Marketing is carefully meshed with production, finance, research and development (R&D), purchasing, and other functions of the business so as to make the maximum contribution to company objectives. The marketing activities of industrial products are an integral part of the company’s total operating system. Therefore, it is useful to identify the major types of plans by which operations of an enterprise are directed. These may be designated as strategic, operational, logistical, and organizational. A plan is a goal-directed system of action. A strategic plan is one which describes the allocation of a firm’s resources which the management believes will achieve the corporate mission with the greatest efficiency over the long run. Supporting the strategy and contributing to its implementation are Continue reading
Industrial Marketing
Industrial marketing, also known as business-to-business (B2B) marketing, is a branch of communications and sales that specializes in providing goods and services to other businesses, rather than to individual customers.
Industrial Marketing Communication
The industrial products are technical in nature that have very few buyers compared to the consumer products. This makes the industrial marketers to change their promotional strategy for industrial goods and services. The promotional mix used by the industrial marketer consists of advertising, sales promotion, publicity, public relations, personal selling and direct marketing. These tools help them to build awareness, develop company image, inform about the product features thus assisting the company sales force and other intermediaries to increase their sales. Of all the promotional mix, personal selling is the most important because industrial products are technical in nature and they involve lot of direct interactions by the company people with the industrial customers. However, all the elements of promotional Continue reading
Role of Advertising in Industrial Marketing
Advertising is the most preferred promotional tool in the consumer market rather than in the industrial market. It is preferred less by the industrial marketers compared to personal selling as they get to meet the customers personally and understand their needs better in personal selling. But still advertising is used to a good extent by the industrial marketers to assist their sales force and intermediaries to generate more leads. Advertising plays an important role in industrial marketing strategy by supporting and supplementing personal selling efforts. The advertising budget for industrial goods is far less compared to that of consumer goods. But, to have an increased efficiency and effectiveness of the overall marketing strategy, industrial marketer should have an integrated and Continue reading
Industrial Buying Behavior Models
The buying decisions of industrial buyers are influenced by many factors. Usually, these are influenced by organisational factors or task-oriented objectives viz. best product quality, or dependable delivery, or lowest price and personal factors or non-task objectives viz. like promotion, increments, job security, personal treatment, or favor. When the suppliers proposals are substantially similar, organizational buyers can satisfy organisational objectives with any supplier, and therefore personal factors become more important. When suppliers offers differ significantly, industrial buyers pay more attention to organisational factors in order to satisfy the organisational objectives. There are two models available to provide a comprehensive and integrated picture of the major factors that combine to explain organisational buying behavior. These are: The Webster and Wind Continue reading
Decision Making Units (DMUs) in Industrial Marketing
It is essential to understand the roles of buying-center members or Decision Making Units (DMUs) before identifying the individuals and groups involved in the buying-decision process. It is helpful to the industrial marketers to develop an effective promotion strategy. The roles of buying center members are as follows: Initiators: The initiators might be any individuals in the buying firm. Often, the users of a product/service play the role of the initiators. Buyers: The major roles of buyers are obtaining quotations (or offers) from suppliers, supplier evaluation and selection, negotiation, processing purchase orders, speed up deliveries, and implementing purchasing policies of the organization. Generally, they are the purchase (or material) officers and executives. Users: The user is those individuals who use Continue reading
Buying Situations in the Industrial Marketing
There are three common types of buying situations in industrial market, which are discussed as follows: 1. New Purchase The industrial buyers buy the item for the first time in this situation. The need for a new purchase may be due to internal or external factors. For example, when a firm decides to diversify into new purchase situations the buyers have limited knowledge and lack of previous experience. Therefore, they have to obtain a variety of information about the product, the suppliers, the prices and so on. The risks are more, decisions may take longer time, and more people are involved in decision making in the new purchase decisions. 2. Change in Supplier This situation occurs when the organisation is Continue reading