MKTG 454 Midterm - USC - Quackenbos

B2B Brand Architecture

Brands offer a language and vehicle to capture and represent the accreted trust

International B2B Marketing

Brands, value propositions, and business models don't always cross borders well so not all businesses can or should enter foreign markets

How can you use Research to get to "resonance"?

By using the different types of research to understand the market, companies can offer similar products/services (parity) as their competitors with unique attributes (differentiation) in order to create added value for customers

Business Models in B2B Marketing

"B2B market researchers, at least, must have a basic understanding of the business context and incorporate company- and industry-specific distinctions into their approach and process." - Mark Towery

Brand Paradox

- the more standardized a B2B firm's offering, the more complex its architecture - more customized an offering, less complex its brand architecture (most customized to most standardized - brand tower, brand silo, brand stack, brand park)

B2B Market Sensing - Internal Focused

- travel with sales rep - customer visits (w/o rep) - listen in w/ customer service - Monitoring of complaints - Sales Meeting - Interview Competitor hires

5 Keys to B2B/industrial market research

1. Access the right ppl 2. Engage experts in meaningful conversation 3. Research and strategy are not separable 4. Embrace ambiguity 5. Be nimble/flexible (ultimate key to B2B market research success - consultants)

B2B Segmentation - 4 Question Test (Haig/Harrison)

1. Are they truly different in a meaningful way? 2. Are the segments big enough? 3. Do companies fall clearly into one of the segments? 4. Can each company be easily identified as belonging to a specific segment?

Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

a factor that differentiates a product from its competitors, such as the lowest cost, the highest quality or the first-ever product of its kind (what you have that competitors don't)

Net Promoter Score (NPS)

an index ranging from -100 to 100 that measures the willingness of customers to recommend a company's products/services to others - used as a proxy for gauging the customer's overall satisfaction with a company's product/service and the customer's loyalty to the brand (fans - detractors = score)

Brand

any name, design style, word or symbol that distinguishes a product from its competitors

Value Proposition Point of Parity

aspects of the brand/product offering that are largely similar to offerings of like competitors - firms want to offer a brand/product that is equal/similar with other major offerings in that category

Value Proposition Point of Differentiation

aspects of the brand/product offering that are relatively distinct to the offerings of competitors - firms need to provide a brand/product offering that has unique or differentiated attributes

Brand Tower

customized and centralized

Brand Silo

customized and decentralized

Inbound Marketing

refers to marketing activities that bring visitors in, rather than marketers having to go out to get prospect's attention (i.e. blogging, public speaking, informative giveaways) - earns the attention of customers, makes the company easy to be found, and draws customers to the website by producing interesting content - the process of generating interest and engagement in your company by providing value to your potential customers and then turning that interest and engagement into a mutually beneficial business relationship

Marketing Automation

refers to software platforms and technologies designed to more effectively market on multiple channels online and automate repetitive tasks (i.e. email, social media, etc.)

Brand Park

standardized and Decentralized

Brand Stack

standardized and centralized

Segmentation

the clustering of customers into groups with similar needs, behaviors or attributes in order to tailor the value proposition and business model to meet their needs

Value Proposition

the explicit or implicit promise made by a company to its customers that it will deliver a particular bundle of value creating (Ex: Netflix - affordably watch anywhere and cancel anytime; & Robinhood - app, free trades)

Value creation is found at ...

the intersection of intuition and research (business model is the delivering format)

Value Proposition Point of Resonance

the one or two aspects of difference whose improvement will deliver the greatest customer value

Value defined

the worth in monetary terms of the economic, technical, service, and social benefits a customer firm receives in exchange for the price it pays for a market offering

Role of B2B Marketer

to optimize the trade-offs of profitability, market share, and customer satisfaction; and to develop long-term sustainable, profitable growth

B2B Marketing Customer

typically not an individual, but rather a group, expects that the product/service provided will benefit the company in tangible ways - improve productivity/efficiency - enhance attractiveness - increase profit - improve safety/security - strengthen brand

Narrow Value Research

understand the product behavior in the market (product research)

Value Research - Basic

understand the reasons why a customer should buy your product/service or select you as supplier (improve/new business model?)

Broad Value Research

defining the market and the competition (market research)

Business Model

describes the rationale of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value

Value Research - Master

discovering new areas of opportunity for long term sustainable and profitable growth

Feature vs. Benefit

feature - tells of a component of the product offering benefit - highlights why a feature is valuable

Buyer Persona

fictional, generalized characters that encompass the various needs, goals and observed behaviors among your real and potential customers (help you understand customers better)

Value Research - Advanced

identify where and how value can be provided for a profit to strengthen customer satisfaction, profitability and market share (new business solution?)

Deep Value Research

insights on how the customer/product interface (market sensing)

Earned media

involves writing blogs with thought leaders and engaging conversation (writing press releases where the marketer attempts to influence and encourage third-parties to write about our clients and products/services)

Brand name origins

many companies use family names, locations, or descriptors as their brand reasons: trust, loyalty, recognition

Shared media

means to use social networks and technologies controlled by consumers (i.e. industry-leading blogs mentioning your product/service)

B2B Marketing

process of identifying, developing, communicating, and commercializing a value proposition in the form of a product or service that is: - to become a part of another product which is sold (i.e. a component) - consumed/used in an industrial process or commercial activity - used to carry out a revenue generating project or task

Paid media

refers to all forms of paid content that exists on third-party channels or venues (i.e. paying for a post on Facebook, Twitter, etc.)

