B2b Vs B2c Marketing Differences

B2B vs. B2C Marketing Differences

Once a decision is made to develop a business, whom the customer will be is the next decision to be made. Whom will the company target as a customer? Will it be a business? Or will it be a consumer? Business-to-business (B2B) marketing has differences from business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing practices. This paper will outline these differences between the two types of e-commerce business transactions.

"Traditional marketing in the business-to-business environment requires very different strategies from those campaigns directed towards the consumer market." (ExtraVision, n.d., p. 1) "Consumer competition can be a lot fiercer, with customer loyalty a constant battle." (ExtraVision, n.d., p.1)

Routes of marketing in business today include e-mail, pop up advertisement, television and banner advertising. This paper will primarily focus on e-mail marketing. E-mail marketing is different when marketing to a business versus a consumer. Debbie Weil (2002) lists five ways business-to-business marketing is different from business-to-consumer email marketing. Weil (2002) says these five ways are:

* Distance from click to sale

* Permission

* Copyrighting Challenge

* Lists

* B2B: the more interesting option (p.1)

When discussing the concept of the distance from the click to the sale, Weil (2002) explains business-to-business e-mails are primarily for lead generation. On the other hand, an e-mail campaign for a business-to-consumer company is looking for a sales transaction. E-mail to a consumer will take you directly from the e-mail to a landing page. After the consumer makes his selection from the landing page, a transition to the shopping cart and checkout page is simply the next step to complete the transaction. In a business-to-business e-mail marketing campaign the e-mail is only a part of the marketing. The e-mail to a business must contain contact information for offline communications, and an attachment for downloading catalog or price list information. The e-mail is followed up by sales representatives who will also forward quotes and snail-mail an information packet (Weil, 2002).

The e-mail sent to either a business or consumer must be enticing to the customer. It should be colorful and have pertinent information. A URL leading the customer to the landing page is imperative in order to either generate the lead for a business transaction, or lead a consumer to a "Specials" page with the current sales displayed. After the e-mail has been received by the business or consumer, the Internet website landing page is browsed by either type of customer. Here is where the business wishing to do business must obtain permission to take information from the customers or businesses perusing their landing page. When doing a business-to-business transaction, permission involves assuring the business information shared will be kept private. This will lead to more lead generation (Weil, 2002). Business-to-consumer transactions require obtaining permission in a different way. Here a business will assure the consumer they have the ability to "opt-out" of further e-mails or specials (Weil, 2002).

Copyrighting challenge is markedly different between consumers and businesses as well. When marketing an e-business to a business,