Because marketing to businesses is fundamentally different than marketing directly to consumers — namely a longer and more complex sales process — it requires a different approach. B2B Marketing Strategy (Online) is a six-week online program that provides the tools to successfully apply marketing strategies, bring value to your B2B relationships, and make a clear connection between marketing and sales functions.

The program provides professionals operating in B2B markets and those wanting to develop a B2B product line with a strategic yet practical framework to sustain a competitive advantage by understanding how to deploy the right marketing, pricing, sales force, and decision-making toolkit for each stage of your go-to-market strategy.

Participants discover the essentials of B2B brands, beginning with an overview of the differences between B2C and B2B brands and exploring the value of having a consistent marketing strategy as well as a solid platform for marketing implementation, especially when coordinating sales.

The program highlights the complex consumer decision-making process of B2B brands and the best way to develop your go-to-market strategies. It also delves into sales force management and how to address the challenges of channel distribution and variable compensation. You also learn about B2B pricing to address the complexity of contracts and brand strategies for competitive advantage.

Please contact our partners at Emeritus at columbia@emeritus.org, +1 315-982-5094, or +1 315-277-2746 for a personal conversation about this program and how it may benefit you.

Delivered in collaboration with
Emeritus

“If you sell to businesses and other organizations, you cannot use the standard consumer marketing techniques. This program teaches you the business-to-business marketing tools that you need to design and implement a successful go-to-market strategy in a competitive environment.”

The program's faculty director Miklos Sarvary

Throughout the program, you will develop a B2B management toolkit that provides key tools to increase B2B effectiveness.

By the end of the program you will be able to:

Review the marketing process and identify the functional, process, and relationship benefits of your B2B brand, allowing you to discern the value proposition of any B2B brand
Discern how the decision funnel is different for organizations and individuals (B2B decision funnel vs. individual decision funnel) and use this knowledge to capitalize on the decision-making process to provide your business with customer loyalty
Identify and deploy your marketing weapons for each stage of the Go-to-Market process
Design effective compensation systems to create motivated sales teams
Identify basic pricing strategies and use these to control prices
Discover how marketing strategy provides you with a sustainable competitive advantage and use this knowledge to make marketing relevant to your CEO

Upon completion of this program, you will earn two credits towards a Certificate in Business Excellence with select alumni and tuition benefits.

The B2B Marketing Strategy (Online) program is distributed across six modules and made available on a weekly basis. The program will begin with an orientation week, which provides an overview of the key features and resources you will need for a successful start.

The program features a mix of faculty video lectures, required activities, discussions, and a video interview with a B2B industry expert. Our approach is to provide the tools and frameworks to improve the efficiency of your B2B marketing efforts and increase revenue and profitability.

Weekly program topics are:

Week 1: B2B Brands
Week 2: B2B Decision-Making Process
Week 3: B2B Go-to-Market Strategies
Week 4: B2B Sales Force Management
Week 5: B2B Pricing
Week 6: B2B Marketing Strategy and Competitive Advantage

For a complete program schedule, please download the agenda.

The B2B Marketing Strategy (Online) program is ideal for mid to senior-level marketing or business-unit managers, including:

Managers from a technical or manufacturing background, now responsible for growth or marketing-driven functions
Product managers and marketing leads transitioning from a consumer domain into a B2B environment
Account managers seeking to make better customer-relationship decisions specific to B2B marketing
Experienced and newly promoted product and business unit managers with technical expertise but limited marketing background

Columbia Business School Alumni and up to four of their colleagues are eligible for a 25 percent tuition benefit for this program. More on the Alumni Tuition Benefit.

Miklos Sarvary

Carson Family Professor of Business
Co-Faculty Director, Media and Technology Program
Vice Dean for Executive Education

Faculty Director

Read full bio

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