Smart marketers comprehend the fundamental differences between marketing to a B2B or B2C customer. B2B strategies vary from the B2C process when it comes to buying cycles, modes of communication, and how businesses build relationships with their consumers.
In this article, we’ll help you comprehend the differences between B2B vs B2C marketing and outline the marketer’s method for targeting those businesses.
What is the difference between B2B and B2C marketing?
The main distinction between B2B and B2C marketing boils down to who you are running your marketing. There are many nuances to grabbing the right tone, and mood and offering the right type of incentives for buying from your business.
B2B marketing
Business-to-business (B2B) marketing involves pitching your product to other companies who may be examining for methods to make efficiencies and solve troubles in their day-to-day workflow or open new routes of income. It may also involve relationship building over time, as you make inroads towards additional streams of income from the same company for other products and services.
Key messaging for B2B takes a narrow focus on what your product can do for their business. Instances of B2B products include:
- Cloud storage like Dropbox
- Project management software like Workfront
- Web communication tools like Slack
In 2019, the global B2B eCommerce market size was valued at $5.7 trillion and is anticipated to rise at a compound annual increase rate of 17.5 percent through 2027.
B2C marketing
Business-to-consumer (B2C) companies sell to everyday clients. The net you cast for B2C marketing is much broader than B2B, taking in a superb range of demographics, socioeconomic groups, and tastes.
For that reason, B2C marketing takes a much broader strategy to its messaging and targeting. Tones of voice, channels of communication and motivations to purchase are likely to differ between campaigns and products much more than they do for B2B marketing.
A March 2021 report evaluates the global B2C eCommerce market size is expected to reach $6.2 trillion by 2027. This is as companies marketing directly to the consumer continue to focus on tweaking impulse buys, as well as increasing customer loyalty and repeat buys.
The customer bases are very distinct between B2B and B2C companies and need two different marketing techniques.
B2B marketing vs B2C marketing
For both B2B and B2C audiences, marketers seek to deliver an authentic, customer-centric experience to the customer. However, the process for each audience is amazing, since individual consumers have various purchasing behaviors, attitudes, and requirements than business buyers.
Here are five instances of how B2B and B2C marketing are different and the common challenges marketers face in either space.
Relationship building
B2B buyers require a more hands-on relationship than a B2C customer. B2B prospects may require to convince numerous internal stakeholders that your solution is not only necessary but worth the price tag.
Expect that you’ll need to spend more time to reach a B2B buyer, but potentially more money to acquire B2C clients. B2C customers are bombarded with ads, so it takes substantial time, effort, and spending to make your product stand out from the crowd. When you do catch a consumer’s awareness, you’re more likely to get a quick sale.
1. B2B: Targeting the right personnel
When you’re targeting B2B customers, recognize that they like to look like an expert. Assisting buyers get credit for buying a tool that saves their team time and money should be among your plans.
Begin developing a relationship with a B2B buyer by serving up appropriate thought leadership content. This can form part of your wider content marketing plan to target those customers.
Concentrate on logic and education. B2B marketing concentrates on deepening customer knowledge of a product rather than playing on their feelings. Empower your clients to speak intelligently about the value of your product.
Make the most of the long B2B buying cycle by getting to know where your customer sits in their organization. Question yourself:
- Who do they require to convince?
- What is essential to them?
From there, make pointed marketing materials that speak to who your buyer is and what they and their bosses care about. In doing so, B2B marketers confirm that competitors can persuade their boss of the ROI of a purchase. Buyers will also remember you as a valuable resource each time a contractor renewal period comes up.
2. B2C: Seamless personalized customer journey
While B2C customers can be dedicated to certain brands, they also prioritize quality and value, wanting to fulfill their needs at a good price. As such, consumers often like to find a solution to their problems instantly.
This translates to you needing to provide a seamless digital customer experience. The minute something doesn’t function on your website, potential customers will give up and leave.
Don’t overwhelm your B2C clients with newsletters and blog posts. They’re used to a more transactional relationship. That stated, consumers do want to know that you comprehend their issues or passions and will deliver on their expectations.
Personalize your marketing so it shows you comprehend customer priorities, then push them to visit your site and convert. You can recommend related products in search results, and suggest relevant products and services based on their past dealings with your site.
One way to do this is to enable customers to write reviews by offering discount codes or store credit. Not only do reviews attract more options to your site, but they also give you useful feedback.
Buying cycle
The time it takes for a customer to purchase is often dramatically shorter than a business because there are far fewer decision-makers or stakeholders involved. It’s worth recalling that some large consumer purchases, such as furniture or a home, may have a longer sales cycle, however.
