Before you can start building your marketing campaigns, developing relationships with customers, and paving the way to long-term profits, one of the first decisions you’ll make as an entrepreneur is whether to be a B2B or B2C brand. B2B and B2C are two of the most common business models, defining exactly who your target customer is and how you’re going to reach them. While there are certainly overlaps between selling to businesses and consumers, the strategies you use for building your business are likely to differ depending on your categorization. Today, we’re going to guide you through everything you need to know about B2B and B2C marketing and sales.
What are B2B and B2C?
B2B and B2C companies are defined by their target audiences. The term “B2B” stands for Business to Business. B2B ecommerce companies sell to other businesses or professional entities. For example, if you were to purchase corporate furniture, software, or support services, you would go to a B2B company.The term “B2C” stands for Business to Consumer. A B2C business sells to everyday consumers, providing services and items for personal use. A B2B customer could be anyone from a parent buying clothes for their children to a wife buying a cruise for her husband.
B2B vs. B2C: The Main Differences
The lines between B2C and B2B sales are becoming increasingly blurred. However, there are still some significant differences between the two business models that every expert marketer or sales professional should be aware of.
1. Buyer Intent
One difference between B2B vs. B2C marketing and sales is intent. Consumers make many small purchases regularly. If you go shopping on a B2C ecommerce website, you might add several items to your cart, and various factors will influence your purchasing decisions. As a consumer, you may purchase one product over another because of price or packaging. There are various factors that can influence decision-making in the B2C landscape, but it’s often a quick process. Because of this, B2C marketing strategies usually involve connecting with customers on an emotional level to encourage fast, impulsive purchases. A B2C sale will often depend on:
- Emotional connection to the brand.
- The price of the B2C product
- The B2C company’s social proof
- The offer provided by the B2C company
Look at the kind of product page you get on this B2C company’s website, for instance. There’s a lot of fun language focused on emotion and experience:
On the other hand, if you’re buying something on behalf of your business you’re under a lot of additional pressure to get the purchase right. So it’s not just you that has a problem if you make the wrong choice with a B2B product, but your entire team or company. This means a B2B brand can’t rely on impulse alone to make sales.The decision-making process for B2B customers is far slower and more cautious than B2C transactions. It also generally involves more people. According to one study, a B2B transaction requires sign-off from around 7 stakeholders before a decision happens. B2B marketing campaigns need to use content marketing and in-depth insights to prove the value of a product or service to multiple people. B2B sales are reliant on:
- Clear information and statistics
- Approval from multiple stakeholders
- Credibility of the B2B business
- Information on the B2B website
On this B2B page, you get easy-to-follow information about prices and offerings:
2. Customer Lifecycle and Transaction Volume
The customer lifecycle model for B2B vs. B2C businesses is actually quite similar. Both B2B and B2C marketing teams need to create awareness of the products through social media marketing or B2B content marketing methods. You also need to generate interest in the solution you have to offer, demonstrate value, and show your customer why your offer is better than your competitors.However, the B2B lifecycle is often more complex and long-lasting than the B2C customer lifecycle. In the B2B environment, most companies are working to convince other brands to make a large purchase or commit to a subscription service. Therefore, significant investments require the careful creation of relationships between two brands. A B2B marketer will usually work with the B2B sales team and a customer service team to create an end-to-end conversion, engagement, and long-term investment strategy.While B2C marketing also creates returning customers, it’s also possible for the buying process and conversion of a potential customer to be a lot shorter with B2C websites. Unlike B2C companies, B2B focuses more on relationships and loyalty programs than customer success. Getting quality customers is more important than quantity.
3. Branding Strategies
There are major differences in how a B2C business brands itself, compared to a B2B company. While all B2C companies have their own unique branding and marketing strategy, B2C strategies tend to be more experimental and message-focused than B2B efforts. B2C companies can have a more playful voice because they connect with everyday people, not the average business user.B2C brands are also more likely to use fun imagery and content you wouldn’t typically find on a B2B website. For example, you’ll find a lot of photos of real people in B2C marketing, along with bright colors, and emotionally-driven content, like on Innocent.com’s website here:
The B2B marketing strategy often involves using highly professional language, statistics, graphs, and reports to prove themselves to their target audience. B2B brands also focus on developing more conservative images. Many of the brand voices associated with B2B campaigns are usually very clear, concise, and straightforward, as you can see here:
B2B vs. B2C: Differences for a Marketing Team
The kind of customer you target with your business has a significant impact on how you run your company and present your brand to others. This means a B2C or B2B marketer will usually leverage different strategies to convert their customers. Let’s look at the differences in B2B and B2C marketing throughout the levels of the marketing funnel:Top of the FunnelAt the top of the funnel, digital marketing experts focus on building brand awareness and gaining the customer’s interest. Both a B2B and B2C company can use content marketing for this purpose. For example, many B2C marketing companies invest in attractive squeeze pages, blog content, social media content, and other tools to grab the right audience’s attention. A B2B marketer will use similar strategies: thought leadership blogs, product reviews, and sharing information on social media. Many B2B model campaigns also involve press release content and collaborating with professional partners to attract interest in a specific industry. Press releases are common for B2B brands to make customers aware of their latest offerings. B2B businesses can also get involved in trade shows, offline advertising, cold calling and emailing, and interviews.Middle of the funnelFor any marketer, the middle of the funnel in the sales cycle is about driving customer consideration. The main difference between B2B and B2C brands here is the kind of activity the customer will usually invest in when choosing the right product or service. For a B2C marketer, mid-funnel content might include things like reviews, comparisons, or a customer reviews left on a product page. A B2C brand will also use landing pages and giveaways to convince customers to sign up for a subscription newsletter. This allows the company to leverage marketing automation and emails to nurture customers. For B2B customers, mid-funnel content might include competitive analysis and discussions with internal stakeholders. The consideration stage might also require a lot of conversations with the B2B marketing and sales teams, alongside product demos and discussions about custom solutions to problems.Bottom of the funnelA the bottom of the funnel, a B2C campaign will usually deliver everything from discount codes at the checkout to an ultra-smooth purchasing experience. The process can be more complex for B2B customers making much larger purchasing decisions. A B2B marketing strategy might involve:
- Finalizing agreements through numerous face-to-face or online conversations.
- Drawing up contracts.
- Creating custom sales invoices.
Understanding the Difference Between B2B vs. B2C Business
Businesses' and consumers’ decision-making processes are very different. However, it’s important to remember that some factors remain the same. For example, both businesses and customers want to purchase reliable products from a brand they can trust. Getting to know your audience, either as a B2B or B2C brand, will help you to create a marketing campaign and sales strategy custom-made for their sales journey. From there, you can run tests and collect important metrics to see which efforts work best for your goals.Want to add conversions to your marketing strategy? Schedule a demo with Ampry today!