Business to business marketing - December 15, 2009
Business to business marketing characterizes the commercial relationships between organizations, companies or institutions. The short name for business to business marketing is B2B marketing and it differs from regular business to consumer marketing by the more direct means of distribution. There are all sorts of other distinctions between the two, which is why experts often discuss them in parallel.
In the case of consumer marketing, the population gets access to products and services through retailers in a very simple process. With business to business marketing, transactions are not closed without negotiations between seller and buyer.
In terms of similarities, business to business marketing and business to consumer marketing rely on the same mechanisms that belong to the guidelines of traditional marketing. Yet, beyond surface similarities, things are a lot more complex than one may suspect. Here is what brings B2B and B2C marketing close together.
-They define a target market and try to match the service or product to the corresponding needs.
-Businesses need to advertise regardless of who they sell their products to.
-The value of the products/services that they promote has to be clear to the targeted market.
-The prices and the strength of the product/service must correspond to some overall market tendencies.
While it is clear who sells something in business to business marketing, things are a bit different when it comes to defining the buyer. It is false to describe this ‘other’ market sector by the same general concept of ‘businesses’ because they too fall into separate categories and thus require different marketing approaches. There are companies that consume services and products, resellers, government agencies and institutions.
The consumers in the business categories are those that need equipment for their operational processes. Then, business to business marketing with institutions involves working with schools, churches, charity organizations, hospitals or nursing homes. The government with all the corresponding agencies is the biggest consumer of all, if we think of local governments too. And finally, resellers, wholesalers and distributors make one other consumer category for business to business marketing.
Larger sums of money enter the circuit with business to business marketing because the partners involved in the transactions are companies. Moreover, the volume of the merchandise is also different, together with the promotional means, the discounts, the pricing structures and lots of others. Therefore, although there are some common grounds for B2B marketing and B2C marketing, each approach has its specificity and separate operational mode.