B2B Marketing Issue - Essay Example

?Case Study in B2B Marketing - Triangle Creative Ltd Table of Contents Case Study in B2B Marketing - Triangle Creative Ltd Table of Contents 2 Introduction 4 Overview of the Company 5 Marketing Mix 5 Product 6 Price 7 Place 7 Promotion 8 People 8 Process 9 Physical Evidence 9 Relationship Variables & Business Networks 10 Relationship Variables (model) 10 Cooperation 12 Satisfaction 13 Commitment 13 Communication 13 Trust 14 Business Networks 14 Alliance Networks 15 Coordinated Network 15 Collaborative Networks 15 Implications For TCL 15 Structuring the Sales Force 16 Product Based 17 Customer Based 17 Geographical Location 18 Best Approach 19 Conclusion 20 References 21 Introduction The soaring degree of intensity in terms of competition is observed to be compelling various companies to revise their existing marketing strategies along with formulating innovative ones that are aimed not just to get a firm hold on the customer requirements but also to enhance the degree of their satisfaction and retention as well. The environment of business is supposed to be undergoing a constant alteration which is making it tough for the companies to ensure their respective existence in the industry. This particular scenario is making it necessary for the companies to make alterations in their marketing strategies in order to cater to the varied requirements of the customers and also to acquire fresh customers. It needs to be mentioned in this context that the notion of business-to-business (B2B) marketing is considered to be an entirely diverse breed in comparison to conventional way of marketing. The companies involved with this way of marketing are usually believed to be catering to an intellectual customer base that are observed to be urbane and fails to give in to impulse buying. Therefore, it can be well comprehended that the ways of marketing or the marketing mix on the whole need to be altered by the relevant companies in order to keep pace with the altering business environment. This report will intend to provide the company Triangle Creative Ltd (TCL) with certain suggestions regarding its marketing mix along with a few alterations, the significance of relationship variables for the company and also regarding the management of its respective salesforce. Overview of the Company The company TCL has been stated to be quite established which provides its clients with a complete assortment of services related to marketing and advertising. The services entail advertising, website development, online marketing, direct marketing as well as public relations. The client list of the company consists of an extensive variety of companies ranging from furniture retailers, garden centres, local parks with theme and universities. The company is believed to have created a superior reputation for itself in terms of offering a dependable, consistent, proficient and gracious service. It is known to be engaged with the B2B marketing and thus the bulk of its respective business is believed to be attained with the help of reference selling or rather word-of-mouth suggestion. This advertising as well as marketing company has witnessed tough times in its business owing to the economic downturn which is making the company to entail certain required alterations in its marketing plans for the reason of ensuring its survival in this environment. Marketing Mix The marketing mix of the company TCL calls for the requirement of few alterations in order to meet up to the marketing aims ascertained by the company. The effectual and the competent formulation of a fresh or transformed marketing mix would need a lucid comprehension of the present marketing objectives or aims of the company. The company has been made to witness few challenges in terms of its existing business owing the recent economic downturn. The other grave challenge experienced by TCL has been measured to be the exceeding fragmentation of the market. The market in which the company operates has been found to be sectioned and consists of increased amount of small as well as medium sized business organisations. Therefore, TCL faces severe competition as it not only needs to contend against the organisations with local bases but also with those which entail broad national set of connections related to their respective businesses. Therefore, it can be deciphered from the present condition of the company that the present or immediate marketing intentions of the company are to hold on to its existing client base along with acquiring fresh clients which would help to trigger fresh sales for the company. The ascertainment of the marketing objectives have been stated to be quite imperative as it is the expression in terms of quantity of what the organisation means to sell and also to whom (McDonald, 2002). Marketing mix is explained as a tool set that an organisation utilises in order to attain the objectives in the aimed market (Kotler & Armstrong, 1991). The chief rudiments in relation to the marketing mix of TCL have been mentioned below: Product TCL is known to offer a broad range of services to its clients such as media services, marketing services and advertising. The company is believed to effectually plan the activities related to its services with expertise in accordance with the requirements that are considered to be best suited for its clients. The range of services needs to be placed or highlighted uniquely in the market through its marketing strategy. The expertise of the company and its valued experience in offering the appropriate kind of services should be drawn attention to while aiming to catch the fancy of fresh clients. The feature that sets it separately from its competitors should be focused on to lure fresh consumers. Price The company is used to charging prices for its provided services on the basis of the requirements of the clients. TCL is believed to pursue a moderately inflexible method of pricing by charging a certain percentage from its clients on the entire marketing financial plan that is found to be placed with the company. This particular way of pricing was found to be preferred by the accessible and prospective clients. However, it is highly recommended for the company to alter its pricing system as its other competitors were found to be pursuing negotiations in terms of price and even