B2B:

• Relationship driven
• Maximize the value of the relationship
• Small, focused target market
• Multi-step buying process, longer sales cycle
• Brand identity created on personal relationship
• Educational and awareness building activities
• Rational buying decision based on business value

B2C:

• Product driven
• Maximize the value of the transaction
• Large target market
• Single step buying process, shorter sales cycle
• Brand identity created through repetition and imagery
• Merchandising and point of purchase activities
• Emotional buying decision based on status, desire, or price

This weekend I got an email from a graduate student at Virginia Commonwealth University with questions about these comparisons for a project for her marketing class. I’m always glad to help students learning marketing so I sent her the following response to her questions.

What does it mean for B2B marketing to be relationship driven, maximizing the value of the relationship verses B2C marketing being product driven, maximizing the value of the transaction?

The goal of B2B marketing is to maximize the value of the relationship to the prospect through marketing efforts that educate them on value you provide. If done successfully, your marketing activities will result in a relationship built on trust and credibility. Value of the relationship will be determined by what is important to the client.

The goal of B2C marketing is to drive consumers to the product and maximize the value of the transaction through activities that upsell or provide incentives to buy additional products. Relationships between companies and consumers are based on the consumer’s experience during the purchase process. Value of the transaction will be determined by the quality of the experience or the transaction.

What does it mean to create a brand identity based on the personal relationship in B2B verses through repetition and imagery in B2C?

In B2B marketing, the brand is based on your reputation. So although B2B marketers develop brand awareness through marketing efforts, the brand identity is based on how how you treat clients, the quality of the work, how reliable you are, and other factors that provide value to the clients.

In B2C marketing, companies build brands by repeatedly getting the image in front of the consumer. Consumer products need to ensure we see their brand enough times to recognize it and consider it worthy of our purchase.

How has social media changed the landscape of B2B verses B2C marketing?

Social media has effected how brands are perceived across all of marketing, but it is more pronounced in B2C today. Developing relationships with consumers is now more important than ever and consumer marketing needs to understand how user generated content effects their brand and how to leverage new media to help them develop their brand identity and reputation.

Take Amazon as an example. They:

• Provide a purchase experience that encourages you to buy more.
• Build a relationship with you by personalizing your experience and making it extremely easy to do business with them.
• Add value through secure transactions.
• Develop user generated content by encouraging you to rate your purchase experience and the product.

This is all part of social media and how consumers are being influenced by their peers. It’s making B2C marketing more challenging but very interesting too. Will it have the same effect on B2B? Thoughts?

When speaking with companies about marketing, the topic of “should I integrate social media into my marketing plan this year” comes up. My advice is always the same: watch, listen and learn. Take small steps. Understand the accepted behaviors in this culture of social media. Then engage. By learning what is accepted before you dive in, you can avoid offending someone or embarrassing yourself in the process. 

In Matt Dickman’s Five Keys to Successful Blogger Outreach, he and the folks commenting provide valuable insight into how to engage bloggers to provide exposure to your products and services. I might add that taking it slow in building the relationship is my philosophy. Before you jump in and comment, send “news” out or do something that could land you on a blogger’s blacklist, understand what the writer is interested in and add value.

Keep following the thread from Matt’s post to Valeria Maltoni’s Revealing Yourself to Others as she highlights what works well and what does not when she is the target of the PR pitch. These rules apply to all forms of marketing using social media in my view.

The following interview of Matt Dickman and David Armano by Andy Sernovitz  offers good advice on getting started with social media for B2B marketing.

Armano’s advice: LinkedIn is a good place to get acquainted with social media.

Dickman’s advice: Listen to what your customers are saying about you in the various social media communities. Learn from it then take the next step.

Like any social setting, watch and listen to those around you for guidance on how to behave. When you feel ready, then dive in.

Well, yeah they are people, but a person buying a product for themselves verses buying for their company is a very different, emotional experience. In fact, there are profound differences that you must remember when developing your marketing activities. B2B depends on relationship building marketing efforts. Using consumer-focused strategies to market your B2B business will, at best, just cost you money. And, in some cases, it may cost you customers.

What is B2B and B2C Marketing

These terms were coined to differentiate Internet commerce businesses that sold to primarily to consumers verses those whose market are other businesses. These terms have expanded their definitions to refer to any business who sells primarily to the end customer (B2C) or to other businesses (B2B), both online and offline. Although the marketing programs are the same for each type of business (events, direct marketing, internet marketing, advertising, public relations, word of mouth and alliances), how they are executed, what they say, and the outcome of the marketing activities differ.

The first step in developing your marketing strategy for B2B is similar to the first step in a B2C strategy: identify who the customer is and why they need to hear your message. From there, the marketing activities diverge.

