Many people often use the term business-to-business (B2B) marketing, but most don’t know exactly what it means. B2B activity, both online and offline, involves the marketing of services and goods that help other companies operate. Manufacturers, resellers, government, and nonprofits are the most common examples of B2B markets.
Business-to-business marketing is associated with five distinct concepts: the marketing exchange concept, the production shift concept, the product concept, the marketing myopia phenomenon, and the sales concept.
Converting leads to customers is an important goal of B2B marketing. Some B2B companies make some money from a customer base. But most of its capital comes from other businesses. A non-profit institution is a good example. Its operations normally depend on private donations from individuals. The organization also gets most of its money through government or corporate funds. For this reason, a non-profit institution makes its services or products attractive not only to the public, but also to other entrepreneurs.
A business-to-business marketing company typically focuses on relationship building and communication through marketing activities, producing leads that are nurtured throughout the sales cycle. The purchase decision is usually a multi-step process that involves more than one person. Therefore, companies use marketing strategies to teach various stakeholders of the target group. Components, equipment, raw materials, processing services and supplies are traded. Since B2B marketers target only other companies, they have considerably more specific markets than B2C marketers.
B2B marketing is now one of the fastest developing marketing fields. New technologies bring more companies together; thus, companies begin to court each other much more acutely. Technology also makes the world a smaller place. Therefore, it is essential that sales and marketing experts understand and apply the principles of B2B marketing.