offering the advantage of a flat fee structure. TCL needs to make certain modifications in terms of its charged prices by pursuing a flexible pricing method and also keeping a flat fee structure for the clients opting for their services for the first time. The company should also keep its charges a bit higher for certain services compared to its existing competitors in order to add a feel of class and the high price should be repaid by adding certain additional services or activities so that the clients do not feel indignant. Place TCL operates in the city of Cambridge which facilitates it to cater to numerous organisations locally. The company presently faces a dearth of resources which makes it unable to expand internationally as well as cater to large enterprises. However, it should exert increased attempts to gain a strong foothold in its existing market by considering all the possible places around Cambridge and in London. TCL should make a thorough survey of the places with its operations and the ones that are still left unexplored. This will offer an apparent idea regarding the places where the company needs to reach with its services. This will help the company to acquire fresh and potential clients. Promotion TCL needs to frequently advertise regarding its services offered along with its special prices and schemes if any in the newspapers and trade magazines. Although it has been found that most of the businesses have been triggered and acquired on the basis of word-of-mouth but it still needs to exploit the social sites of networking in order to ensure utmost exposure with minimum expenses especially in such state of economic turmoil. People The personnel responsible for designing, media planning, media buying and the ones engaged in the field of direct marketing need to be provided occasional trainings so that their knowledge and skills are honed in order to trigger innovation in their respective areas of work. Training programs will ensure superior quality of service leading to the attainment of increased degree of customer contentment. This is likely to earn a positive reputation for the company which will help it to acquire fresh clients along with effectively retaining the existing ones. Process Process is considered to be an integral part of the service marketing industry as the relevant decisions would have an influence on the ways the service is made available to the intended customers. As TCL is concerned with marketing and advertising activities, it needs to ensure the inclusion of updated technology while designing its services. Therefore, the company should engage modern technology as it would not only enhance the nature of services provided but will also enable the company to provide superior services at lesser expenses. Physical Evidence TCL needs to focus attention on enhancing its website in order to make it attractive. This will help to create a positive impact on the perception of the potential clients visiting the website regarding the company. This is likely to trigger the initiation of business prospects from fresh clients. Relationship Variables & Business Networks Relationship Variables (model) The relationship variables as well as the business networks with regard to B2B have been referred to a particular process where a cluster of organisations build widespread and strong economic, technical, social and service attachments over time. It has been also mentioned in this regard that these form of associations are regarded as quite an imperative resource that is measured to be vital for the reason of enhanced economic performance. The aspects of relationship variables as well as the business set of connections prove to be advantageous in this competitive age as they aid in influencing or rather elevating the degree of knowledge regarding the customers as well as other business participants such as partners, investors, employees and providers. This knowledge further assists in altering the products as well as the services of the companies into unforgettable experiences that facilitates in giving rise to exceptional value. TCL has been mentioned to focus upon increased significance on the aspect of keeping up successful working associations with their respective clients for the reason of superior and enhanced worth that is found to be created by the established and ongoing associations. TCL needs to exert increased endeavours for the reason of initiating exchanges in the long run among the organisations operating in the sector of services marketing. The character of services is measured to be intangible which implies the obscurity regarding the assessment of the quality of the provided services by the customers. The relational exchange is observed to become apparent with time which proves to be beneficial for the exchange partners in terms of decreased ambiguity, exchange competence and effectual association. The other imperative advantage that can be derived by TCL from these kinds of relationship and networking is that intense degree of competition is being witnessed by the service provider organisations, which is making them incur significant expenses in terms of developing or innovating fresh kind of services. In such conditions, the associations with the other business participants found to offer increasingly dedicated functions can assist in lucrative de-incorporation with regard to the value chains along with boosting innovation by way of enabling greater dedication of the inputs as well as the outputs. To put it differently, it can be inferred that this aspect of flexible dedication would direct to enhanced competence, bring down the prices of the inputs and increased pace to market (Bagdoniene & Zilione, 2009). In comparison to traditional marketing, relationship marketing or variables provide more importance to develop associations with customers so that both the parties are benefited that are mutually concerned in exchanges in the long run. Unlike traditional marketing, relationship marketing aims at developing partners out of their customers which makes this approach different (Bowen & Shoemaker, 2003). It was found from the IMP literature that the factors of trust as well as assurance were recognised to be few of the integral aspects related to relationship marketing in association with B2B. An organisation needs to consider just the