Last night I was interviewing Jay Berkowitz from the wonderful 10 Golden Rules Internet Marketing Strategy podcast and blog about whether social media is as relevant for B2B as well as B2C - I will put the interview up tomorrow which you can find at The Engaging Brand podcast site.
During our discussion I started to wonder whether B2B marketing is any different to B2C ? Should there even be a division in the brave new marketing world? Or do we just need to think of connecting with individuals ?
Here are some thoughts about why I don't think B2B is any different from a marketing strategy point of view
- Buyers are individuals, individuals rely on friends recommendations. Is there really any difference between connecting with a buyer than a consumer? They are both individuals connecting with individuals.
- B2B contracts are often negotiated from networking. Social media is a great tool for networking.
- You don't market business to business. You market seller to buyer. It is still a personal connection which can be enhanced by social media.
- Business to business is often based on relationship marketing through business partnerships - just like B2C marketing?
- Whether you are selling widgets or trainers you need to differentiate, you need to create value, you need to create a reason for someone to buy from you. Social media is a differentiating tool.
- Although businesses in some industries are slow at taking up social media tools, the individuals themselves are often using social media at home. If you can create value within your industry, then you can still connect with the influencer's of the buying decisions and create brand awareness.
- If you think of how business to business marketing often operates - catalogs, price lists, direct mail - they are all deliverable at a much more effective cost on the internet. Imagine having a deal of the day in recessionary times for reams of paper for instance, that is delivered straight to the buyers inbox via RSS.
- Key to both true "consumers" and "buyers within businesses" is changing behaviour - education re RSS, education of tools such as wiki's. The barrier is the same for both areas, they are similar not different ?
So what do you think? Do you think the old way of distinguishing between B2B and B2C is over?
Or do you think that they are different - would love to hear your views and I think Jay will be posting his thoughts over at his blog today.
