Marketing Strategy For B2b Marketing Of Commodity Products Like Steel

Catherine, W., Tat Pui, L. and Henrik, U. (2011) The Roles of Branding for a Brand Entering

The strong competition among rivals pursuing a similar strategy is vastly based on product differentiation and a niche market attraction, as companies are constantly working to surpass their competitors and seek to provide just what certain consumers want.

Products tend to go through different stages, each stage being affected by different competitive conditions. These stages require different marketing strategies at different times if sales and

As a result of competitive pressures from the domestic market, the A-Team shifted its target clientele by from the B2B towards the SMEs and Consumers markets. As a result, a differential pricing strategy was adopted to cater the price-sensibilities of the Consumers market. This initiative proved to be sound, given the healthy revenue incurred from Consumers by year 3 and 4.

According to her, marketing helping companies build a formal brand of a company which will lead consumers to get use to the company and build a good relationship with it. During the late 19th and early 20th century, the main focus was on advertising new products, and because of mass production, companies would create similar products resulting in companies competing for consumers. Furthermore, she discusses that the concept of branding had be relevant in the early 1880, and nowadays selling an image or lifestyle is crucial for a firm (2000). Though Klein backs up her claim by using exams from the mid and late 20th century, they are still very relevant today. Branding is much more important than advertising. No longer are advertisements found allover the place, instead if a consumer knows a brand, they are more likely to remain faithful to that brand. Brands still create familiarity and emotional ties between consumers and companies. Overall, it is evident that the brand is more important than the product (Klein,

Pricing: Differential pricing strategy for B2C market segment & low cost of implementation for the B2B segments.

In 1985 Michael Porter surmised that a market can be subjected into different strategies, thus, three variations of competitive advantage were born. The differentiation strategy is the focus for the purpose of this paper. Furthermore, the differentiation strategy in its most exposed form is a strategy that places prominence toward the brand name and advantage is the prestige that follows. This type of angle draws in a specific high-end consumers which in turn sets its corner of the market apart from its competition. Additionally, in this advantage there is a uniqueness perceived by the consumer, industry wide. The differentiation strategy is distinct in attributes indescribable by price but all the same customers are more than willing to pay a premium for the product or service. Firms that are successful in this advantage are fully equipped with a product development team high in creativity and innovation. Additionally, this strategy is only able to be an advantage if a firm is able to access an unlimited amount of research.

Branding is a tool to make the goods of one producer different from another producer (Keller, 2003). Carroll (2008) asserts that branding is a sign of quality, and it is helpful to increase

In differentiation strategies, the emphasis is on creating value through sustainable uniqueness. This can be achieved through product innovations, superior quality, or superior service, which is then sustained and leveraged through creative advertising; brand-building and strong supply chain relationships. Another requirement for a successful differentiation strategy is that customers must be willing to pay more for the uniqueness of a product or service than the firm paid to create it. A differentiation strategy will lead to higher firm performance only if buyers value the attributes that make a product or service unique enough to pay a higher price for it or if they choose to buy from that firm preferentially. If

Branding has become the key concept of marketing strategies. Brand is the name of firm, products, services, and above all, it is coherent with the firm’s image from

The differentiation strategy focuses on developing a unique product or a perception of a unique product that customers are willing to pay a premium for. If a firm is not receiving a premium price for its goods or services it is not a differentiator. A firm seeking to follow a differentiation strategy should attempt to develop and enhance its resources that promote customer responsiveness, quality, and/or innovation. Note that costs are still important to a differentiator because it is possible that the costs of making the product unique will be greater than the premium consumers are

Differentiation can be achieved in a variety of ways: unusual features, responsive customer service, rapid product innovations, technological leadership, perceived prestige and status, appeal to different tastes, and engineering design and performance. Methods of controlling costs, however, may be limited. The ability to price differentiated products competitively will be important for reducing upward pressure on customer prices so that they do not exceed the level customers are willing to

Although brands do not solely refer to businesses and their products or services (e.g. charities, countries, celebrities), this essay will discuss their relevance to profits with regards to business operations unless specified. Where most companies must at some point make a decision (consciously or unconsciously) whether to brand their company or not, that question is often rhetorical. Brands are established whether the marketing manager says they should or not. The decision really is whether to implement conscious brand management within the business or not. That is the difference between a strong brands and weak brands. Where

Calculating value added, could also contribute to determine a strategy of differentiation of products in businesses. Lets take the previous example NIKE. Nike has a low vertical integration but a high value added (thanks to its logo). Since this value added is marketing, value added is in this case an intangible entity. Differentiation is one of the competitive advantages.

Long before now has branding been considered as one of the peripheral aspects of business. Manufacturers, investors and other key players focused on the product without paying much attention to the consumer. But as the business landscape got tougher, marketing became not just an integral part of business but one of the fundamental principles of success.