With a new decade just around the corner, BtoB researchers and practitioners will be called upon to create new value for their firms by developing new tools, techniques and approaches for understanding customer needs.
In the sixth round of its trend study, The Institute for the Study of Business Markets (ISBM) surveyed business marketers and BtoB academic researchers to identify the most critical challenges marketers will encounter. Results of the survey cited seven critical issues for marketers through 2010 including:
●Understanding deep customer needs in new ways.
Meeting the challenge of better understanding customers requires deeply probing the individual and organizational behaviors and the emotions influencing business buying decisions. One survey respondent explained that innovative study designs must reach "beyond traditional market research [to] inherent product and process understanding."
●Identifying new opportunities for organic business growth.
The second trend calls marketers to step up to address bringing to their firms new drivers for organic growth. One respondent noted, "If marketers don't see a direct line between themselves and top line growth for their firm, they're in danger of becoming irrelevant." Looking for new markets, adjacencies, driving the new offering realization processes, engineering new alliances—all were mentioned as ways to bring new growth generating tools and techniques to business-to-business firms.
●Improving value management techniques and tools.
Respondents noted that marketers must focus on improving value through new tools and techniques that will help them understand customers better and create and deliver value to their firms.
●Calculating better marketing performance and accountability metrics.
The need for better marketing metrics includes better predictive measures for innovation projects at each development stage.
●Competing and growing in global markets, particularly China.
The globalization of the industry will continue to grow, causing marketers to discover ways to better meet the challenges posed by competitors in foreign markets.
●New product development to avoid product commoditization in the marketplace.
Investing in the right development projects and platforms is critical, the surveys respondents revealed. One respondent called for “disciplined processes [for] portfolio management and developing consensus in a decentralized organization quickly.” Another noted “Marketers must become the `networked champions of innovation.’”
●Convincing C-level executives to support robust marketing programs.
Successful new product development can be a powerful tool for "marketing the marketing function" to top management. This is an important challenge for BtoB marketers who need to win the admiration, investments and “seat at the corporate table” in order to best serve their organizations.
For more information about the ISBM B-to-B Marketing Trends 2010 Study, contact Ralph A. Oliva, ISBM executive director, at roliva@psu.edu.