Question

The Marketing pundits of today are beginning to realize that the current obsession with data is somewhat megalomaniacal. We tend to rely on individualistic idiosyncrasies without taking into account the aggregate behavior which to some extent is myopic in its very essence. The holistic approach to comprehend business to business consumer is not to strive to decipher discrete behaviors only but it is to compliment it with the aggregate habit profile of various clusters of customers. These aggregate tendencies are dependent on environmental factors/influencers like economic developments, supply conditions. technological change, political and regulatory developments, competitive developments, culture and customs etc. Discuss with examples how these aforementioned influencers can assist in crafting the right marketing strategies for business to business consumer.

Answer 1

An example of B2BC or Business to Business Consumers can be an eCommerce website. In order to craft a marketing strategy for these businesses and ultimately customers, the aggregate behavior needs to be analyzed. This can be influenced by technological change, supply conditions, competitive developments, etc.

For example, the recent example of the pandemic has effected the business a lot in terms of supply conditions. Thus, businesses must craft their marketing in a way that ensures that the goods would be delivered, without the hassle and with safety concerns. Thus, the marketing strategy must be developed according to the aggregate need, which as of now is related to convenience and safety.

In the same manner, when there is huge competitiveness between similar B2BC companies, then they rely on better offerings, both to the business and consumers. This offering can be in terms of cheaper products, better service, or exclusive items.

Hence, a marketer must assess its environment regarding the variables and accordingly make its strategy.

The same applies to the culture and customs of a place or the technological change. The idea here should be to let people understand, that how a particular factor is considered while offering value. As mentioned in the brief, the factor affects a cluster of consumers, whether it is digital payments or change in the economy. Like marketing about luxury items would be futile at this point in time as people are afraid, they are losing jobs and uncertainty is across the world.

Relating with the culture, local regulations is also essential while marketing a product or designing the strategy like promoting an alcohol brand or business in Islam dominated countries, would fail as alcohol is prohibited in the religion.

Thus, given influencers if analyzed well can assist in crafting marketing strategy as it tells what a collective consumer or business needs.