Business to Business (B2B) lead generation involves the marketing of a company's products and services to other companies. This type of marketing is used in many industries including IT and technology sales. The main objective of B2B lead generation is to firstly generate interest in the company's products and secondly to convert this interest into actual sales. Some businesses will deal with their own marketing in house while others choose to outsource to a third party. Whether in house or outsourced any B2B marketing strategy will most likely involve the same three steps. These steps are identifying a target market, setting objectives and building the marketing program.
In B2B marketing selling processes are often complex and lengthy. This complexity has a number of causes including the size of the transactions and the fact that there are often a number of people involved in the decision making process. Much of the B2B sales process involves creating a business relationship between two companies and the individuals working for them. This business relationship is in many cases an ongoing one in which further purchases are made as and when needed.
Although there are similarities in them Business to Business marketing differs from Business to Consumer (B2C) marketing in a number of ways. As stated in B2B sales there tends to be a number of decision makers involved. This differs from B2C where as only one person is responsible buying decisions can be made quickly. Additionally business purchasing decisions are focused on what the company needs as opposed to consumer buying with is more based on want.
The IT and technology industry is just one example of where B2B marketing is common. Many companies in this market choose to outsource lead generation for its products and services to a third party.