How to craft a marketing strategy for B2B vs. B2C businesses

Marketing to B2B and B2C businesses may require using the same tools – traditional advertising media, digital ads, social media marketing – the strategies utilised should however take on a different approach, simply because your potential client inhabits disparate buying mentality. In order to make a successful sale or execute a great marketing campaign with impressive ROI, you will have to get back to the roots of understanding your customer first.

Understanding Your Buyer’s Motivation

Logical vs Emotional

A business client and a consumer have different objectives when it comes to buying. A business client buys using logic – you need to provide concrete examples of how buying your products and services can benefit their bottom line. Compare that to an individual consumer: their decision to buy a product stems from a variety of reasons – an emotional response, a real need, or buying something in the hope that it can boost their individual status (e.g luxury products). With this in mind, you need to tailor your sales tactic and marketing strategy accordingly.

Sales Cycle

If you are marketing to a business client, you can expect a longer process compared to an individual client. B2B purchasing decisions typically satisfy a long term goal and require much more consideration and approval. In contrast, an individual buyer does not need to consult with another person before making the decision to purchase. In fact, they buy on the concept of ‘scarcity’, fearing that they may miss out on a good deal if they do not act immediately. Because of this nuance, relationship-building plays a key role for B2B marketers as their clients require more follow-up actions and closer attention.

Returns on Investment (ROI)

According to Webmarketing123’s latest annual State of Digital Marketing report, proving ROI is the top challenge for B2B marketers this year, topping the usual challenge of lead-generation, while the B2C marketers’ top concerns were with converting leads. In fact, you might be surprised to know that 1 in 3 B2B companies does not measure the ROI on their marketing activity!  So if you are looking to gain the trust of your business clients, you may want to hone your skills to become a ROI-focused marketer, showing them the concrete effectiveness of marketing campaigns through closing percentages, cost-per-acquisition and cost-per lead.

Choosing The Right Marketing Channel

There are a myriad of ways to market your products, but your clients consume advertising in different ways. A procurement officer from a Fortune 500 tech company is not going to buy a whole department’s software based on the web banner he saw on a product review website. He will already have in mind the exact requirements for the software, and will react more positively to a long-form content piece comparing the benefits and downsides of similar softwares in the market. This is the reason why choosing the right marketing channel for your target client is half the battle won.