Developing Effective Business-to- Business Marketing Programs

Business-to-business marketers are using every marketing tool at their disposal to attract and retain customers. They are embracing systems selling and adding valuable services to their product offerings and employing cus­tomer reference programs and a wide variety of online and offline communication and branding activities. 1. COMMUNICATION AND BRANDING ACTIVITIES Business marketers are increasingly

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Managing Business-to-Business Customer Relationships

Business suppliers and customers are exploring different ways to manage their relationships.60 Loyalty is driven in part by supply chain management, early supplier involvement, and purchasing alliances.61 Business-to-business marketers are avoiding “spray and pray” approaches to attracting and retaining custom­ers in favor of honing in on their targets and developing one-to-one marketing approaches.62 Nearly

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MARKETING EXCELLENCE ACCENTURE

Accenture was launched as the Administrative Accounting Group in 1942 and was the consulting arm of accounting firm Arthur Andersen. In 1989, it became a separate busi­ness unit focused on IT consulting and bearing the name Andersen Consulting. At that time, though it was earning $1 billion annually, Andersen Consulting had low brand awareness

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MARKETING EXCELLENCE GE

Thomas Edison founded the Edison Electric Light Company in 1878. The company, which soon changed its name to General Electric (GE), became an early pioneer in lightbulbs and electrical appliances and served the electrical needs of various industries, such as transporta­tion, utilities, manufacturing, and broadcasting. GE be­came the acknowledged pioneer in business-to-business marketing in

Competing on a Global Basis

Some companies have long been successful global marketers—firms like Shell, Bayer, and Toshiba have sold around the world for years. In luxury goods such as jewelry, watches, and handbags, where the addressable mar­ket is relatively small, a global profile is essential for firms like Prada, Gucci, and Louis Vuitton to profitably grow. But global

Deciding Whether to Go Abroad

Most companies would prefer to remain domestic if their domestic market were large enough. Managers would not need to learn other languages and laws, deal with volatile currencies, face political and legal uncer­tainties, or redesign their products to suit different customer needs and expectations. Business would be easier and safer. Yet several factors can

Deciding Which Markets to Enter

In deciding to go abroad, the company needs to define its marketing objectives and policies. What proportion of international to total sales will it seek? Most companies start small when they venture abroad. Some plan to stay small; others have bigger plans. 1. HOW MANY MARKETS TO ENTER The company must decide how many

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Deciding How to Enter the Market

Once a company decides to target a particular country, it must choose the best mode of entry with its brands. Its broad choices are indirect exporting, direct exporting, licensing, joint ventures, and direct investment, shown in Figure 8.2. Each succeeding strategy entails more commitment, risk, control, and profit potential. 1. INDIRECT AND DIRECT EXPORT

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Deciding on the Marketing Program

International companies must decide how much to adapt their marketing strategy to local conditions.52 At one extreme is a standardized marketing program worldwide, which promises the lowest costs; Table 8.1 summarizes some pros and cons. At the other extreme is an adapted marketing program in which the company, consistent with the marketing concept, believes

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Country-of-Origin Effects

Country-of-origin perceptions are the mental associations and beliefs triggered by a country. Government offi­cials want to strengthen their country’s image to help domestic marketers that export and to attract foreign firms and investors. Marketers want to use positive country-of-origin perceptions to sell their products and services. 1. BUILDING COUNTRY IMAGES Governments now recognize that

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MARKETING EXCELLENCE TWITTER

Few companies have had such a vast global impact in so short a time as Twitter. The online social networking com­pany was the brainchild of Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, Biz Snow, and Noah Glass back in 2005. Dorsey thought it would be revolutionary if people could send a text to one number and have

MARKETING EXCELLENCE L’OREAL

When it comes to globalizing beauty, no one does it better than L’Oreal. The company was founded in Paris more than 100 years ago by a young chemist, Eugene Schueller, who sold his patented hair dyes to local hairdressers and salons. By the 1930s, Schueller had invented beauty products like suntan oil and the

Bases for Segmenting Consumer Markets

Market segmentation divides a market into well-defined slices. A market segment consists of a group of customers who share a similar set of needs and wants. The marketer’s task is to identify the appropriate number and nature of market segments and decide which one(s) to target. We use two broad groups of variables to

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How Should Business Markets Be Segmented?

We can segment business markets with some of the same variables we use in consumer markets, such as geog­raphy, benefits sought, and usage rate, but business marketers also use other variables. Table 9.5 shows one set of these. The demographic variables are the most important, followed by the operating variables—down to the personal characteristics

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Market Targeting

There are many statistical techniques for developing market segments.65 Once the firm has identified its market- segment opportunities, it must decide how many and which ones to target. Marketers are increasingly combining several variables in an effort to identify smaller, better-defined target groups. Thus, a bank may not only identify a group of wealthy

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Effective Segmentation Criteria

Not all segmentation schemes are useful. We could divide buyers of table salt into blond and brunette custom­ers, but hair color is undoubtedly irrelevant to the purchase of salt. Furthermore, if all salt buyers buy the same amount of salt each month, believe all salt is the same, and would pay only one price

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MARKETING EXCELLENCE HSBC

HSBC, originally known as the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited, was established in 1865 to finance the growing trade between China and the United Kingdom. Over the years, the bank has pioneered many modern banking practices in different countries. For ex­ample, it was the first bank in Thailand and printed the country’s

MARKETING EXCELLENCE BMW

BMW is the ultimate driving machine. Manufactured by the German company Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, BMW stands for both performance and luxury. The com­pany was founded in 1916 as an aircraft-engine manu­facturer and produced engines during World Wars I and It evolved into a motorcycle and automobile maker by the mid-20th century, and today

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Developing a Brand Positioning

All marketing strategy is built on segmentation, targeting, and positioning (STP). A company discovers differ­ent needs and groups of consumers in the marketplace, targets those it can satisfy in a superior way, and then positions its offerings so the target market recognizes its distinctive offerings and images. By building customer advantages, companies can deliver

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Choosing a Competitive Frame of Reference

The competitive frame of reference defines which other brands a brand competes with and which should thus be the focus of competitive analysis. Decisions about the competitive frame of reference are closely linked to target market decisions. Deciding to target a certain type of consumer can define the nature of competition because cer­tain firms

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