Understanding the Difference Between B2B and B2C Marketing

There is a difference between marketing to a business and marketing to a consumer, believe it or not. Although you are still selling a product to a person experience shows that the difference between these two types of markets runs deep.

When you market to a B2B you will realize these businesses work hard to streamline the buying process in order to save time and money. This often explains why a B2B purchase is based more on logic and why a consumer's purchase is based more on emotion.

It is true that the cost of a sale for the business-to-business market is more expensive and typically higher than the business to consumer market. The easiest way to explain this is that a business-to-business transaction often takes more consideration.

Let me see if I can explain even further.

Marketing to B2B
When you are marketing to a B2B you want to focus on the logic of the product. You do this by focusing on the features of the product. There is little to no personal emotion involved in the purchasing decision. You want to focus on understanding the organizational buyers and how they operate within the confines of their organization's procedures. The B2B market has a thirst for knowledge and they are information seekers. Be more in-depth with your marketing materials. Your most effective marketing message will focus on how your product or service saves them time, money and resources.

Your business-to-business market is more interested in the logic behind your product. They will want to hear more about the features and how it will help them in saving time, money or resources.

Marketing to B2C
When you are marketing to a consumer you want to focus on the benefits of the product. Their decision is more emotional. Consumers are different in that they demand a variety of distribution channels for convenience, not so with the B2B market. Consumers are less likely to be interested in a lengthy marketing message. They will want you to get right to the point. Consumers don't want to work to understand your benefits, instead they will want you to clearly point out the benefits to them. Your most effective marketing strategies will focus on the results and the benefits that your product or service will bring to them.

Your business-to-consumer market purchase more on emotion. They are more interested in the benefit of the product. They will want to hear more about how their product or service helps them and what benefits it brings to them personally.

For example consider this: My product is lotion.

My lotion will moisturize the skin and relieve itching skin.

If I have a B2B client they will be most interested in the feature of the client which is moisturizing the skin. If I have a B2C client they will be most interested in the benefit which is relief of itching skin.

We will be most effective in marketing if we understand what both markets need in order to make a decision.

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What is a Marketing Plan?

Think of a your marketing plan as a roadmap. Your marketing plan outlines specific actions that you will take to market your product or service potential customers. These actions work to persuade these potential customers to purchase your products or services.

Your marketing plan does not need to be long and it doesn't have to cost a lot of money to complete. Marketing plans can be a part of your overall business plan or as a singular document. If you think of it as your "roadmap" that will provide you with detailed directions on how to reach your marketing goals.

It's important to research before completing your marketing plan, by doing so it will help you in staying organized so that you are able to achieve your goals. A thorough marketing plan will detail what you want to accomplish with your marketing strategy and assist you in meeting your goals.

A marketing plan will achieve the following objectives:

* Enables companies to look internally in order to fully understand the impact and the results of past marketing decisions.
* Equips companies to look externally in order to fully understand the market that it targets and the competition in that space.
* Set future goals and provide direction for future marketing initiatives. The goals should be understood and supported by everyone with the company's organization.

Your marketing plan should include the following:

* Summary and Introduction
The summary and introduction is a quick overview of the main points of the plan. It should be a synopsis of what you have done, what you plan to do, and how you are going to get there.

* Marketing Objectives
This section will define your marketing objectives. These objectives should be based on understanding your strengths and weaknesses, and the business environment in which you operate in. They should also be linked to your overall business strategy. It's not uncommon and is often beneficial to focus on specific targeted segments that you will be marketing to.

* Situation Analysis
Your situation analysis details the context for your marketing efforts. In this section you will take a close look at the internal and external factors that will influence your marketing strategy, this is called a SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis combines the external and internal analysis to summarize your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.

* Target Markets
The concept of target markets is one of the most basic, yet most important aspects of marketing. There is no such thing as the a "one message" fits all marketing message. It is unrealistic to think that you can attract everyone. Defining your target market or segmenting your market helps you decide where to commit resources and what kinds of promotional methods and messages to use.

* Strategies
Strategies are action steps that detail how the marketing variables of product, price, place and promotion are used to attain the marketing plan’s objectives and overall strategies.

* Tracking and Evaluation
This section of your plan should include plans and procedures for tracking each type of marketing activity you are using. Tracking helps monitor the effectiveness of each marketing activity and is especially helpful with your overall program evaluation. If you are not tracking you are not marketing.

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How To Write a Slogan that Sticks

When you think of slogans, what comes to mind? What brand can you recite a slogan for immediately?

