The Secret Is B2P - Business To People

Business to business marketers have finally stumbled onto the secret. But, it was never a secret. The best of marketers have always known it. You can't market to a business. Businesses don't feel. They can't be swayed. But that doesn't matter, because businesses don't buy products or services, people do.

Marketing executives are inundated round-the-clock with a flood of calls, texts and tweets attempting to get their attention. That's understandable when we consider the disintegration of the boundary between work and personal life caused by instant and constant communications. But, what I think we have to recognize is that while technology affords us more chances to deliver our message, it creates problems as the overwhelmed businessman ignores that message or actively blocks it.

We can't rely on generic messages created for generic customers. The message has to become more personal. We have to develop an insight into the specific concerns and ambitions of individuals within organizations and affirmatively address them.

To make our message stand out, I think we have to recognize that all the best practices still apply. The best marketing campaigns are firmly based on striking the emotional chord. They directly aim for and hit the hot button within the target's psyche. We have to understand the key people in a business and creatively craft a marketing campaign that engages them on a deep, emotional level. If we do that, we stop being background noise.

There is no business to business marketing because without the people who direct them, businesses don't exist. We must not market to businesses, but to people who do business. We must not connect to an abstraction, but personally to the individuals who run them. It's never been B2B. It's always been B2P - business to people.