Great B2B Marketing Is About People
David Meerman Scott
Author of 12 books including NEW RULES OF MARKETING & PR and WSJ bestseller FANOCRACY | marketing & business growth speaker | advisor to emerging companies
In the world of marketing, there is often a perceived divide between business-to-business (B2B) marketing and marketing to consumers. Many marketers believe that the strategies and tactics used in B2B marketing are vastly different from those used in consumer marketing.
I am here to challenge that notion and argue that at the core of both B2B and consumer marketing incluses the same fundamental principle: either way you are marketing to people.
Throughout my career, I have witnessed the misconception that B2B marketing requires a completely different approach than consumer marketing. But let's take a step back and think about it. Whether you are targeting a Chief Information Officer at a large corporation or a surfer looking for a new board, you are ultimately engaging with individuals who have needs, preferences, and motivations.
Sure, there are some differences. For example, the credit card you use to pay for a consumer purchase is your money and with a B2B purchase it’s the company money.
However, in both B2B and consumer marketing, the key to success lies in understanding your audience and creating meaningful connections with them. It's about speaking their language, addressing their challenges, and offering solutions that resonate with them on a personal level. Whether you are selling software to a business or sneakers to a consumer, the underlying goal is the same: to connect with people in a way that drives action and builds loyalty.
Instead of getting lost in the jargon and complexities of B2B marketing, let's refocus on what truly matters: the people. By understanding the human element behind every business transaction, we can create more engaging, impactful marketing campaigns that resonate with our audience on a deeper level.
Executive Leadership Coach | AI Strategist & Consultant | Investor | Speaker on AI | AI Powered Executive Search | Birkman Certified | High Performance Leadership Team Training
2 周Successful sales people deeply understand the problems and decision making processes of the people involved and the interplay. They help provide clarity and remove the friction. The better the tools and materials they have to do this efficiently the more they will be able to close. The partnership of marketing and sales is critical in both B2B and B2C. Once we know who we serve we then need to serve the client journey for their success.
CEO at Napier. B2B PR & Marketing.
1 个月Love the post, but would like to highlight one big difference - in B2B customer organisations implement systems and processes that aim to eliminate the "people" and make everything objective. People do matter (and jargon doesn't), but there will always be differences.
Marketing Director/VP | Player-Coach Leader | 15+ Yrs B2B Growth | 235% SQL Increase via CRM & AI | Hands-On in Revenue, CRM & Analytics for High-Impact Results
2 个月Hasn't all great marketing always been about people?
Educator / Speaker / The Story Professor I help organizations use storytelling to drive results.
2 个月Spot on David. Humans buy from humans. Someone might say buying from Amazon is not buying from another human, but the word of mouth referral or review is human-to-human. Did you speak at Inbound? One of my star former students did.
CEO @Tigon Advisory Corp. | Host of CXO Spice | Board Director |Top 50 Women in Tech | AI, Cybersecurity, FinTech, Insurance, Industry40, Growth Acceleration
2 个月I had a dream the other day with this headline "The best Marketing is a unique way of connecting people". So glad you are elaborating this in your newsletter David Meerman Scott.