Skip to main content

Electronic Marketing in B2B E-Commerce

Some of the issues related with B2B electronic marketing are: 
 
1) Direct Marketing: In business organisations, the buying decisions are generally made by groups of individuals. As a result, direct marketers need to extend the reach of their programs to different functional areas and perhaps even different levels within a functional area.
 
There are multiple buyers and influencers in any organisation who play a role in the buying decision. One may know with reasonable certainty who one's primary target is, but secondary targets can be just as important to reach. One may have to reach business buyers and influencers in three basic management (functional management, financial management and general areas management) and do it at middle to upper managerial, as well as technical, levels. To do it companies need accurate e-mail lists, which they can develop by viewing companies' websites and reviewing annual reports and other public documents.

2) Relationship Marketing: In businesses, due to many factors such as company's budgeting process, the need for additional approvals, long purchasing procedures, etc., it may not be possible to match the timings of the buying organisation's decision to buy and the selling organisation's desire or ability to sell. Thus there always exists an uncertainty for the B2B marketer as to when the buyer may buy.
 
To make-up for this the B2B marketer makes use of a continuity program wherein it maintains regular, ongoing communications with the buyer. This may be achieved through e-mail or by placing the information on the website and may include information on new products, product upgradations, discounts and schemes, newly established associations of the seller with other partners, and so on. This helps in building a long-term impact of the selling organisation on the buying organisation.

3) Audience Strategy and Mailing Lists: Audience strategy drives the process of evaluating and selecting mailing lists. There are three basic kinds of lists:
 
i) House List: The house list is typically made up of customer and prospect names (with appropriate segmentation) collected by a variety of methods:
 
a) Input from the sales force,  
b) Trade shows,  
c) Leads from various media, and so on.
 
ii) Response List: These are lists with names of individuals who responded to you by e-mail, filling out Web questionnaires, and so forth. Typical response lists include subscribers, buyers, and member lists.
 
iii) Compiled List: These lists are compiled from a variety of sources, including t iephone directories.
 
4) Electronic/Interactive Media: Business organisations depend mainly on three basic media for B2B marketing - e-mail, web, and the CD-ROMS. E-mail and the web are internet-based media. CD-ROMS are used to execute full-fledged multi-media promotions with text, sound, animation, and full-motion video.

5) Internet Marketing Strategies: Several potential marketing strategies can be used in B2B. Silverstein (1999) classifies them into the following five categories:
 
i) Generating and qualifying leads with the Internet.  
ii) Using Internet events to promote products and services.  
iii) Executing instant fulfillment on the Internet.  
iv) Generating orders through the Internet.  
v) Enhancing customer relationships with the Internet.

Previous Next

 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular Post

Advantages of EDI

1) Shortened Ordering Time : Paper orders have to be printed, enveloped and sent out by the customer's post room, passed through the postal service, received by the supplier's post room and input to the supplier's order pocessing system. To achieve all this, reliably, in under three days would be to do very well. EDI orders are sent straight into the network and the only delay is how often the supplier retrieves messages from the system. Orders can be in the supplier's system within a day, or if there is urgency, the messages can be retrieved more frequently, for example every hour.  2) Cost Cutting : The use of EDI can cut costs. These include the costs of stationery and postage but these will probably be fully matched by the costs of running the EDI service. The principle saving from the use of the EDI is the potential to save staff costs. For example, if the orders are directly input to the system there is no need for an order entry clerk.  3) Elimination of Errors :...
Post a Comment
Read more

Infrastructure for EC

Introduction The e-commerce infrastructure is defined here as the supporting capabilities for online trading between multiple companies which include hardware, software, networks, online payment technologies, security and encryption technologies, online trading business models, legal and regulatory framework, and managerial and organisation capabilities.  Infrastructure is the shared human, informational , and technical resources on which the work system relies in order to operate, even though these resources exist and are managed outside of the work system.  To evaluate the interdisciplinary aspects of construction e-commerce infrastructure, one proposes using a four pillar approach. Figure 5.1 illustrates the skeleton for the proposed integrated construction e-commerce infrastructure. The proposed integrated e-business infrastructure can be broken down into the following four groups of components:  1) Technological Infrastructure : Technology infrastructure is a work...
1 comment
Read more

Business Strategy - E-Commerce Strategy Inputs

E-Commerce Strategy Inputs Traditionally an IT strategy would be subservient to the business strategy. For e- commerce the IT strategy becomes a central component (or the determinant factor) in business strategy.  Inputs to an e-commerce business strategy are: Technology An E-commerce technology includes:  EDI : Streamline supply logistics and facilitate decreases in trade cycle times.  Electronic Markets : Re-define the operation of a market sector.  Internet E-Commerce : Provides new direct sales opportunities and novel business to business and business to consumer applications.  Internet e-commerce can be used to improve, transform and re-define business value:  Organisation  Source of Business value  i) Improve it a) Product promotion b)New direct sales channel c)Direct saving d)Time to market e)Customer service f)Brand image  ii)Transform it a)Technological and organizational learning b)Customer relations  iii)Re-define it a)New pro...
Post a Comment
Read more