For the most part, B2B buying cycles will be longer than B2C buying cycles. Know what your average buying cycle is and design your digital marketing consequently.
1. B2B: Satisfy several stakeholders
Marketing to other businesses takes time, as there are many more people you’ll require to cater to. In fact, the people who might comprehend your product the best may not be the people spending for it.
B2B marketing needs a tailored, multi-step marketing plan clear to each stakeholder. Find methods that your product can work into the company’s upcoming strategic goals, and make sure you comprehend your prospect’s complex procurement procedure.
This allows you to create content that’s special to each stage of the buying cycle. Think of presenting user cases that demonstrate the long-term value of your product or the way your product can benefit numerous parts of your customer’s business.
Also, be aware of the words your prospects use. Describe your product or services utilizing their terminology to show that you know and can speak their language.
2. B2C: Marketing to meet an impulse
Since customers usually know what they want and require before they buy, you have restricted time to capture and hold their attention. Make sure that you have excellent SEO – you must be at the top of search engine page results.
Make your ad copy:
- Short
- Transparent
- To the point
Your customers are on a mission, so don’t interrupt that with lengthy distractions during their consumer journey with you.
Once your consumer buys, you can present other products they might like based on their choices. Alternatively, you could send them discounts for add-ons that supplement the products they already own.
Target audience
Understanding your audience is probably one of the first things you know in any marketing class. That’s because it’s vitally essential to a successful marketing campaign.
A B2B audience responds to more diverse messaging than a B2C audience. Each group has a different motivation that marketers require to address.
1. B2B: Offer a good fit for your customer
Once you choose the different stakeholders and how to market to them, your product will be subject to a variety of tests to demonstrate it’s a good fit. When selling your product to a business, you need to pass a buyer’s security needs.
Some instances of this include:
- The competitors’ end users need to evaluate your product
- Procurement teams have to assess your product
- Leadership needs to free up the budget to buy your product
With B2B, you require to market to every person involved in the buying decision. Be ready to give each party the right knowledge at the right time. You should:
- Put together case studies with quantitative details
- Gather impressive testimonials
- Ready to share other customers’ contact information for references
Exceeding anticipations at each stage of the buying process is key to making B2B sales.
2. B2C: Create trust in an instant
The most effective ads make you think about how much a product could impact or enhance your life. Whether your customers buy your product instantly or a few days later, ads that make your competitors feel something can cause them to pull the trigger.
Some methods in which you can do this include:
- Posting testimonials on your website to get your customers to trust that your product is honest.
- Sharing a glowing review on one of your ads or featuring everyday people who make utilizing your product look comfortable or fun.
- Show up where your consumers are, whether that’s on social media, email inboxes, or search engines.
Think about using influencer marketing to extend your reach even further. In your content, deliver clear and compelling copy on every ad and landing page and make it effortless for customers to make purchases by adding obvious buttons or links.
Communication
The way you speak can really affect the way your message is received. Utilizing casual language with business professionals would be jarring while utilizing more formal word choice could make customers feel unfamiliar or confusing. Be conscious of who you are speaking to and what their vernacular is.
1. B2B: Emphasize the ROI
The experienced community is looking to purchase from companies that show mastery in what they do. B2B marketers must demand to the rational side of each stakeholder’s mind and make B2B buyers confident that they are making a reasonable investment.
Therefore, B2B marketing content tends to be concentrated on ROI. There are a few methods you can illustrate this:
- Make long and short-form content that showcases your business’s expertise and the return on investment in your product.
- Develop case studies that are particularly useful at highlighting how your product or service saves buyers’ money, resources, and time.
- Host webinars, events, or workshops to give buyers an understanding into the many ways your product can be used in their business.
- Shoot short-form videos that can educate viewers on how your product stands out in a succinct, digestible manner.
Sometimes, B2B marketers will even reach a product to its competition, to highlight its best features. No matter the process, it’s important to clearly state why your product is better than anything else, and how your product can deliver an excellent return on investment.
2. B2C: Keep it simple
Consumer messaging needs to be relatable and casual, but don’t include extremely trendy buzzwords or jargon. This may confound the reader or make your brand seem like it’s pushing too hard.
That being said, brands should embrace a distinctive voice and inject some comedy into their content where possible. This makes your audience feel like they understand you personally and will make them more likely to authorize that you know what they need.
Make the advantages of your product obvious and point out how quickly it can be in the consumers’ hands. Make sure your customers can purchase directly from an ad and check out in minutes.
Content and advertising
As you might anticipate, the form of advertising and concentrate for content should differ between B2B and B2C as well. Where B2B content is often more complex, B2C content cuts to the chase. B2C content is often more fun and light-hearted, while B2B adopts a more serious, no-nonsense tone.