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 mix needs to be well integrated with personal selling with proper coordination in order to develop an effective industrial marketing communication strategy. Any industrial communication or promotion program in order Continue reading
Industrial Marketing Management
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 well planned advertisement strategy that blends properly with personal selling efforts. Before understanding the role of advertising in industrial marketing, we must be aware that there are certain forces that Continue reading
Nature of Demand in Industrial Markets
The demand for industrial products and services does not survive by itself. It is derived from the ultimate demand for consumer goods and services. Therefore, industrial demand is called derived demand. Sometimes, the demand for industrial product is called joint demand, when the demand for a product depends upon its use along with the existence of other product or products. Cross elasticity of demand exists for some substitute products in industrial market. These concepts are detailed as follows: Derived Demand The single most important force in marketing of industrial products and services is derived demand. Industrial customers buy goods and services for making the use in producing other goods and services and finally produced product/service sold to the consumers. In industrial marketing, the demand for industrial goods and services is derived from consumer goods and services. For example, the demand for precision steel tubes does not exist in market. It Continue reading
Importance of Services in Industrial Marketing
Business services include maintenance and repair support and advisory support. Like supplies services are considered as expense items. The explosive growth of the internet has increased the demand for a range of electronic commerce services such as delivering technical support, customer training and management development programmes. The rapid growth of business services in industrial marketing is governed by four important factors which are explained below. Innovations: The innovations in the field of science and technology have contributed for increasing demand in the area of business services. Advancement in computer security systems, computer enabled services, environmental control systems for office and factory buildings are examples for the effect of innovations on business services. Out Sourcing: It is a common phenomenon that the present day organizations are getting the services done from outside services provide. In an area where the company is not expertised such as management information functions, HR, Payrolls, Warehousing Continue reading
Long-Term Industrial Product Strategies
Industrial marketing firms have to adopt the following three important steps for developing long term product strategies for existing individual products and products lines. Assessing the performance of all the existing products or product lines by using product evaluation matrix. Examining the relative strengths and weakness of the firm’s products in comparison to competitors’ products by using perceptual mapping technique. Deciding the product strategies for the existing products based on the above analysis. 1. Product Evaluation Matrix Yoran Wind & Henry Claycamp have developed a technique called product evaluation matrix to be used to assess the product performance. Performance parameters of a product such as industrial sales, company sales, market share and profitability are combined in the matrix. Industry sales are represented on vertical axis and are grouped as growth, stable or decline. Company sales are assessed on horizontal axis and are grouped as growth, stable or decline. In the Continue reading
Major Differences Between B2B and B2C
Marketing includes those business activities in the flow of goods and services from production to consumption. Goods and services are of two types; consumer and industrial. Firstly, it is important to define the primary difference between Business to Business (B2B) Marketing and Business to Consumer (B2C) Marketing. Both markets are types of commercial transactions, however, simply put, business to consumer (B2C) is the process of selling products directly to consumers and industrial/business to business (B2B) is the process of selling products or services to other businesses. However, the differences between both business systems are much more complex than their simple definitions, so are their similarities. Obviously, both B2B and B2C markets have one fundamental difference: the type of customer. However, this article is going to investigate these markets further, discussing the similarities and differences between their market’s structure, marketing practices and buying behaviour within the industry. Market Structure One key Continue reading