I heard a term recently that I had never heard before, but that I wish I had come up with: B2E marketing: for “Business to Employee.” Most are familiar with both B2C (business to consumer) and B2B (business to business) marketing and, of course, the concept is the same. This new acronym, though, really hits on a very, very important audience that many businesses overlook. But, while I’ve spoken, written and consulted widely on the important role that employees can play as brand ambassadors, I didn’t coin the term. Darn! That said, I do plan to help “share the message” by incorporating the concept into my speaking and writing in the future.
It’s not, apparently, a concept yet widely used. A Google search reveals only 136,000 results for “B2E marketing.” That may sound like a lot, but compare this to B2B marketing (31,500,000 results) or B2C marketing (4,650,000 results).
In doing a little online research I found that this term is one of many e-commerce related terms (like B2B and B2C) used to describe electronic interactions with various audiences. It appears the term emerged in the IT space through the development of portals for staff to create “self-service work environments.” Who knew?
As with B2B and B2C, though, I like the broader application of the term to refer to interactions between organizations (businesses) and employees. So that’s how I’m going to use and incorporate this term into my own communications.
Just wish I had come up with it myself!
Curious about whether others have heard, or used, this term and what you think it means. Share here!
