Businesses are either B2B (Business to Business) or B2C (Business to Consumer).
While you may be familiar with the two types of businesses, B2B and B2C content marketing strategies may not be familiar.
The two strategies have several similarities, but they also have significant differences. Understanding these differences is crucial to having successful marketing campaigns.
For marketing agencies dealing with both B2B and B2C businesses, it’s crucial to understand these differences to create successful marketing strategies.
What is B2B Marketing?
B2B marketing is a form of promotion aimed at companies that sell their goods or services directly to other businesses rather than consumers.
B2B content marketing focuses on the practice of distributing relevant, high-quality information to business owners and other professionals. Some B2B content marketing examples include blog posts on a hospital equipment manufacturer’s website and product reviews.
The goal is typically to build awareness around your brand and drive traffic to your site to increase sales.
What is B2C Marketing?
B2C marketing promotes businesses that sell their goods or services directly to consumers. This type of marketing targets the general public and specific consumer demographics.
B2C content marketing, like B2B, uses high-quality information distribution. However, B2C has a different end goal in mind.
Instead of building brand awareness and driving traffic to a website, B2C content marketing focuses on selling your products directly through the use of social media posts, engaging blog articles, and videos.
The key is to educate people to feel comfortable buying from you rather than from the competitor. B2C content marketing examples include content on websites belonging to restaurants, drug stores, car dealerships, etc.
What to Expect from Content Marketing?
When it comes to content marketing, B2B lead generation and B2C lead generation take some time before achieving expected results.
For example, if you are running a B2C content marketing campaign, then expect sales to come in weeks or months after publishing your first blog post, not immediately.
This is the nature of building brand awareness through articles and videos instead of paid ads that target people directly by showing them your message.
The goal is to have a long-term marketing strategy centered around creating high-quality content so you can establish yourself as an authority in your field and drive sales through organic traffic at the same time.
Both B2B and B2C marketing offer several benefits for your business, including:
- Increased traffic to your website/blog or social media accounts
- Increased brand awareness
- Higher search engine rankings
- Greater customer loyalty
- Improved SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
It’s all about the customer.
Your B2C content marketing strategy should focus on making your customers happy. If they are not satisfied, no amount of promotion will help you.
It’s also about business. If you use content marketing to promote B2B, the business should be the focus. You must provide an insight into how it works and why people should do business with you instead of competitors.
How is Content Marketing Different Among B2B Marketers and B2C Marketers?
B2B Vs. B2C content marketing can be summarized into one question: who are you trying to sell to?
If you’re trying to sell your product or service directly to other businesses, you need a B2B content marketing approach.
However, if you’re looking for more consumer-focused content such as how-to guides and reviews, then B2C is your go-to approach.
There are several primary differences between B2B and B2C marketing
- Intent
In B2B, your primary goal is to establish a relationship with companies that will buy from you in the future. You create content that speaks directly to their needs and provides solutions they need.
In B2C, your business knows its customers personally. With this knowledge, you can tailor the content specifically for them based on gender, age, location, etc. Your goal is to establish a relationship that will lead to sales.
- Content Type
B2C content marketing focuses on building trust and establishing yourself as an authority in your industry. This is done through informative posts and videos, so people feel comfortable buying goods or services from you instead of a competitor.
On the other hand, B2B marketers use high-quality content. These include how-to guides or long-form blog posts about their business model to build relationships with buyers for future deals.
- Channel
Social media platforms are used more effectively in B2C marketing than B2B content marketing.
This is because B2C marketers want to sell their products or services directly to customers. They use social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram to find leads by offering discounts and specials.
In contrast, B2B marketers don’t see as much success on social media platforms and focus more on LinkedIn and other business-oriented websites (which also means that these websites receive significantly less traffic than those used by B2C marketers).
- Target Audience
B2C marketing targets individual consumers; the audience is more spread out and in a larger-scale market.
Some B2B businesses combine several niches, thus a wider audience. And even in smaller niches, there are different types of consumers.
Thus, content for B2C is enticing, engaging, and skewed towards product-driven and emotional purchases.
B2B businesses, on the other hand, have a niche market. Their audience is other businesses looking to make a profit and get value for their money.
Unlike B2C customers, these don’t make emotional purchases and are more analytical. Content marketing efforts should target the key decision-makers and focus on trends, data, and ROI.
- Goals
B2C content marketing is focused on making money. If you’re looking to sell directly to your customers, then this means you should write each post with the end goal in mind (i.e., how does this help my business make money?).
B2B content marketing is about creating a relationship with future buyers through high-quality content shared over social media platforms.
It can also bring in revenue from sales of products and services, but only if you first establish a long-term relationship with prospects.
- Buying Cycle
Like any other purchase, B2B influencers look for specific information about which companies they buy from.
They want to learn about the company’s business model and what makes them different from its competitors.
In contrast, B2C customers only read content that is directly tied to purchasing a product or service.
So instead of reading long-form blog posts about how a product can help them solve a problem, customers will look for short-form videos offering quick demonstrations of the product in action.
- Return on Investment (ROI)
A B2C marketer will focus on their ROI regarding website traffic and engagement rate, while a B2B marketer focuses more on influencing the buying decision.
Both metrics, however, are essential for marketers to track so they can improve their marketing efforts over time.
The added benefit for B2B marketers is that focusing on these two elements should result in more deals happening between you and your customers – which means the number should be much easier to track than other metrics like website traffic or social media followers.
- Marketing Costs
B2B marketing costs are high as decision making is a lengthy process that involves several people. The key decision-makers must consult between themselves and involve a chain of command.
B2C consumers don’t require consultation to buy a product. They make quick decisions in a short time; thus, marketing costs are low.
Common Things Between B2B & B2C Content Marketing
B2C content marketing aims for a more general audience to increase sales and bring in new customers.
B2B content marketing seeks to provide advice on how to improve your business, including things like how to use the product or service.
There are, however, some common things that both marketing strategies share:
- Both methods try to get customers through social media channels such as Facebook, Instagram, infographics, etc. However, B2C often uses these channels more than B2B marketers do.
- Their primary focus is on increased sales and acquiring new customers.
- Both have to create content that’s engaging to the reader and build brand recognition.
- Real people are involved in content marketing in both B2B and B2C.
- In both, you must define and identify the buyer persona before creating a content marketing strategy.
Conclusion
Content marketing is a more complex process than some may think. The type of content and the goals you have will largely depend on what your business does, who you’re trying to sell to, and how you want customers to experience your product or service.
A B2B marketer might be more interested in informing potential customers why choosing them is better for both parties.
In contrast, a B2C marketer might focus more on showing off different features that make their company preferable over others in their industry.
Whether you are looking for informative blog posts or videos demonstrating your products, many factors determine if content marketing will work well with B2B or B2C clients.
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