fundamental fact of creating increased worth for it-self while initiating a relationship in comparison to transactional approach. It has been also stated in this regard that the decisions of the consumers are greatly affected by the kind and extent of relationship shared between them and the organisation. An organisation found to indulge strongly in building strong and successful relationships with their respective customers tend to manipulate their decisions regarding exiting from any kind of exchanges owing to the creation of the loyalty factor as a result of strong relationships (Blois, 2008). There are few definite categories of relationship variables which have been identified in the model related to interaction process. The initial category usually entails exchanges in the form of information, financial content, products and social context among the individuals on both side of the process. This particular process encompasses the relationship that prevails among the actors. The process of interaction along with relationship is regarded as the central concept in relation to this definite model. The subsequent category entails the innate features with regard to the engaged individuals. The comprehension of these features aid in structuring the appropriate purchasing as well as the marketing strategies, technology engaged with process and product, the organisational designs and the goals of the associated individuals. The next category is believed to consider the aspect of environment that encircles a specific relationship and is an integral part as well. This aspect is communicated with respect to the extent of divergence or collaboration and control or reliance prevailing between the concerned individuals. The final category includes the fact that the atmosphere is regarded as the external background where an interaction gets initiated. This is competent of being distinguished as a steady or active setting and local or even global in scope. Therefore, this mentioned model of interaction includes the relevant relationship variables along with their comprehension which is likely to help the organisations in their respective business operations (Axelsson, 2010). The IMP literature was found to state that the two relational moves towards marketing that is relationship marketing as well as networks and interaction was considered to be quite vital. The notion of relationship marketing emphasised on the aspect of consumer marketing but whereas, the notion of networks and interaction emphasised entirely on the aspect of industrial marketing (Brennan, 2010). The relationship variables in business-to-business haven been stated in detail below: Cooperation The aspect of cooperation is considered to be a significant relationship with regard to business-to-business relationships. It has been found that in case of desired consequences from a transactional relationship which is believed to surpass the involved individuals contentment level and prospects then in such instances the tendency to cooperate augments with regard to the consumers (Bagdoniene & Zilione, 2009). Satisfaction Maintaining close associations with individuals makes the organisations comprehend the requirements of their respective consumers in a better way which in turn elevates the degree of satisfaction for the consumers (Bagdoniene & Zilione, 2009). Commitment The companies need to focus on maintaining successful and strong relationships with their consumers as it is believed to trigger a sense of assurance within the consumers. The relationship variables are found to be inter-related as the attainment of customer contentment with the help of constant product as well as service usage promotes a certain degree of loyalty or commitment among them (Bagdoniene & Zilione, 2009). Communication Communication is also considered to be an imperative factor as proper communication helps the companies to comprehend the actual needs of the consumers along with making the consumers feel that their requirements are understood and are provided to them in the form of products as well as services (Bagdoniene & Zilione, 2009). Trust Increased consumer satisfaction is believed to trigger trust within the consumers. It has been mentioned in this regard that proper communication and contentment along with commitment promotes trust (Bagdoniene & Zilione, 2009). The most fruitful benefit that can be extracted by TCL through these business networks in the field of service is that these networks result in proving to be definitely imperative as the close business associations among the organisations entails chances of resulting in harmonising in terms of resources. This definite notion of harmonisation is believed to enable and trigger the condition in relation to incorporated solutions (Bagdoniene & Zilione, 2009). The increasing turmoil in the business environment has made it important for sellers to create and to hold on to their loyal customers who would ensure profit in the long run for the organisations rather than offering valuable products and outstanding services (Tseng, 2007). Business Networks The business networks have been explained below along with their importance in business-to- business marketing. Alliance Networks This particular network engages exchange or interchange of information as well as communication for the reason of mutual advantage (Camarinha-Matos & Afsarmanesh, 2006). Coordinated Network Coordinated network adds more than just interchange of information. Apart from interchange of information it even engages bringing into line along with modifying the activities in order to attain increased effectual outcomes beneficial for the companies (Camarinha-Matos & Afsarmanesh, 2006). Collaborative Networks Collaborative networks involve certain bodies to share supplies, liabilities and information for the reason of mutually planning, practicing and analysing a group of business functions to attain a common objective (Camarinha-Matos & Afsarmanesh, 2006). Implications For TCL Building strong associations with the clients would aid TCL to effectually comprehend the definite requirements of the clients along with gaining an understanding regarding their individual choices as well which will help TCL to develop the right kind of services for their respective clients. These business relationships as well as networks will aid TCL