“Eaton Corporation is a large business-to-business (B2B) industrial manufacturer. The company manufacturers everything from car valves to circuit breakers. Words such as trusted, reliable, quality and high value are used to describe Eaton, a brand that enhances other products. Eaton’s challenge is to communicate consistently, yet segmented, across its departments and product categories. B2B is a very sophisticated marketing environment with educated customers often playing a big role in product development. Additionally, there is often more than one decision maker in the customer’s organization. Eaton’s marketing department has to understand who all the influencers are on a purchasing decision and reach each one. Trust, confidence and problem solving are more important than price to most of Eaton’s customers. They want to know Eaton can help them if something critical goes wrong. Overall, Eaton is more effective than its competition because it focuses on understanding its customers’ business needs, meeting that need and providing additional value in its solutions through product innovation. Keep in mind the following questions as you view the video.
- What are the major differences in Eaton’s marketing program in contrast to consumer marketing?
- What are the main attributes of Eaton’s brand?
- Why is the changing marketing environment so crucial to Eaton’s marketing plan?
Now please view the video on Eaton, visit their website, www.eaton.com and answer the above questions. Keep your answers short. Several sentences for an answer per question should be sufficient.