Although you still sell to a person, there are some differences between
marketing to businesses and marketing to individual customers. Both business-to-business
(B2B) and end-customers buy to satisfy their needs; however, the specific needs
and nature of the purchase process differ. The success of your content
marketing strategy depends heavily on understanding these differences and using
them in your favor.
This article explains how to build an effective digital content marketing
strategy by highlighting the 3 key differences in selling to B2B and
B2C.
3 Key Differences in B2B vs. B2C Content Marketing
Logic vs. Emotions
B2B buyers are individuals purchasing on behalf of organizations.
They seek efficiency and expertise and as such, their purchasing
decisions tend to be more logical and task-oriented. B2B buying decisions are
also often affected by how the decision impacts individual buyer’s career path.
B2C customers are single individuals who buy products or services for personal
use and, most importantly usually pay for their own transactions. Individual
customers seek deals and entertainment and are often driven by emotional
factors such as hunger, desire or status.
Content Marketing Tips: The B2B
content likes data. It should primarily inform and educate. Business audience
requires deeper technical knowledge. Your B2B content should focus on
product-specific features and explain how the product/services can help your
customer to save time, money and/or make more money. B2C content should
inspire and address emotional satisfaction of obtaining the
product. Language-wide, while industry jargon works to a great effect with
the B2B audience, B2C public would generally resonate better to a more
conversational tone of voice with fewer industry buzzwords.
Longer vs. speedy decision-making process
Business buyers generally spend more money than B2C buyers. B2B
transactions are often completed after a long, multi-stages sales process that
involves multiple decision makers. On the contrary, B2C transactions tend to
have a much lower “ticket value” and consequently take less consideration. A
B2C buying cycle can be as short as a few minutes depending on the specific
product. Often, but not always, a B2C purchase is a single-step, one-off
transaction with a single decision maker involved.
Content Marketing Tips: B2B
audience is relation driven. They need the ability to build a personal
trust-based relationship with your brand and crave for information and fine
details about your product/service. Your typical B2B readers are also far more
likely to read the small print than a B2C customer.
Successful B2B marketing copy should fulfill a series of purposes: deliver
the necessary information to the buyer, reinforce your position as
a trustworthy and reliable business partner and promote your leadership in
the field. As a B2B marketer be prepared to invest your time and efforts in nurturing
long relationships with your target audience.
A B2C consumer following your brand isn’t necessarily seeking to develop a
long and close relationship with your business (except for the most avid fans)
and this completely alters your content message priorities. With B2C, the goal
of content marketing is to get consumers to buy the product immediately.
Brand identity is created through repetition and compelling imagery rather than
data and personal relationship. Consequently, a minimalist marketing message –
be it on social media or on the website - with almost no information but
stunning visuals will work to a great effect with B2C, while it won’t do the
same job in the B2B space.
Smaller lead pool vs. large target market
B2B generally involves a smaller and more defined pool of prospects than
B2C. For instance, Coca-Cola has a much wider target market than a software
house with expertise in financial and automotive industries. The number of
companies the software house can market their services to is much more limited
and probably also strongly influenced by time zone it operates in.
Content Marketing Tips: While B2B
marketers have a more limited scope of promotional channels than B2C, they
advantage consists in knowing very precisely to whom the content is addressed
to and they should tailor it accordingly. Moreover, B2B content creators should
use highly targeted B2B specific distribution channels such as LinkedIn’s Sponsored
Updates to get their messages
right in front of laser focused business buyers. However, with
the imperative of targeted content distribution in mind, business
marketers should not disregard potential engagement opportunities offered by
other social media networks like Twitter and Facebook.
Social media are increasingly blurring the line between B2C and B2B
buyers who openly express their aspirations and their needs through social
networks. Most importantly, however, all buyers begin purchases by researching
products and services online. Often, by the time business decision makers reach
out to sales professionals, they have already completed they shortlist if not
made up a decision. Social media channels create opportunities for both B2B and
B2C marketers to jump into this gap, find potential customers, listen to their
needs and relate to them ahead of the competition.
If you find this article beneficial, give it a thumb up! What is your
experience with creating content for B2C vs. B2B brands? Please
share your comments below.
Although you still sell to a person, there are some differences between
marketing to businesses and marketing to individual customers. Both business-to-business
(B2B) and end-customers buy to satisfy their needs; however, the specific needs
and nature of the purchase process differ. The success of your content
marketing strategy depends heavily on understanding these differences and using
them in your favor.
