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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...