Why Your B2B and B2C Marketing Should Be Totally Different

Stop throwing money at the wrong audience! Discover why B2B and B2C need completely different marketing strategies. Your wallet will thank you!

Hey marketer! 👋🏻

When I start working with a new client, I'm interested in how they've built their business, what products or services they offer, and most importantly - to whom. Who is their customer. The thing is, when planning marketing - and not just online marketing - it plays a crucial role whether you're targeting a business customer or an end consumer. In this article, I'll try to describe as clearly as possible how these differ. And what's the same for both types of customers.

Selling to End Customers: B2C (Business to Customer) 🛒

Let's start by defining who an end customer is. It's a person, like you or me, who buys goods or services for themselves. For private consumption. So it's selling from business to consumer. In the world of marketing abbreviations, this relationship is called B2C - "business to customer." Basically, every purchase a regular person makes in a store - whether physical or online - is this type of sale.

Whether you want to buy dog food or are looking for an English teacher to take lessons with, you choose from available sources those that give you the greatest benefit, bring you the most advantages, and seem most trustworthy to you. Maybe because of the brand story you subconsciously know from before. You're also probably quite influenced by the overall presentation - whether it's dog food packaging featuring a happy dog and the amount of vitamins and minerals contained in the food, or reviews from satisfied students and photos of classrooms from the language school that just caught your eye. And maybe the deciding factor will be getting a free toy with the bag of food or being able to take a free trial English lesson. Or simply a discount and better price will decide.

We all know this, but maybe not everyone realizes what preceded buying something. What actually convinced you to choose this particular item from the colorful selection? And why at this particular e-shop? At this company? Often it's more of an emotional decision than a rational one.

Selling Business to Business: B2B (Business to Business) 🏢

The second type I'll describe today is selling goods or services from one company to another company. In the world of abbreviations, this is called B2B, or "business to business." It could be a restaurant owner buying umbrellas for the patio. A carpenter buying wood for furniture production. A tech company seeking manufacturing subcontractors. Or a shop owner buying goods for resale. But also an entrepreneur looking for an external accountant. Simply put, a company buying for itself or for resale purposes.

In this relationship, a person isn't deciding about their own benefit during the purchasing process, but in the context of the company. Purchase or starting cooperation is usually much better thought out and backed by factual data 📈. Rationality and deeper comparison play a bigger role in decision-making. The motivation to buy is often clearly given in advance, and selection then proceeds with regard to specifications. Often (for example, when looking for a supplier) they're also deciding on longer-term cooperation, so additional parameters come into play in determining the reliability of such a partnership.

The specific person responsible for this decision can be either a freelancer or owner of a smaller company looking for the most advantageous offer for the company, or an employee who wants to simultaneously have certainty that they can defend their choice when confronted by a superior.

What Do B2C and B2B Have in Common? 🤔

Even though these two worlds are different, we find a lot in common. First - in both cases, a human is buying. Not an emotionless robot. And the foundation of successful business is communication. Good customer service and a comfortable purchasing process influence a lot. Also, references from satisfied customers or positive feedback on services or products - everyone likes to read those.

Furthermore, in both relationships, the product or offered service comes first. That's what makes or breaks it. At the same time, both business customers and end consumers deal with brand image (or reputation). A business customer doesn't want to ruin their reputation, and an end customer associates brand value with goods or services. So trustworthiness and transparency in behavior are positive points in any case.

Practical Examples of Different Approaches to Target Groups ☕

So it's not just dry theory, let's show some practical examples.

I spent five years in the fast-moving consumer goods industry. These are products like beverages and food. One of the main products was coffee.

For the end consumer, it's quite an emotional and easy choice. They prefer a certain brand, have it connected with emotions and sensory experience during consumption. Whether they have it in a café or buy it packaged in a store. They usually buy an amount they'll consume in the foreseeable future as part of their regular shopping. Or they treat themselves to coffee when passing by a favorite café. Only a sale in the store might persuade them to buy a larger quantity. For them, the brand is a guarantee of taste, quality, and perhaps the level of the café where it's served. They'll be satisfied when the coffee tastes good and is somehow interesting. So in quotes, it's enough to properly describe the coffee, praise it, add a story, promote it, and set an appropriate pricing strategy.

