B2B purchases differ from B2C purchases in many ways even though they both meet a need. B2B buying varies in the sense that a company has policies and purchasing processes in place that decide the order in which the buying decision is made.

For B2B marketers, it’s important to understand the characteristics of B2B buying behavior (including the purchasing process as well as the influencers involved) in order to create effective marketing programs to reach the buyers. » Read more: Understanding B2B Buyer Behavior

Brand building for consumer goods came out of advertising and developed as a science from there. The major driver of advertising spends in the last century were consumer goods. P&G & Lever led the way with spending tremendous amounts of money on advertising aimed at prodding the different stages of consumer behavior with ads aimed at product differentiation, product trial, product adoption and finally brand loyalty. Advertising was crucial and it’s effectiveness was gauged by measures of top-of-mind awareness, brand recognition, brand recall and intent to purchase.

That worked, and still works, for consumer goods today. But, what about the other industry sectors like service, technology, finance and B2B? » Read more: B2B Brand Building – 6 vital tips