You might not know it, but there is a small group of marketers out there who are neglected, abused, misunderstood and ignored. A group who are rarely seen, and hardly ever get any recognition for what can be a tough gig. They are, B2B Marketers, the ones who help sell technology and innovation to other companies.

These are people who typically work with companies that don’t like marketers all that much, in fact companies that can be outright hostile to the very idea of marketing. The core business is typically all about the product, rather than in the consumer world, where the brand takes precedence over product (often, marketing the marketing – it’s a lifestyle baby, yeah!).

While adverts that go “pop” and jingles abound for new shampoo formulas, making their creators famous, there are other marketers doing their best to convince senior managers, engineers and other party animals, why they should invest in new technology or ways to improve manufacturing.

In Australia, B2B marketing and advertising is given scant notice and is often confused with Direct Mail, telemarketing or cold call sales. The very term, “B2B” is not known, and hardly discussed by marketing institutions, associations, Universities, or even by those who practice the discipline.

To place this into context; I lived in Sweden for about 10 years, where B2B is widely known, understood and is a highly recognized part of the local advertising scene. You either work with B2C (i.e. dog food, beer or shampoo) or B2B (i.e. engineering, science or manufacturing). Amazingly enough, B2B had it’s own awards (100 watt), own media publications and education. If you look around in the US, Germany, Holland, France and the UK, you’ll find similar maturity and recognition, but not here in Australia.

Why?

I think it has a lot to do with the media commission business model that “traditional” advertising agencies have enjoyed. If a client spends $20 million on TVC’s and you get 17.5% of that for thinking of ideas involving puppets being dragged behind cars, why would you look at the B2B market?

Typically media spend is very small, you have to actually understand how the product is made, why it was made and work hard to deliver creative messages that talk to a range of decision makers, and deliver a media plan that reaches multiple levels. Add to this, many B2B companies which are technology driven consider marketing to be drivel, and you got too much of what sounds like hard work for little return.

Currently, the top 20 B2C advertisers spend more on marketing communications than the entire B2B market, which is valued at $2 Billion p.a. It comes as no surprise that everyone with a creative/marketing bent has been chasing after the TVC media commissions like weasels hunting a panicked sausage.

So what sort of dimwit would choose a life of B2B? Well me for one… And why is quite simple, it is very rewarding and challenging. While you never see your work on TV, or played on radio, you get insights into amazing technology, meet incredibly brave and brilliant inventors and the dental plan ain’t half bad.

But slowly the tide is changing. Universities are picking up the need to provide more in the way of B2B education to students. The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology has two experienced B2B marketers on staff, and is investing in B2B resources such as b2bmarketer.com

Professor Michael Beverland has spent many years furthering the interests of B2B marketing, having established and developed programs at Monash, Melbourne University and now RMIT. In many ways the reasons why B2B marketing is not offered in many Universities are the same reasons that apply to the local advertising industry.

“The biggest challenges when I’ve established B2B as an elective, has been to find people to run it. Every single time B2B has been raised as a deliverable, the University jumps on the idea and can see the value. But to have qualified and experienced B2B marketers available to deliver is a problem,” says Michael.

“The really encouraging thing about B2B marketing is the uptake once something is offered. Demand has always been explosive once the programs have been established, especially with Postgraduate students, who work with B2B and yearn for B2B examples, cases and theory. From a resource point-of-view, these are the students most under serviced.”

It is estimated that 80% of Universities in Australia lag behind offering B2B as an elective. Aside from the resource issue, there can be an image issue as well.

“I would love to see B2B offered more often, but I think that Universities look at B2C as being a bit sexier. Students want to think of TV, copywriting, glamour, and awards. So it is not much of a stretch to think that Universities feel that B2C is the main subject to bring in the numbers. But I’ve found that B2B when offered freshens up the whole offering. Students have enjoyed the change for the sake of change,” says Michael.

Just how significant is B2B? Well a quick look at the scope of B2B can have you thinking of all of the suppliers for office equipment, machines, tools, paints, chemicals, professional services, IT, telecom, infrastructure & capital works, construction, medical, engineering, bioscience, primary industries, aerospace, mining and defense. The list is considerably more, but I think you get the picture!

Something as fundamental as mechanical engineering, can be broken down into a range of sub sectors, such as: industrial plant and steelwork, tools, engines, compressors, heating and ventilating, pumps and valves.

Within each of these industries are a host of specialized manufacturers, dealers, agents and service providers. All of them are in one way or another generating revenue by selling to other companies.

In Australia, I see the market opportunities to be vast for any large traditional player who turns an eye to B2B. Media commissions from what I understand are either out or well on the way to a deathbed. Add to this traditional media, such as TV, Radio and Print is under siege from digital, means that getting paid on the basis for large market reach is rapidly not becoming an option.

B2B conversely is a market that does require strategic thinking and creative execution, two key talents that abound in the B2C realm. Sure the hours are a bit longer, and the pay packet is not as juicy, but there is reliability within the market. B2B embraces many different areas and segments, so while one might suffer, another is booming. My limited understanding of B2C is that when consumer confidence goes down, everything pretty much goes down.

Another bright light for B2B is that service fragmentation is nowhere near as rampant as it is with B2C. For example, take a client who sells shampoo, you have a dozen or so service providers chasing the same pool of cash. Everyone from the traditional advertising agency, to digital media, design studios, event marketing, packaging, trend consultants and guerilla marketers. Depending upon the mood and the moment, any one of these can grab a greater share.

B2B on the other hand, is still very much “agency” centric, meaning that one service provider retains accountability for different media channels and activities. The ability to help evolve a client, as they gain more confidence from results, means that scalability for the account becomes possible, rather than needing to invest into a whole range of different areas, which could just be only a marketing trend.

B2B marketers themselves also need to really lift their sights, and become far savvier as is the case overseas. A key issue is that many work within environments that are hostile to marketing. You will literally hear senior engineers grumble about resources going to marketing that could be used for R&D. This situation is not helped with poor leadership from marketers not demonstrating how to make a buck from that crazy thing called “marketing communications.”

All too often you find B2B “marketers” spending their time worrying about shades of blue for brochures, or putting on yet another customer event, without seriously thinking about how to add more value to an orgainsation, by outwitting the competition in the marketing arena.

Companies themselves hire marketing graduates who lack the fundamental understanding of B2B, having been subjected to case studies about cornflakes in Universities, as noted earlier. Are then expected to “do-marketing” which often involves knocking up a newsletter, brochure and patching up a website.

The future for B2B marketing in Australia is bright, if growth opportunities are taken by agencies, Universities and B2B marketers themselves, to the point where B2B is a well defined and understood discipline.

Otherwise, the industry will continue to exist as it currently does, and forever be a pool of promise, never quite swam in as much as it should have.