Take for example the following slogans that have made their way into the memory of thousands:

* Just Do It - Nike
* This Buds for You - Budweiser
* Have it Your Way! - Burger King
* We Bring Good Things to Light - GE
* We'll Leave the Light on For Ya! - Motel 6
* Zoom! Zoom! - Mazda

Use the six components below to test your slogan and make sure it has what it takes to make it stick.
Difficulty: Average
Time Required: 1 to 3 Hours
Here's How:

1. Make it Memorable
Your slogan must be memorable. Make it easy to remember, something they want to brand in their memory and possibly even repeat to others. Take for example the above slogans, when you first heard them what was it that made them stick with you?

2. Key Benefits
Your slogan must contain a key benefit of the product or service. Give them a reason to remember it.

3. Differentiate Your Brand
It must differentiate your brand. Does it bring out the character of the product or services that sets it apart from your competitors?

4. Solidify the Brand
It must recall the brand name otherwise who cares who remembers it. The brand can be depicted in the words you use or in the image of your logo.

5. Rhythm and Rhyme
Create rhythm and rhyme. Does it rhyme? Does it have a ring to it? The rhythm of the tagline will help to stick in the memories of those that read it or hear it.

6. Warm and Fuzzy Effect
Make it warm and fuzzy. Does your slogan leave people feeling warm and fuzzy? Does it bring a smile to their face or perhaps even a little chuckle? A slogan is more likely to stick in the minds of others if it imparts a positive feeling or emotion.

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Quantifying Your Marketing Efforts

It's true we spend marketing dollars to display at trade shows, to attend events, to hold conferences, and to produce marketing material for campaigns. How do we know what we are getting in return? How can we quantify the results to make sure they are worth the revenue spent?

This may seem like an easy question, however it's one that I am asked often. I have seen companies that don't even quantify their marketing efforts. Let me just say that's a big mistake. While marketing can be in the most part trial and errors you can diminish errors by actually using calucations to see which campaigns are bringing in the most results for the money.

It's vital to develop a consistent plan and strategy that will help you project, measure and evaluate your marketing campaigns, without it you are simply going about marketing blindly. This is one of the most costly mistakes in business.

In each marketing campaign you must develop a plan and strategy that identify the following:

* Quantitive and Qualitative goals
* Campaign budget
* Fulfillment and response strategy
* Follow-up Strategy
* Tracking and testing criteria for your campaign

Depending on your objective most goals can be measured effectively using one of three methods. These methods include:

* Cost per sale
* Cost per qualified lead
* Cost per visitor

Once you decide which result you want to measure and you have the costs incurred for the event; calculating is actually fairly easy.

Cost per sale = Amount Spent for Event/Campaign / Number of sales = Cost per sale

Cost per Qualified Lead = Amount Spent for Event/Campaign / Number of Qualified Leads = Cost per qualified Lead

Cost per Visitor or Response = Amount Spent for Event/Campaign / Number of visitors or response = Cost per Visitor or Response

Using these formulas and having a developed plan for each campaign will give you the information you need to decide if in fact the campaign or event was effective for your business. If it was...Congratulations. If not, it's time to visit the efforts of the campaign and find out exactly why it didn't work and how you can better it the next time. Was it the event location, wrong targeted marketing? Perhaps your materials that you sent out didn't care an actionary message? There are several reasons why a campaign may not yield the desired the results, but future successes will come from determining what those reasons are.

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Create a 90-Day Marketing Plan

Create a 90-Day Marketing Plan

It's that time of year where we begin to evaluate how well we did and start to develop new plans for the upcoming year. This year I'd like to suggest that you try something new, rather than creating a one-year marketing plan or a five-year marketing plan, why not try creating a 90-day plan?

While it's important to always monitoring your marketing it is vital in this economy to be diligent and watch where you spend your marketing dollars as well as track how effective your marketing campaigns are.

Why a 90-day plan?

* You can use it to clearly track progress in the short-term.
* You can use the data you gather over that 90-days to create a baseline that you can use to track your grand plan.
* It enables you to re-direct your plan if something is not working and do it quickly without worrying that it will effect your annual plan.
* Using 90-day increments enable you to stay in tune with change and meet the market demands, without detouring from your master goal.
* Your master plan will not become irrelevant, because your 90-day goals will continue to drive you the finish line.

What better time to get started than today? I've always noticed when working with companies to redo their marketing plan and build out a workable strategy that it ignites a new excitement about the business and the potential that may have been lost in the paperwork and busyness of day-to-day duties.

Are you ready to get started? Find a quiet place, sit down and spend some time evaluating and answering the following questions:

* What marketing worked well for my business in 2008?

* What marketing worked well, but could of done better in 2008?

* What marketing did I do in 2007 that didn't work well at all?

* The marketing that I did in 2008 that did well, performed well because:

* The marketing that I did in 2008 that failed, failed because:

* In the next 90-days, I define my target market as? Will I change the geography I target? Will I target a different income level or demographic of consumers? Will I target product-oriented users, service users or both?

* In 2008 my consumers could be defined by target market as?

* What marketing vehicles will I use in the next 90-days and why?