A good Business Model answers these questions:

(Peter Drucker) - who is customer? - what does the customer value? - how do we make money in this business? (Also) - what is the underlying economic logic that explains how we can deliver value to customers at an appropriate cost?

Segmentation/Research Challenges in B2B

- B2B markets have more complex decision making unit - B2B buyers more rational - products often more complex - smaller target audiences - personal relationship are more important - more long term buyers - B2B market drive innovation less than consumer - fewer behavioral needs-based segments

Marketing Segmentation options:

- Channel - Customer Size - trade - geography - industry

5 Phases of Customer-Seller Relationship

- Contact - Transaction - Expansion - Consultative - Enterprise

Top 8 Email Writing Tips

- Mirror/adjust to the prevalent corporate style - Avoid slang and idiomatic expressions - Be especially careful w/ humor - Maintain consistent tone and style - When responding, be sensitive to the sender - Spellcheck voice recognition messages - Learn to use the "cc" function properly - Don't use "hey", "guys" or other similar terms

Market research characteristics:

- Most B2B research is exploratory and use secondary data and subjective estimates - B2B research uses relatively small samples - B2B research uses interviews and surveys, rather than observation and experiments - B2B research is plagued by a number of practical problems - Most B2B research is global

PESO Model

- Paid media - Earned media - Shared media - Owned media

Outbound Marketing activities:

- Paid/rented email lists - Video ads - Outbound sales calls - Pop up ads

Common Segmentation uses:

- Prioritize new product development efforts - Develop customized marketing programs - Choose specific product features - Establish appropriate service options - Design optimal distribution strategy - Determine appropriate product pricing source

Value Propositions in B2B Marketing

- Segmentation - Differentiation - Research and "Sensing" - Business Models (a company's reason for being; it is dynamic b/c of competition)

Internal considerations before foreign expansion:

- Strategic value of expansion - Size of opportunity - risk vs. reward analysis - ROI - Payback (IRR)

Keys to business writing:

- Understand (culture of communication) - Remember ("inform" or "persuade/direct") - Think (target audience)

Brand is valuable b/c it:

- allows customers/prospects to identify and recommend a company by name - allows company to command a price premium - helps the company expand into new/other markets

Brand components

- awareness (outreach, communications) - image (building, maintenance) - loyalty (relationship, rewards) - equity (tangible value) awareness + image + loyalty = equity

B2B Market Sensing - Market Focused

- competitor web research - meet w/ competition - Mystery shopping - Visit trade show/fairs - Reading trade journals

Challenges of Buyer Personas in B2B Marketing

- different customers have varying focuses - sometimes difficult finding third-party data for support

B2B Brand Architecture forces

- market segmentation - targeting imperatives - mergers and acquisitions - cost-driven consolidation and rationalization

Benefits of using initials as brand names:

- provide branding flexibility - improve ease of recall - serve as stock market symbol recognition

External considerations before foreign expansion:

- size of opportunity - competitive environment - "Ease of doing business" (word bank ranking in target country) - Market stability - currency translation impact

2 Design Principles of Brand Architecture

1. reduce customer risk 2. support sales process

Content Marketing

A strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-definined audience - and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action (i.e. employee/customer stories, user-generated content, reviews)

Who is the buyer?

Indirect business models (intermediation) - distributor or channel used to get product/service to ultimate consumer (marketing is charged with addressing end-users or consumers, AND intermediaries)

Brand Equity in the Professional Service Context

Idea: Brand = person Employee role behavior is made up of: - role ambiguity (lack of clarity of objects) - role overload (perceived or real) (Employee role behavior affects rapport)

B2B Market Sensing Techniques

Internal focused & Market focused: - Sales analysis - Data analytics - Data trends

Business Model parts

Part 1 - includes all the activities associated with making something: designing it, purchasing raw materials, manufacturing Part 2 - all activities associated with selling something: finding and reaching customers, transacting a sale, distributing the product or delivering the service

Limitations of Buyer Personas in B2B Marketing

Personas can vary depending on different customer segments - Some customers more focused on specific areas (i.e. brand recognition/customer service) vs. others (i.e. cost/durability)

Why does the NPS formula ignore those who score 7 or 8?

b/c these customers are considered "passives" and are harder/more expensive to market business towards

Value Proposition vs. USP

Value Prop. - focuses more on the outcome or benefits of using a product/service a firm offers USP - focuses on specific features that make it unique and better than competitors (both of these drive and define positioning)

Owned media

basically a company owning its own website that they control (also blogs, FB pages, company linkedin page, company twitter)

Marketing Segmentation

Whole Market - aggregated information about all market customers Market Segment - customers grouped into homogenous segments Organization - detailed information about individual customers Buying Center - information about buying centers Individual - detailed information about individual buyers