Marketer of the Month April 2015

Shaping up next generation industrial marketing…

Little did Sanjay Limaye who was working with a company in Delhi know that one day his passion for marketing would transform into a niche consultancy doing some cutting edge work in this field. Today heading the Industrial Marketing Services-a Pune based market research firm, Sanjay is a man who believes in the power of networks and has his own tools to build them & harness their power. Yuktee talks to Sanjay to bring you things that will come handy in your industrial marketing efforts.

YUKTEE (Y): What’s the function of marketing in a company?

SANJAY (S): The role of a marketing function is to identify the right markets. Secondly, it should understand the customers’ customer thoroughly & this is immensely important in the B2B domain.

Y: Role of Technology in marketing:

S: Today, technology has percolated in every walk of our life. Thus it has become critical to incorporate it into your business operations irrespective of whether you are a B2B or B2C player. In marketing domain, the current buzz is about Marketing Analytics and it is a powerful application of technology.

What I see is that technology has provided us with huge amount of information so getting right information, in the right amount & at the right time is take care of. The challenge now is to identify which information is useful to you & which isn’t.

Y: Your take on Marketing Automation

S: I see it being used & misused across the industries. For instance, there are companies that are not using the Customer Relationship Management tools to their full potential alongside those who are making the most out of it. What I believe a CRM, looking at it as a representative of marketing automation, brings to the table is a lot of accountability to marketing. For instance: if as a sales representative you were supposed to connect to 100 prospects but you actually reached only about 80, there is no hiding in CRM. You are accountable for the 20 you could not reach.

Y: One key trend in B2B Marketing:

S: Micro-segmentation is a very important trend I see.

With connectivity & globalisation the size of markets has widened thus we have myriad number of suppliers trying to compete in a broad market place. To thrive, one has to find right niche for one’s own business and constantly evaluate & redefine the value proposition which suits that niche. In B2B this has to be a constant & continuous activity and one that involves sufficient amount of spade work. It is important that the marketing teams of companies do this.

Y: Things that bring the best out of a market research:

S: There are three things which are most essential in Market Research (MR). The first is creating a right mix of primary & secondary sources of data. Also, understanding “HOW much is enough” is a skill that is must for a market researcher & it gets honed with experience. Secondly, while the research is one there is a chance of new things of cropping up which might play a role in the research but not losing the focus of a clear achievable for the research is crucial.
Third & probably the most important part is to always remember that every effort should feed into answering the questions you set out to seek the answers to.

Y: B2B Brands that you admire & Why?

S: Though these are not strictly B2B brands but I admire them & each one for a unique and specific reason.

First it is Microsoft for the way they have become an inseparable part of their customers’ life. Though there are similar, sometimes even better, products than MS Office, loyal customers are almost in a denial mode that something like that exists.

Second should be Cummins for sticking around with one message of the best quality & realising it.

Thirdly to the one I admire the most it has to be Larsen & Toubro for crafting the right image in their customers’ mind & working to keep it intact.

Y: A Book you recommend all marketers must read:

S: â€œFuture of pricing”-A book that will help you understand, evaluate & implement pricing strategies & techniques. Specifically this is a must read for people in the booming service industry today as unlike the manufacturing industry here there are not many rigid models to assist them in this critical task of pricing. This book will come handy.

Y: Advice for fellow Marketers:

S: Firstly, try to pay attention to the micro-trends. In a highly networked world it is easy to get lost & move on with the macro scale outputs but I would insist that trying to go beyond the macro factors & understanding the micro trends will strengthen your strategies.

Two, Build your solution with complete focus on the customers’ customers. Remember that if he doesn’t place an order, you won’t get one.

Thirdly try & identify the connections between seemingly unconnected events. Today things are working on a global scale so always focus on the dynamics of the marketplace you cater to.