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

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.