Most entrepreneurs are familiar with business to consumer marketing because it’s the most popular and some even go ahead to inter-relate business to business marketing (B2B) with business to consumer marketing (B2C). In this article, I am going to draw the line between B2B and B2C marketing; I am also going to give you a brief overview of the concept of business to business marketing. If you are ready to learn, then read on.

Business to business marketing (B2B) strategy has a distinction from business to consumer marketing in such a way that it operates to reach out to other organizations and companies as their targeted market place to transact with, while the latter has the consumers and buying public as its main targeted market base.

However, in essence, B2B does what B2C employs in order to gain profit – which is learning the heart of the buying public when it comes to purchasing decisions. While the business to business marketing sells products and services to other businesses with an objective of supporting the operations of the companies, the end-users will be the public who are the consumers.

                "The purpose of a business is to create a customer." – Peter F. Drucker

Increasing sales, profits, marketing, and efficiency is the purpose why these companies utilize these services. In as far as utilizing the business to business concept is concerned, it is a must to know that B2B can be complex beyond the standard marketing concepts in such a way that programs used are more innovative and advanced.

So, if one is considering B2B, it is important to learn what consists in the ropes of the journey, especially the factors such as the requirements, the competitors, costs, technology, trend, and the present situation of the market.

Also, if one is integrating online tools, there are these things which one should have knowledge about, particularly when it comes to using online communities, email marketing, banner or pop-up advertisings, cost per click ads, and many other tools. If you want to learn more about B2B, you would probably want to know the following aspects:

 An Overview of Business to Business Marketing

 

The features

As what was said a while ago, business to business marketing is doing transactions within and between value chains and not between consumers. As such, it targets quite a small number of customers who expect to have personalized marketing, such as customized prices and products or services.

It is also more complex than it appears, requiring a lot of players to create demand decisions chain. B2B is also for building value relationships with other companies and some individuals found in them.

Its strategy

These three steps; to aim market choice, to set marketing objectives, and to build marketing program shape the strategy formation of a business to business marketing concept. The B2B marketing strategy is quite different from that of B2C because the B2B marketer is providing goods and services for organizations and corporations; not the consuming public.

The difference between B2B and B2C (business to consumer)

 

The B2C sells, markets, and discloses products or services to the buying group or public and is product-driven. It also maximizes transaction value. B2B on the other hand targets a smaller amount of consumers, which in this case are the business companies and organizations. Both may have similar marketing programs and may employ the same initial steps in developing them, but in terms of executing them, there is a distinction. 

The Business to Business buyer

The business to business buyer is the company or organization that wants to purchase the good or service because it knows that the services or product received can help their business remain standing, competitive, successful and profitable. Because of this, it is more often than not that B2B buyers have more understanding of the products or services than the B2B owner does.

So when engaging in business to business marketing, always bear in mind that the organization you are marketing to is also in business to make profit just like you. They are more likely to switch over when they find another service provider that offers the same service you are offering but with more efficiency and at a better price. So you have to constantly be on guard, hold your position and stay competitive.