teachthe4ps.com » B2B

On B2B Social Media

Joe Cannon — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:15:49 +0000

Here at Teach the 4 Ps we are always looking for good B2B stories — and they can be hard to find. We have reported before on B2B and social media — but admittedly not too often. Yet there is growing evidence that B2B marketers are big users of social media. This post at the Hubspot Blog, “9 Common and Costly B2B Social Media Marketing Mistakes” (January 17, 2012) provides some guidelines you might want to offers your students. Hubspot is part of Inbound Marketing, a consulting firm that has impressed me with their book of the same name and from a talk I saw by Brian Halligan. I highly recommend the book.

You might find this article useful when you discuss marketing strategy, B2B, or social media in promotion.

How does an ad agency promote itself?

Joe Cannon — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 23:57:56 +0000

I guess this campaign is more than a year old now — but it is fresh and new to me. John St is an agency based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is hard to call any agency an “ad” agency as most — like John St do all kinds of promotional efforts. The clever video below demonstrates a wide range of its services in a cute way. It actually fits as a B2B and B2C example at the same time — and it also demonstrates integrated marketing communications. Also posted at Learn the 4 Ps.

Technology and B2B

Joe Cannon — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 17:47:10 +0000

The impact of technology on B2B selling has probably been less dramatic than what we have seen in B2C markets. That may be because B2B has traditionally relied more on personal selling than B2C. But B2B marketers are looking for ways to sell more efficiently. This article at Mashable “8 Ways Digital Will Improve B2B Sales in 2012” (December 30, 2012) offers some ideas about specific trends.

Dilbert on Building Relationships with Customers

Joe Cannon — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 15:44:55 +0000

Nice bit of comic relief to bring to your discussion of B2B or organizational buying. We cover relationships in our chapter titled “Business and Organizational Customers and Their Buying Behavior.” [To put this right into your PowerPoint: 1) place cursor over the comic and right-click, 2) choose "copy", 3) go the a blank slide in PowerPoint, 4) right-click and click "paste"]

Chinese Construction Equipment Maker Comes to the U.S.

Joe Cannon — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 12:19:21 +0000

Caterpillar, Deere/Hitachi, and Komatsu own the market for heavy construction equipment – together accounting for 82% market share for excavators weighing at least eight metric tons. A new kid is trying break in. Chinese construction equipment maker Luogong has signed up one of its first dealers in the U.S. with Syracuse, NY based Stephenson Equipment. Breaking into the U.S. market will likely be a long-term proposition for Luogong as most customers in this market prefer a proven record of reliability and dealers nearby with spare parts.

This article, “China Treads on New Turf” (Wall Street Journal, August 16, 2011, non-subscribers may need to click here) could be used in a number of different places in the introductory marketing course. There is a four minute video with the article, but it is kind of dry. This case raises issues about organizational buying when you think about whether customers will buy from an unknown upstart — though the 15-20% lower price might attract some buyers. It might be interesting to discuss what types of customers would be the best target market for Liugong. It also provides a great example about the importance of channels of distribution — particularly as a firm moves into a foreign market. You could even outline Luogong’s marketing strategy – target, price, product, place, and promotion decisions – based on the article. Also posted at Learn the 4 Ps.

B2B, Direct Marketing, International — and Creative! What more can you ask for? Pizza maybe

Joe Cannon — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 20:41:24 +0000

Finally a great B2B example we can share. Good B2B examples are just hard to find. And this one comes from Brazil — so it is international, too.

Problem: A printer in a big city has tons of competition — how can they get their customers’ attention & interest?

Solution: Check out what Brazil’s ArtCenter did to get the attention of a advertising agencies in Sao Paulo. The creativity showed that they understood their customer as well. Another fun example to show on the first day of class perhaps — or when you are talking about promotion and want to show an unusual B2B example of direct marketing in an international context.

“Flogging Flak Jackets in War Zones”

Joe Cannon — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 19:41:25 +0000

I am always looking for good B2B or even better a great B2G (business to government) example. This article, “Flogging Flak Jackets in War Zones” (Bloomberg BusinessWeek, August 4, 2011) describes how salespeople for some defense contractors will get out into the field — literally into a tank in Afghanistan in one case here — to better understand their customers needs. While there are dangers, there can be big benefits for defense contractors as identifying urgent opportunities can help avoid the Pentagon’s bureaucratic purchasing process.

The article provides a very interesting example to use in the organizational buying chapter — or when you are teaching personal selling and sales management.

“Reinventing Marketing at GE”

Joe Cannon — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 21:38:13 +0000

Over at his Effective Marketer blog, Daniel Kuperman offers a nice summary overview of “Unleashing the Power of Marketing” (an HBR article from last October). His post, titled “Reinventing Marketing at GE” (July 7, 2011) provides a nice case study example that could be used at one of a couple different areas in the introductory marketing course — with strategy planning, business marketing, or implementation. In chapter 3 in both Basic Marketing and Essentials of Marketing we use the GE ecomagination campaign as an extended example of sustainability. I also posted this at Learn the 4 Ps – as Daniel neatly summarizes key marketing roles, some of which our students need to recognize and master to be successful in the long-run.

“The Benefits of a U.S.-Colombia Free-Trade Deal”

Joe Cannon — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 23:29:59 +0000

This article, “The Benefits of a U.S.-Colombia Free-Trade Deal” (Bloomberg Businessweek, April 14, 2011) addresses a few areas where the content here at T4Ps is kind of light — B2B and the legal environment. The article describes how Caterpillar spotted an opportunity in Columbia and began lobbying to move forward a stalled trade agreement designed to cut back on tariffs on their sales into Columbia, South Korea, and Panama.

“Deere Enhances Focus on Russia”

Joe Cannon — Tue, 12 Apr 2011 16:59:03 +0000

Here at T4Ps, we are always looking for interesting B2B cases. Unfortunately, they are much less common than B2C. But here is a good article “Deere Enhances Focus on Russia” (Wall Street Journal, March 25, 2011 — non-subscribers click here) featuring one of our favorite companies Deere. We feature Deere in the opening case scenario in our chapter on Business and Organizational Customers in our text books. Deere’s stretch goal of doubling sales in the next 8 years will not happen in the slow growth construction and farm equipment markets in North America. So Deere needs to look at international opportunities. This is not unlike the situation many of our students will likely be facing in the coming years. It provides a nice opportunity to discuss the challenges and opportunities in international markets.

The article is light on details related to the competition in Russia — or the needs of the Russian customer. Russia is also a risky market. So you could ask students what kind of marketing research they might want to have before developing a marketing strategy. Combining this article with some student research at Michigan State’s great globalEDGE website might be a nice assignment. Also posted at Learn the 4 Ps.