Understanding the buying decision-making process of companies outsourcing video production Case Company A

This is a research-based thesis that is made for the case company A, a small B2B video production company. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the buying decision-making process of companies that outsource video production by conducting qualitative interviews with marketers working at such companies. The main objectives of the thesis are to find out how companies search and find their suppliers, what factors affect decisions on choosing the suppliers in the companies, what channels are used in the buying decision- making process, and what kind of information is found useful during the process. The outcome of this study is suggestions and insights on the marketing activities of the case company. First, this thesis provides information about the case company A and its current marketing situation and explains how the idea for this research came up. In the next chapter, the author introduces a theoretical framework that covers Business-to-Business sales and marketing including Business-to-Business buyer behaviour and buying decision-making models, three key media types: paid, owned, and earned media, and their use, importance, and benefits for Business-to-Business and small businesses. The qualitative research method was chosen to investigate and understand the buying decision-making process of companies that outsource video production. The business buyer decision process model by Kotler and Armstrong was used to formulate interview questions and the questions are presented at the end of the thesis. Semi-structured in- depth interviews were carried out with five marketing professionals who have had some experience in the buying decision-making process at various industries and sizes of companies outsourcing video production. The research results show that the interviewees prefer recommendations and referrals from people in their networks as a method of supplier search regardless of the sizes of their companies and they make decisions on choosing the suppliers for video production projects based on the quality of work. The interviewees believe that LinkedIn is one of the most important channels for small B2B businesses. Based on the results, several recommendations were given to the case company for its marketing activities. It is crucial for the case company to have an updated website and social media channels, especially LinkedIn with quality content such as customer cases and referrals and to focus on the quality of work when having meetings with potential clients