Tough economic times mean taking nothing for granted. That recognition, plus caution fueled by ongoing worries of disruption in the business environment, has put two critical marketing fundamentals at the top of a recent survey of business-to-business marketers’ chief concerns. Marketers recognize that they must prove the value of marketing as an investment, but that in itself is not enough. Marketers must also market the importance of the marketing process to their companies.

Responding to the biennial poll conducted by the Institute for the Study of Business Markets (ISBM), headquartered at Pennsylvania State University, business-to-business industry and academic experts cited the main challenges they expect business marketers will face in the coming two to three years. Experts also listed the capabilities marketers must have to surmount those challenges, and many respondents pointed to specific companies as best-practice examples.

Ranked by number of mentions, the top seven challenges business marketers face are

1. Understanding and managing marketing as an investment

2. Marketing the marketing process

3. Harnessing business-to-business ebusiness

4. Managing value chains

5. Managing value pricing

6. Developing successful new products

7. Marketing globally

The experts also pointed to other significant issues, such as

- B2B marketing career paths and personnel development

- Managing increased business risk in turbulent times

- Sustaining growth and profit

- Data and knowledge management

As we all know from today’s headlines and experiences, the past year or so has featured unprecedented and wrenching accelerations and decelerations. Though much of the economic news has been unsettling, I believe that the bigger picture shows a new and promising landscape of growth for business and industrial markets. Our 2002 Trends Study reports an informed consensus that business marketers should consider in their own planning.

Dr. Ralph A. Oliva is the executive director of the Institute for the Study of Business Markets (ISBM), and professor of marketing at the Smeal College of Business Administration at Penn State University.

ISBM is the leading organization devoted to advancing knowledge and practice in business-to-business marketing worldwide. Founded in 1983, and supported by more than 60 major corporations, ISBM is networked with researchers, educators and practitioners in business-to-business marketing at companies and universities worldwide.

For more information about ISBM, please send an email to ISBM@psu.edu, or contact Dr. Oliva by phone at 1-814-863-2782.