BRANDING FOR B2B.ppt

Prof. A. K. Biswas,1,BRANDING INB-TO-B MARKET,Prof. A. K. Biswas,2,Agenda,Why B2B Branding?What is B2B Branding?Steps for Building Strong B2B BrandsDifferent Brand ElementsIn B2B And B2C MarketsB2B Brand EquityCommunications Strategy For B2B Brand BuildingDifficulties in B2B Branding,Prof. A. K. Biswas,3,Many business marketing managers think that branding is not relevant to B2B markets.They argue that industrial products do not need branding as it adds little value to functional products and that customers knew a great deal about their products as well their competitor’s products.To them, brand loyalty is non-rational behaviour which do not apply to ‘rational’ world of B2B products.,Why B2B Branding?,Prof. A. K. Biswas,4,The evaluation and selection process in B2B market can be described as being divided into several parts. First, buyers select a smaller number of suppliers among the total array of firms that are able to deliver what is requested. This group of selected firms may be referred to as the evoked set, the consideration set or, simply, the short list.,Why B2B Branding?,Prof. A. K. Biswas,5,Second, once further information has been gathered, this initial list can be reduced to form a choice set. Finally, buyers need to choose which suppliers in the choice set to engage.Various types of information and sources are used by industrial buyers in conducting an initial screening, evaluation and selection of available suppliers.,Why B2B Branding?,Prof. A. K. Biswas,6,Examples include internal files, official lists of suppliers, word of mouth, trade shows, brochures and advertising, reputation, quality of presentation and familiarity, personal contacts earlier performance, articles and other publications in the trade press, computerized services, buyers from other markets and trade fairs.,Why B2B Branding?,Prof. A. K. Biswas,7,While the initial screening provides the buyer with limited information about the company, B2B buyers normally need to know more about the supplier, as the products purchased are often critical to their operations.Hence, when the evoked set of suppliers is examined further, additional criteria such as production capability, quality control, age of equipment, electronic advances and financial stability can be used.,Why B2B Branding?,Prof. A. K. Biswas,8,Buyers can also evaluate production facilities, quality assurance programs and the company’s management group. The criteria applied should be based on, for example, the role of the product/service (e.g. degree of criticality) in the buyer’s sourcing strategy.,Why B2B Branding?,Prof. A. K. Biswas,9,But, customers in B2B market are often to make buying decisions under a great deal of pressure, and buyers, under such situation, would like to evaluate and choose from reputed suppliers.Research on industrial buying behavior has indicated a wide variety of factors that can affect buyers during stages of supplier nomination, evaluation and selection.,Why B2B Branding?,Prof. A. K. Biswas,10,Research has shown that price is a minor issue when buyers evaluate suppliers of components and complex products. Quality, delivery and performance history are more important criteria The fact that history matters implies that the buyer’s image of a supplier can influence a decision regardless of the current offer.,Why B2B Branding?,Prof. A. K. Biswas,11,Buyers need security particularly when planning for long-term contracts and therefore vendor’s perceptions are more important higher the risk attributed to a purchase situation. New task purchasing is open to great brand influence, as the buyer has no experience of that particular purchase.The new task/new supplier situation is quite frequent and significant.,Why B2B Branding?,Prof. A. K. Biswas,12,Brands facilitate the identification of products, services, and businesses as well differentiate them from competition.They are a guarantee of quality, origin, and performance, thereby increasing the perceived value of the customer and reducing the risk and complexity involved in the buying decision.,Why B2B Branding?,Prof. A. K. Biswas,13,As a result business market managers are increasingly seeking to brand their products to differentiate themselves from their competition and thus to avoid their products being commodities. Microsoft, IBM, General Electrics, Intel, HP, Cisco Systems, Dell, Oracle, SAP, Siemens, FedEx, Boeing are vivid examples of the fact that that some of the world’s strongest brands are B2B brands.,Why B2B Branding?,Prof. A. K. Biswas,14,For the B2B marketer then, a brand can be defined as a distinctive identity that differentiates a relevant, enduring, and credible promise of value associated with a product, service, or organization and indicates the source of that promise.,What Is B2B Branding?,Prof. A. K. Biswas,15,In B2B market corporate branding is pre-dominant.Corporate brands differ from product brands in that they represent the firm, and their image is potentially constructed by everything a firm is perceived to be doing. Thus, corporate brand image is synonymous with the company’s corporate image.,。