B2B media in this region are pretty much yellow-pages alike. They are seller-paid-buyer-free model. Buyers visit trade shows for free, subscribe trade magazines for free, and browse online product directories for free. The media advertising money are mostly spent for buyers acquisition.

The entire B2B media marketing budget gives buyer acquisition a priority. The practice isn’t wrong nor perfect neither. Because the cost per buyer acquisition isn’t cheap, so besides to optimize the budget, marketers should also look into the strategy for buyer retention.

Buyer demographics vary depending on the size of each vertical sector and they are not as dynamic as the mass market. The result on the growth of new buyers can’t be exponential in a long run. So the buyer marketing strategy should be designed for both acquisition and retention purposes. Buyer retention is as much important as to retain a customer. To keep a loyal buyer, one of the tactics is to let him/her do the talking.

Just like what I have mentioned in the previous post, the “Corporation Generated Media” such as discussion forum and corporate blog are good for inviting buyers’ participation. Through these CGM features, buyers can contribute and seek second opinion, share peer experience, and develop sense of community.

Photo by Geek&Poke

Marketers of the B2B media should also understand sourcing is a broad term and isn’t just about product and purchase. Oversea sourcing is a journey. And throughout the journey, there are many local wisdoms and issues which the buyers need to acquire and resolve. Now even though the online sourcing portals are providing information other than the product and supplier catalogs, they are still pretty much a monologue. But what the buyers really need is a dialogue.

I briefly revisited a few online sourcing websites and did a site search on Google. On Alibaba.com, we can access a community feature at the front page which publishes some useful UGC - the user generated content. Buyers on the forum are exchanging information like whether or not they should visit the trade fair in Guangzhou or skip the trade show in Thailand, or topics like which foreign bank is better, etc.

Please don’t get me wrong. I am not promoting Alibaba. This blog serves as an observer for the B2B market in this region, I want to give an unbiased commentary on practice and future development. But besides Alibaba, I couldn’t find any moderated user generated content from other similar online portals, or otherwise they are the forums designed mainly for suppliers. I may have overlooked some of them so if you’ve come across these CGM content, please share with us.

My experience tells, the mission to build a rich buyer experience is never easy. At the moment, I have a feeling that the entire B2B buyer marketing practice are very much driven by buyer demographic. We have to dig deeper so we can understand the trade community better from inside. One way to do that is to listen instead of to tell.

On buyer marketing strategy, I suggest a principle of practice, “spend the money for demographic, use the meta data for retention.”

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