B2B Brand Decision

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title

B2B Brand Management

author

Bernard Szlachta (NobleProg Ltd)

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Brand as an asset …。

What can you do with Brand?

• Mortgage
• Sell it
• Add existing product to the brand

Pure B2B Brands…。

• Name a couple of B2B brands only...
• Boeing
• Oracle
• SAP
• Goldman Sachs

Mixed B2B + B2C Brands…。

Name a couple of brands which are present in B2B and B2C markets...

• Microsoft
• IBM
• Intel
• Lenovo
• HSBC

What is branding?…。

Branding is about taking something common and improving upon it in ways that make it more valuable and meaningful

(A New Brand World, Scott Bedbury)

What does the brand do?…。

• facilitate the identification of the offering
• differentiate the offering from the competition
• guarantee quality and performance
• avoid overload of information
• simply decision-making process

Who is the brand for?…。

• Q: who is the target audience for the brand?
• reach all stakeholders (employer brand, supplier brand, investor brand, etc...)

Brand Characteristics…。

• What are characteristics of a brand?
• emotional
• a promise
• perceptions
• based on past experiences, associates and future expectations
• short-cuts for attributes, benefits, believes and values

Sales revenue and branding 。

• Does Branding increase sales revenue?
• Short term - no
• Long term - yes

B2B vs B2C 。

• Complex (often technical) vs Simple
• Components/Capital vs end product
• Derived Demand (pulled by consumers vs Consumer Demand
• International vs Local
• Organization Buying vs Direct Purchuse

B2B vs B2C factors 。

Branding Models 。

1. OEMs
2. Branded

Buying Models 。

• Straight re-buy
• Modified re-buy
• New purchase

Buying Centre: Roles 。

• Initiator
• User
• Influencers
• Deciders
• Approvers
• Buyers
• Gatekeeprs

= Buying Centre: Influencers 。

• Hard Facts (prices, features, service...)
• Soft Facts (trust, risk, relations...)
• Buying Situation (rebuy, modified rebuy, new purchase)
• Indirect (Environment, Organizational, Interpersonal, Individual)

Brand Relevance 。

• Risk Reduction
• Information Efficiency
• Standing out

High brand relevance 。

Relevance increases if:

• market is monolithic (vs fragmented)
• low or medium number (vs many) of competitors
• multiple deciders (covering their backs)
• application of the brand visible (vs product is just simple component)
• buying process is complex (as it saves time)

Also:

• New buy (high relevance)
• modified rebuy (medium relevance)
• straight rebuy (low relevance)

Buying Stages 。

1. Problem recognition
2. Need description
3. Specification
4. Search and evaluation for suppliers
5. Proposal Analysis
6. Supplier Evaluation and selection
7. Order-routine specification
8. Performance review

Role of B2B brands。

• Differentiate
• Create Loyalty
• Create preference
• Command Price Premium

Branding Commodities。

• Acme Brick
• Tata Steel
• e-on energy