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This is an interesting excerpt from DemandGenReport’s interview of Charlene Li about her bestseller, Groundswell.

DGR: You provided a lot of great real-world examples of how companies are using social media to tap into the power of their customers. What are the differences between a B2C social media presence versus the opportunities for B2B marketers.

Li: B2B marketers often think they are marketing to companies – they aren’t. They are marketing to people at companies. In that way, B2B marketing in the groundswell looks a lot like B2C marketing, just at a smaller scale. In fact, I believe that B2B marketers have an advantage in the groundswell – the people you are trying to reach are inclined to have a relationship with you because they want to be listened to, be supported, and embraced because they see a direct correlation and benefit back to their businesses.

This caught my attention because it is something I come across everyday as I speak with CEOs, VPs and Directors of Marketing at technology companies. Most marketers don’t get the fact that they HAVE TO market to people and not to companies. I’d say the “people” part is something that needs to be expanded and understood further. B2B marketers have to spend a lot of time understanding the roles and responsibilities of the “people” who buy their products to fully comprehend how they think and what might excite them. At ReadyContacts, we try to preach this everyday to everyone we speak with because “knowing the people who buy your products” is a key starting point to start targeted sales & marketing 2.0 efforts which are more about conversation, personalization and nurturing rather than cold calling, push marketing and mass mailings.