Relationship marketing and brand involvement of professionals through web-enhanced brand communities: the case of Coloplast

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Abstract

More and more firms are recognizing the advantages of web-enhanced brand communities as a lever for relationship-marketing communication. Brand communities, not only provide companies with an additional communication channel, but also allow the possibility of establishing linkages to devoted users. So far, brand community has only been discussed in relation to B2C marketing. However, the effect of using web-enhanced brand communities in a B2B context may be even greater inasmuch as professional users have a strong and long-standing interest in exchanging product-related information. Based on the Coloplast case study, this contribution outlines a conceptual model for linking web-enhanced brand community activities and relationship building in B2B markets.

Introduction

Stiffer competition, escalating marketing costs and ever shorter technology life cycles have led more and more researchers to suggest that marketing efforts should change from a focus on immediate exchange to the initiation, establishment and maintenance of long-term relationships with customers. As a consequence, relationship marketing has been suggested as the next dominating marketing paradigm (Morgan & Hunt, 1994).

One of the central aspects of relationship marketing is communication with customers. Involving consumers in a marketing dialogue is a prerequisite for achieving brand involvement and loyalty, which in turn affects the prospects of establishing positive market relationships. More and more firms are recognizing the advantages of web-enhanced brand communities as a potential lever for relationship-marketing communication. Brand communities, not only provide companies with an additional marketing communication channel, but also enable the company establish linkages to devoted users of their product. Such users have taken the time and effort to engage themselves in consumption-related activities and share their knowledge with others, thus enhancing general knowledge levels and devotion to particular products and their utilities. So far, because the initiation and development of vital brand communities has required a certain critical mass of enthusiastic users, brand community activities have been few and far between. However, firms have increasingly realized that, via the Internet, they can overcome the time and space constraints that have so far limited their involvement in such activities. There is thus reason to believe that web-enhanced brand communities will grow in importance and unleash a new potential for developing market value for users and producers alike.

So far, there has been little research on web-enhanced brand communities and their utility as a marketing communication tool (Fischer et al., 1996, Kozinets, 1999, Rothaermel & Sugiyama, 2001). Up to now, the main focus of research has been on consumption and private end-users (e.g., Harley Davidson Clubs or Jeep communities; McAlexander, Schouten & Koeing, 2002), whereas brand communities in the context of industrial marketing has mostly been ignored. Existing contributions have looked mainly at how Internet-based communities can support brand building in consumer markets. Traditionally, industrial markets have not been seen as targets for brand marketing efforts (Michell, King & Reast, 2001). However, the potential impact of using web-enhanced brand communities in the industrial markets could be even greater since professional users may have a stronger and more long-standing interest in exchanging product-related information with the company and among themselves. The purpose of this paper is to outline a conceptual model of how web-enhanced brand community activities can influence relationship building in industrial markets. Furthermore, the model will be empirically based using an investigative case study.

Section snippets

The brand community concept

The community as a unit of analysis has its origin in anthropological and sociological research, and, today, there are countless definitions of communities. Usually, communities describe phenomena where people gather regularly and share a particular interest (Rothaermel & Sugiyama, 2001). Consumption patterns have led to the creation of a particular form of community, such as the Saturday fruit and vegetable markets found in almost every populated region in the world. Although brand communities

Data collection

The article is based on a qualitative case study, consistent with the methodology described by Strauss and Corbin (1990) and Yin (1994). However, while the study, due to its context, is qualitative, it is positioned between the deductive and inductive way of carrying out qualitative studies, it being neither a test of an already developed theory nor a development of a new theory. Rather, it is an extension of an existing theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1990) through dialectic interaction between

Case analysis

The following discusses the presented conceptual model linking web-enhanced communities to customer relationship-building efforts, using SpinalNet and StomaNet as a case example.

Concluding remarks

This paper has discussed the role of web-enhanced brand communities for supporting social exchanges of professionals based on a case study of Coloplast's web-enhanced community of health care professionals. The findings suggest that, in line with expectations, web communities in the professional market build on preexisting communities, enabling community members to intensify the activities of the community to expand its reach. Moreover, the case explores processes of recruitment and involvement

Poul Houman Andersen is Associate Dean of Research and Full Professor in international marketing at the Aarhus School of Business, Denmark.

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    Poul Houman Andersen is Associate Dean of Research and Full Professor in international marketing at the Aarhus School of Business, Denmark.

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