B2B marketing has been viewed as the process of marketing one’s offerings to corporations in contrast to B2C marketing which targets and markets to end consumers directly. Consequently, B2B marketing is thought to be bland and lacking in glamour compared to B2C marketing. While these notions have generally held true for a long time, B2B marketing as a practice has come a long way in the past ten years. Like so many other areas, B2B marketing has been significantly affected by the rise and proliferation of the internet. Several B2B industries have progressed from being oligopolistic to a state of healthy competition. B2B companies have had to adjust to this evolution, with the successful ones embracing the changing times, and sometimes, capitalizing on them.
A number of B2B companies such as Google and Alibaba have become household names. Intel is one of the most reputed and widely known brands. However, the myths associated with B2B marketing have continued, which I will humbly try and bust one by one.
Myth 1 – B2B marketing is not cool
Elon Musk’s SpaceX corp is a B2B company, which is founded on a vision to colonize Mars. This vision, coupled with a smart marketing strategy to get mindshare by leveraging the right forums, has made SpaceX one of the most admired brands in the world, and one of the coolest ones, too.
As compared to B2C marketing, B2B marketing deals with products and offerings that are often complex, which limit the number of buyers and decision makers. However, constraints are a seedbed for innovation. Intel entered into a deal with the football club FC Barcelona to have their logo inside the jerseys of the players – Intel Inside!
Similarly, when we realized that information dissemination could prove to be one of the challenges for two of the biggest verticals at HCL, we decided to take the whole content ecosystem to a mobile platform by launching state-of-the-art mobile apps which can be used by the customer as well. This is a first for the industry, which we expect will become the norm in years to come.
Myth 2 – B2B marketing is not active
The reasons why B2C marketing seems a lot more active than B2B are two-fold. Firstly, B2C marketing is targeting a large mass of customers at a go, and secondly, you are one of those customers.
B2B marketing is concerned with reaching the right audiences, and for those audiences, we are as active as we can be. We understand that 60% of the buying process is complete even before the customer meets a sales representative, and we strive to build a brand that helps us during the customer’s due-diligence process. At HCL, we work on a host of activities such as positioning, thought leadership, account-based marketing, digital and social, PR, and analyst relations. Speaking of positioning, we also invest a lot of effort in accurately segmenting our customers and striking the right positioning for us in the market. HCL’s Life Sciences and Healthcare vertical recently transitioned from a benefits-driven positioning to an emotional one.
Myth 3 – B2B marketers cannot do everything a B2C marketer can
A marketer is guided by the nature of the business and the people he/she is trying to reach. On these counts, B2C marketers do have a bigger playing field. At the same time, over the years, some of the biggest brands have been built in the B2B segment. IBM has proven to be one of the few technology brands that have stayed relevant over the years. ‘Smarter Planet’ is one of the most resonating positioning statements of today’s times. Caterpillar’s equipment playing a game of Jenga was one of the most viral videos of the year, and it fit like a glove in their value for precision. GE is a brand that has become the benchmark on newer social media platforms like Pinterest and Instagram. There are also a few things that B2B can do better. Marketing to a limited yet decision-making set gets HCL visibility right at the top level. For example, we got a chance to engage the CEO of one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, which for us is the holy-grail of marketing.
Myth 4 – B2B marketing is about corporations and not people
It is a cliché but also true – corporations do not do business with corporations, people do business with people. A B2B marketer, just like his B2C counterpart, needs to understand the people who he is addressing. He needs to know their drivers, motivators, tastes, preferences, and the entire demographic and psychographic profile before planning a custom outreach plan.
At HCL, programs like CARS (Customer As A Rockstar) take this factor into account. We also ensure and keep in touch with the various influencer communities. #CoolestInterviewEver was a groundbreaking innovation on Twitter, where the entire recruitment process was conducted on Twitter; how’s that for transparency? Our Relationship Beyond the Contract (RBtC) Coffee Table Book is a unique asset which is aimed at the leaders of various organizations to directly engage them.
There are different ways to market a company. All companies do not need to spend money on Superbowl advertisement slots or YouTube campaigns for people to know about them. Elon Musk’s SpaceX is a fine example of this, with the mission and vision of the company ensuring that people talk about it. At the end of the day, a marketer – B2B or B2C – can only succeed if he understands the product and the customer thoroughly and plans timely interventions to capture the mindshare, and eventually the market-share.