As hard as B2B brand marketers work to create captivating online product marketing content, all is lost if their network of partners and value-added resellers (VARs) fail to realize the power of the Web as their strongest sales tool. While thousands of B2B brands continue to enhance their online presence, most VARs struggle to keep up and maintain accurate brand information, post timely details of new product launches, and manage supplemental content that meets the needs of its customers. VARs are most B2B brands' key sales channel, and their failure to capitalize on the Web for marketing hurts the VAR, the brand, and the end customer.
The amount of brand information on the Web continues to grow exponentially, leading to confusion and frustration for many B2B customers. With so many choices to find information, B2B decision makers are left to ponder:
* Which websites have current product information on a brand's product?
* Where can I go to find out which brand or solution is best for my company?
While the fragmented Web may be a source of difficulty and confusion for VARs and B2B customers, the ultimate challenge caused by the proliferation of websites affects today's brand marketer-especially B2B brand marketers, whose purchasing cycle tends to be more time consuming, more involved, and more thoroughly researched than B2C purchasing cycles. On too many occasions, brand marketers are left scrambling not only to maintain their brand continuity, but also to figure out how to get their channel to effectively use the Web as a sales tool.
In the past brand marketers were only accountable for developing marketing collateral that usually coexisted along side a physical interaction between a customer, the channel, and a brand, like the physical data sheets a VAR sales representative might distribute during a business presentation or at a tradeshow or conference.
Now, however, the job of the brand marketer has become entirely more complex. The past few years have seen a significant development of a non-physical marketing channel, an online channel-one measured by its global reach and inherent ability to either boost or damage a brand. The expansion of the online channel presents brand marketers with several pertinent questions and challenging obstacles to ensure their B2B channel partners are providing the correct information to customers throughout the entire purchasing cycle. These questions include:
* How can marketers maintain brand integrity and generate brand awareness across the Web?
* How can marketers efficiently deliver current product collateral to all of their B2B partners?
* How can marketers effectively influence purchasing decisions at all stages of the sales cycle?
Is it reasonable to suggest that brand marketers can sufficiently reach an endless B2B Web audience through their own efforts? The short, simple answer is no. First, their own sites only reach a segment of their target audience. Second, the partner portals they have created to fuel VAR marketing efforts are typically poorly organized, confusing, and require too much ongoing manual IT efforts. And certainly, there is no feasible way for marketers to update every VAR site on their own. So then, what can brand marketers do to ensure that their brand has the reach and identity expected?
This answer thus lies in on-demand content syndication tools that allow brand marketers to reach hundreds or thousands of businesses partners at once without any ongoing effort. Content syndication enables brands to automatically distribute and seamlessly integrate marketing content directly into VAR websites. Customers then have access to accurate and current product information that is delivered directly from the brand.
Using syndication, B2B customers benefit by increasing their ability to make informed purchases based on engaging, interactive, and current product information across all stages of their shopping experience, including knowledge discovery, comparative shopping, and fulfillment. Because many B2B purchases are made in bulk or on a reoccurring contractual basis, having the correct information, product images, and relevant collateral may determine whether or not your company is able to close large sales.
In addition, by using efficient syndication tools, marketers are ensuring a close relationship with retailers, VARs, distributors, and other business partners to make certain their brand is being showcased in a current and appropriate manner on the relevant sites that B2B customers and potential customers frequently visit. Thus, it's logical to infer that having satisfied and engaged partners can lead to fulfilled and enthusiastic customers.
While many marketers remain confused and unsure about how to effectively manage their brand and products on the Web, they are realizing more and more the importance of finding a way to do so. Unlike B2C shoppers, B2B customers are typically making purchases that effect part of, or an entire company; so the need for brand marketers to reach B2B customers with engaging and current product information while building strong partner relationships is of even higher importance.
Source: http://www.1to1media.com/
The amount of brand information on the Web continues to grow exponentially, leading to confusion and frustration for many B2B customers. With so many choices to find information, B2B decision makers are left to ponder:
* Which websites have current product information on a brand's product?
* Where can I go to find out which brand or solution is best for my company?
While the fragmented Web may be a source of difficulty and confusion for VARs and B2B customers, the ultimate challenge caused by the proliferation of websites affects today's brand marketer-especially B2B brand marketers, whose purchasing cycle tends to be more time consuming, more involved, and more thoroughly researched than B2C purchasing cycles. On too many occasions, brand marketers are left scrambling not only to maintain their brand continuity, but also to figure out how to get their channel to effectively use the Web as a sales tool.
In the past brand marketers were only accountable for developing marketing collateral that usually coexisted along side a physical interaction between a customer, the channel, and a brand, like the physical data sheets a VAR sales representative might distribute during a business presentation or at a tradeshow or conference.
Now, however, the job of the brand marketer has become entirely more complex. The past few years have seen a significant development of a non-physical marketing channel, an online channel-one measured by its global reach and inherent ability to either boost or damage a brand. The expansion of the online channel presents brand marketers with several pertinent questions and challenging obstacles to ensure their B2B channel partners are providing the correct information to customers throughout the entire purchasing cycle. These questions include:
* How can marketers maintain brand integrity and generate brand awareness across the Web?
* How can marketers efficiently deliver current product collateral to all of their B2B partners?
* How can marketers effectively influence purchasing decisions at all stages of the sales cycle?
Is it reasonable to suggest that brand marketers can sufficiently reach an endless B2B Web audience through their own efforts? The short, simple answer is no. First, their own sites only reach a segment of their target audience. Second, the partner portals they have created to fuel VAR marketing efforts are typically poorly organized, confusing, and require too much ongoing manual IT efforts. And certainly, there is no feasible way for marketers to update every VAR site on their own. So then, what can brand marketers do to ensure that their brand has the reach and identity expected?
This answer thus lies in on-demand content syndication tools that allow brand marketers to reach hundreds or thousands of businesses partners at once without any ongoing effort. Content syndication enables brands to automatically distribute and seamlessly integrate marketing content directly into VAR websites. Customers then have access to accurate and current product information that is delivered directly from the brand.
Using syndication, B2B customers benefit by increasing their ability to make informed purchases based on engaging, interactive, and current product information across all stages of their shopping experience, including knowledge discovery, comparative shopping, and fulfillment. Because many B2B purchases are made in bulk or on a reoccurring contractual basis, having the correct information, product images, and relevant collateral may determine whether or not your company is able to close large sales.
In addition, by using efficient syndication tools, marketers are ensuring a close relationship with retailers, VARs, distributors, and other business partners to make certain their brand is being showcased in a current and appropriate manner on the relevant sites that B2B customers and potential customers frequently visit. Thus, it's logical to infer that having satisfied and engaged partners can lead to fulfilled and enthusiastic customers.
While many marketers remain confused and unsure about how to effectively manage their brand and products on the Web, they are realizing more and more the importance of finding a way to do so. Unlike B2C shoppers, B2B customers are typically making purchases that effect part of, or an entire company; so the need for brand marketers to reach B2B customers with engaging and current product information while building strong partner relationships is of even higher importance.
Source: http://www.1to1media.com/
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