Web Business Marketing Blog

On Marketo’s B2B marketing blog, Jon Miller asked the question whether modern marketing applies to B2B. I’ve been struggling with the same question a while, and would reply in the affirmative.

At the risk of simplifying, B2B marketing is about direct contact, sales funnels and supposedly rational buying processes (as opposed to B2C which is about mass communication, branding, a bit of seduction, …).

Internet-based marketing can complement the funnel. It’s about everything that comes before the funnel or surrounds it, i.e. buyer education, market intelligence, reputation building and even lead generation. In these area’s, modern marketing techniques hold tremendous promise to increase market presence, build B2B brands or reduce costs.

However, as soon as a lead becomes a prospect, marketing activity moves to sales mode, and conventional techniques should take over. I cannot see the sales process coming online, except for relatively ’simple’ products or services.

So the challenge of using modern marketing techniques in B2B is to eventually generate leads of sufficient quality to enter the sales funnel with a high conversion rate. And the second ‘bottom line’ is to deliver brands that are strong enough to facilitate the sales process.