Social Mixer 2024 Singapore
marketing interactive Content360 Singapore 2024 Content360 Singapore 2024
marketing interactive

Blurring the lines between B2B and B2C marketing

share on

B2B has faced tremendous change over the years. Witnessing this change has been Schneider Electric’s chief marketing officer, Chris Leong. Leong who became CMO in 2015 and has been with the company for over four years.Having worn both the agency and client hat during her days with Schneider, Nokia and WPP's Grey Group, Leong said that in the B2B world, it is near impossible to find a one-size fits all strategy for business-to-business  industries given the unique demands of each field. As such, Leong often takes a page or two out of the B2C marketing rule-book.She said, today the lines are blurring between B2B and B2C marketing. Often enough, B2B marketers are influenced by the trends in the B2C world.Last year, Schneider Electric launched its “Life is On” brand strategy to articulate its transformation from a customer-centric product company to one that is helping customers navigate the digital world. Leong and her team were given the task to not only build the brand’s marketing prowess, but also transform the company’s digitisation strategy.“In the past, we considered B2C companies more sophisticated in digital commerce. But now with the prevalence of connected devices and data enabled by IoT and social media, B2B companies are able to vastly improve their customer-reach through digital commerce initiatives. B2B companies now look to better engage customers directly to understand their needs, preferences and behaviours,” Leong said.However, the purchasing cycle in B2B remains different. B2B purchase cycles are generally longer and involve multiple decision makers in the business. As such, while the strategies might be similar, the content and execution pitched remain vastly different. She said:B2B needs to target multiple decision makers within a single organisation, over a multi-stage sales cycle, and across channels owned by different teams. B2C just focuses on the individuals.Being always onNonetheless, B2B marketers at the end of the day, consumers too. As such, they too have high expectations from their partners.  This as a trend is forcing B2B companies to become more responsive to customer feedback, and look to better engage their customers and understand their needs, preferences and behaviors.How Schneider Electric tried to move into the always “on” strategy and stay better connected to its consumers was via its ccApp, now renamed as MySchneider app. The app launched in 2013 was a touch point where customers could contact experts for help and have access to instant technical support, product information and updates.It also allowed users to check order status, product price and availability, and access to 1,000 courses on topics including safety, risk prevention, electrical fundamentals, operation and maintenance.According to Leong, the app’s success was evident as it consistently garnered feedback from customers and the app saw 300% YOY growth from last year to this year. Currently, the total number of connected customers as of today has already reached 7,000.“These are our customers. We want to create digital experiences that are relevant to them," Leong added.Moving into an IoT eraToday customers are constantly sharing their experiences with a brand or product. This is no different in the B2B world. As such the opinions of influential trend-leaders will greatly amplify the effects of brand messages.This open line of communication means B2B players need to get even closer to customers, partners, prospects, influencers and employees using real-time context-based data. This is where IoT technology really helps.“IoT presents our market with a compelling reason to further drive innovation at every level. IoT technology drives smarter marketing by presenting enormous opportunities to interpret smart device data, shape trends, and tailor outreach at the right time and in the right place, ultimately driving business value,” Leong added.IoT has also resulted in more effective media buying as these devices grow in popularity. Opportunities for advertising and media buying is also growing with them. She said:The traditional process of buying digital advertising through a handful of restrictive channels, and long-winded negotiations is already shifting towards digital platforms.She added that as advertising continues to adapt to IoT and M2M technology, marketers will be able to switch from the process of negotiation to programmatic media buying. IoT will also help in delivering real time contextual engagement. Rather than waiting for data to be collated and then analysed, IoT can help create a focus group-like experience which can continuously provide feedback through smart devices. This can enable marketers to constantly hone their messages until they achieve maximum effectiveness.“Having real-time context-based data about individual customers and anonymous visitors also enable marketers to deliver contextual, consistent and relevant experiences throughout a customer journey,” Leong said. Marketers will then be able to respond with real-time engagement, which can be leveraged for upsells, reorders, and much more.When buyers see that you are paying attention to them, they are likely to feel endeared to your company and will be more likely to continue or increase the amount of business they do with you.This will also result in more personalised marketing as information gathered from how purchased products will allow marketers to predict future scenarios and send personalised offers to customers at the right time, through the right channels in real time, explained Leong.The future of B2BWhen asked about marketing trends which she foresees gaining importance going forward, Leong said that social, virtual reality, experiential experiences and content are areas that will help to push the envelope. According to Leong, Schneider Electric has been fully embracing digital and social channels, having doubled its social media following in the past year, now reaching 2.3million followers across the board.It is also recognising the trend of augmented reality and virtual reality content through demos in their sales and marketing activities, which is growing in importance in the industrial world. It is actively transforming its global events into immersive experiences through the use of experiential marketing. The company is also heavily creating content that drives eye-balls and thought leadership in business and engineering to be more engaging.“This open line of communication means we have to get closer to our customers, our partners, our prospects, our influencers and our employees by leveraging real-time context-based data from IOT technology to deliver contextual, consistent and relevant experiences throughout their journeys,” Leong added.

share on

Follow us on our Telegram channel for the latest updates in the marketing and advertising scene.
Follow

Free newsletter

Get the daily lowdown on Asia's top marketing stories.

We break down the big and messy topics of the day so you're updated on the most important developments in Asia's marketing development – for free.

subscribe now open in new window