B2B Marketing success hinges on solving specific business pains with tailored strategies. These case studies showcase how leading Indian companies used targeted approaches—from leveraging digital ecosystems to building trust with a massive, fragmented market—to achieve remarkable growth and market leadership.
Case Study 1: Zoho – Dominating the Indian SME SaaS Market
Challenge: Competing against heavily funded global giants like Salesforce and Microsoft in the CRM and productivity software market, particularly for cost-sensitive Indian SMEs.
Strategy: Zoho employed a deeply integrated “bottom-up” product-led growth (PLG) strategy. They built an extensive, affordable suite of over 50 integrated applications (CRM, finance, email, etc.) and offered a generous, feature-rich freemium model. This allowed small businesses to start for free and grow seamlessly within the Zoho ecosystem. Critically, they invested in localized customer support and education (Zoho University for training, extensive regional partner networks), building trust and reducing barriers to adoption.
Result: Zoho became the default choice for millions of Indian SMEs, achieving iconic bootstrapped status. They leveraged their massive Indian user base as a springboard for global expansion. The strategy created immense customer lock-in due to ecosystem integration and a powerful brand built on product value, affordability, and local understanding, not just marketing spend.
Case Study 2: Infosys – Building Global Trust through Knowledge Marketing
Challenge: As an IT services pioneer, Infosys needed to differentiate itself in a crowded global market and justify premium positioning against large multinational competitors.
Strategy: Infosys pioneered “knowledge marketing” or thought leadership as a core B2B strategy. They established the Infosys Knowledge Institute, producing high-quality, forward-looking research on technology trends (AI, cloud, sustainability). Senior executives and experts were positioned as industry visionaries through global speaking engagements, authored books, and bylines in top-tier publications. This content wasn’t promotional but focused on solving future client challenges, showcasing deep expertise.
Result: Infosys successfully transcended the “outsourcer” label to become a trusted strategic consultant. This content-driven approach attracted high-value clients seeking innovation partners, not just cost arbitrage. It allowed them to command higher margins, engage in strategic C-level conversations early, and build a brand synonymous with intellectual capital and future-ready solutions, which has been central to their growth for decades.
Case Study 3: Udaan – Revolutionizing B2B Trade for India’s Unorganized Retail
Challenge: Digitizing and streamlining the highly fragmented, inefficient supply chain connecting brands/FMCG manufacturers with millions of small retailers and kirana stores across India.
Strategy: Udaan built a mobile-first B2B e-commerce and logistics platform tailored for the unique needs of this segment. They focused on solving core pain points: providing credit (Udaan Credit) to retailers, ensuring reliable next-day delivery even in tier 3/4 cities, and offering a vast catalog at competitive prices. Their marketing leveraged a direct, on-ground sales force to onboard retailers and used data analytics to personalize the app experience and inventory.
Result: Udaan achieved unprecedented scale, becoming one of India’s fastest unicorns by connecting hundreds of thousands of retailers with thousands of suppliers. They created a digital infrastructure for India’s unorganized trade, demonstrating that the right B2B model—combining technology, finance, and logistics—can unlock massive value in a traditional, trust-based market, fundamentally changing how goods move through the economy.
Case Study 4: HDFC Bank – Driving MSME Growth with Digital Ecosystems (SmartHub Vyapar)
Challenge: Serving India’s vast but underserved MSME sector with tailored financial products beyond basic banking, requiring deep integration into their daily business operations.
Strategy: HDFC Bank launched “SmartHub Vyapar,” a comprehensive digital ecosystem platform specifically for MSMEs. It went beyond banking to offer integrated invoicing, inventory management, GST filing, payment reconciliation, and easy credit access—all within a single dashboard. Marketing focused on educational workshops, partnerships with trade bodies (like CA associations), and data-driven cross-selling to existing business banking customers. The bank positioned itself as a growth partner, not just a lender.
Result: HDFC Bank successfully increased MSME wallet share and reduced churn by becoming indispensable to daily operations. The platform drove higher engagement, provided rich data for better credit underwriting, and opened new non-interest revenue streams. It transformed the bank’s relationship with MSMEs from transactional to embedded, creating a powerful competitive moat in a key segment and setting a benchmark for B2B fintech innovation in traditional banking.
Case Study 5: L&T Construction – Winning Mega Projects through Relationship & Solution Marketing
Challenge: Competing for billion-dollar infrastructure projects (metro rails, airports, smart cities) against global and domestic giants, where decisions are based on extreme technical credibility and long-term trust.
Strategy: L&T’s marketing is a decades-long investment in “solution marketing” and institutional relationship building. They focus on proactive concept pitching—developing and presenting detailed technical and financial solutions for projects even before tenders are announced. This is supported by executive-level networking, showcasing a legacy of successful project execution through high-impact case studies and site visits, and maintaining a constant dialogue with government bodies and private developers through industry forums and white papers.
Result: L&T consistently wins a disproportionate share of India’s most prestigious infrastructure projects. Their marketing establishes them as the default “safe choice” for mission-critical projects, allowing them to often command a premium. This deep-seated trust, built on demonstrated capability and a solution-oriented approach, minimizes pure price competition and has made L&T synonymous with nation-building, creating an unparalleled brand equity in the engineering and construction B2B space.