in luring, keeping and improving customers as well as the stakeholders’ relationships at a position of profit. This would assist the company to attain the purposes of the engaged parties with the help of mutual exchange along with realisation of promises (Kotler & Armstrong, 1999). Building strong associations with the clients would help TCL to keep a track of the altering trends regarding the preferences of their respective clients along with ensuring an enhanced reputation for itself among its clients. This superior reputation will promote a positive word-of-mouth ensuring the acquirement of fresh clients by TCL accompanied with promoting loyalty amongst the existing base of clients (Bennett & Barkensjo, 2005; Tapp, 2005). Structuring the Sales Force The organisation needs to put into action its consideration of recruiting a fresh sales force. The sales team can be recruited on the basis of evaluation of certain traits that would be measured as advantageous for the business. It has been found that few of the existing staffs are provided with the facility of carrying out their tasks from their respective homes. These personnel were usually found to be the Account Executives and the Designers. The job role of the Account Executives became tedious as they required allocating their respective time among office and travelling as they are even required to visit the prospective as well as existing clients. The recruitment of the fresh sales force would help in taking off this additional work of visiting the clients from the Account Executives thus providing them enough time to concentrate on serious accounting tasks. The organisation or rather the management of the fresh sales force should be done in accordance with the below mentioned factors: Product Based Managing or organising a particular sales team in accordance with the product calls for the development of unit-based sales with regard to the assortment of products or services offered by a particular organisation. In other words, the team responsible for a definite kind of product as well as service will just deal and interact with the customers in relation to that particular product they are responsible for. This will ensure undivided attention for the customers for each category of product as well as service by the dedicated team. The team would also be responsible for structuring a complete product plan for the complete assortment of products by ascertaining the market potential for the total amount of products or services of the similar category that could be sold overall encompassing every individual company in the specified market. This will aid the team to derive the sales potential signifying the maximum amount of products as well as the services that is competent of being sold by a single company. The market potential and the sales potential will finally provide the company with a sales forecast which would signify the amount of products as well as services that is intended to be sold by a given company (Hutt & Speh, 2009). Customer Based A sales team should also be developed which would be focused and responsible for dealing with the customers in relation to a particular product type or even with special and high profile customers who would call for additional and specialised attention. This sales team will mainly focus on building strong associations with the customers which will help in triggering fresh business from the existing clients along with reaching out to fresh prospective clients through the existing ones (Hutt & Speh, 2009). Geographical Location The sales force needs to be organised in accordance with the regions of the operations of the particular organisation. A particular team should be provided with the responsibility of managing the sales of a particular region. This will help in serving the markets by region in an enhanced manner which would facilitate appropriate market coverage, effectual structuring of the sales force in that particular region, providing proficient customer service along with enhancing the degree of productivity in relation to selling as well as marketing (Hutt & Speh, 2009). Best Approach The company needs to form a team of around three sales personnel who would be responsible for interacting with the existing as well as the prospective clients on a regular basis in order to build a strong business relationship. This will also help the company to even cater to other companies that are London based. Another team of around three personnel needs to be formed who would be responsible for interacting with the clients regarding the various services offered by TCL. One of the personnel from the team should be kept dedicated towards informing the clients with the fresh kind of services or packages introduced by the company along with trying to decipher the kind of specifications needed by the prospective clients in order to serve them in a better way. Two personnel should be completely kept dedicated for the reason of looking into the problems of the clients along with offering them solutions and also superior degree of customer service. This particular mentioned approach can be considered to be best suited for TCL which will aid the company in attaining its marketing objectives that is to acquire fresh clients along with holding onto the existing ones (Zoltners & et. al., 2009). Conclusion The above discussion brings out evidently the activities or rather the alterations in terms of business operations for TCL which would assist them in recovering from the pang of economic downturn. The initial alteration suggested has been with regard to the marketing mix of the company. Recommendations have been provided in the above discussion regarding the required modifications in TCL’s marketing mix which is likely to help them attain their ascertained objectives. It has been also recommended for the company to indulge in relationship marketing in an attempt to strike a mutually beneficial bond with the existing customers along with earning a positive reputation at the same time which will further aid the company to acquire fresh clients to a large extent. The third modification mentioned for the company was the recruitment of a fresh sales force with specifically allotted functions that are believed to contribute towards the growth of TCL. 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