Of late, India has been the focus of B2B growth.
India has traversed a long journey from the pre-liberalisation and pre-globalisation era when the country was in the grip of bureaucratic red tape and ‘license raj’. Today the country is growing and has enjoyed robust growth since the last two decades.
India B2B and ecommerce
A huge growing base of middle-class population has benefited from the high growth. Today India is being viewed as a top B2b ecommerce prospect for long-term growth due to its huge population of more than 125 billion. The country is also home to millions of small-and-medium-sized businesses which make India a top b2b market in the world.
Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) provide employment to the 40% of India’s workforce. They contribute 45 percent of the manufacturing output of India and 40 percent of India’s total exports.
One of the most popular types of ecommerce is B2B ecommerce. A B2B ecommerce pertains to the ecommerce transactions between two businesses. According to the findings of research firm Gartner, India eCommerce market has all the potential of reaching $6 billion in 2015, an increase of 70% over revenue of $3.5 billion that is projected to be achieved in 2014. Though ecommerce in India is still in its infancy, the country is one of the fastest-growing e-commerce markets in Asia/Pacific. According to Garnter, though B2C e-commerce leads the market in the country, B2B are also catching up by doing business with their stakeholders.
Many companies are in the process of starting B2B platforms in India. With a view to avail itself of the huge opportunity, the world’s largest ecommerce company, Amazon, has entered into talks with the different stakeholders to join them. Wal-Mart has already made its foray into the B2B ecommerce market by launching their portal: BestPriceWholesale.co.in, which is currently serving the customers of Hyderabad and Lucknow, but later on it will expand to other Indian cities as well.
India B2B market and Social Media
The emergence of social networking sites is making a huge difference to how trends in B2B marketing in India are behaving. Today, social media is transforming the way the b2b marketing companies in India are operating their businesses. The social media channels are proving to be smart platforms which allow b2b companies in India to know what prospective clients are saying about their brand and competitors. The use of social media is an effective and cost-effective tool to target the customers. Needless to say, the power of social media in creating brand awareness is simply great.
However, the B2B marketing companies in India are not using social media marketing in an effective manner even though some large B2B companies in India are making a very innovative use of social media. Social media, If used in an effective manner, can provide several benefits to the B2B companies in India. Some of the benefits include increased awareness and exposure, increased opportunities to connect with clients in deeper and more meaningful ways than ever before.
Though the social media is being used by the B2C marketers in India for a long time, the B2B marketing companies in India are also catching up and looking at social media to build relationships and generate their sales.
It is interesting to note that the majority of B2B marketing companies in India, like their counterparts in other parts of the world, are still using traditional marketing methods like advertising, trade events, direct mailing, etc, to promote their brands. This is in spite of their living in a digital communication age. The reason is not far to seek. Either the B2B companies in India are not aware of the latest trends in social media marketing or they are averse to the idea of the acceptance of something new.
Against this backdrop, the b2b companies in India will be well advised to avail themselves of the social media marketing. Failing to do so will result in the lagging behind of those who buck the trends. Those who are embracing the social media marketing will be in the league of successful B2B companies in India.
It is to be hoped that with the passage of time, B2B marketing companies in India will be increase their investments on social media marketing.
Twitter and Linkedin Exercises
Twitter can also be a highly effective tool for B2B marketing if it is used in combination with other social networking media including blogs. So it is in the essential fitness of things that Indian B2B marketers should get a Twitter account and start engaging their customers.
Video Marketing
These days Video Marketing has emerged as an important tool for B2b companies in India to promote their business. The benefit of Video marketing is immense. According to Adobe2013 video conversion playbook, Video marketing can offer upto 90 percent increase in conversion rate.
B2B in India and Content Marketing
Content marketing is one of the most important ingredients of a marketing strategy. B2B companies in India are spending money on online activities more than ever before. They are on the way to increase their investments on online activities. A majority of them are planning to increase content marketing spend in 2015.
The B2C companies in India have been making use of content marketing for a long time in order to engage clients for increasing the value of their brand. However, the realization that alignment of content strategy with marketing strategy is vital for wining new prospects has downed on the B2B marketing companies in India.
Some of the social networking sites being used In India by b2b marketers are Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube, Instagram and Slideshare. It is expected that the use of Slideshare as a content marketing platform will increase in B2B landscape in India.
The marketers in the B2b India trade consider client acquisition, brand awareness, engagement, lead generation and client retention as the pivot around which their content marketing efforts revolve. Most of the large B2B marketing companies in India produce their content internally.
In India B2b companies are on the threshold of witnessing a fundamental change in their marketing strategies and will align their content marketing with their marketing strategies. According to them content marketing is the strategy to watch for in the coming years. Today marketing automation is also high on priority lists of many B2B companies in India.
Finally…
In India B2B marketing is all set to witness the biggest changes in the coming years. In the imminent future, the companies in B2B trade will be using more advanced social media marketing to reach a wider target audience. In India B2b companies are going to get even more opportunities to witness big gains in a significant manner.
The way the business to business marketing companies in different parts of the world are targeting new customers is undergoing sea-changes. This is also true when it come to the B2B marketing companies in India. With the passage of time, the importance of B2B marketing is increasing and is evolving.
As the B2B marketing landscape is subjected to the changes that take place at the global level, these changes also affect the B2B companies in India. Globalization, the changing dynamics of the economic activities, etc are some of the contributory factors for the growth of B2B marketing in India.
Today more businesses are being done on the move. With millions of mobile phone users in India, it’s only natural that mobile environments will play a pivotal role when it comes to B2B marketing in India. In India B2b marketers are using mobile devices to research, communicate and browse the web.
In India, B2B businesses should understand the profile of their clients. It is of no use to pitch aimlessly without any understanding of the customers’ profiles, desires and needs. Hence, it is of utmost importance for the B2B companies to know their customers’ online behavior by the use of social media platforms.