The highlighted boxes summarize the differences between B2B marketing and B2C marketing. Your marketing plan needs to take into account the differences and ensure you are developing the right types of activities for your particular market.

Businesses that Sell to Consumers

The ultimate goal of B2C marketing is to convert shoppers into buyers as aggressively and consistently as possible. B2C companies employ more merchandising activities like coupons, displays, store fronts (both real and Internet) and offers to entice the target market to buy. B2C marketing campaigns are concerned with the transaction, are shorter in duration and need to capture the customer’s interest immediately. These campaigns often offer special deals, discounts, or vouchers that can be used both online and in the store. For example, the goal of an email campaign for a B2C company is to get consumers to buy the product immediately. The email will take the consumer to a landing page on the web site that is designed to sell the product and make purchasing very easy by integrating the shopping cart and checkout page into the flow of the transaction. Any more than a couple of clicks and the customer is likely to abandon the shopping cart.

One interesting aspect of B2C marketing, however, is that many companies have realized the importance of loyalty. Amazon, Best Buy, and Staples combine merchandising and education to keep customers coming back. Add great customer service, and you get a winning combination.

Businesses that Sell to Businesses

Although the goal of B2B marketing is to convert prospects into customers, the process is longer and more involved. A B2B company needs to focus on relationship building and communication using marketing activities that generate leads that can be nurtured during the sales cycle. B2B companies use marketing to educate various players in the target audience because the decision to purchase is usually a multi-step process involving more than one person. For example, the goal of an email campaign for B2B is to drive prospects to the web to learn about your products and services. The e-mail to a business must contain contact information for offline communications and the landing page should contain information on features, benefits, and possibly pricing. This marketing activity is usually the first step in a longer, integrated touch campaign that may include direct mail, telemarketing, Web casts, newsletters and follow up by sales representatives who will discuss the businesses requirements in more detail and move the prospect through the sales cycle. Content is king for B2B marketing and white papers, newsletters, and coverage of your products and services by the media helps companies educate their prospects.

The B2B Buyer vs. the B2C Buyer

The business buyer is sophisticated, understands your product or service better than you do, and wants or needs to buy products or services to help their company stay profitable, competitive, and successful. Marketing copy must talk to a sophisticated audience. Your typical reader has a high interest in – and understanding of – your product (or at least of the problem it solves). Therefore, writing marketing copy is more complex and requires research to ensure you deliver the necessary information to the buyer.

The B2C buyer is usually looking for the best price and will research the competition prior to shopping. Another factor that does come into play, however, is whether the buyer trusts the retail outlet, either the store front or on the Internet. Although you can find the products on the Internet at many different price points, many consumers will still buy from a trusted source. In that respect, B2C marketing needs to convince the person to buy and build trust and loyalty with their customers.

Both buyers are interested in quality customer service. B2B customer service comes into play prior to ever making that first sale and begins with a customer’s very first contact with your company, whether you call them or they call you. B2C customer service helps build customer loyalty where customers will be willing to pay a slightly higher price to know that they can return the product easily and can trust the source they are dealing with. In other words, customer service is critical and although may not be considered “marketing”, bad customer service can render all of your marketing efforts useless.

Importance of Brand

A strong brand is important to both the B2B and the B2C markets, but for different reasons. With B2C, a strong brand can encourage the consumer to buy, remain loyal and potentially pay a higher price. In B2B markets, brand will only help you be considered, not necessarily chosen.

Business buyers are using more rational thought when selecting a product or service for their company. They are motivated by saving money, increasing productivity or raising profitability. Consumers are motivated by desire, style and prestige. For consumers, brand plays into the equation since we are more apt to buy “status” brands, such as BMW, Lexus, Rolex or Nike even though we most likely will pay more for the brand. In businesses today, however, the adage “no one ever got fired for buying IBM” no longer rings true. This is not to say that a professionally developed brand is not important for a B2B business. A quality brand is needed in any business in order to make a good first impression, but putting excessive marketing dollars into building brand awareness is not what counts in your B2B marketing plan.

Plan Before You Begin to Market

The bottom line is that the difference between B2B and B2C marketing comes down to the buyers’ emotional perspective about the purchase. Consumers make buying decisions based on status, security, comfort and quality. Business buyers make buying decisions based on increasing profitability, reducing costs and enhancing productivity. If you are a B2B business offering products and services to other businesses, put your marketing dollars into marketing programs and materials that offer your target what they need to make a rational buying decision. Help them determine the value of the product and service you offer through quality materials, testimonials, and other activities that build credibility. If you are a B2C business, understand what motivates your buyer and the emotional aspect of the buying decision. Create compelling materials that build awareness for your brand, enhance their comfort in buying from you, and project quality service and best price. As you create your marketing plan for the coming year, remember what is important to your target audience and create your marketing programs to speak to them.