This article explains how to build an effective digital content marketing
strategy by highlighting the 3 key differences in selling to B2B and
B2C.
3 Key Differences in B2B vs. B2C Content Marketing
3 Key Differences in B2B vs. B2C Content Marketing
Logic vs. Emotions
B2B buyers are individuals purchasing on behalf of organizations.
They seek efficiency and expertise and as such, their purchasing
decisions tend to be more logical and task-oriented. B2B buying decisions are
also often affected by how the decision impacts individual buyer’s career path.
B2C customers are single individuals who buy products or services for personal
use and, most importantly usually pay for their own transactions. Individual
customers seek deals and entertainment and are often driven by emotional
factors such as hunger, desire or status.
Content Marketing Tips: The B2B
content likes data. It should primarily inform and educate. Business audience
requires deeper technical knowledge. Your B2B content should focus on
product-specific features and explain how the product/services can help your
customer to save time, money and/or make more money. B2C content should
inspire and address emotional satisfaction of obtaining the
product. Language-wide, while industry jargon works to a great effect with
the B2B audience, B2C public would generally resonate better to a more
conversational tone of voice with fewer industry buzzwords.
Longer vs. speedy decision-making process
Business buyers generally spend more money than B2C buyers. B2B
transactions are often completed after a long, multi-stages sales process that
involves multiple decision makers. On the contrary, B2C transactions tend to
have a much lower “ticket value” and consequently take less consideration. A
B2C buying cycle can be as short as a few minutes depending on the specific
product. Often, but not always, a B2C purchase is a single-step, one-off
transaction with a single decision maker involved.
Content Marketing Tips: B2B
audience is relation driven. They need the ability to build a personal
trust-based relationship with your brand and crave for information and fine
details about your product/service. Your typical B2B readers are also far more
likely to read the small print than a B2C customer.
Successful B2B marketing copy should fulfill a series of purposes: deliver
the necessary information to the buyer, reinforce your position as
a trustworthy and reliable business partner and promote your leadership in
the field. As a B2B marketer be prepared to invest your time and efforts in nurturing
long relationships with your target audience.
A B2C consumer following your brand isn’t necessarily seeking to develop a
long and close relationship with your business (except for the most avid fans)
and this completely alters your content message priorities. With B2C, the goal
of content marketing is to get consumers to buy the product immediately.
Brand identity is created through repetition and compelling imagery rather than
data and personal relationship. Consequently, a minimalist marketing message –
be it on social media or on the website - with almost no information but
stunning visuals will work to a great effect with B2C, while it won’t do the
same job in the B2B space.
Smaller lead pool vs. large target market
B2B generally involves a smaller and more defined pool of prospects than
B2C. For instance, Coca-Cola has a much wider target market than a software
house with expertise in financial and automotive industries. The number of
companies the software house can market their services to is much more limited
and probably also strongly influenced by time zone it operates in.
Content Marketing Tips: While B2B
marketers have a more limited scope of promotional channels than B2C, they
advantage consists in knowing very precisely to whom the content is addressed
to and they should tailor it accordingly. Moreover, B2B content creators should
use highly targeted B2B specific distribution channels such as LinkedIn’s Sponsored
Updates to get their messages
right in front of laser focused business buyers. However, with
the imperative of targeted content distribution in mind, business
marketers should not disregard potential engagement opportunities offered by
other social media networks like Twitter and Facebook.
Social media are increasingly blurring the line between B2C and B2B
buyers who openly express their aspirations and their needs through social
networks. Most importantly, however, all buyers begin purchases by researching
products and services online. Often, by the time business decision makers reach
out to sales professionals, they have already completed they shortlist if not
made up a decision. Social media channels create opportunities for both B2B and
B2C marketers to jump into this gap, find potential customers, listen to their
needs and relate to them ahead of the competition.
If you find this article beneficial, give it a thumb up! What is your
experience with creating content for B2C vs. B2B brands? Please
share your comments below.
I think this article will fully complement you article. PLease continue publishing helpful topics like this. Regards, from Always Open Commerce
ReplyDeleteThanks Steve for your feedback! it is really nice to hear!
DeleteI am glad to hear that! Thank you for your comment Aasha!
ReplyDeleteyou are very welcome! I am glad to be helpful :)
ReplyDelete