Question

Topic: Strategy

Relevance Of B2c Experience For B2b Marketing

Posted by Anonymous on 10/12/2004 at 2:00 PM ET 327 Points
Hi all, I have been prospecting for a Product Marketing Manager for my group - data/information product management, and product marketing (not including marcomms areas of responsibility)

I have had a number of candidates cross my desk and have interviewed them. They all seem to have a number of the right attributes I am looking for in terms of focus on ROI, marketing has to be measurable, target audience segmentation, lead generation, customer acqusition etc in rough accordance with the model from Pragmatic Marketing - link cited below

[inactive link removed]

However, the large majority of our target and existing customers are in the business space - i.e. it is a B2B environment as opposed to B2C. I have not worked in a B2C environment

As such, I am not sure what if any differences between B2B and B2C are relevant to my decision process or is it the case that I am getting hung up on a label and the differences are trivial....

If I have not passed enough information please advise and I would be pleased to add more if required

Thanks in advance
Jason


[Moderator: Inactive link removed from post. 2/14/2011]
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by SRyan ;] on 10/12/2004 at 3:00 PM Member
    Hi, Jason...

    I'd say that experience managing data/info products is more relevant, B2C or B2B notwithstanding.

    Let me make sure that I understand your dilemma, however. You've got some good job candidates with B2C marketing backgrounds, and you are wondering if talent and experience in that realm will transfer successfully to the B2B universe. Is that right?

    Shelley
  • Posted by Peter (henna gaijin) on 10/12/2004 at 4:47 PM Accepted
    Great responses above.

    One other difference is the sales driver in B2B versus B2C. In B2B, it is value, but there is also the added concern by the person making the decision about how the decision will impact their career (specifically, that a bad decision would ruin their career).

    Product management/marketing positions often look for people with specific industry experience (not the generic level of B2B vs. B2C, but that the people have worked with similar customers to yours in the past). If you can get past this, then whether they are B2B or B2C probably won't be an issue.
  • Posted by SteveByrneMarketing on 10/12/2004 at 6:12 PM Accepted
    Jason,

    The differences are not trivial -- they have some significance as well pointed out in the above posts. However, it might serve you to look at the other side which is how are B2B and B2C similar. INHO they are more the same than different. The basic’s of marketing and the process of marketing are the same with variations – but there are variations from one B2B situation to another.

    If it were me and I had an outstanding candidate in every area except specific B2B experience, I would strongly consider hiring that person anyway.

    Hope this helps,

    - Steve
  • Posted by telemoxie on 10/12/2004 at 10:06 PM Accepted
    Another issue relates to the attitudes of business owners about allocating resources to marketing. Most of my personal experience is B2B, and I have worked with many owners of technical B2B businesses who feel that, since they have a "better moustrap", they need not invest heavily in Marketing...

    ... while this is a frequent and unfortunate but not entirely unexpected phenomena, your candidates with B2C experience, if hired, might quickly become disilliusioned by the reluctance of your B2C business owner to spend "enough" money on marketing and promotion.
  • Posted by ReadCopy on 10/13/2004 at 4:42 AM Accepted
    B2C is getting more relevant in the B2B markets.

    I have a full B2B background.
    Both markets are different, especially around promotion, but they key area we are starting to overlap with B2C is in data and segmentation and the tools and techniques that B2C use.
    At last B2B is becoming more sophisticated with segmentation and how they target prospects :-)

    So if any of your guys have a B2C segmentation/profiling/data background, they should serve you well.

    Good luck with your search.
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