The main goal for B2B market research is usually to gain an understanding of market trends and find the most effective marketing tools to ensure that your company remains competitive.
We are ready to solve your company’s problems:
- Market trends analysis and forecasts
- Sales forecasts; sales forecasts by product category
- Commodity and company structure of the market, competitor analysis
- Market share of specific players
- Foreign trade transactions
- Demand elasticity and optimal product pricing
- Market distribution structure, optimal distribution channels for products
- External and internal marketing environments, company competitiveness
- Comparative competitive analysis of marketing business processes (benchmarking).
What can a B2B marketing study focus on?
1. Regarding The market
- Market volume (volume of consumption)
- Production indicators (volume of production, capacity, etc.)
- Import/export data (shipping volumes, senders/receivers, etc.)
- Market trends
- Impact of macro- and micro-economic factors
- SWOT analysis
- Barriers to entry
2. Regarding The Competition
- Identifying key players
- News
- Company and competitor market share
- Economic and production indicators for competitors
- Information on pricing and terms offered by competitors
3. Regarding The Consumers
- Number of consumers (target audience size)
- Consumer characteristics (who they are, where they are from, what they do, etc.)
- Behavior patters: factors that affect the choice of supplier/product, specific features of purchasing
- Consumers’ media preferences
- Evaluation of consumers’ satisfaction level, consumer evaluations of product quality, level of service
4. Regarding the Product/Brand Aspects
- Brand familiarity
- Level of use for product, brand
- Brand image
- Brand loyalty
- Developing strategic brand platform (mission, USP, brand individuality/personality, target audience, positioning)
- Testing elements of strategic brand platform, attributes
- Brand/product competitiveness
- Brand/production positioning (developing positioning maps, including perceptual maps)
- Impressions of a product’s value, functionality and consumer properties
- Evaluating products and product portfolios using the Kano model
- Consumers’ readiness to pay for added value
- Directions for production improvement
- Analyzing how balanced a company’s product portfolio is
- Evaluating the level of demand and demand elasticity at the given price
5. Regarding the Marketing Communications
- Determining the most effective channels, media and means of communicating with contact audiences; target audience profiling (determining the quantitative-qualitative characteristics of campaign objects)
- Auditoriums (for corporate, industry and specialized media)
- Expert analysis of a promotion campaign’s communications and creative platforms (pre-testing, post-testing)
- Evaluating the target contact audience’s information needs
- Testing specific advertising formats
- Evaluating the communications effectiveness of promotion campaigns (brand recognition aspects, attribute retention, message comprehension, motivation potential, image, etc.)
Methods used for B2B marketing studies
- Desk study
- Personal, in-depth B2B interviews (with individuals deciding on a purchase, technical specialists, managers and experts)
- Personal structured or semi-structured B2B interviews
- Structured or semi-structured B2B phone interviews
- Blind phone and personal interviews
- Hall tests
- Focus groups, including expert, internal and mini-focus groups
- Delphi method
- Mystery shopping
- Market observations (demonstration hall, sales department, etc.)
Valuing intangible assets
What are intangible marketing assets?
Intangible assets are non-material resources that are a source of future profit for a company. Over the past twenty years, we have seen a strong trend of intangible assets accounting for an ever larger share of companies’ assets. According to global studies, at most western companies intangible assets make up 40-55% of total assets (compared to 20% at the end of the 1960s). Intangible assets account for 30-35% of the wealth of leading Russian companies.
Intangible assets include:
1. Market knowledge (collected information and knowledge, marketing studies, unique methods for studies, analysis, forecasting, etc.)
2. Company trademarks (registered industrial property, brands, a balanced product/brand portfolio)
3. Relationships with clients and consumer loyalty (CRM systems, effective loyalty programs, results of loyalty studies)
4. Company image (with consumers, the business community, the government)
5. Strategic relationships with partners in the distribution chain (conditions in the dealer/distributor chain, contribution to sales volume, formal chain development and management programs, etc.)
6. Formal marketing strategy (quality marketing plans, including strategic plans, quality business processes for marketing planning)
7. Effective business processes, standards and procedures for marketing control and evaluating marketing effectiveness
When is it appropriate to value intangible marketing assets?
- You want to enter into a deal (sell your business, part of your business, your brand, etc.) and get the full value for your assets
- You want to make an impression on a large investor
- You want to reflect the value of your assets in your accounting
- You want to optimize how you manage your marketing assets and ensure that your marketing investments are effective
- You want to insure your business
- You need a valuation of your intangible assets for a lawsuit between company owners
- You need to take out credit against your company’s intangible assets (for example, against brand value)
What do you receive at the end of the project?
At the end of the project, you get an independent, unbiased evaluation of the current value of your intangible marketing assets (as a total and as line items) and a forecast of their impact on your company’s future earnings. You will also be able to value the current and projected profitability of investments in specific marketing assets (ROMI) and set priorities for future development.
How does a valuation of intangible marketing assets work?
The method used for valuation depends on the type of intangible asset being valued and can be based on marketing audit methods or field studies (consumer and expert interviews, focus groups).
For example, when we value a brand we use:
- Brand Evaluation – based on the results of marketing studies of the branded product’s consumers (familiarity, consumption and loyalty). This method is used to evaluate brand value, consumer loyalty, image (surveys of consumers, experts, dealers); we also use combined methods (Brand Evaluation + Premium Profit, Economic Value Added).
- Brand Valuation – based on evaluations of the company’s financial indicators; for example, the Future Earnings method identifies the portion of current or projected earnings that is generated by intangible assets. The Excess Earning method allows us to evaluate how a company’s earnings will grow if it continues its branding efforts for specific brands, given the average lifespan of products in the given category.
- The Expert Valuation method gives a comprehensive valuation for intangible assets. For example, when valuing a brand, expert valuation is applied to a number of indicators: brand market share, stability of market indicators for the brand and for the whole product category, brand internationality, market trends, advertising support for the brand, and other factors.
- Comprehensive analysis of company operations, including elements of financial analysis and management audit.
How long does it take to value intangible marketing assets?
The specific list of steps is defined for each project individually in its technical specification. On average, the process takes 8-10 weeks. The length of project depends on mainly number of research staff and the investment volume of money and the urgency to require the project report. The larger the volume requires the more the staff that cost maximum.
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