The effectiveness of marketing communication tools in business-to-business settings : a study of buyer responsiveness in the marine lubricants industry

Past research has shown that companies in business-to-business (B2B) industries are more inclined to rely on personal selling than on marketing communication tools to promote products to customers. Yet, anecdotal evidence suggests that a more proactive use of marketing communication tools can bring about greater marketing effectiveness for B2B companies. However, research is limited in identifying the types of marketing communication tools to which B2B buyers are most responsive. Furthermore, little research has been done to examine whether there are segments of B2B buyers who respond differently to different marketing communication tools. To address these knowledge gaps, we investigate how the use of four marketing communication tools – namely, advertising, exhibitions, sales collaterals, and public relations – in a B2B sales program affect buyer response in terms of three variables – namely, brand attractiveness, product knowledge, and product acceptance – in the context of the marine lubricants industry. We conducted a conjoint study to examine the responsiveness of marine lubricant buyers to the respective marketing communication tools as well as the relative importance weights they place on each of these tools. We then used cluster analysis to segment the marine lubricant buyers according to their receptivity to the marketing communication tools. We identified three distinct clusters, namely Ship Owners, Information Seekers and Operation Specialists, which exhibit different response patterns. Our study makes a contribution by helping B2B marketers better allocate marketing resources, while tailoring their marketing communication programs to build and enhance customer experience across different customer segments.BUSINES