Introduction: “Marketing is marketing, regardless of the product or market.” This is a common theme in many introductory marketing texts and degree courses. The two most frequently cited exceptions to this proposition are the patterns of purchasing behavior between consumers and professional buyers and the extensive ingredients of the services marketing mix. While general marketing sentiments hold across product and market boundaries, perhaps the differences are actually more stark? Intended to spark discussion about the extent to which marketers can safely generalize when discussing the nature and characteristics of marketing. Are we right to offer students and corporate training programs generalizations that cut across the field of marketing? Are we doing justice to the fundamental nuances if we simply highlight the variations between consumer goods, services, industrial and business-to-business marketing? Is there a different perspective that should, in the new millennium, be the focus of marketing textbooks and courses? Content indicators: readability, practical implications, originality, research implications*Marketing is marketing, whatever the product or market. This is a common theme in many introductory marketing texts and courses. The two most frequently cited exceptions to this proposition are patterns of purchasing behavior between consumers and professional buyers and the extended ingredients of the services marketing mix (cf. Dibb et al., 1997; Kotler, 1998). If general marketing sentiments hold across product and market boundaries, perhaps the differences are actually more stark? Services marketers were the first to “speak out,” arguing that the nature of marketing is different because of the fundamental characteristics of marketing. services: · intangibility; · direct organization-client relationship; · consumer participation in the production process; and · Complexity. The result for services marketers has been the expansion of the marketing mix from the classic “4Ps” of product, price, place (channel) and promotion to include at least people, physical evidence (ambience) and process. These marketers also emphasize the characteristics of services, notably the intangible nature of the service "product", which restricts the possibilities of creating a differential advantage over competitors, with an inevitable dependence for differentiation and competitive advantage on the consideration of brand initiatives and staff. While services marketers have highlighted important differences in "their marketing", overall, texts and marketers have argued that there are only relatively minor differences between marketing of consumer goods and that of industrial or inter-company goods. This article aims to generate discussion about the extent to which marketers can safely generalize when discussing the nature and characteristics of industrial and business-to-business marketing..