Online channels becoming an important marketing tool in B2B

Australian marketers of business to business (B2B) products will likely be surprised by the extent to which purchasers of products as diverse as supplies, hardware, software, business services, equipment and parts and components claim to be using online channels - starting with search engines - to research, evaluate/compare, and even purchase.

“New international research is significant because it shows there is potential competitive advantage for business, technology and service marketers in Australia if they begin to incorporate an online component into their marketing and public relations campaigns,” said Grant Common, managing director of Sydney-based Network PR, the first pr agency in Australia to offer a range of online pr services including search engine optimisation (SEO).

‘Business to Business Survey 2007’ from Enquiro, discovered that in B2B purchasing a personal recommendation still rates the highest ‘influencer’, but the survey - which analysed both offline and online influencing factors in B2B purchasing - found that utilising online channels went hand-in-hand with this.

Some of the online findings included:

• Online research is used in all parts of the purchase cycle. In fact even when prospects learn of product or service offerings offline they increasingly turn to online sources to find out more about them.
• Online research often validates offline discovery.  A recommendation by a friend or colleague, an encounter at a trade show or an ad or feature in a trade publication often leads to the potential purchaser turning to the web to learn more.
• A vendor/manufacturer website is the most influential online factor. But to be effective the site must be strong in traditional text based presentation and information - multimedia formats such as podcasts and online video did not rate highly.
• Going online during the purchase cycle for research now appears to be obligatory.  During the purchase cycle 92 percent of buyers use it in the awareness phase, 92 percent in the research phase, 66 percent in the negotiation phase and 81 percent when actually purchasing.
• The search engine is the key method of engagement. Over 70 percent of B2B prospects started out their online research from a search engine.

‘This study doesn’t challenge the long-held conviction - and other research - that word-of-mouth and personal recommendations still remain the key in B2B marketing. What it reveals is that the web is emerging as the strongest complementary tool for purchasers - either to initially identify products or services, or to ‘check out’ or validate what they have learned from traditional sources,” said Grant Common.

Network PR, is the first pr agency in Australia to offer a range of online pr services including search engine optimisation.

Network PR optimises brand appeal by matching messages to individual markets and mapping a communication ‘Network of Influence’ to ensure messages are delivered with clarity & credibility