B2B vs. B2C Marketing - What is the difference?

We often hear the words ‘B2B’ and ‘B2C’ marketing.

17:12 05 July 2021

However, most of us can’t tell the two apart as there are some ambiguous areas that even make an experienced marketer confused. A mixed perception of these two areas of marketing will jeopardise your marketing plans, as they are targeted at very different audiences.

 

In this article, we would like to provide a clearer insight into B2B and B2C marketing to help you make better decisions.

 

B2B Marketing

 

B2B marketing, or in full, business-to-business marketing, refers to marketing efforts that is targeted towards a business or organization. When a company produces a product, or sells services to other businesses, they need to adopt B2B marketing strategies. Their consumers, in this sense, are businesses and the target audiences are usually the decision makers in a company.

 

To help you understand the concept better, let’s take a look at this explainer video produced by Kasra Design for a company named

 

Mindsay.

 

Mindsay from Kasra Design on Vimeo.

 

Mindsay is a solution for companies looking to build chatbots to serve their customers better, in a cost-efficient way. It also helps companies to save operational costs where chatbots can take over easier tasks from actual service agents, allowing service agents to focus on more pressing issues, while ensuring customer satisfaction.

 

B2C Marketing

 

Next, let us take a look at B2C marketing and some prominent examples. In B2C marketing, also known as business-to-customer marketing, your marketing strategies are geared towards promoting products or services to end consumers. In B2C marketing, you don’t just focus on the value proposition of the offerings, you should also invoke emotional response from consumers so they can connect with your brand.

SoClean from Kasra Design on Vimeo.

 

For example, In the above ad, the purpose of the video is to promote SoClean solution for CPAP equipment cleaning. At the same time, the ad reminds the audiences that it is essential for them to have a good night sleep and to take care of their CPAP equipment.

 

So, what are the key differences?

 

B2B and B2C marketing serves different target audiences, i.e. businesses in the case of B2B and end consumers for B2C. Therefore, it’s important to differentiate these two when it comes to strategizing your next marketing plan. Here are a few key differences to note while you’re working on your plan.

 

1. Content

 

Since B2B and B2C marketing target different audiences, the first thing that you should take note of is to understand the type of content that each group of audiences likes.

 

With businesses, the purchasing decision is not impulsive. Businesses will have to consider many key factors while making a purchase. There are usually different tiers of approvals needed before a final decision is made. Therefore, it’s important for you to provide as much useful information as possible, and to show how indispensable your solution is for their business. Back up your content with data, facts and statistics as businesses prioritizes results above all else.

 

B2C consumers, on the other hand, takes a different strategy to convince. You need to reach out to them on a more emotional level and they are most likely to prefer content that is more interesting or entertaining to watch.

 

2. Purchasing decision

 

As explained earlier, businesses take time to make a purchase decision. B2B consumers need hard facts and careful consideration in terms of budget and long term gain before purchasing something. Return of investments or ROIs, as we have always heard, is the main priority. A business will need to know why they need your solution, and how it helps them to improve their operations.

 

B2C consumers, are more impulsive and will make purchase decision based on own needs. They are mainly emotionally driven when it comes to buying so you’ll need to reach out to them from this angle.

 

3. Connection with audience

 

B2B marketing fosters long term business relationship. As with any business, a sustainable business plan should focus on building long term business goals with clients.

 

B2C consumers, are mostly fleeting. Once a product or service is sold, it might only involve a short period of interaction between the consumer and your brand.

 

Conclusion

 

Effective marketing strategies require careful planning and deliberation. Identifying your target audience, whether they are B2B or B2C is one of the foundations of your strategies. I hope that with this article, you can draw better distinctions between B2B and B2C marketing to plan your marketing content accordingly.