BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS MARKETING

BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS MARKETING 

 

An organization marketing products or services to other businesses (to use either in the production of their fi nal products or to support their operations) is known as business-to-business (b2b) marketing. By differentiating this from consumer marketing you can better understand the unique demands of b2b marketing and increase the likelihood of success.

The idea 

Business marketing may appear to be a small niche within the larger fi eld of advertising. However, it is an area of surprising signifi cance—more than $60 million is spent daily by companies such as GE, DuPont, and IBM to support their operations. Arguably, the potential of business marketing exceeds that of consumer marketing: the purchases made by businesses, government agencies, and institutions account for more than half of the economic activity in industrialized countries. As a discipline, business marketing has seen an impressive growth in popularity, with more than half of marketing majors now choosing to begin their careers in business marketing rather than consumer marketing.

In practice 

To achieve success in business marketing, it is useful to understand how its methods differ from those of traditional consumer marketing:

• With b2b marketing, you are likely to be much more effective at every stage of the sale if you understand, in detail, your customers’ priorities, strategy, and business. 

• Whereas consumer marketing favors mass media to appeal to large target demographics, business marketing relies on smaller, more direct channels of distribution to reach a specifi c audience. 

• A higher level of specialist industry knowledge is required when orchestrating a business marketing campaign, to target and appeal to the individual needs of a niche market. 

• Personal and long-term client relationships are of particular signifi cance when seeking to maintain lucrative supplier contracts—ongoing customer service should be emphasized.