From a business customer's perspective (for example, a café), the purchase is already a consequence of many other factors. For a café, besides price and quality, it's important what sales support the supplier offers so the coffee sells more and better. Is marketing support also part of the sale, for example in the form of branded porcelain, offer cards for tables, or clothing for baristas? Is the coffee brand sufficiently known and promoted? Does this coffee brand have a story that would help the café sell it? Is there some specialty in the offer? Simply put, the operator wants a product that will help attract more guests. And they don't want to rack their brains about how to communicate this further, and definitely don't want to invent advertising for a product they'll be buying. They'll be happy when they get complete support and a story with the coffee that they can convey to their customers with minimal effort. And profit from it.

Differences in B2C and B2B ⚖️

You can't generalize too much - every case is different in some way. But I'll still try to mention a few characteristics for both approaches.

🛍️ First, selling business to consumer:

• The goal is usually to sell to as many customers as possible - quantity of customers and reaching new ones is important

• You have a significantly larger target group of customers - there are more end consumers than companies in the market

• Quick communication, support, and customer service are important elements in sales

• Purchase decision-making is often emotional and supported by personal benefit

• The goal of marketing activities is to make a strong impulse to buy

• You can use mass communication; customers often prefer to be anonymous in communication with sellers

🏢 And selling business to business:

• There's a smaller target group compared to end consumers - quality is more important than quantity of customers

• More people are usually involved in the purchasing process who participate in decision-making

• Business is often very relationship-based and long-term; building a strong customer-supplier relationship is important

• This relates to individual approach to clients, personal communication

• B2B sales includes information sharing, sales support, or help with implementation

• Motivation is subsequent profit for the buyer too. Win-win cooperation

What Does This Mean for Marketing? 📈

We haven't talked about marketing communication channels - the way to reach individual audiences. In the end, it's always about the best possible targeting. And every audience is different, specific. Therefore, you can't give general recommendations.

🏢 For B2B marketing, you can use well:

• Email marketing - newsletters and promotional emails

• LinkedIn - publishing posts and activity on this professional social network

• Content marketing - publishing expert articles on the website, infographics, educational materials

• Webinars and online workshops - product and service presentations

• Professional conferences and trade shows - personal meetings with potential customers

🛍️ For B2C marketing, you can use for example:

• Social networks - regular publishing, maintaining contact with fans and customers

• PPC advertising - Google Ads, social media ads for expanding awareness

• Content marketing - blogging, educational articles, videos, infographics

• Influencer marketing - collaboration with influencers who have relevant audiences

• Email marketing - newsletters for sales support and news communication

The biggest win is always gaining your own audience that you can continuously reach. And maintaining good relationships with customers you've already sold something to.

Summary 📝

In this article, we looked at how online marketing differs for B2B and B2C customers. We showed that both types of marketing have their own characteristics and strategies that need to be considered.

For B2B marketing, it's important to focus on building relationships and providing important information that helps potential customers in their decision-making process. You need to create quality content and emphasize personal communication with individual customers.

On the other hand, for B2C marketing, it's important to have a strong and emotionally charged brand, create engaging content that appeals to end customers and evokes positive emotions and reactions in them.

Try to consciously notice how individual brands or companies communicate. Try to investigate why they do it that way. What's behind it. Collect inspiration from individual pieces that you can put together into your own, original mosaic.

I'll close with a quote from HubSpot co-founder and marketing expert Mike Volpe:

"Always provide value first. Value builds trust. Once you earn that trust, you have the opportunity to make a sale." 💡

---

☕ Enjoying the content? Support the project!

Help me keep creating practical marketing content by buying me a coffee. Every cup fuels more articles, tips, and resources for fellow entrepreneurs like you!

---

Looking forward to the next article!

Jan Barborik

P.S.: If you enjoyed this article, forward it to a friend.

If you're that sexy friend, subscribe here.