B2B Marketing: Derived Demand web content can help show that you “get” it

Think about marketing anything B2B – and you’ll find derived demand at work. Your web content should reflect that you “get” what your B2B customer is trying to do for their customers. Derived demand is defined as : demand for a B2B product is derived from the demand that your B2B customer receives from their customer. Also see an earlier post on Derived Demand.For example, imagine you  are a car tire maker (eg. Michelin, Bridgestone etc.) and supply to auto manufacturers (eg. Ford,GM,Toyota etc.). If new car demand goes up- you can see your OEM (Original Equipment Manufacture) tire sales go up. You would be selling tires for the replacement market through distributors. If people change tires you’ll see that demand going up as well. Derived demand is thus about the links in the downstream supply chain ending with a customer buying something for her personal use. All B2B demand can thus be understood in context of final consumer demand.

A car tire maker has two B2B audiences viz. (a) the auto companies where the tire is supplied as OEM and (b) the tire dealers who stock different tire brands.And you can be sure that the sales teams that service these two market segments, have a  fair understanding of the priorities of the direct B2B customer as well as their B2C customers. Thus, an auto maker might be interested in having Just-in-Time (JIT) deliveries and not pay for too much in car- factory inventory. The tire distributor might want more payment credit. Both B2B customers also know a lot about what B2C customers are going through. ….if only the sales contacts were encouraged to find out and marketing people reached out to the car dealers (who actually deal with B2C for the car company).

In all of this, there seems to be large gaps on the website of the B2B marketer. Despite knowing a lot about the derived demand market , there is not enough explained on B2B websites about how well they really understand the final customer. The knowledge is there in organizations, just not on their websites.

“We really don’t care if our B2B market is happy, who has the time to get through the entire downstream value chain” many businesses tell us.

But guess what – think of any business that has disappeared (most recently because of  the Internet disruption) – and you can be sure that the leaders ignored the behavior changes of the final consumer. After all, their B2B customer appeared happy or at least indifferent. A good way to consciously keep on top of your final customers changing needs is to have  sections, including blogs,  on your B2B website that are helpful to your  final consumer. The content helps your SEO as well .  About StratoServe Digital Marketing Services.