When the financial crisis hits the world economy badly, the corporate world reacts with a series of cutbacks. Marketing seems a luxury.

This may not be the case in B2B marketing. Let me put it in this way and how I see the ironic side. Most B2B marketers see marketing as a luxury even when the economy is good. So marketing might not look particularly luxurious when the economy turns bad.

Let me elaborate with four important factors when crafting a B2B marketing plan:

“Pricing,” it is always more complicated in the B2B world. Impulsive purchase is hardly a case. Negotiation with buyers takes longer time and it always depends on other variables that will affect the final pricing such as the quantity of order, packaging, shipping and insurance. Buyers psychology are different from what we’ve adopted for the low value consumer goods.

“Production,” instead of looking into a product, buyers are more interested in production. Production is more than feature and function. It involves technical and trade compliance and sometimes import & export policy will be taken into the purchase decision.

“Procurement,” in my opinion this is an important area where the B2B marketers should spend major effort to engage business potential. In the B2B world, procurement always goes hand in hand with sourcing. A lot of technologies are developed to facilitate the procurement process and make sourcing handily easy. I can even say the whole online marketplace is actually built for the same purpose. A lot of advertising options are available for the sellers to promote their products when the buyers sourcing journey begins.

“Prosumer,” a linguistic blend between producer and consumer. This is indeed an prevalent target segment in B2B marketing. Marketers who target prosumers must know in the first place that this customer group has the precise economic metric in mind. Prosumers are very profit-driven because every purchase that they’ve made, each penny becomes the cost of their products. What I am trying to describe is when you are crafting your marketing idea for B2B, the objective is more instrumental than promotional.

Did you see how the above four “P” are integrated into everyday business process? This is also why the B2B marketers should look into the business and the economic aspects, ensure proper metric for each KPI, identify channel which can facilitate and streamline the communication, draft marketing copy with not only to promote the product, but also with the buyers in mind.

Yes, the economy is tough. But unless you are packing and leaving your job, I don’t see why business can’t move on as usual. Your marketing work has not been changed that much even when the economy is bad.

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