B2B Marketing 11/E

Marketing to businesses is fundamentally different from marketing to individual consumers. Business to business (B2B) marketing usually involves a much longer and multifaceted sales cycle. Additionally, decision makers are usually highly involved as the stakes are high. Understanding the B2B process is vital for the success of businesses as there is increasing burden on managers to provide concrete results. Thus, decision making in the B2B context may be understood as individual psychology, small group psychology or a large group psychology. Consequently, it is important to use apposite strategies to engage B2B customers. Typically, B2B marketing encompasses marketing to both for-profit and non-profit businesses. Not-for-profit businesses include both government and non-government organizations. Thus, the B2B marketing process is longer and is largely driven by relationship marketing. Buying decisions are made more rationally as there are multiple influencers involved in decision making. The demand can be for both B2B products and services.