Transformative marketing in the new normal: A novel practice-scholarly integrative review of business-to-business marketing mix challenges, opportunities, and solutions

Abstract

Transformative marketing has been heralded as the future of marketing. While the initial catalyst for transformative marketing was the desire of customers for more meaningful engagement, the global impact of great crises (or mega disruptions) has accelerated the evolution of transformative marketing. With a focus on business-to-business (B2B) marketing, this article aims to offer transformative marketing insights to support B2B marketers in preparing for, navigating in, and recovering from great crises using the great lockdown that transpired during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic as a case. To do so, this article employs the marketing mix as an organizing framework and performs an integrative review of practice and scholarly articles relating to B2B marketing and COVID-19. In doing so, this article delivers a seminal integrative review that is informed by both practice and scholarly sources in B2B marketing, thereby establishing its methodological novelty and value. More importantly, this article highlights “what” is necessary and “how” B2B marketers can (re)configure the product, price, place, promotion, people, process, and physical evidence elements of their marketing activities to steer their B2B marketing operations toward success in a world where global crises are a commonplace. Therefore, this article contributes in two major ways: the first from a theoretical perspective, by extending the theoretical generalizability of transformative marketing, and the second from a managerial standpoint, by shedding light on practitioner issues and offering practical suggestions for B2B marketers to prepare for, navigate in, and recover from great crises in the new normal.