolutely worthwhile to think about the perspectives and continued

education opportunities a company should offer its older employees today. The aspect that targeted employer branding also has the perfect potential of boosting, for example, the quality within the entire company significantly.

Various campaigns have demonstrated that companies who have high employee motivation levels profit from results such as better products and improved processes. Values change simultaneously, which increases the motivation levels of every individual staff member. Hence, the corporate culture becomes a deciding factor as far as a company’s competitive edge is concerned.

Global brand management is an eco-social and cultural balancing act Enterprises who have identified the globalization of the markets not only as the playing field of new competitors from industrial nations emerging at lightning speeds, such as China and India, but also as one that offers new sales opportunities will enjoy optimum chances to participate in the prosperity of the future.

Those targeting sustainable success will not be able to bypass the topic of global brand management and should definitely not shy away from it. Current reports indicate that there is

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hardly any demand for cars made in China in Western Europe. This proves that the premium quality delivered by nations such as Austria and Germany is still a very important sales criterion. Industrial companies here will have to continue to make a huge impression based on this value. Most importantly, they will have to achieve this feat around the globe.

An actual real life example: An Asian automaker is planning to place a product sourced from a supplier – “Made in Austria” – into the center of the company’s worldwide new car launch communications with the objective of underscoring a clear quality advantage and to do justice to a new premium quality claim. The supplier and the supplier’s product are named clearly and prominently in the respective communications concept. As a result, the product is established as a bona fide sub-brand – and this has an immensely positive impact on the supplier’s brand in general. Ingredient branding will make a highly relevant contribution to the brand creation process of suppliers.

However, those who are venturing out into the international terrain should also keep their eyes trained on all economic, ecological, social and cultural differences. A concept may work

very well in the German-speaking regions, yet it might turn out to be a complete flop in the other parts of the world if implemented in exactly the same manner. Intricate details will have to be taken into account and the concept may have to be adapted to meet the requirements of the new target market. To be able to do this, you do of course have to know the target market. Or you will have to have communications partners who know the market inside out.

Storytelling: relevant copy and video content “Nobody will even bother to read the copy,” is probably one of the worst false assumptions made in the current communications era. In fact, it would be impossible to familiarize one’s target groups with the complex topics covered in B2B marketing if it were not for well-written copy.

The fact is: People will read what truly interests them. Time and again, this may just be advertising copy or a cleverly produced brochure.

What counts is the content and its relevancy: Do I as the reader find myself confronted with nothing but uninspiring exposes covering

“NOBODY WILL EVEN BOTHER TO READ THE COPY, IS PROBABLY ONE OF THE WORST FALSE ASSUMPTIONS MADE IN THE CURRENT COMMUNICATIONS ERA. IN FACT, IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE TO FAMILIARIZE ONE’S TARGET GROUPS WITH THE COMPLEX TOPICS COVERED IN B2B MARKETING IF IT WERE NOT FOR WELLWRITTEN COPY.” Gerhard Preslmayer Managing Director

CURRENT TRENDS IN B2B-MARKETING AND B2B-COMMUNICATIONS sps-marketing.com

product and service benefits? Or will the writer surprise me, for instant with interesting facts I did not know before or with a brief story that addresses my own needs and therefore enthralls me right away?

A related example: On the Internet and in their image brochures, most businesses refer to themselves as leaders within their sector or segment. Next, we get to read the typical buzz words – “innovative” and “International.” It is almost impossible to distinguish one company from another. Ultimately, the question “Why should I work with this specific company?” is not even answered. In fact, such communications do not make any attempts to create an emotional affinity. The truth is – no one will read this type of copy in its entirety.

A change of perspective will make your storytelling riveting: How would the customer assess the product or service? What are his needs? What is hoping to find? What makes or breaks the deal for him? Two percent improvement will frequently not be enough.

This is especially the case if this tiny increase requires significant investments. A look at some of the messages the consumer brands are communicating can be helpful: Haribo does not just sell sweets; it makes life fun-filled for everyone. Apple does not must manufacture computers; it helps creative brains make their dreams come true.

How much of an impression well-written copy can make, is evident in motion pictures: Relevant messages integrated into animations that speak for themselves or into authentic brief video clips quickly make their way into the relevancy mindset of the target group. Of course only if the content is perfectly on message, the presentation is compatible with the company and the esthetics have differentiation potential. Moving pictures play a dominating role in the race for customer attention – and it has to be used everywhere: During road shows, on the Internet, at tradeshows and in your own reception area.

Tradeshows: A real touch point for customers In our virtual world of customer-supplier interactions, tradeshows are increasingly becoming events that actually cement relationships!

They create a sense of reality where otherwise associations are the only option. They build trust where frequently the only concept customers have of a business is a distorted one.

Tradeshows become real touch points that have the potential to bring emotions to life.

