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THE COMPLEXITY OF THE PRODUCT Just as the decision making unit is complex in relation to business-to-business markets, so the same rule applies for the actual products in these markets. Business-to-business products – and their applications – are far more likely to be complex than is the case with their counterparts in consumer markets. Where the purchase of a consumer product requires little expertise (perhaps nothing more than a whim), the purchase of an industrial product frequently requires a qualified expert. Where consumer products are largely standardised, industrial products are often bespoke and require high levels of fine-tuning. Even relatively complex consumer products tend to be chosen on fairly simple criteria. A car might be chosen because it goes fast and looks nice, and a stereo might be purchased on the grounds that it is tremendously loud. Industrial products, on the other hand, frequently have to be integrated into wider systems and as a result have very specific requirements and need intimate, expert examination and modification. It is difficult to imagine a turbine manufacturer or commercial web-site design buyer having a look at three or four products and then choosing one simply because it looks nice. The choice of turbine will involve a whole host of technical, productivity and safety issues, whilst the choice of web-site might be based on its integration into a wider marketing campaign, its interactivity with users and the degree to which it draws potential clients via search engines. These differences have a great impact on the way consumer and industrial products are marketed. Buyers of consumer products are not interested in the technical details of what they are buying. The vast majority of car buyers are far more interested in what speed the car will reach than in how it will reach that speed. Similarly, the buyer of a chocolate bar is likely to be far more interested in the fact that the item stops them feeling hungry and tastes nice than in the technology and ingredients that make it so. As a result, consumer products are frequently marketed in ways that are superficial or even vacuous. Car manufacturers frequently completely ignore not only how a car performs, but often the fact that the car performs at all, and instead seek to apply non-physical attributes such as sex appeal to their products. Business-to-business campaigns, on the other hand, seek to educate their target audience by providing specific factual information. Many target companies in business-to-business campaigns are already well-informed on the product area, in which case promotional material may have to go as far as offering product specifications. Often, however, campaigns are promoting products that the target market is unaware of – in such cases, the physical benefits of the product must be concisely conveyed. This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 20th, 2006 at 9:23 am and is filed under Articles, Industry News, Market Research, White Papers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Leave a Reply |
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