One of the core aspects of digital marketing is knowing your audience. However, before you can dive into the details of a specific persona or customer demographic, you must determine which bucket they fall into: B2B or B2C. Most businesses tend to focus on one kind of marketing, but many brands may have to dabble in both to find true success.
So, what are the differences between B2B and B2C marketing? Here's everything you need to know.
What is B2C Marketing?
B2C stands for "business to customer," and it means you're selling directly to the end user of your product or service. Retailers are prime examples of B2C companies since their sales are wholly dependent on customers coming in to buy things.
What is B2B Marketing?
B2B stands for "business to business," and it means you're selling to a company, not an individual. One of the primary advantages of B2B sales and marketing is that you can often get larger, more long-term accounts. While B2C sales can fluctuate based on different variables (including the time of day), B2B sales can be more stable and reliable.
Comparing B2B vs. B2C: Head to Head
Knowing the fundamentals of B2B and B2C marketing is one thing, but now, let's put those elements into practice. Here are five comparisons to illustrate where these marketing tactics align and differ.
Audience
With B2C marketing, you can develop content based on a particular customer or persona. Realistically, your entire business model relies on a specific demographic, but you can narrow your focus as much as you like. For example, maybe your products appeal more to women, and then you can narrow your focus to account for elements like marital status, job, goals, and lifestyle.
With B2B marketing, your audience will include multiple people within the organization. Sometimes, your marketing materials may not be focused on the end user but rather on an executive or manager at the company. So, you have to create materials that appeal to different decision-makers and their objections. Also, just because one person says yes doesn't necessarily mean you can close the deal.
SEO
Keyword research is an essential part of digital marketing, but this process differs greatly between B2B and B2C sales. With B2C marketing, you may focus on keywords that appeal to a particular part of the customer buying process (e.g., interest vs. decision). Overall, your SEO tactics depend on getting as much qualified traffic as possible and relying on a decent conversion rate to drive sales.
With B2B marketing, your SEO strategy must be more targeted. You have a smaller pool of potential customers, and B2B audiences crave information and details. So, while B2C customers may make purchase decisions based on emotions, most B2B customers make them based on evidence and data. Your SEO must reflect that. Instead of driving as much traffic as possible to a particular landing page, your goal is to qualify your leads as much as possible before they click a landing page link.
Sales Funnel
Sometimes, the sales funnel for B2C marketing is quick and easy. A customer finds out about your product, likes it, and decides to buy it immediately. With B2B marketing, your sales funnel is much more complex because it involves different decision-makers. Overall, you have to consider who else is part of the funnel and ensure you have strategies and marketing materials for them when the time comes.
Metrics and Analysis
Analyzing B2C sales is relatively easy because you can develop an ROI pretty quickly. For example, let's say you market to 1,000 leads and 100 of them convert to paying customers. You spent $500 on marketing to those 1,000 leads, but you earned $750 in sales overall. So, your ROI is 150 percent.
With B2B sales and marketing, analyzing metrics is more challenging. You may be working on landing multiple accounts, but until a company closes the deal, you can't be sure how effective your investment will be. So, you must focus on other metrics and guidelines to determine whether your tactics are working. Also, these data points may differ from one account to the next.
Timeline
B2C sales can have a relatively short timeline. Customers can move from interest to decision within a matter of minutes, hours, or days, depending on the situation. B2B sales, however, are much longer.
The primary reason for this difference is the number of decision-makers involved. With B2C marketing, you're appealing to the end user, so once they decide to act, they either convert or churn. With B2B marketing, though, you must appeal to multiple decision-makers, meaning the entire sales process is often measured in weeks and months, not days.
Get Help With Both B2B and B2C Marketing
If you're an SMB that focuses on both B2B and B2C marketing, the entire process can seem a bit overwhelming. Both options have pros and cons, but they require such different approaches. Schedule a consultation, and we will help you organize your marketing tactics to maximize your ROI and strengthen your bottom line.
