B2B and B2C Customers. Distinct Animals.

In a current weblog post we announced the availability of our most current eBook, The correct Mix: A B2B Advertising and marketing Allocation Guide. The 55-page eBook takes a close look in the classic buying approach (Awareness | Interest | Data Search & Evaluation | Purchase |Post Purchase Evaluation) and the role that each advertising tactic plays in moving prospects along this continuum.

For those of have provided such wonderful feedback on the eBook - via email, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, blogs and of course, the telephone - thanks! The eBook is certainly interesting and will force you to search at your marketing and advertising "spend" in entirely new ways.

But we realize not everyone has time to read a 55-page e-Book. So we decided to carve out some key sections of the e-Book and turn them into a series of weblog posts. This post looks at the key differences between B2C and B2B advertising and marketing.

To effectively market to human resource professionals, HR vendors must understand the differences between B2B and B2C buyers. Most marketing and advertising literature is focused on B2C; unfortunately, many of the principles covered by this literature simply don?¡¥t apply to B2B advertising.

B2B purchasers are not spending their money on watches they don?¡¥t need. And no HR executive I know is going to go online to purchase a six-figure talent acquisition or HR Technology system because of a funny promotional video or a 25% off coupon.

B2B purchasers are spending their "company's" money more carefully than ever. Each purchase must solve a real business problem. In many cases, the dollars at stake are so precious that a poor purchase can be a career-ending event. As a result, business customers use more rational thought when making purchasing decisions. They?¡¥re motivated by saving money, increasing productivity, reducing risk, or raising profitability rather than by desire, style and prestige.

This is not to say that a professionally developed brand is not important for a B2B business.

But putting excessive marketing dollars into building brand awareness does not guarantee success in B2B.

Although the goal of B2B marketing and advertising is to convert prospects into customers, the process is longer and more involved. For instance, once a lead is generated, B2B marketers need to focus on advertising tactics that foster relationships and nurture prospects throughout the getting procedure.

Sometimes marketers must engage with multiple influencers across a variety of departments like IT or Finance. Other times marketers need to ?¡ãeducate?¡À prospects who might not fully understand what they?¡¥re getting. Each marketing challenge is a separate touch point in the long, integrated method of the sales cycle.

And unlike the B2C market, most B2B companies - no matter how hard they try, how great their product is or how charismatic their CEO is - won?¡¥t ever secure widespread national media exposure no matter how creative their marketing and PR. And outspending the competition doesn?¡¥t guarantee profitable awareness.

Bottom line: B2B and B2C advertising and marketing are various animals.

In our next post in this series, "The B2B Acquiring Method: Unclog Those Arteries!" we'll expand on each phase of the acquiring procedure and why most HR vendors get stuck on awareness and interest and fail to move prospects to evaluation and purchase.