Client networks and mental partnerships have long become givens in the customer-supplier relationship and have wiped out the boundaries forever. This melding has resulted in a never before seen shifting of priorities. In many industries the customer is already a part of something whole – belonging has become a central factor. This “mimetic” marketing does not leave any room for boisterous grandiosity, for the opening of the information floodgates or frontal presentations.

What is in demand today are tradeshow concepts that make it possible to touch, to communicate closeness and create excitement.

Listening is more important than talking things to death. Interaction and taking care of people and things is better than imposing on one another.

In a nutshell: Tradeshows are worlds of adventure that captivate and fascinate the customer.

New growth segments thanks to Service Design Few companies develop their services with the same commitment that they dedicate to their technical innovations, although it has long been proven that product innovations do not drive the economy by themselves anymore and that intangible services are just as important. Already more than 70 % of Germany’s workforce work in the service industry, while the gross value generated has also reached about 70 % and this trend continues to rise.

These are clear indicators that this segment must be given the attention it deserves. For quite some time around-the-clock availability has been anything but manifest only in established services.

However, most companies have placed the responsibility for services into the hands of business development staff, while dedicated departments or inter-departmental initiatives remain the exception.

Prof. Birgit Mager, in charge of the “Service Design” classes at the Vocational College in Cologne, describes the status quo quite eloquently: “The customers whose wishes and needs are to be satisfied by the tool called organization, do not even appear in most organization charts.”

The idea of service that pays attention to the needs of the customer is nothing new – but the thought process is completely novel. The Service Designer takes executives and employees on an emotional customer journey, walks in the customer’s emotional shoes and contemplates the contact points as key factors. The insights gained as a result provide fertile ground for the continued evolution.

Contrary to technical innovation, Service Design demands much in terms of relational skills and the ability to perceive what people expect. Businesses with a strong consumer focus – i.e. everyone from McDonalds to T-Mobile – have been making investments into Service Design products for many years. In the B2B segment, Service Design still has a huge growth and brand creation potential.

Pricing policies in sales: Benefit driven pricing as the secret for success More than 80 % of all B2B businesses compute their sales prices based on costing or on what the competition is charging and as a result, leave valuable profit potential for their enterprises on the table. This is where value oriented marketing takes a different approach: Benefit driven pricing.

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Besides managing customer benefits, cost and price management are the benchmarks for value generation in a business – for both, the customer and the enterprise. The benefit the product offers to the customer is the core element for the determination of the price. To be able to make maximum use of the customer’s willingness to pay, the product offered must be such that it offers the customer the best pos-

sible benefits. Next, the value of the offer will have to be made transparent for the customer through the use of pertinent communications and sales tools. The intended price point must be secured. This means that the actual value has been realized.

The basis for benefit-driven pricing is the knowledge what the customer benefit is or how much its components (e.g. various prod-

uct features) contribute to the overall benefit.

Using conjoint measuring methods, it is possible to determine, which features deliver the maximum benefits to the customer. In addition, this method, in conjunction with pricesales functions, can be used to calculate the price for a product that yields the optimum profit for the manufacturer.

THE TRENDS AN OVERVIEW: Relevant copy and video content Global brand management as an eco-social and cultural balancing act

Employer branding that aims to improve or safeguard the competitive situation

Pricing policies in sales: Benefit driven pricing as the secret for success

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Tradeshows: A real touch point for customers

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New growth segments thanks to Service Design

The driving force in B 2 B

SPS MARKETING GmbH | Linz Jaxstraße 2-4 A-4020 Linz Phone: +43 (0) 732 - 605038 - 0 Fax: +43 (0) 732 - 605038 - 60 E-Mail: agency@sps-marketing.com

SPS MARKETING GmbH | Stuttgart Zettachring 6 D-70567 Stuttgart Phone: +49 (0) 711 - 49 097 - 471 Fax: +49 (0) 711 - 49 097 - 470 E-Mail: agency.stuttgart@sps-marketing.com

Member of the International Agency Network E3: www.e3network.com

sps-marketing.com

Christian Grimm

Creative Director Member of the Management Board

Claudia Gilhofer

Gerhard Preslmayer Managing Director

Creative Director Member of the Management Board

Norbert Schrangl Managing Director

The mission: first class communication solutions for products and services that have to be explained Scratching the surface simply is not enough if you want to make the most of a brand. This is why we immerse ourselves deeply into the

companies of our customers – even if the task at hand may be dirty, dusty or sticky. One clear promise is unconditionally linked to this commitment: businesses who work with SPS MARKETING boost their communicative level and competitive edge. The client list of those who place their trust in this promise

includes ATEC, Bosch Rexroth, Demag Cranes, EVGroup, Fraunhofer IAO, GREENoneTEC, KML, LINZ AG, LISEC, MAGNA, Miba, PLANSEE SE, Siemens VAI, Sandvik, transaktionssysteme austria, voestalpine.