Business: "A business is legally recognized organisation to offer goods and services to the consumers". So which may be in lay man terms called as a Company. The main objective of the organization is the profit and Wealth maximization of Shareholders. So to do this there are lot of ways business can be done. But the two methods which are mainly used are B2B and B2C.

Most of the people think that marketing is marketing whether which ever way it is done. But, B2B and B2C are Different ways of Marketing. B2B depends upon the relationship Building by the marketing efforts where as B2C is building relationship with the direct consumers.

Business to Business Describes the commercial Transaction between Businesses, such as Between Manufacturer or Wholesaler, Between wholesaler and Retailer, where the Volume of transaction is more. where as Business to Consumer is when a business markets its products to a consumer market. where the consumer is a buyer of a product but not related to the business, that means it may be the end user . It includes the product such as foods and Cloths so on.

What ever be the strategy or the path of marketing of both the Business to Business and Business to Consumer start their first step of marketing in the same way that is Identifying the customer, Then on the marketing Steps gets different.

The ultimate goal of B2C marketing is to convert shoppers into buyers as aggressively and consistently as possible. So for this they provide more of strategies like Coupons ,Displays and promotional activities so as to reach the target Market. B2C Transaction are very short where the there is a need to capture the Customers Interest Immediately. Here Mostly the strategies used like Campaigning, Such as E-mail Campaigning where the decision should be quick from the customers end. But the companies like Amazon.com, Best Buy gives customer great offers and Techniques to retain them .

The goal of B2B marketing is to convert prospects into customers, the process is longer and more involved. A B2B company needs to focus on relationship building and communication using marketing activities that generate leads that can be nurtured during the sales cycle . The Complete Marketing Phenomenon where each member of marketing team needs to take care of the activities.Here the decision involves multi step so the purchasing process takes long time . B2B marketing consists promotions in News papers and Magazines , so as to reach each and every customer even though it takes long time for buying .

The B2C marketing is Product Driven, Maximize the value of transaction, Large Target Market, Single Step Buying Process and short sales cycle, Merchandising and Point of Purchase activities, Emotional Buying Decision based on the Status , Desire and Price. Where as in B2B marketing involves Relationship driven, Maximize the value of the relationship, Small Focussed target Market, Multi Step Buying process and Long sales cycle , Educational and awareness building activities, Rational Buying Decision based on the business value.

So the Marketing may be one but there will be always a difference between the B2B and B2C.
End of the day , it is all about getting Business from the customer which ever be the way.

About Author / Additional Info:
An MBA from GITAM University, India.