B2B Marketing Mix — A Primer for Startups
You may be a startup with big ambitions, or an established business looking for fresh ideas to boost sales and revenue growth. No matter what type of company you run, there are certain key elements that must be present in any successful B2B marketing strategy.
This blog is a comprehensive guide to B2B marketing for new or young companies. The size of your business, whether you’re selling products or services, doesn’t matter. This blog will offer insights on what is a marketing mix? And how to implement a successful B2B marketing strategy.
The main elements of a marketing plan are the 4Ps, which provide insight on how to structure your marketing mix.
The four Ps are Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. Let’s explore each in detail.
In this post, we explore the four P’s of marketing mix. The first two—product and price—are closely related. The last two—”placement” and “promotion”—often overlap.
Now let’s understand the history briefly,
The term ‘marketing mix’ was coined by Neil Borden in his 1953 Harvard Business Review article “The Concept of the Marketing Mix.”
Borden introduced the marketing mix concepts as part of a framework that marketers can use to plan and carry out their campaigns. Marketing mix is an important part of a business’ marketing plan.
It helps you define your product or service, build a brand and market it to the target audience.
1. Product Strategy:
Product is often discussed as being part of B2C (business-to-consumer) marketing strategies, but it can be just as significant for B2B businesses. As Henry Ford famously said: “If you need a machine and don’t buy it , then you will ultimately find that you have paid for it and don’t have it.”
Some key questions to ask yourself about your company’s product include:
- How does it solve a problem or create value for the customer?
- What do competitors offer and how is your product different?
- How does your product prevent, mitigate, or minimize risk to the customer?
- What are the benefits of your product vs. alternatives available on the market?
- Does it offer a unique benefit that other products don’t provide?
- Is there a clear USP (unique selling point)?
Here are few tips for the Product strategy:
- The product or service you offer must be relevant and valuable to your target market
- It should solve real problems and satisfy unmet needs by providing benefits that outweigh the costs (to buyers and to your business).
- It should also distinguish your company from competitors in the marketplace.
- Your product/service should clearly define how it fulfills the customer’s needs and demands.
If it doesn’t match up with one of these requirements then you need to reexamine its value proposition.
Your product can take many forms; depending on its complexity you may choose an MVP, a phased release or even use beta testing as part of your early marketing strategy.
An MVP is a good way to test your idea with a target audience at low cost.
A phased release is also inexpensive and allows you to prioritize development of features that better meet customer needs. Beta testing can help you find problems with products before they hit the market.
2. Pricing Model
Price is a crucial part of the Marketing mix.
You should keep the following points in mind, while determining the price of the product:
- The price strategy for your product or service should be based on an understanding of the overall company vision and specific product goals, as well as the resources available to achieve those objectives.
- It’s important to know how much customers are willing to pay for similar products/services from competitors. You must understand your industry-specific pricing options and have a plan in place before bringing any new product or service onto the market.
- A premium price can indicate superior quality, positioning your business as a trusted provider in the eyes of your target audience and providing access to high-end clients.
- A low price can help you capture market share and win new business, but it may sap resources and damage long-term growth prospects.
- Price is one of the most important elements to include. You must always consider the value to your buyer, while ensuring you are making enough money to continue operating and make a healthy profit.
- Your pricing strategy should be clear, competitive, and offer value for the customer. To ensure this, prices should cover costs (including required capital expenses like equipment), generate an adequate return on investment (ROI), support expansion plans, and provide revenue growth.
Examples of pricing strategies :
- Discounts: temporary or permanent reductions
- Non-monetary: free or discounted resources, services, or other benefits
- Promotional Pricing: short-term and limited time discounts and special offers
- Premium: higher price than competitors to provide a perception of better value for customers
- Value Pricing: pricing that allows the consumer to receive the most product for the price paid.
Packaging & Branding Your packaging has an important role in establishing company image and identity.
Depending on your industry, it must communicate certain messages about quality, reliability, style and innovation to potential customers. Consider your product’s strengths—what makes it unique? Tailor your company’s image accordingly: Part of this will be determined by the type of business you run; another part by the customer base that already exists or could be drawn from existing client data.
3. Place (or distribution)
Place in the marketing mix refers to how you make your product available to customers.
It’s often referred to as distribution channel strategy, which can involve physical distribution, such as selling products directly from a factory. It also involves online distribution and distribution via dealers, agents, or representatives. Lastly, it involves distribution by wholesalers.
Sales Channels: Sales channels are also an important part of the “Place”
Choosing the right sales channels will depend on your industry, budget, and whether you’re selling physical, digital or intangible products.
4. Promotion Strategy
The fourth pillar of the marketing mix involves Promotion. It is extremely important from a marketing and selling point of view.
Promotion requires creative thinking, collaboration and marketing know-how. It encompasses all of the strategies companies use to raise awareness of their products/services.
It helps the companies to position themselves as value providers in the eyes of target audience members and establish trust amongst the future/potential customers.
Here are some of the popular ways of promotion:
- Advertising is one form of promotion that can help you spread messages about your company’s vision, identity and value proposition. Advertising may incorporate promotional content such as social media posts and email marketing campaigns.
- Word-of-mouth referrals are another way to “test-market” for potential clients outside your immediate circle; they can be an effective approach when targeting specific groups or professionals within an industry.
With a clearly defined product/service, promotion strategy and pricing model in place, your business can move forward.
If you need help clarifying your approach to the marketing mix or other marketing strategies & tactics,You can always reach out to a professional for advice, like a Global PEO, to find talent anywhere.
Here are some ways in which you can expand your company and make use of all the 4 Ps of the marketing mix.
- Building relationships with retailers will help you establish your company as an authority in its category and these can be very beneficial if you plan to expand product lines in the future.
- Using sales channels and distribution systems efficiently.
- Exploring and incorporating new and more creative promotional strategies. This will help you boast sales and gain massive competitive advantage.
