Marketing: Business-to-Business Marketing

Have you ever thought about how a large company provides large amounts of resources for their employees? Well, this is called Business to Business (B2B) Marketing, where businesses sell products or services to each other and not to the public. B2B sales often require more decisions in each purchase, however each purchase is of higher value. Businesses usually use other goods or services for parts of their own product, for employee use, to support their operations, or to re-sell. The B2B marketing technique uses are the same marketing principles as consumer marketing, just executed differently.

Furthermore, companies focus on four main categories regarding B2B marketing: companies who use their products, government agencies, institutions, and companies to buy and resell the goods. B2B can successfully put their product or service in the right hands by understanding their customers needs and proposing the best solutions. However, determining their customers needs is done before implementing any marketing tactic. Unlike consumer marketing, B2B marketing is specialized. As a result, there are certain risks if they do not pay close attention to their potential customer's needs.

When deciding the marketing plan, marketers need to understand the importance of the product or service, the target market, pricing, and promotion. First, B2B buyers are professionals who focus on the quality, benefits, and cost saving ways to provide for their company. Secondly, B2B marketers are able to focus on industries with specific needs, making it more straightforward than other types of marketing. Regards to pricing, businesses are usually willing to pay top dollar, if the marketers are able to convince them that the product and services would be worth it. Lastly, when discussing promotion, marketers need to be aware of their field, in order to make sure they execute marketing techniques to maximize success.

Everything considered, the most important takeaway about B2B marketing is that it has a lot to do with building relationships in order to ensure loyal customers. Whether it is a big corporation or a family owned business, business relationships are very important.

By: Helen Gillespie