The Changing Face of Industrial Marketing

I have been a part of the Industrial Marketing sphere for over 22 years. While I have been at the epicentre of the technological revolution that has beset the techniques of Industrial Marketing, but the fact that the underlying principles have remained eternal has not escaped notice. Accurate market segmentation, identification of key customers, approaching them and convincing them about the utility of your products are age old principles which have remained unchanged over the last couple of decades. And I believe these will not change over the next few decades either!
In the year 1997 I planned the launch of an alternator employing Italian technology. By segmenting the market, we identified that alternators were bought by packagers of Gensets, primarily operating from major cities like Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai and Pune.
These packagers were loyal to well known brands that were at the zenith of their popularity. Key consultants were specifying these brands for a number of years and they needed solid reasons to change to our brand.
Our alternator had cost effective technology and materials –hence they could be priced below the then market leaders. It was important to quickly establish our quality perception to specifiers and buyers, so I put together an effective documentary, which contained details of the manufacturing processes and key offerings of the brand.
We also held seminars at each of these major cities - and the factory was running to full capacity within just six months of the launch!
Of course, this marketing strategy was also well complemented by excellent after sales service and efficient customer follow up, so that my Industrial Marketing plan was very well executed.
Today the mantra of a new product launch is much the same for Industrial products.
More recently I helped launch an elite Lighting product which is an LED based paving stone. Here too I identified that this product was extremely high end, and could be specified by very high end Lighting designers and Landscape consultants.
We performed the market segmentation and key customer identification operations.
This time, an attractive e-brochure was designed employing latest technology tools and quickly e-mailed to the customer data base we had collated. The response from most of these customers has been extremely encouraging and my client is already in business.
Technology has greatly reduced the time taken to market an Industrial product – yet the fundamentals of marketing are essentially the same, and a comprehensive understanding of these fundamentals can go a long way in creating a good market for your business.

Milind Vartak
www.valueaddservices.com