Today the need for professional development and training in B2B marketing is more essential than ever before. In the past ten years B2B marketing has added a new layer of sophistication. There are now specific B2B segmentation systems, the Internet has fundamentally altered how we communicate to customers (and at what speed), e-procurement has reduced the supplier chain costs/time, while there is the re-emergence of B2B portals.

Equally companies are striving not just to sell to customers; they are also aiming to attract them with engaging creative and build ongoing relationships. There is finally a real shift from major companies from being sales and product-led to customer-led. Equally there are challenges such as managing customer relationships through multiple channels to the emergence of what has been termed ‘prosumer’.

For any discipline to grow and push back frontiers of knowledge it needs an infrastructure of learning. There needs to be some empirical research conducted by practitioners and leading businesses, more applied text books (the current stock is lamentable) and more heavy weight case histories and articles written by leading practitioners. This will help evaluate the status of B2B marketing as a professional career choice. In addition there should be a raft of properly designed, progressive training courses covering all aspects of B2B marketing and a professional qualification in B2B marketing which marketers aspire to gain to achieve the status and recognition they deserve.

The first UK B2B marketing qualification is going to be launched in March 2007 with comprehensive coverage of all aspects of B2B marketing. There is already a specialist B2B magazine which is making other marketing publishers take note of this area. Change will not happen overnight but it is important B2B marketers are proud of their discipline and shout about it. If you really understand B2B marketing, many professionals would say it is far more challenging and satisfying than B2C marketing given the multiple channels and diversity of the buying decisions.

Given the heavy competition in many sectors of B2B, it has to be highly imaginative to capture buyers’ imagination. It also needs B2B marketing champions who are prepared to stand up and give speeches about their work and current issues in the profession. The challenge of the next few years will be collaborating to reverse the years of under achievement in B2B and make it a discipline to be proud of.

Surveys of the substantial IDM membership base suggest that at least a third of members are B2B focused and have special development needs, with many highlighting that they have felt overlooked by the B2C focus of most professional bodies and publications.

Three years ago the IDM set out to meet this demand and formed a B2B Council of senior marketers in Industry, to determine how to better cater for the demand for shared B2B best practices. Major client-side companies include Nortel, Avaya and Pitney Bowes while the supplier-side is represented by Ogilvy, Concep, Experian, Chemistry, Meteorite, Wegener, Mardev, Base One, Think Direct and more.

Major B2B conferences have been run in the early months of each of the three previous years, with the next scheduled for 6th March 2007. Each has delivered a host of best practice examples of multi-channel, direct and online marketing from leading B2B companies.

The IDM B2B Council has also led the development of B2B specific workshops, case studies and papers, many of which can be found online at www.theidm.com. However the Council has now identified that both employers and marketers are demanding not only B2B focused development programmes to satisfy the demand for marketing skills, but also a set of recognised qualifications at Certificate and Diploma level.

We know that B2B marketing has many facets to be reflected in the qualification, including the development of new business with sector SME’s, but also winning, retaining and growing key accounts of all sizes up to and including major global companies. Niche B2B providers frequently provide specialist services to much larger companies and need to understand how to sell and deliver successfully to their clients on both a local and international basis.

While traditional B2B marketing skills may have relied substantially on face-to-face contact, this new IDM qualification has integrated the use of direct, digital and data best practices into new qualifications for B2B marketing and sales.

The IDM B2B Marketing Certificate, which can be followed alongside your normal practical working role and responsibilities has been developed and delivered by acknowledged experts in area. A detailed syllabus can be provided on request, but topics include:

• B2B Landscape
• Strategic B2B marketing
• Product/service management and branding
• Database
• Multi-channel marketing
• Sales and marketing integration
• Key account management
• Acquisition
• Digital business marketing
• Loyalty and retention
• Creative
• Campaign management
• International B2B
• B2B law and compliance
• Case histories

Through the development and documentation of a personal in-company project which demonstrates the application of B2B marketing principles the Certificate level qualification is then upgraded to the higher Diploma level, providing full and proper recognition of your skills and achievements for current and future employers.

The new IDM B2B qualification will be launched early in 2007. To join the very first group of recognised B2B marketers please contact the IDM now to show your interest. If you have other suggestions relating to B2B marketing skills developments we are always ready to hear from you.

By Professor Derek Holder and Bryan Foss

Professor Derek Holder is Managing Director and a Founder Fellow of the Institute of Direct Marketing www.theidm.com.

Bryan Foss is Founder of www.FossInitiatives.com and acts as an independent advisor, writer and non-executive director, he is also an active member of the IDM B2B Council

Editor’s Request

Have you got anything to say about B2B Strategic Marketing, B2B Multi-channel marketing, and B2B Loyalty Management and Retention? Please then contact TML’s editor, Graham Jarvis, at
editor@themarketingleaders.com to find out how you can help him and the IDM to develop three of the new qualification’s modules. You can also reach Graham on +44 (20) 8661 8965 or +44 (0)776 682 3644.

Please also contact Derek or Bryan if you would either like to know more about the other modules of the qualification, or you would like to others with their research.