UWE Bristol Engineering showcase 2015

Lukas D. Blum
BSc. (Hons) Engineering
Project Supervisor
Mrs. Ruth Jones
Analysing trends and increasing customer focus in business-to-business
marketing communications
Introduction
This research investigates the trends and preferences in the following key media used for business-to-business (B2B) marketing communications: social media,
print media, websites and E-mail updates. Primary data was gathered by conducting an online customer survey as well as a corresponding survey targeting the
marketing staff of ABB. By comparing the data of both surveys correlations and discrepancies in the use of the individual media were spotted. The data
gathered was analysed using Microsoft EXCEL as well as further tools for analysis such as the Net Promoter Score (NPS). It was possible to identify gaps in ABB
Motion’s marketing efforts and the customers’ expectations and derive multiple suggestions for improving the customer focus and thus the impact of the
marketing communications (as listed below).
Trend analysis
The respondents of both surveys were asked to rank the current importance
of print media, social media, websites and E-mail updates from their
professional perspective. The results are visualized on the right hand side.
The same method was used to assess the future importance of the media.
The analysis revealed the high importance of websites for current and future
marketing communications.
Increasing customer focus
By comparing the customers’ preferences/expectations of the use of
communication media with the marketing efforts undertaken by ABB Motion
potential gaps were investigated. The graphs on the right hand side picture
the customers’ desired frequency of E-newsletters as well as the frequency
ABB Motion sends out E- newsletters.
By deriving suggestions on how to bridge those gaps the customer focus of
the marketing communication the customer focus will be increased.
Suggestions for improvement
• Constantly improve the website to improve ease of navigation
• A smaller, yet more frequent newsletter would be an option to stay in
touch with the customers more often
• Increase the number of success stories in order to communicate
• Decrease Flyer campaigns. Flyers are not in high esteem from the
customers’ perspective. Brochures are the medium of choice for the
customer
Customer Survey
Q.: How often would you like to receive
ABB Motion‘s E-newsletters?
Customer Survey
ABB Survey
Q.: How often do you/your team
send out E-newsletters?
ABB Survey
Limitations
• Only applicable for the automation industry
• All surveys were distributed using electronic media such as E-mail and
social networks. As a result there might be an existing bias towards
respondents who already embrace the usage of an online
communications
• Limited number of responses may impact the informative value
Project summary
This research project investigated the trends and
preferences in business-to-business marketing
communications. The study used ABB Motion as a
case study to facilitate the investigations.
Project Objectives
The project aims to investigate current and future
trends in the use of selected marketing
communication media. Analyse the customer focus of
ABB Motion’s current marketing communication
efforts and ultimately derive suggestion how to
improve ABB Motion’s marketing efforts.
The primary data for the research was gathered using
customer survey and a corresponding ABB survey.
Project Conclusion
• Websites are the most important medium for
marketing communications now and in the near
future
• Print media have a bigger importance in the
business-to business sector than suggested by the
literature
• Social media are not considered to be of great
importance for marketing communications, by
both: customers and marketers. However they
bear potential to engage with the customer and
establish a relationship
• ABB marketers are reluctant to send out E-
newsletters with a high frequency. The study
indicates however that 36.7% of customers would
like a weekly or fortnightly newsletter
• A lot of customers are interested in fact based
information conveyed in case studies