Most marketing best practices tend to be focused on business-to-consumer, or B2C marketing: personalize whenever possible, make an emotional connection, streamline the path from awareness to purchase, build loyalty by having a memorable brand, take an omnichannel approach—you get the idea.
But business-to-business, or B2B marketing, requires a different approach. In B2B marketing, everything’s a little different, and for good reason. Here’s a quick overview of six key differences between B2C and B2B marketing.
Audience and motivation
In B2C marketing, brands are usually talking to individuals, whether it’s a parent shopping for healthy snacks, a jet-setter planning an overseas vacation, or a teenager eyeing the latest pair of sneakers. Consumers are usually driven by personal wants, needs, preferences, and emotions.
In B2B marketing, your target audience is usually an organization or business, with multiple stakeholders, whose goals are more quantifiable: efficiency, productivity, ROI, etc.
Decision-making process
In B2C, shorter sales cycles abound, because you’re usually only dealing with one decision-maker, who may be prone to impulsive and emotional purchases. Trends also play a bigger role.
In the world of B2B marketing, sales cycles tend to be much longer. Not only are multiple stakeholders involved, but decision-makers want to do their due diligence, backed by data and facts. You won’t find many impulse purchases in the B2B world.
Marketing channels
Think of the last item you purchased for yourself. Maybe a new pair of jeans, a piece of sporting equipment, or a wellness item. Where did you see it advertised? In B2C marketing, social media advertising, digital ads, influencers, and streaming placements are leading the pack.
However, in B2B, marketing relies much more heavily on networking, direct outreach, and education. Think conference attendance, white papers, webinars, and 1:1 emails. Like in B2C, social proof is important, but it comes in the form of case studies, testimonials, and referrals. A strong website and significant LinkedIn presence–both at the corporate and employee level–are also vital to B2B marketing.
Voice and tone
In B2C, there’s a lot of room to play with voice and tone. B2C marketing can be funny, playful, emotional, or even sarcastic—as long as it aligns with the overall brand and is appropriate to the channel.
Brands tend to play it a little safer in the B2B space. The tone is usually professional, factual, and highly benefits-focused. Value propositions are backed by data and numbers, and any promises made are (usually) not hyperbolic. There’s still an opportunity to showcase the brand’s personality, which can be helpful in breaking through the busy marketplace and creating brand “stickiness.” Threading the needle between buttoned-up and memorable is where an expert agency partner can really come in handy.
Retention and loyalty
Customer loyalty is important in both B2C and B2B industries, but how it’s done varies. In B2C, brands build loyalty through rewards programs, personalization, and building emotional connections.
In B2B, loyalty is built through one-on-one connections, superior customer service, and long-term contracts.
Success metrics
How success is measured varies between the two as well. In B2C marketing, campaign success is often measured by website traffic, social media engagement, and sales.
Things are a little different in B2B, where it’s often “quality over quantity.” Marketing success is measured by quality of leads, account growth, and lifetime value (LTV).
Ready to talk B2B?
B2B marketing is a different animal, and the differences we’ve outlined above are just the beginning. To successfully execute B2B marketing, you need a partner with expertise in this unique space. Monster Design has more than two decades of experience crafting strategic, effective marketing for B2B brands across a wide range of industries, including healthcare, tech, education and more. Reach out today to start a conversation about how we can help you meet your biggest B2B marketing goals.