What is H2H Marketing? – In this article I am writing about H2H marketing.
You will learn what is marketing, what is H2H marketing and how to apply H2H marketing best practices to your business, company or personal brand.
If you are interested in marketing, make sure you check my other articles:
- What is Marketing in 2021?
- What Are the 5 D’s of Digital Marketing?
- What Are the 4 C’s of Digital Marketing?
What is H2H Marketing?
H2H marketing stands for Human-to-Human Marketing. It refers to the fact that every marketing interaction, between businesses and consumers or between businesses and other businesses, is an interaction between humans.
It is a development from the traditional B2C, B2B or more recently B2H marketing models.
What Is Marketing?
Marketing is an exchange of value between a business and its target audience, generally through the selling of products or services.
Marketing is generally broken down into B2C and B2B. More recently, B2H was also added.
What is B2C Marketing?
B2C marketing, which stands for Business-to-Customer, is when a company markets a product or service directly to the final consumers.
What is B2B Marketing?
B2B marketing, which stands for Business-to-Business, is when a company markets a product or service to another company.
What is B2H Marketing?
B2H marketing stands for Business-to-Humans and refers to the fact that behind every business or consumer there is a human being.
This word was used for the first time in a 2014 article by Coupa Foftware’s CEO Chandar Pattabhiram on Wired.com.
This new category was put to use for the first time by Anthony Kennada, CMO of Gainsight. You can find more details on how he used B2H marketing at Gainsight in his book Category Creation: How to Build a Brand that Customers, Employees and Investors Will Love.
Who Coined the Term H2H Marketing?
The term H2H marketing was used for the first time in a 2014 article by Mike Lieberman on Hubspot.
In the article, Mike writes:
You need to stop thinking about B2B or B2C approaches and focus more on H2H: human-to-human marketing.
Fortunately, inbound marketing helps your business become more human-to-human focused.
Later, the concept of H2H Marketing was further developed by Prof. Philip Kotler, along with Prof. Waldemar Pfoertsch and Prof. Uwe Sponholz, in the book H2H Marketing: the Genesis of Human-to-Human Marketing.
What is the H2H Marketing Model?
The H2H marketing model is a theoretical framework created by Prof. Philip Kotler and is made of three important components:
- Design Thinking
- Service-Dominant Logic
- Digitalisation
What is H2H Marketing: Best Practices
These are some of the best practices you can apply H2H marketing to your business:
- Speak like a person, not like a marketer
- Don’t simply sell products but offer solutions that solve problems
- Choose to be authentic: nobody is perfect and everybody makes mistakes
- Replace ‘case studies’ with stories
- Apply personalisation instead of automation
- Leverage the content that your users generate
- But remember, context is more important than content!
- Optimise your online presence on social networks and local search
What is H2H Marketing: Sources
- ‘What is H2H Marketing and How Can You Apply It to Your Business‘ by Allison Woodbury on Precisionmarketinggroup.com
- ‘What is H2H Marketing and How to Use It Successfully‘ by Laura Benjamin on WPduo.com
- ‘Human to Human Marketing: How to Create a Long-lasting Relationship with Your Client‘ by Barbara Georgiane on Rockcontent.com
