What Are B2B And B2C Marketing Strategies?
B2B stands for “business-to – business.” It describes businesses whose customers are other businesses, and therefore all of their marketing is geared to the needs , interests and challenges of customers who make purchases on behalf of their organization — rather for themselves.
B2C stands for business-to – consumer business. It describes companies whose customers are individual consumers rather than professional buyers. As a result, all business marketing is dedicated to the needs , interests and challenges of people in their daily lives.
B2B and B2C marketing campaigns will share the same technical best practices, such as retargeting to reduce abandoned carts or negative keywords to improve ad placements. While these practices remain the same, however, there are a number of key differences that separate the two. Understanding these differences will significantly improve your campaigns, so let’s take a look at them.
The Decision Maker
B2C companies may benefit from reaching the decision-maker in the household, in particular for large ticket items such as vacations or new cars, but they do not have to rely solely on a single member in the unit to obtain results. They can show ads to anyone who can buy and have a fair chance of converting. However, when it comes to B2B marketing, you need to appeal to a specific individual or small group of individuals within the business. These are the decision-makers.
The Decision Making Process
B2B customers will often take a much longer time than more research before purchasing. Once they see the initial benefits, they will click on your site to learn more and see the details, then look for third party reviews and look at other competing options. After all, it’s their business, so the stakes are high.
B2C customers, on the other hand, want to see almost everything they need to know as quickly as possible. How much research do you really want to do in a new Xbox game? They would like to see reviews on the product pages and social proof on the ads. As a result of the shortened B2C research process , social proof on ads can weigh slightly more heavily here, as it can directly impact immediate purchases.
Conversion Time
It’s a simple difference, but it’s a big one. B2C customers are much more likely to purchase quickly after viewing the ad, while B2B customers are likely to take much longer. This is directly linked to and thoroughness of the research process.
People are more likely to make impulsive decisions on personal purchases than they are on business, where they may have more finite budgets, and there is greater pressure to get it right for the first time. After all, changing business purchases is often more complicated — it can mean requiring the entire team to learn new software, and since purchases are often more expensive and larger in number, it can be much harder to change when purchased.
The Core Motivation
Both B2B and B2C customers purchase because they can see a product or service that benefits them in some way. Sometimes these benefits overlap, such as saving time or providing comfort. But the bottom line is different. B2C customers are buying with a desire to improve their lives in some way. B2B customers are buying with the aim of improving their business and (most importantly) their bottom line.
