Website elements in B2B online communications: a case from the UK print industry

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the way in which brand positioning elements are manifested in the business‐to‐business (B2B) online environment.

Design/methodology/approach

The UK print industry is used to investigate the web site elements used to communicate positioning elements through the content analysis of corporate web pages of 30 UK print suppliers.

Findings

A framework is developed to show how web site communications are manifested in the online B2B environment.

Research limitations/implications

Because the research vehicle is a sample of websites from only one industry the findings may not be transferable to all industries nor to the whole industry. However, the model is a useful framework for helping managers to plan their online communications.

Practical implications

The paper concludes by giving recommendations about how the framework can be used by practitioners in order to improve the linkage between communications messages and the means for transferring these messages.

Originality/value

This is a novel approach to examining branding elements in the online environment. Comparatively little literature exists which examines branding in the online B2B environment.

Citation

Virtsonis, N. and Harridge‐March, S. (2008), "Website elements in B2B online communications: a case from the UK print industry", Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Vol. 26 No. 7, pp. 699-718. https://doi.org/10.1108/02634500810916672