04-10-2012, 11:06 AM
B2B Branding Online
B2B-Branding-Online-Haakon-Jensen-NTNU.pdf (Size: 433.92 KB / Downloads: 43)
Abstract
Branding in business‐to‐business (B2B) markets has in the recent years received growing interest
both among researchers and managers. At the same time the maturation of the Internet has seen
growth of applications facilitating many‐to‐many communication. These applications called social
media has seen rapid growth during the recent years, and creates new opportunities for marketing
and branding.
This study investigates the impact of information technology by exploring academic contributions on
B2B branding by addressing four related research questions. The main emphasis of the study is how
the online environment is perceived and what impact social media will have on B2B branding. In
order to address these questions the study explores issues with branding strategies and internal
marketing.
A literature review is conducted on all B2B branding articles from the two journals The Journal of
Brand Management and The Journal of Product and Brand Management. Only 23 articles met the
search criteria, and the empirical findings demonstrated the novelty of B2B branding as an academic
research field, in addition to very little research conducted on B2B branding in the online
environment.
Introduction
Business‐to‐business (B2B) branding has in the recent years received growing interest both among
researchers and managers. The main misconception previously evolved around branding being
important only for B2C markers, rather than B2B because industrial purchasers mainly were
perceived to be rationale. As opposed to consumers, companies were perceived to value functions
and price, whilst not being concerned with brands and emotions attached to them.
Pioneers within marketing have elucidated the significance and adoption of branding also in B2B
markets. Kotler and Pfoertsch (2006) argues that branding is just as relevant in B2B as in B2C. “No
one ever got fired for buying an IBM,” goes an old anecdote which emphasises the importance of a
strong brand also within a B2B environment. Kotler and Pfoertsch further argues that B2B branding
makes it easier to efficiently convey complex information about products, increase customer loyalty
and reduce the risk attached to the purchase, in addition to the fact that a strong brand provides
added value for the customer.
At the same time globalisation only increases the relevance of branding. Efficiency improvement of
transportation and logistics network enables companies to sell their products to the entire world
without transportation dominating the total cost. A result of the globalisation is the assimilation of
technical norms and standards, which further decreases the differences whether you opt to purchase
from Germany or China. The reduction of trade barriers throughout the world makes international
trade more viable. Factors such as the mentioned ones makes it easier for many small and midsize
companies to enter the worldwide market (Kotler and Pfoertsch, 2006, p. 35).
Review Content
This study will evolve around the discussions of B2B branding from two journals having an explicit
focus on brand management. The first part will present a conceptual framework to structure the
discussions, before an overview of the literature within the B2B sphere is presented. The empirical
findings present the theories most relevant to answer the research questions.
The two first research questions aims to discover the basics of brand communications, which in turn
will provide the foundation in identifying the possibilities marketing researchers have identified in
relation to social media and the Internet. A discussion of the presented theory follows which will
address the research questions, the limitations of this research and suggested areas for further
research.
Conceptual Background
This chapter will present a conceptual background which main purpose is to frame the research
questions and the findings from the literature review within a context. The basis of this theory is
derived from the works of Kotler and Pfoertsch (2006), and is the foundation on which this literature
review is built. To complement the branding literature of Kotler and Pfoertsch with social media
theory, the article “A Practical Social Media Guide for Brands” (Robinson, 2009) and a case study on a
web‐enhanced community for professionals (Andersen, 2004) published in Industrial Marketing
Management were selected.
The Brand in a B2B Market
One long lived myth was that brands had no relevance in industrial markets, as the industrial
purchasing process was thoroughly based on rationale assessments and that emotions had no
relevance to industrial buying. Organisational buyers were concerned only with hard‐facts like
functionality, price and quality not with soft‐facts like reputation or renowned brand name (Kotler
and Pfoertsch, 2006, p. 2).
The Brand Architecture
An important part of the branding strategy is how the companies set up their brand architecture. The
main brand architecture strategies are product brand, family brand and a corporate brand. Most
real‐life examples have complex brand architectures being hybrid branding strategies, due to the
synergies coming from different branding strategies, e.g. Intel and Pentium processors or Porsche
and 911. In B2B markets corporate branding is by far the most common branding strategy, often
complemented by a few product brands. The corporate brand serves as an umbrella for the entire
company, encapsulating vision, mission, positioning, values, and many other dimensions. The brand
architecture can also be more complex, consisting of different branding dimensions. In truth most if
not all brands are hybrids in one form or another due to the synergies different basic branding
strategies can achieve (Kotler and Pfoertsch, 2006, pp. 79‐91). Corporate branding will in this study
be considered the basic underlying branding strategy unless explicit stated otherwise.
The Branding Triangle
Kotler and Pfoertsch (2006) advocate a holistic perspective on brand management where the guiding
theory is that branding needs to be considered in every part of a company to leverage the full power
of branding; everything matters. Relationship marketing, integrated marketing, internal marketing
and social responsibility are all parts of a holistic marketing concept. The main reasoning behind is to
create an alignment between all marketing activities in order to create synergies (Kotler and
Pfoertsch, 2006, p. 16).