Business-to-business

Business-to-business or “B2B” is a term commonly used to describe the transaction of goods or services between businesses, as opposed to that between businesses and other groups; for example transactions between business and individual consumers (B2C). Another example would be business to public administration (B2G) transactions.

It is a term that originated and is almost exclusively used in electronic commerce and usually takes the form of automated processes between trading partners. It is typically performed in much higher volumes than (B2C) applications.

For example, a company that makes chicken feed would sell it to a chicken farm, another company, rather than directly to consumers. An example of a B2C transaction would be a consumer buying grain-fed chickens at a grocery store. B2B can also encompass marketing activities between businesses, and not just the final transactions that result from marketing. B2B is also used to identify sales transactions between business (also sometimes referred to as 'Institutional Sales'). For example, a company selling photocopiers would likely be a B2B sales organization, as opposed to a B2C sales organization.

The term 'Business to Business' can also mean all transactions made in an industry value chain 'before' the finished product is sold to the end-consumer for final consumption

B2B standards

UN/EDIFACT is one of the most well known and established B2B standards. ANSI ASC X12 is a popular standard in North America. RosettaNet is an XML based, emerging B2B standard in the high tech industry. An approach like UN/CEFACT's Modeling Methodology (UMM) might be used to capture the collaborative space of B2B business processes.

B2B marketing is generally considered to be more complex than B2C marketing, as there is often more than one decision-maker involved in a B2B sale on the buyer's side.

The term is also often used by multi-level marketing companies as a euphemism for door-to-door sales practices involving cold calling and street pitching of low quality merchandise. [1] ^{[citation needed]}

What is B2B Marketing Communications?

B2B Marketing Communications is how businesses promote their products and services to other businesses using tactics other than direct sales. The purpose of B2B marketing communications is to support the marketer’s sales effort and improve company profitability. [2]

B2B marketing communications tactics generally include advertising, public relations, direct mail, trade show support, sales collateral, branding, and interactive services such as Web design and search engine optimization. The Business Marketing Association[3] is the trade organization that serves B2B marketing professionals. It was founded in 1922 and offers certification programs, research services, conferences, industry awards and training programs.

Referenced with permission from Schubert Communications

B2B Marketing Methodologies

Positioning Statement

An important first step in business to business marketing is the development of your positioning statement. This is a statement of what you do and how you do it differently and better than your competitors.

Developing your messages

The next step is to develop your messages. There is usually a primary message that conveys more strongly to your customers what you do and the benefit it offers to them, supported by a number of secondary messages, each of which may have a number of supporting arguments, facts and figures.

Building a campaign plan

Whatever form your B2B marketing campaign will take, build a comprehensive plan up front to target resources where you believe they will deliver the best return on investment, and make sure you have all the infrastructure in place to support each stage of the marketing process - and that doesn't just include developing the lead - make sure the entire organization is geared up to handle the inquiries appropriately.

Briefing an agency

A standard briefing document is usually a good idea for briefing an agency. As well as focusing the agency on what's important to you and your campaign, it serves as a checklist of all the important things to consider as part of your brief. Typical elements to an agency brief are: Your objectives, target market, target audience, product, campaign description, your product positioning, graphical considerations, corporate guidelines and any other supporting material.

Measuring results

The real value in measurement results, is in tying the marketing campaign back to business results. After all, you’re not in the business of developing marketing campaigns for marketing sake. So always put metrics in place to measure your campaigns, and if at all possible, measure your impact upon your desired objectives, be it Cost Per Acquisition, Cost per Lead or tangible changes in customer perception.

Referenced with permission from B2B marketing.org

E-Marketplaces

'E' or 'Electronic' Marketplaces, in 'Business to Business' context primarily refer to large online platforms or wesbites that facilitate interaction and/or transactions between buyers and suppliers at organisational or institutional rather than individual levels. Since the builders of such marketplaces primarily aim at 'facilitating' (without being a buyer or seller themselves) buyer-seller interaction in most cases, these are also referred to as 'third-party' B2B Marketplaces. The role of these marketplaces can do one or more of the following:

1. Help buyers find new suppliers and vice-versa; 2. Help reduce time and cost of interaction for Business to Business transactions/deals; 3. Help increase trade between distant geographies; 4. Help manage payments and track orders for Business to Business transactions

Vertical e-Marketplace

A Vertical e-Marketplace spans vertically up and down every segment of one specific industry. Each level of the industry has access to every other level, which greatly increases collaboration. Buyers and Sellers in the industry are connected to increase operating efficiency, and decrease supply chain costs, inventories, and cycle times. This is possible because buying/selling items to customers in a similar industry standardizes needs, therefore reducing the need for outsourcing many products.

Horizontal e-Marketplace

A Horizontal e-Marketplace connects buyers and sellers across many industries. The most common type of materials traded horizontally across industries are MRO’s (Maintenance, Repair, and Operations materials). These items are so popular because they are crucial to the daily running of a business, no matter what industry (or what level of that industry) you are in. These articles are mainly business and consumer articles. Many corporations have these bought directly on-line by the maintenance team in order to relieve the purchasing department.

No-frills e-Marketplace

Developed in response to customers wanting to purchase products without service (or with very limited service). The approach parallels the B2C offering of no-frills Budget Airlines.

The subject of several Harvard and IMD articles/case-studies, no-frills B2B e-marketplaces enables the effective de-bundling of service from product via clear "business rules". This provides the basis of differentiation from conventional B2B sales/purchasing channels.

Etymology

The term "business-to-business" is today used in marketing, but it was originally coined to describe the electronic communication relations between businesses or enterprises in order to distinguish it from the communications between businesses and consumers B2C.

Formerly the term tended to describe industrial marketing or capital goods marketing only. However, today it is widely used to describe all products and services used by enterprises.

Podcasts

Free to access interview series on B2B Marketing

References

Trendspeak.com Trendspeak: Resource for B2B Marketing
B2B Marketing White Papers Business to business marketing white papers
Sales-Centric Marketing™ Sales-Centric Marketing^TM white paper
NICC B2B for UK Communications Providers