B2B Versus B2C Marketing
When creating marketing campaigns and using marketing strategies, the first thing to consider is who you’re marketing to. Big picture this comes down to if you’re marketing directly to the consumer or if you’re marketing to another business. If you’re an industrial manufacturing company, the goal is to market to other businesses. This is called business to business marketing (as opposed to business to consumer marketing). Read on to learn the differences and similarities of B2B versus B2C marketing.
B2B Versus B2C Marketing
Goals:
The goals of the customers are different for B2C and B2B customers:
- B2B customers are looking for a trustworthy business to partner with, good ROI, expert information, and competitive pricing.
- B2C customers are looking for a good deal and something that will improve their life. Lots of times this means marketing campaigns can be lighthearted and even fun.
Buying cycle:
The B2B buying cycle is longer than the B2C buying process. B2B buyers need a lot of information before making any decisions. There are layers of decision-makers to persuade. You’re not just convincing one person, you’re convincing an entire business that your business is the right one to purchase from. In addition to this, B2B buys can creating multi-year connections while B2C buys usually tend to be a shorter relationship.
Target audience:
B2C target customers are usually a specific section of the population. While tying in your brand identity, B2C marketing focuses on ideal customers who you will enjoy your products or services.
In B2B marketing, your target audience is very specific. Read this blog post for more information on choosing target audiences. Here’s a summary from that post:
- Collect data on your current customers/contacts. This data could include age, location, interests, job roles, and industry.
- Look at your website, email, and social media analytics to help find this information.
- Look at other companies in your industry. Find who their target audiences are and how they’re reaching them.
- Brainstorm who your ideal contact would be. (Think of your dream customer).
This target audience will likely be the purchasing managers or another specific group of decision makers in a business. With this defined audience, you can begin marketing to specific audiences.
If we go beyond your direct target audience—technically your target in B2B marketing is the business at large. The specific people you’re marketing to represent the business and make decisions for the whole business. Keep this in mind as you’re creating marketing messages. While you can market to humans, you’re getting a whole business to choose you.
Techniques:
Generally, B2C marketing uses more emotional appeal than B2B. Using emotional tugs on customer’s humanity and interests is applicable and even recommended in B2C circles. However, in the B2B arena, emotional appeals have less primacy. B2B strategies focus more on information and details. The buyers need a lot of information before they make any decisions in the B2B buying process.
B2B and B2C marketing share some similar tactics. While the goals might be different, the strategies can be similar. Strategies like building strong relationships with your consumers work for both B2B and B2C businesses. Having a clear message and conveying that message to your consumers will increase your marketing’s effectiveness in both circles. In addition, in B2B and B2C marketing, defining and understanding your target audience is key—even though the target audience is different in each case.
If you’d like to talk with us about marketing options you’re considering, give us a call at 262-363-4238 or reach out to us at [email protected]. Our services include branding, marketing, and website development with an emphasis on industrial sector companies. We’d love to talk with you!