The Unicist B2B Market Segmentation model includes three central segmentations that define the context of the buying process which are: the conceptual segmentation, the relationship segmentation and the institutional segmentation. It also includes the brand power segmentation that works as a catalyst of the B2B buying processes.
The unicist B2B market segmentation defines the segments of potential buyers and their relationship with the segments of the providers.
The Functionality of the Method
It has to be considered that any value proposition made to a person is recognized by the Conceptual Short-Term Memory (CSTM) that uses the concepts stored in the Long-Term Memory (LTM). Therefore, the marketing actions that are based on conceptual segmentation increase notoriously their effectiveness.
The unicist marketing technologies have been developed at The Unicist Research Institute to manage the root-causes of buying processes.
Unicist Conceptual Marketing is an approach based on the use of business objects and the unicist segmentation.
Buying decisions are driven by the concepts individuals have.
That is why buying decision are driven by the instantaneous actions of the Conceptual Short-Term Memory that use the information stored as a concept in the long-term memory.
Unicist B2B Segmentation
The Unicist B2B Market Segmentation model includes three central segmentations that define the context of the buying process which are: the conceptual segmentation, the relationship segmentation and the institutional segmentation. It also includes the brand power segmentation that works as a catalyst of the B2B buying processes.
The development of the Unicist B2B Market Segmentation model demanded more than two decades. The final solution was triggered by the development of the social critical mass that defines the success of social and business actions. This development was based on multiple B2B marketing experiences beginning with Diners in 1981.
The unicist B2B market segmentation defines the segments of potential buyers and their relationship with the segments of the providers to select the approach that needs to be used to define the possibility of business and its probability of success.
Conceptual Segmentation
The conceptual segmentation defines the core attributes of value propositions and is the segmentation where the marketing processes begin and end. It deals with the need satisfaction generated by the value propositions and their differentiation.
The desirability of the value propositions is given by the subjective differentiation, which includes the differentiation of the use value and the competitive advantage.
The consistency of the value propositions is established by the objective differentiation that is defined both by a functional differentiation and by a price differentiation. The technological differentiation is what establishes the background of the conceptual segmentation.
Relationship Segmentation
The relationship segmentation defines the influence a provider has or might have on a potential customers or clients.
It is defined by the complementary attributes with the client that reinforce the value proposition, the empathic attributes that allow building the necessary personal relationships and the influential attitudes that include both functional and subjective aspects.
The competitive attributes of the provider supplement the position of the buyers and empower the value propositions.
The types of relationships define the actions that are needed to sustain the critical mass of a B2B marketing process.
Institutional Segmentation
The institutional segmentation sustains the credibility of buyers and providers.
It establishes the compatibility between the roles of both parts and allows defining when there is a true possibility of building up a business.
It is defined by the market orientation of the provider, the reliability attributes that define the focus of the value propositions, the trustability attributes that define the influence that can be exerted and the functional evidences that prove the validity of the positioning.
The market orientation is materialized by the implicit promises implicit in the provider’s value propositions.
Brand Power Segmentation
The brand power segmentation works as a catalyst of the B2B marketing processes. Brand power is a basic condition to sustain marketing. The absence of brand power transforms any value proposition into a marginal proposal.
It is defined by the influential power attributes, which drive the constructive power of a company, the power denotation attributes that define the recognized attributes of the brand, the power connotation attributes that define the implicit values and the dissuasion power attributes that define the slope of the influence of the brand.
The brand power works as a catalyst when the brand of the provider is influential and works as an inhibitor when the influence of the buyers supersedes the influence of the suppliers.
B2B Unicist Object Driven Marketing: The Use of Company Profiles
The unicist logical approach to B2B marketing is based on segmenting the companies while, within such companies, the B2C segmentation is used to segment the individual participants in a commercial process.
The B2B marketing process has been specially designed for supply driven markets, although it is fully applicable to demand driven markets considering that in this case it is necessary to sustain significant product/service differentiations.
The use of B2B marketing implies:
- Knowing the actual functional needs of a specific client considering the characteristics of the industry and its conjuncture.
- Having evaluated the maturity of the business processes and confirmed its compatibility with the value proposition.
- Having identified the type of relationships the potential customer establishes with its providers.
- Having confirmed that the essential attributes of the value propositions are a real catalyst for the business processes of the prospect.
- Having identified the business positioning of the prospect and confirmed that it is compatible with the positioning of the provider.
B2B Customer Profiles
Supply driven markets are based on innovations that are not driven by urgencies. Therefore an adequate profiling of the prospects is basic in order to know if it is meaningful to invest in a marketing process to make a specific business.
Supply driven markets require a high level of reliability and the need of having the necessary critical mass to influence a company. The critical mass is given by the aesthetics of the solution, the influence of the provider and the credibility that allows having the necessary level of reliability.
The benefit of using B2B Customer Profiles and Object Driven Marketing is that it allows beginning with a “cheap” promotional process to define possible leads and invest when the prospects fit into the necessary Company Profile to become buyers.
Annex
Expert Systems to Sustain Methods
The unicist expert systems are alternative tools for any method that deals with business problem solving or solution building.
They were developed to manage the fundamentals of business processes by managing the root causes of processes to develop solutions in adaptive environments.
With multiple specialized modules to solve specific problems, these systems manage the unified field of the business processes to manage their functionality, dynamics and adaptability.
Note: The R&D work of this technology/methodology was led by Peter Belohlavek at The Unicist Research Institute.
The Unicist Research Institute