What is the biggest marketing challenge you face? It is not necessarily understanding your markets – but knowing how to go to market.
Understanding how to go to market
Your business sits in a value chain – a channel through which you can reach your customers. Sometimes it is direct. Sometimes it is through distributors. Sometimes it is through a mixture of both.
In business to business marketing, understanding the channel and value chain is critical to understanding the optimum route for reaching your customers.
It is also worth noting that some of the most successful marketing case studies in the world – such as Dell and Amazon – were game changers, standing out as classic examples of companies who optimized their channels effectively.
How we can help
At B2B International, we start at a high level, taking a view of the whole supply chain and your business’ current position within it.
We then work closely with you to identify pressure points, unknown channels, and changes in market structure. We look for opportunities and threats in the supply chain, particularly examining the role of distributors, wholesalers, resellers, importers and exporters, agents and reps. This enables us to come to a completely objective and informed view as to how your channel strategy can be optimized.
Our services
At B2B International we have one aim: To provide a clear understanding of your channel. Our in-depth understanding of business verticals enables us to interpret the research and arrive at a recommended strategy and tactical recommendations for going to market.
Case study: Understanding customer needs
Business challenge
Our client, a manufacturer of commodity products, was suffering because a large proportion of its customers had become increasingly focussed on price. Their sales force was finding it difficult to sell value to those customers.
What we did
We researched every part of the value chain, particularly those businesses buying the commodity products. Our findings revealed the customers were not interested in any value added services and would be happy to buy a stripped down version of the offer – the product alone – without any technical advice and support.
So our client launched an online offer, making it clear to customers that buying through this route would not provide privileges, such as service and technical support. However, because a significant amount of the cost had been removed – no sales force, no technical advice – customers could make a huge financial saving. The website and the online offer were marketed under a completely different brand, which did not affect the traditional business.
Find out how our channel & go-to-market research can help your business grow
Our Clients
