Strategic business marketing
Strategic business marketing is an extensive learning course covering the fundamentals of B2B marketing. It comprises of up to 11 lectures, close to 10 journal articles and detailed speeches from guest speakers. The diverse nature and credibility of the materials provide for a quality learning experience. This paper offers a reflection on the course’s critical areas of learning and the lessons from the guest speakers.
The first lecture introduces the reader to the course highlighting chapters involved, and the accompanying tasks that learners must complete by the end of the semester. Session two introduces organizational buying behavior and negotiating skills through a diagrammatic representation of a B2B marketing framework. Learners are equipped with skills for understanding purchasing orientation and the art of negotiation in business. Lecture three of the course covers relationships and networks for business, focusing on the B2B interaction model, relationship marketing, and business network characteristics. Toyota and IBM’s supplier and distribution networks are expounded upon in this chapter. 47-50. Market sensing or knowledge generation about the market is the key learning area in lesson 4. Students are expected to familiarize themselves with the N2 Model Of Negotiating Behaviour Concern, and it uses unde varying circumstances, XX 9. Lecture 5 equips learners with B2B Strategy and Planning skills. Power Brands are also introduced in this session, and their associates advantage 14 xx. The management of B2B Products and Services is articulated in the next chapter. A keen interest in smart, connected, and exponential organizations showcases.
Another area of learning for the course is on Integrated B2B Marketing Communications and Consultative Selling. Topics covered in the seventh lecture include how video and mobile have changed the buying process, digital marketing program, and consultative selling XX 30. The next session details distribution channel management with an emphasis on how businesses should select partners, align their mutual self-interest, and enforce incremental market place changes. Lesson 9 details the steps involved in gaining and retaining customers for businesses. Key areas of learning in the session include building revenue sources, the CRM process, and common misunderstandings between sales and marketing teams in business xx 20. The next lecture covers how to manage B2B customers a topic well introduced using the marriage metaphor. Other issues expounded on include the relationship management project, fulfilling mutually agreed upon customer requirements, and how business should pursue continuity and growth 24 XX. The final sitting details the Digital Evolution in B2B. Leaners learn the relevance of the various digital platforms and media xx3. They are also enlightened on the notable differences between customer communications and traditional marketing.
Articles also comprised another area of learning in this course. For instance, Vargo & Lusch’s Evolving to a New Dominant Logic for Marketing is incorporate, detailing new perspective responsible for the revised logic focusing on the intangible resource, co-creation of values, and relationships XX 1. Such views are combining to reshape the dominant logic for marketing based on service provision. Davis’s Market Planning Model also constitutes a learning material for the course. It primarily details how market segmentation and positions should be conducted using well-illustrated diagrams with accompanying captions XX 12. Another essential content for the Strategic Business Marketing course is the article Understand What Customers Value by Anderson and Narus. Here, learners are taught how to use focus groups to access value XX 6. A case study is also available in the journal article covering how BT Products utilizes value modes tools for increasing sales figures. Business Model Generation by Osterwalder and Pigneur is an essential material for the course. It primarily shares on the nine building blocks that should make up a business model XX 19. Some of these include customer segments, value propositions, and revenue streams. Students enrolled in the course are also taught regarding the future of B2B using Paradise and Steiner’s article entitled The Future of B2B. Among the trends noted in the B2B arena include more mobile, more informed, more social Aand more global XX 5.
IBM’s guide for accessing firms’ digital marketing programs Zis also used in this course. Among the notable sections expounded on the include target market, content, and engagement xx 16. Another recent article applicable to this course is Prepare Your Supply Chain for Coronavirus by Rice. It shares insights on what businesses might do to adjust to the supply chain disruptions arising from the global Covid-19 pandemic, such as designing responses and revisiting supply chain designs XX 4. Another essential material for the course is Porter and Heppelman’s article, How Smart, Connected Products Are Transforming Competition. It captures the revolutionizing of products into smart and connected products with accompanying enhancements to processing power and device miniaturization and network benefits arising from wireless connectivity XX 4.The last material utilized in the course is Chaffey’s Digital Marketing Planning Template detailing the RACE Planning. RACE is an acronym meaning Reach, Act, Convert and Engage for businesses wishing to create or update their online marketing strategy XX 8.
Guest speakers were also part of the Strategic Business Marketing course. Among these was Veronika Kryuchkova, who shares the importance of strong brands. She emphasizes the need to build brands with a purpose using notable stories to avoid fading off xx 02:42:11. The speaker also advises B2B businesses to adopt the digital market and channels to enhance their speed of learning about markets. Another guest speaker is Beehive Industries’ CEO, who shares the story of his company and general nature and operations involved in social procurement. He also discusses the impact of the current Covid 19 situation on Beehive Industries and the general nonprofit sector noting growing work and increasing competition XX 00:04:17. John Pisani, another speaker shares on Consultative Selling in this course. He commences his video lecture by discussing sales as a career and what distinguishes sales from marketing. The key identifier for the latter entails understanding the clients’ needs first before convincing them to purchase XX 00:02:45. Other topics covered include understanding the sales process and the four basic steps in the consultative sales, that is, online research, establishing a relationship, qualification process, and closing the deal. The final guest speaker is Eli Yam-who shares on Customer Experience (CX) in B2B using the Sirius Strategy. She defines CX as how the customer perceives their brand through all their interactions across the customer life cycle. XX 00:08:02. It covers multiple areas such as service, product performance, brand & reputation, and the perception of the price. The speaker also shares the differences between focus areas for B2C and B2B and the distribution of how firms perform in maintaining sustainable CX.
The strategic business marketing course provides students with a credible opportunity to learn the day to day operations in B2B marketing. Each of the 26 files shared plays a significant role in enhancing learners’ understanding of the processes involved in conducting business between businesses. Future trends in B2B marketing, such as the use of smart connected devices is also taught in this course. The course also incorporates the current global operational environment, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, with accompanying notes ob how businesses can transverse the disruptions to supply chain systems.