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B2B Vs Business to Consumer Marketing: What’s the Difference

What is the difference between B2B (Business to Business) and B2C (Business to Consumer) marketing? How do they affect businesses? Well, i advice you read on to find out. Recently, I was discussing the value of business to business marketing to a small business and how it be can used in synergy with business to consumer marketing for increased growth and profit.

After a brief overview of what business to business marketing is, I observed that my protégés were staring at me confused. When I inquired to know what was wrong, I was hit back with questions such as:

  • What value does a business to business marketing strategy adds to a business?
  • What’s the distinct difference between business to business marketing and business to consumer marketing?
  • Which holds more profit potential? B2B or B2C?

I am not going to go into the definitions of business to business marketing and business to consumer marketing because I defined both in details in the article below. Now let’s move on.

The process of improving business and increasing sales via any distinct strategic plan is called marketing. The two types of marketing include business to business and business to consumer marketing. Although both employ the same initial steps and other marketing programs, there are some basic differences between the two and it is this difference that I intend to point out in this article.

The Difference Between B2B and Business to Consumer Marketing

The first distinction is the way they sell their products or services. In business to consumer, the marketer sells to the consumers, who are the end-users. While in business to business, the marketer sells the commodities to organizations or companies, such as to a business dealer so that they can resell the commodities as well and turn in profits.

Unlike the consumer marketing, the promotion in business marketing does not involve any media advertisements. Instead, it uses magazines, business newspapers, and direct mails to the concerned buyer companies or organizations.

Through the years, it was known that business to business marketing has always been behind the operation of business to consumer companies. But as the years wore on and with the rapid advancement in technology, it has been reaping popularity. What are the factors behind this fact?

1. First is the technological revolution

Black and white, technology has taken a significant leap in terms of advancement. The growth of business to business concept can be linked with the advancement of technology and the result of this can be seen in the employment of websites and similar tools to improve business sales and operation.

2. The second is the entrepreneurship revolution

Nowadays, more and more businesses are putting their hands in different business promotion tactics. Because of this, there has been a tremendous increase in the competitive aspect of the industry. It is now a fact that competitors are becoming more innovative and aggressive in their business activities; thereby grabbing up anything that will perfect the improvement of their company or organization.

3. There is also the third factor, the market revolution

The significant increase in demand has to be taken into account in the market revolution. Consumers are becoming impatient with the way supply is provided, so businesses have to discover more innovative and practical ways to address this impatient in the best and quickest possible ways. Thus, a change happened in the entire business marketing nature.

4. The fourth is the internet, probably

The biggest factor to be considered in the development of business promotions. The internet played a significant role in binding the power forces and is responsible in joint ventures between huge industries and companies together. More and more businesses are reaching out to other businesses with the realization that both would gain bigger profit if they work together.

The Main Objective of Business and Consumer Marketing

The business to business marketing aims at boosting the shareholder value it holds in the market. So, while it is not aggressive when it comes to promotion, it is very aggressive when it comes to branding of the services or products. It doesn’t have to reach the consumer end users, but its role in developing the business and giving it firm position in the industry relies heavily on the reputation it makes by having a superior product or service branding.

Business to consumer marketing on the other hand can be aggressive when it comes to product promotion because its aim is to increase profits by increasing sales. Selling more is the game in a business to consumer marketing, so lot of consumer behavior research is carried out. These are the major distinction between business to business and business to consumer marketing.