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Price and performance but not branding!
Previous research was conducted to ask a cluster of SME B2bs
if and how they used design in business and, what they thought
of B2b branding. The research was executed with a small selection
of businesses ranging in different disciplines. Other evidence
was used from personal experience working with B2b organisations.
The results concluded that there was very little evidence to
suggest that SME B2bs used design, and rather viewed branding
as a logo or advertising strapline which, wasn't relevant to their
technical organisations. Most believed that price and delivery
are key purchasing considerations.
This was a very common view within management and champions of
high-tech innovation networks. There were some exceptions but
these were very few and of the companies surveyed, this view was
stronger for the less knowledge based companies. (See Left)
The results showed that while design and branding can be relevant,
there are subtle implementation differences. These are more to
do with how design and brand managers should approach design for
B2bs than direct strategic differences. The real differences included
the brand architecture, especially corporate brand structures
rather than product brand structure and design terminology. After
analysing and plotting these participating companies, a gap appeared
which warranted further investigation. This could have been due
to the number of participants in the survey or it could be a growth
point, which required design input in order for business success
to continue. Either way, this point gave scope for further investigation
to discover if growth points are related to design use, or if
branding could help overcome difficulties with business growth.
Please contact us for the results.
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