B2B vs B2C Marketing Strategies, Research Paper Example

Many clear distinctions exists between B2B (business to business) and B2C (business to consumer) marketing though these terms are put together to differentiate  between the Internet commerce businesses sold primarily to the consumer and those sold to businesses. In additional they employ same marketing strategies they have differences which exists between the two marketing strategies. To begin with, B2B type of online marketing strategy specifically caters for one business to another business which implies that this strategy mainly maximizes on relationship of value. This kind of online marketing focuses on converting individual businesses into consumers through a longer process (Justin & William, 2000).

The process involved in B2B kind of online marketing is very long since the company mainly has its focus on relationship building and communication which is usually done through various marketing strategies that have been designed to create value out of the sales cycle.This kind of marketing strategy used in B2B mainly is to educate various market consumers on the importance of purchasing the product (Justin & William, 2000).This kind of marketing strategy normally has its own focus on a smaller target as the multi- purchasing process is usually a one step process. This kind of marketing strategy utilizes email campaigns and the main purpose of these emails is to convert more consumers to the web hence enabling the consumer to learn more about the company’s products and services. Emails used in this kind of marketing normally are required to contain contact information which is very important for any offline communications. In addition, this kind of marketing strategy requires the use of landing page which actually enables the company to put required features of the products, benefits of using the products and the prices of the goods and services. In this kind of marketing strategy the first step involves the launching of the product campaign which actually may include direct mails, telemarketing, web casts, newsletters which in the end are required to be followed up by a sales representatives to discus the business requirements with the consumer in details (Justin & William, 2000).

On other hand business to consumers (B2C), kind of marketing strategy through which the ultimate goal of the company is to convert more shoppers into buyers through various aggressive ways. Companies which use this kind of marketing strategy therefore use more of merchandising activities like coupons, displays, Store fonts which can be both physical or through the internet. Normally B2C has its focus on  larger market target hence to ensure that the market is fully utilized it uses marketing campaigns that are usually concerned with transactions and needs shorter time period to capture all the customer product needs and specifications(Justin & William, 2000).

The campaigns used in this kind of marketing normally offer special deals of discounts, vouchers which can allow the consumer to use online and in the store. The use of email campaigns in B2C kind of marketing strategy is enable consumers get their product immediately and directly. This is specially done on the internet where once the consumers accesses the landing page on the web site then it directly takes the consumer to the product being sold by the company .In kind of marketing strategy it is very easy for the customer to purchase the product easily through integrating the shopping cart and the checkout page which enables the consumer to easily make the transactions (Justin & William, 2000).

The kind of differences exists in the kind of buyers found in each kind of marketing strategy. Firstly, in B2B kind of marketing strategy the business buyer is actually sophisticated hence he understands the products needs and services specifications better. This implies that the buyer will always look for the best price in the market by researching on the prices prior to shopping. In this kind of marketing model the buyer normally carries out research on the creditability of the business before carrying out any business transactions. Moreover, the consumer normally ensures that a good amount of trust is built through retail outlets or store front through the internet before paying for the goods purchased online (Hossein, 2003).

When this is compared to B2C it is quiet different since in this kind of marketing strategy the buyer is supposed to be convinced by the sales representatives to buy a particular product by building trust and loyalty with their consumers. Though in both marketing strategy the customers are interested in the product quality, in B2B the customer service is usually given priority before making sales to the customer (Hossein, 2003). This implies that customer relationships are usually built on the first calls that they make to the company. While in B2C, the customer service helps in  building customer loyalty through which customers are more than willing to pay prices which are slightly higher in value since this market strategy allows the customers to return the products if they are faulty. Here high levels of trust are normally built when dealing with the source company.

The other difference is expressed in terms of brand importance where in B2B, a strong market brand only help the customer to differentiate between the necessarily item and unnecessarily item. On the other hand in B2C, a strong market brand is very much important since it acts an encouragement for the consumers to remain loyal to the company as well as potentially pay high prices.

The last difference between B2B and B2C comes in on the emotional perspective of buyers when it comes to purchasing a particular product. In B2B, kind of marketing strategy the buyers will make decisions to buy their products basing the fact of increasing profitability, reduction in costs as well as enhancing productivity (Justin & William, 2000).

This implies that in this kind of marketing strategy a given business offering certain products and services to other businesses it needs to develop marketing programs which will help the target market to make rational decisions when buying particular products. The marketing programs developed in this kind of marketing strategies normally allows the buyer to determine the value of the product and service quality as well as materials through published testimonials  and other activities which in the end enhance company’s credibility. On the other hand B2C business, the company is required to clearly understand what motivates the buyer emotional when it comes to product decision making. In this kind of marketing strategy it requires that a particular company creates compelling materials that enhances product awareness among the product brand. This helps the customer to actually understand the importance of the product quality as well as the service hence motivating the customer to purchase the product (Hossein, 2003).

References

Hossein, B. (2003). The Handbook of Technology Management: Core Concepts, Financial Tools and Techniques, Operations and Innovation Management. United States: John Wiley & Sons

Justin, G. and William, P. (2000).Small Business Management: Launching and Growing. New York City: Cengage Learning