I took my cues from David and searched for an easy to use widget to load my blog entries into my web site home page. I came across Kent Brewster’s Badger application that creates Web badges out of any RSS feed. With a little tweaking of the css provided, I was able to integrate the information into the site pretty seamlessly. Being able to put my new posts headlines on my home page makes my web site more interesting to new visitors, encouraging them to visit my blog for more information.

I also updated the web site design to more closely match my blog design. I like the clean look of the blog and wanted to make the same look work for the Web site. With a bit of rearranging and rewriting some of the content, the site looks as good as new. There’s still work to be done, but the site has received the necessary facelift and is ready to go back to work.

Your web site is still very much an important part of your marketing effort and needs to remain equal to your blog if it has served you well. With a little bit of love, your web site can continue to work for your business in conjunction with your blog. It takes a little planning and strategy, but it can be done.

Along came the Internet which has given marketers an additional medium in which to communicate their messages to their target audience. And although it took a while for companies to incorporate Internet marketing within their corporate marketing functions, the Internet is now an integrated part of their overall marketing plan.

So if you have Internet marketing activities in your marketing plan, does that mean you are implementing social media marketing?

Many corporate marketers would like to think so, but there is a fundamental difference between Internet marketing, using the Internet as a means to communicate your message to your target audience, and social media marketing.

Social media makes marketing a multidimensional exercise. It is no longer about pushing your message out to your audience. Social media marketing takes the same Internet technologies and adds interaction with your audience. It’s having your constituents spread your messages for you rather than you talk deafly to some cloud of people who may or may not care about what you have to offer. In some ways it really isn’t much different from word of mouth marketing where your happy clients, colleagues and partners say good things about you and provide you referral business. The difference is the speed with which your message is carried via the social network.

And it’s because of that speed that many corporate marketers are frightened of it. The key is to embrace it and use it because your company is being talked about in social networks and there is nothing you can do to stop it. By participating in the social networking world, letting your customers speak directly to you, and listening to what they have to say, you are more likely to win the hearts and minds of the masses than you will if you hide behind the corporate veneer.

How do you turn your Internet marketing activities into social media marketing?

I am an extremely strong proponent for Internet marketing. It has worked for my business and my clients’ businesses and now we are extending that Internet presence by adding on social media marketing. Every business, small or large, needs to open the communications channels with their audience. Look for opportunities to get feedback on your company, good or bad, and respond. For small businesses, start a blog. It doesn’t matter whether you market B2B or B2C, a blog provides benefits you normally will not get from Internet marketing alone.

In 7 reasons why small businesses should blog, Ben McConnell & Jackie Huba, authors of Citizen Marketers, provide reasons and advice on why you should blog.

Adding social media marketing to your marketing mix is not a difficult project. It does need to be planned so that your social media marketing activities stay on brand with all of your marketing activities. And depending on your company, you may need to evaluate the effect social media marketing has on the culture of your business. But there are ways of evolving your company to take advantage of this new and exciting marketing area. It’s really not that scary afterall.

Part of the reason for this is that I dove into creating my blog one weekend. I had been planning on launching a blog for my business, and like most other things I do, all of a sudden I get the urge to just dive right in. Since my hosting company had the blog software available as part of our hosting plan, I thought I’d take a look and see what it would take to build a blog. The diving was fun, I learned a lot about WordPress, diddled with the template to make it look like my web site, and wrote a few posts. I added the WordPress software to my web site as a subdirectory. Little did I know that my experiment would catch a few folks attention right away before I even launched the blog.

Next fun part was that my hosting company advised me to deinstall WordPress to determine if issues that arose were due to the installation of WordPress or some other issue with PHP. Well, bye bye posts, comment and my patience.

After reconstructing the site and re-entering my posts, I got the blog back online and added a couple more posts. Another comment appears. All is well until I decide to check and see if the domain name vistaviewpoint.com is available just for grins. Not only was it available, I also found vista-viewpoint.com available. With all the activity around Microsoft Vista, I figured I’d better grab those domain names now or they will be gone forever. So now I have the even more interesting exercise of creating the blog at the new domain name. I figure I best do it now before I get more comments, more visibility and subscribers.

I have just finished recreating the blog at the new domain name. You have to admit that being able to point people to www.vistaviewpoint.com rather than www.vista-consulting.com/vistablog/ is much neater.

If you are actually reading this post, then you found the new blog location. Wonderful! Welcome back. Better I do this on my blog than a client’s. Hopefully I have saved a few of you from this exercise. Planning all these details ahead of time certainly makes life easier.