* I really need to work on enhancing, concentrating or revising my marketing message by:

* In the next 90-days my marketing budget will be?

Now use the answers to these questions and chart them on a 90-day timeline. Set your start date, your end date and what you will do in between. Evaluate weekly how your plan is working, make changes where you need to and adjust when necessary. When you list out what has to happen in the next 90-days, you'll have a clearer picture of priorities, a realistic working plan, and the results you'll generate.

Last step, don't forget to tell me how 90-day marketing plan worked for you.

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Understanding the Media Buying Process Step-by-Step

Media buying, sounds complicated doesn't it? Are you ready to learn how to conduct media buying by completing five steps?

Step 1 - Identify your target market.
Who are you trying to reach? Who is your target market? Create a profile that reflects the consumer you are trying to reach. Questions you may want to ask yourself: What is their age? Are they male or female? What's their average income? The answers to these questions will be helpful when trying to identify the best venue in which to place media.

Step 2 - Research your target market.
Once you've identified your target market, it's time to do some market research. You can do your own research, which is called primary research or you can depend on secondary research that's already been done. There are cost benefits to secondary research.

In this step, you want to identify where you will find your target market, as well as other demographics that can assist you in selecting the right media buy.

Will you find your target market online? Are they television watchers? What about magazines? What marketing vehicles will work best when it comes to placing advertisements?

It's important to understand the consumer behavior of those that you are targeting. This will help in placing a media buy that is effective and performs by achieving your identified objectives. Research can help you in doing this. Research can also provide you with information on what your competitors are doing and where they are going to reach the audience you are trying to reach.

Step 3 - Set your objectives.
Don't miss this step. When you set the marketing objectives that you want to achieve with your target market, you can begin to create a plan. And, until these two things are defined, a plan is destined to fail.

What do you want to do with your media buys? Are you looking to create awareness? Is your goal to achieve sign-up or sales? Identify what objectives are most important to you for each media buy so that you can measure whether or not those objectives are being achieved.

You can also share these objectives with those you are buying media from and ask their option on whether their outlet will work for that objective or not. Remember, their job is to sell, so weigh their input, but don't consider it invaluable.

Step 4 - Define and plan out your strategy.
You've identified your target market, you've done your research and you've set your objective. It's not time to define and create a strategy.

Your plan should contain the following:

* Where will you buy media? Are there specific outlets you are interested in?
* What is your budget and where can you allocate that budget, so that you can achieve the objectives you have identified? What components should your media plan contain?

An Example Media Buying Strategy and Plan

Here is an outline of a media plan and strategy that tends to work best for me:

* Executive Summary (What is the summary of the strategy)
* Objectives and How Will You Achieve Them
* Identify your Overall objectives
* What publications or media outlets have you chosen based on the previous steps?
* What's your budget?
* How much will you spend with each outlet and why?
* What objective do you hope to achieve with each outlet?

Example: Media Outlet 1
(Tip: Break out each media outlet )

Target served:
Definition of qualified market reached by this outlet:
Circulation Numbers:
Key Classifications of circulation if applicable (This is extremely helpful if you break out by percentage.):
Recommended Schedule:
Costs - This section should include the following :

Negotiated Rate:
Rate Card Rate:
Total Negotiated Savings per Advertisement:
Total Negotiated (Monthly / Yearly) Savings:
Total Costs:

Ad Placement Guarantee: (Where will the ad appear and when? What pages and what dates?)

Are their bonus placements for the media buy?

Is there any added value to the placement? Perhaps a free report, company profile, listing in a directory or e-blast mention?

Rationale behind the placement? Summarize the reasoning for placing this media buy. You can also use comparisons to other media outlets vs. this one.

That's a lot of information, yes? Of course it is.

In order to succeed in media buying, you must be detailed. A great media buyer pays attention to detail, spends time researching and can negotiate like a pro.
Be sure and break out each media outlet that you select and complete the above questions. This will assist you in creating a strategy that contains the necessary detail and enough information for proper planning that will lead to a successful media buying campaign. I suggest putting this information in a three-ring binder or using your computer to catalog the information, this will help in creating a media buying history that you can continually refer to. This will save you research time for future media buying. These documents will also help in guiding you through the execution of your media strategy and plan throughout the year.

Step 5 - Execute your plan.

You have your plan in hand, now it's time to get to work. Your first step is to begin to contact the media outlets you have identified and start negotiating your media buy rates. Keep a calendar and a budget in front of you at all times.

Make sure you negotiate rates and ask for bonuses or add-ons that they are willing to give you if you choose to go with them. Once again keep your eye on your budget, your calendar and, most importantly, keep track of important deadlines.

As your media buys are executed, be sure to keep track of the results and evaluate how your plan and strategy is working for you. If you find that you are not meeting your objectives, don't be afraid to adjust your plan as necessary.

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