Blurred Lines – Marketing For B2B And B2C?
What is B2B Marketing?
B2B stands for business to business. That means the marketing campaign of a business to attract another business for its products and services. Like, Microsoft makes laptops, computers and desktops.
There are many business companies that buy computers as a company from other companies. For such businesses, the marketing of a business is different than for consumers.
The approach is adjusted based on the overall demographic. The B2B industry is usually a purchase made on behalf of a company and which will add value to that business. This could be in terms of allowing it to operate more efficiently or even buying the produce to which it will then sell on to its consumers or customers.
However, the landscape is certainly an alternative one as to where the leads are generated because the whole culture and nature of the audience is shifted in their working mindsets.
What is B2C Marketing?
B2C stands for business to consumers. That is the marketing campaign of a business for its potential customers as a consumer, an individual person or family for their private and personal usage.
There are so many products sold by companies just for customers. It can be anything, a phone, a tablet, cosmetic products, tech services and the like.
For the customers, marketing of a business is different and is based on different standards.
You are appealing to an individual through brand and identity rather than pure practicality or ease of use. A consumer is buying something as a personal decision, for themselves – often with no further considerations than their own, or their families interests.
Example
I like the example of how a T-shirt business could be B2B or B2C based on slightly different approaches.
A clothing company will need to source their t-shirts from a manufacturer or white label supplier. The business which they have been drawn to through marketing inbound or outbound would be a business-to-business situation.
But when this t-shirt business has a full stock and is looking for customers to purchase garments, it would a case of B2C marketing and the business would be using alternative channels, campaigns and also messages to create the sales opportunity.
Another situation which may develop is for the t-shirt business to sell its products in bulk to a store for retail. Again this flips into a B2B example. However the retailer will still be in need of the B2C messaging to sell it on to consumers effectively.
Therefore it is always important to be aware of the two styles – even if you are more involved in one than another.
Blurred Lines of B2B and B2C Marketing
Previously, the marketing campaigns were really different for businesses and customers. Let’s talk about Google services. The tech company offers a lot of tech services like Gmail, clouding storage and other productivity tools. There are many companies with the same services. They had different packages for businesses. For customers, they had something different.
When it comes to marketing, LinkedIn was the best platform of B2B marketing because most of the businesses and companies use this platform. While for customers, Facebook and Twitter were preferred. But now, the thin marketing line has become invisible. That means, you will find B2B campaigns on Facebook as well as Twitter and B2C on LinkedIn. That is a shift in the user behavior and due to marketing.
Facebook and other social sites that were good only for customer marketing are packed with business marketing. This has just changed in the last three to five years. The companies selling products are using different ways to track the businesses and customers who they can sell their products and services. But what needs to be done is a different campaign for the customers as well as businesses.
How B2B and B2C Marketing Are Similar?
We said that there is a thin marketing line between the two. Apparently, many customers buy business products while businesses need customer products. This shows there is something common and similar between the two. Here are some points that further explain this.
1. Buyer Persona
Before creating a marketing campaign, a business needs buyer information and other details to develop the campaign accordingly. Whether it be B2B or B2C, they need buyer persona and some more details in order to target them. This is the point where the two come close to each other.
2. Marketing and Sales
A recent study found out that 25-50% sales of a business are not covered by its marketing campaigns. That shows the marketing campaigns are failing. And the two sectors need to come close together for work and figure out what can be done. This is the point where B2B and B2C look similar.
Conclusion
We learned that B2B and B2C are two different things but they are the same in a number of ways. The difference between the two if figured out rightly can be effective for the marketing as well as better sales.
There are times when a business will need to deal wit and even become B2B in its outlook. And applying the same framework but understanding the subtle changes in audience will allow you to succeed in either campaign as and when.