By: Matthew Dulac
I found the article on business-to-business and business-to-consumer marketing to be very informative, and I also found it just as interesting because of the changes happening in the field of marketing today. Just as the field of business as a whole is beginning to change, the field of marketing has also experienced this transformation and change as well due to rapid changes and rapid wealth in countries such as China and India. Due to the swift increases in technology that can be seen today, this idea of business-to-business and business-to-consumer marketing has also had to change to a slight degree. These two given segments are now less distinct and differentiated from one another.
Marketers today must understand that consumers are people and put themselves in the mindset of being a consumer for a given product or service. The field of marketing, in many different ways, has become more and more complicated and I don’t really understand why. Some organizations are making it more difficult than it really needs to be and I think that is why human-to-human marketing will gain traction in the future. Even if companies spend a multitude of millions of dollars on a given advertisement, if it does not capture and bring attention to the consumer, this is all nothing but a waste of time and company resources.
Today, we all live in a time where we are more connected to technology than ever before. This has brought about many distinct challenges for everyone in the field of business. Due to these increases in technology, there is a constant inflow of information that is shown to consumers and we each react differently to these types of information. Due to this, it has become more and more challenging for consumers to be selective and find the information that they actually want to hear and use to purchase products or services. This change in selectivity has brought about changes to the field of marketing and how businesses are trying to change their approach in order to be more profitable. Since we are all infatuated with technology, businesses must find ways in order to connect with their customers and this has been challenging for some corporations, while others have grown substantially due to the positive outlook they have and the changes that they have made. With an increased awareness and use of varying social platforms, this allows consumers to feel as if they are connected to the business, and this will bring about long-term business as businesses now must be seen as a peer instead of a superior. Human-to-human interaction is so important because even though humans are vastly connected to technology and their various devices, individuals still crave and enjoy the opportunity to interact and have experiences. This is something that companies should already know, but this might also explain why companies such as Apple have grown substantially and companies such as Circuit City now don’t exist.
Source
Bryan Kramer (2014): http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/there-no-more-b2b-or-b2c-there-only-human-human-h2h#sthash.rEh6N9LN.dpuf
Marketing Discussions 
This is a very interesting point on marketing to consumers over marketing to businesses. B2B marketing has its own special language and etiquette that a lot of times will not apply to the average consumer. Speaking for myself as a so-called “average consumer”, I know that I would want to be listened to a consumer and that my voice was just as important as a business associate that would pay a lot more money than I could. I think that nothing in business can top a good in-person interaction between a buyer and a seller, and good interactions have their rewards. For example: I was GameStop during this week to pick up my copy of Star Wars: Battlefront on the Playstation 4. The salesperson pitched to me, at additional cost, the Star Wars season pass which provided new maps, characters, and other features. He discussed it from one fan to another, and described his usage of the new features. I finally accepted his offer and spent a little more that day.
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I agree with you here, Mark. Nothing beats a solid in-person interaction in my opinion as well. I am far more likely to purchase something in person, rather than by other means, after having a moment or two to discuss the product with a knowledgeable salesperson. By getting my questions answered face to face I typically feel much more comfortable making the purchase and in most instances, end up enjoying the product that much more.
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This is an interesting topic how the marketing is transforming from B2B, B2C, H2H. I think in the future it’s going to be H2H market lead especially in the developing countries like India. The principle of the market has transitioned from “Let the buyer beware” to “Let the seller beware”. Because in previous, buyers have always been on losing end due to lack of information on product or service, now sellers are the one who have to be careful because rapid increase in technology that provides constant information to the buyers. The high degree of customer loyalty plays an crucial role in the market. I think, now the time has come to work with trust as an integrated part of business strategy.
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I found this to be a very interesting article, as there is so much emphasis on advertising and promoting online currently. Although, I think it is still important to advertise and promote online it can be much more beneficial talking face to face with people. First, the consumer can hear an immediate response to their question and even learn more than they were looking too. With online customer support it can often take days to hear a response. I think Apple is an excellent example of human to human interaction. Every interaction I have had at Apple has been great. They were friendly able to answer all of my questions and the overall experience was realatively short compared to how busy they are on a daily basis.
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Matthew I agree that human-human marketing will ultimately gain traction. I feel this way due to the fact, as stated in your post and article that with the surplus of technology and marketing saturation to consumers it has, I feel, loosing some ground. Consumers can decide what advertisements they want to see, for example like with Pandora you can purchase “Ad Fee” music or skip the YouTube commericals just after a few seconds. I think this will become ineffective and marketers will again have to evolve. I belive more human-human interaction with marketing is where we are headed. An example that comes to mind is when you are out at a restaurant and the server tries to “sell” you a glass of wine or appetizer. I would be more willing to purchase an additional item compared to seeing an Ad on TV etc. I like your article and I think it is extremely relevant to todays marketers.
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I agree when you say that human to human interaction is very important. In a time where people use technology for everything and even business’s are relying on it to reach consumers, it is easy to forget the importance of personal interaction. I don’t think that technology will ever be able able to replace the importance of it, and I think that companies who are able to add a personal touch to their business are far more likely to be successful.
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Everything that everyone is saying here is valid and I absolutely agree. Advancements in technology have allowed us to reach larger audiences than ever before but, at the end of the day, there is no better form of marketing than face-to-face, personal interactions. I think the key here is, once again, depending on what goal you are trying to achieve, the relationship you are trying tonestablish with the consumer/client, and the target audience, marketers and salespeople alike mus consider what is the best way to market or sell. For instance, if you think of car dealerships, very rarely would you see online interaction. Mostly all communication done between the salesperson and customer is done in-house because the key to any good sale and for the likelihood of more sales in the future and repeat business, it is important to create some sort of a relationship with the customer- offering them that one-to-one customer service experience. That is where online companies who rely on advanced technology will fall short. No matter how advanced technology is and becomes, it will never succeed the impotrance of face-to-face communication. Excellent job, Matt!
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I think this concept is interesting in terms of the fact that they are eliminating the target audience and classifying the audience as “human” in general with no differentiation of market segments. I can understanding the need or want for one-to-one conversations or rather one-to-many through social media outlets however, I do not see how the creation of H2H will be able to translate across all market segments. The idea of communications from one-to-many through social media does not seem plausible to eliminate the B2B and B2C markets all together. This would also be a large undertaking by all companies to restructure their corporate structure which would be very costly and would eliminate jobs as these are currently different departments in terms of marketing and sales, to mention a few.
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I found this presentation to be very interesting as I had never heard of human to human communication in the past. I do agree with Matt when he said that the business world is definitely evolving and business to business communication is slowly on the downfall. Although I do not think that human to human communication will solve all issues within the industry I do think it will help to strengthen the communication ties between business and consumer. I do not believe however that business to business and business to consumer communication will be annihilated due to the rise of human to human communication.
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I find this form of market segmentation to be very original and interesting, however I also do see a couple of issues which the approach may suffer. To combat the rising tide of consumer ignorance to online ads, H2H takes a more personable and customized approach toward marketing to a targeted consumer. Despite that advantage of a customizable sales pitch, this sort of marketing only seems viable with the sale of very expensive products, low quantity products.
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