Summary
Building a brand in the business-to-business community is about much more than visual cohesion and integrated communications. As for consumer brands, in the B2B arena, products and services are created to 'prove the promise' to the customer and in this sense, brand strategy is the means of executing the business strategy. This article advises that the brand should guide and inspire all areas of the business from talent attraction and retention to new product development and performance development plans. An example of this strategy in action is shown with Balfour Beatty and the evolution of three brands within its Support Services Division.

Summary
A round up from the annual B2B Conference organised by the UK Association of Online Publishers (AOP). The main points from the day's presentations, which came from media agencies and clients as well as publishers, include: that content will remain king for B2B marketers; that the complexity of the media and marketing landscape has vastly increased recently – and the industry has a way to go before developing appropriate measurement metrics; and that clients are increasingly likely to adopt integrated solutions and are increasingly open to using new platforms and services to reach a human, rather than a business, audience.

Summary
When marketers who are experienced in the fmcg sector change to the world of B2B, many find it unnervingly different and difficult. This article explains how to get to grips with marketing to other businesses. B2B marketing is as much about people and understanding the desires of human beings as consumer markets, even though organisations are involved. Key differences are highlighted in market size, frequency of purchase, and the presence of a more formal buying group. It is also important to note that many B2B companies lack marketing competence, which may require early investment to overcome. Marketers will need to learn the language and culture of the new sector. A checklist of action points is included.

Summary
The biopharmaceutical industry is pretty poor at evaluating promotional effectiveness despite spending almost twice as much on promotion as it does on research and development - more than $12 billion a year in the US alone. However there is some sound, peer-reviewed evidence on the efficacy or different promotional instruments in the sector, which are summarised in this best practice paper.

Summary
This briefing offers an overview of the history, theories and key trends related to marketing to SMEs. It outlines evidence for the view that SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises) are a discrete segment which require tailored communications. It discusses distinctive patterns in the decision-making process that are typical of this group. Marketers are advised to research this group particularly well, understand their motivations clearly and incorporate peer-to-peer elements into their campaigns. Case studies by Xerox, Sprint, OfficeMax and SAP are recommended for further reading.

Summary
This presentation gives insight into B2B-specific business requirements and how the application of innovative, consumer-centric research methods like Netnography can be applied to strengthen the competitive situation of strategic suppliers within the B2B2C eco system of the food market. This presentation demonstrates how listening to social media with Netnography has generated real competitive advantages. Insights and inspiration for the successful use and implementation of social media research for B2B companies are also provided. Two food case studies on natural and healthy nutrition as well as on the next generation of citrus beverages demonstrate the application of Netnography.

Summary
Insights generated from interviews with hard to pin down stakeholders (ex. C-suite executives from customers in the B2B arena) can provide a benefit for planning corporate strategy. Online bulletin boards provide a powerful and flexible way to interact with senior audiences, generating high engagement and rich data for analysis and interpretation. This paper includes case study detail from an evolving program of studies with key international stakeholders for Philips, leveraging online bulletin boards to generate insights which drive critical brand strategy decisions. Weakening the distinction between corporate client and isolated research respondent brings both challenges and opportunities

Summary
In a world where added value services increasingly dominate, why is the marketing of technology services so underdeveloped, particularly in the B2B sector? Very little has been said about marketers who routinely deal with the work of engineers. Yet they include some of the largest and most famous businesses in the world, such as IBM, BT, Ericsson and Virgin. However, with the advent of significant new concepts such as ‘cloud computing’, and radical changes in the engineering of some utilities, leading firms are turning their attention to services. Some leading technology companies are now showing how important it is to engineer real magic into value propositions, with Apple being the obvious example.

Summary
Relationship marketing (RM) is frequently employed by firms to improve their dealings with customers. Despite the absence of a universally acceptable definition of RM, it has gained considerable interest and application in business-to-business (B2B) industries since the 1990s. The purpose of this paper is to report on the dimensions that were identified by RM managers of a major B2B financial services provider as important in establishing and managing long-term marketing relationships. The Analytic Hierarchical Process (AHP) method was used to identify the most important dimensions. An initial pool of 23 dimensions of RM was identified in the marketing literature, and this pool of dimensions was reduced to 10 after the empirical study. The study found that particular dimensions are more important than others when relationships are established, and that trust, commitment, satisfaction and communication are the most important dimensions. Further dimensions identified as important in the B2B financial services industry are competence, relationship benefits, bonding, customisation, attractiveness of alternatives and shared values. The findings are valuable for the continual management of marketing relationships with customers.

Summary
The presentation by Barbara Basney, global advertising director of Xerox, to the Engagement Council meeting of the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF) during New York City's 2009 Advertising Week is the subject of this report by Warc's U.S. editor, Geoffrey Precourt. Basney describes the challenge of changing perceptions of the Xerox brand from huge copier company to a provider of service solutions to companies of all sizes. The strategy focused around a new corporate branding as well as a communications campaign that sought to inject emotion into the traditionally rational business-to-business market.