Is Industrial Marketing Synonymous to Business-to-Business (or B2B) Marketing?

About two decades ago, most academic and industry professionals thought that Industrial Marketing was  the most appropriate term, because the type of customers to whom a company marketed its industrial products, such as textile machines, material handling equipment, or turnkey projects like electrical substations, were private and public sector companies. However, about a decade ago, a large number of professionals were of the view that the type of customers also includes the institutions like hotels, hospitals, and commercial organizations, which also need industrial products, such as air-conditioning equipment, furniture, and fans. Hence, they thought, the suitable name should be Business Marketing or Business-to-Business Marketing to indicate that these are all business customers, who are different from individual or household consumers. At present, most academic and industrial professionals prefer the term Business-to-Business (or B2B) Marketing. It means basically, Industrial Marketing is synonymous with Business-to-Business (or B2B) Marketing. The basic concepts in Industrial Marketing or B2B Marketing have not changed over the past two decades. What have changed are the methods used to implement the marketing concepts or strategies, such as marketing communications, branding, distribution or marketing logistics and supply chains, customer relationships, and researching the markets. The main reason for this change is the advent of information and communication technologies as well as advanced technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.  

28 September 2021