Every marketing firm out there has heard of B2B vs B2C marketing. In fact, most companies categorize their style of marketing as either B2B (business to business) or B2C (business to consumer) and at the base level; these styles of marketing are relatively different.
So how do you know which style of marketing is best for your company or campaign? Well, first and foremost, it’s important to really understand what the differences between B2B vs B2C marketing are. Let’s get started.
Both B2B vs B2C marketing strategies connect brands to customers; however, the approach used to market content is entirely different.
B2C businesses focus more on the consumer and what interests they might have. B2C businesses are emotionally driven, emphasizing entertainment, brand awareness and the large-scale market. For example, Nike produced a commercial, featuring the 2014 World Cup games and several super star soccer players, called Risk Everything. This video went viral and was a huge success for Nike, because Nike’s audience is largely influenced by sports. Hence why, a major sporting event, such as the World Cup would be of interest to Nike’s audience. This kind of success within video can boost sales tremendously.
The same goes for Duracell when they produced Moments of Warmth. Duracell was able to connect with their audience on an emotional level (again, a trait of B2C marketing) and simultaneously bring attention to the quality of their product. Hence, B2C allows for emotionally driven purchase intent. Tessa Wegert said:
Consumers exposed to branded content…were 28 percent more likely to have a “favorable” impression of the brand. Accordingly, brands—like Duracell Canada with its recent “Moments of Warmth” video—do their best to ingratiate themselves with their potential customers.
On the other hand, B2B businesses are rationally driven—customers (or other businesses) want to know that there is reason and logic behind purchasing a product. When marketing for B2B, you need to focus on the features of the product, which means you often have to get creative. Take Volvo for example with The Epic Split. This video was produced in order to demonstrate Volvo Dynamic Steering, predominantly while steering in reverse. So, while Volvo is a large-market company, this product is niche, let’s say for Volvo trucks. Which brings up another B2B point—B2B targets a much smaller, niche market. B2B businesses often encourage thought leadership and provide informational content as a way of luring in their customers. B2B marketing is all about knowledge, which (no offense B2C customers) is usually yearned for by smaller companies because they want to know how a product can save their company money and time. The overall key, however, is to successfully build a relationship with your audience—which is key to B2B transactions because B2B marketing is also relational! Think about it—how do smaller businesses grow? BOOM! You got it—networking and building relationships.
So, whether you are targeting a large market or small market and whether you are focused on emotional engagement or informational content, B2B vs B2C marketing strategies focus on building your brand. And what’s great about both of these markets is that video content is still key! Over 40% of respondents said that mobile content was key to B2B transactions and 67% of B2C transactions are driven by email campaigns (Herbison). Both mobile content and email campaigns can rely heavily on video and succeed because of the visual engagement!
References:
Herbison, Michelle. “Infographic: Opportunities and Threats of Omnichannel for B2B and B2C Marketers.” Marketing Magazine. N.p., 16 Oct. 2014. Web. 30 Dec. 2014.
“Duracell (Canada) Moments of Warmth” YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 30 Dec. 2014.
“Nike Football: Risk Everything.” YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 30 Dec. 2014.
“Video â AT&T Network Experts:.” YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 30 Dec. 2014.
“Volvo Trucks.” YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 30 Dec. 2014.
Wegert, Tessa. “What’s the Difference Between B2B and B2C Content Marketing?” The Content Strategist Whats the Difference Between B2B and B2C Content Marketing Comments. N.p., Apr. 2014. Web. 30 Dec. 2014.