B2B Vs. B2C: the Differences Every Marketer Should Know

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If you have any experience in the business world, you’ll have come across the terms B2B and B2C. B2B stands for Business to Business and describes the business strategy of companies who sell their product or services to other businesses. 

B2C stands for Business to Customer and is the business strategy of companies who sell their product to the mass consumer market. The contrasts between B2B and B2C are essentially the difference between wholesale and retail.

B2B marketing tends to focus on more logical, process-driven purchasing decisions due to the target market being businesses. B2C marketing, however, tends to focus more on emotionally driven purchasing decisions due to the target market being end consumers. They may overlap sometimes but the marketing strategy differences are still significant.

Understanding these differences is key to building a high-performance marketing strategy. Let’s look at some key differences between B2B and B2C marketing.

1. Customer Relations

B2B

The target audience in the B2B model is businesses. You’re a business marketing your product or service to other businesses. Your marketing focus is going to be on creating and building more personal relationships that will lead to long-term business.

Personal relationships are important as potential clients get to know your practices, ethics, and morals. These things can separate you from your competition and let your target audience know that you are a good, reliable supplier. These are long-term qualities that business people look for.

Building these business relationships and generating leads creates repeat and referral business. So developing relationships with target audiences is crucial for B2B businesses. One way to do this is to allow customers to call you at any time using a toll-free number.

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B2C

The target audience in the B2C model is retail consumers. You’re a business marketing your product or service to consumers. Your marketing focus here is going to be on leading consumers to your ecommerce store and driving sales. 

Because you’re only generating one or two small sales at a time with no guarantee of long-term business, your marketing focus can’t be on building personal relationships. Instead, B2C businesses need to focus on sales efficiency and creating extremely transactional relationships.

The marketing strategy for B2C focuses on selling the product, with the majority of time spent on delivering high-quality products as quickly as possible. One way to speed up the customer experience is to use AI customer service. 

2. Branding

B2B

As mentioned above, in B2B marketing, the focus is on relationship building. This applies to branding as well. Honoring relationships through consistent presentation and delivery of products or services will build your reputation or brand in the industry.

Your target audience is businesses whose decision-making is business-oriented. To build your brand you’ll need to market your position in the industry and let your personality shine. This will build brand recognition and generate leads. Don’t forget to adjust your brand towards your target audience and be aware of their personalities.

B2C

When marketing to a B2C audience, branding is essential. Having a strong brand allows you to deliver a message, build brand loyalty, create credibility, emotionally connect with customers, and motivate purchases. 

Branding is the number one priority of B2C marketing due to the fact that the customer and business don’t interact a lot. To make up for this you have to create a lasting, positive opinion and provide a quality experience for the customer, ensuring repeat sales.

Building a brand with a good reputation can be achieved by delivering clear, credible messages, and creating motivational copy that resonates with consumers.

3. Decision-Making Process

B2B

The decision-making process in the B2B model involves more open communication between businesses so that both parties can decide if it would be a good partnership. Therefore appeals to emotional and rational decisions can be made.

In B2B, the decision-making process sees customers evaluating their needs which can have rational and emotional motivators. Rational motivations are driven by financial mindsets; is this a good investment? Emotional motivations are driven by emotional connections; Will we lose money and have to fire some staff?

Understanding your audience can help you comprehend the decision-making process that may apply to you. This allows you to get ahead of competitors by creating an emotional connection through clear, specific messaging.

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B2C

With B2C, the focus is on the sales funnel. Marketers should use their knowledge of the conversion funnel in the decision-making process, maximizing ROI. At the top of this funnel are advertisements that give customers the need for a product.

Now, the customer will know what product they want to purchase. However, unlike B2B, customers are more open when looking for a specific product to buy.

That is why it’s essential to simplify the decision-making process for consumers while continuing to appeal to them. There is still a high chance that consumers are looking at your competitors as well. Using an influencer marketing campaign is a great strategy, especially when paired with discounts via a referral code.

4. Audience Targeting

B2B

B2B businesses operate in a niche market, and so it’s very important to know your target demographic. An example of a niche may be cheap electronic parts made specifically for the Indian market. To effectively attract customers, you must compile and analyze accurate data (both qualitative and quantitative).

B2C

Since the target audience is so broad (retail customers), B2C businesses must work in larger-scale markets. For marketers, the marketing funnel is crucial for attracting customers.

Start at the top of the funnel and cast a wide net. Use emotional and product-driven advertisements. From there you can create a warm lead list and remarket to those target audiences who showed interest.

5. Ad Copy

B2B

In B2B it is important for you to speak your target audience’s language. This is because businesses want to partner with experts who understand their industry. Understanding the terminology, processes, and even the decisions made by customer businesses can greatly increase the chances of a purchase.

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B2C

In B2C, customers only care about the product or service they receive. So instead of using industry jargon, you can use more straightforward language to speak to customers in a relatable voice. Aim to evoke emotion in your audience.

B2C customers want to enjoy a purchase, whereas B2B customers are making a rational, logical financial purchase.

Conclusion

As a marketer, it is crucial that you understand the key differences between B2B and B2C marketing. 

Knowing these key differences will drastically change your marketing strategy and allow you to create highly effective marketing practices applicable to both B2B and B2C businesses.

-Grace Lau is the Director of Growth Content at Dialpad, an AI-powered cloud PBX phone system for better and easier team collaboration. She has over 10 years of experience in content writing and strategy. Currently, she is responsible for leading branded and editorial content strategies, partnering with SEO and Ops teams to build and nurture content. Here is her LinkedIn

The growth of the B2B industry over the last few years has been exciting. People are beginning to see the perks of playing in the B2B market, and they’re diving into it. 

According to Tradeling, 82% of executives in the United Arab Emirates expect to use B2B eCommerce in the future. If you haven’t already carved a space out for yourself, it’s time to get ahead of the trend. In other words, you should have an eCommerce website.

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Here, we’ll discuss the top benefits of owning a B2B eCommerce website for your brand:  

1. Reach Customers Faster and With More Ease

With 30.3 million internet users in Saudi Arabia alone, it’s clear a lot of your potential customers will be looking to make purchases online. If you don’t have a web presence, they’re going to look elsewhere. But this isn’t the only advantage.

As well as being easy to find, you no longer have to worry about physical consultations with prospective clients. With the click of a few buttons, they can reach you and set up an online consultation. Your B2B eCommerce website can answer the questions clients have about doing business with your brand. On your part, you can make it easier for customers to find your eCommerce website through display ads, social media, and other digital avenues. 

2. Improve Efficiency

Having a B2B eCommerce website helps to increase the efficiency and productivity of your business. You don’t need to have customers come into a brick-and-mortar shop to complete transactions with them. Instead, customers can conveniently order online whenever and wherever they want to make a purchase. These orders can be fulfilled automatically with order management software – and with companies like Saudi Digital Payments Company signing partnership deals, it’s easier to offer varied payment options to your customers.

3. Increase Sales

Efficiency and productivity tend to be directly proportional to conversion/sales. In other words, the more efficient your B2B business is, the higher your sales will be. This is why an eCommerce website offers several opportunities to upsell your brand. 

For instance, just having the right content in your blog can bring new customers and increase sales. The numbers show content marketing efforts generate at least three times more leads than traditional marketing.

Not only that, eCommerce websites afford customers self-service capabilities from the comfort of their homes. Customers can order and reorder as much as they like without moving an inch and manage things like business invoices and past orders with the click of a button. 

4. Enhance Analytics for Business Insights

Another aspect eCommerce websites can help with is tracking KPIs. By integrating your eCommerce website with analytics systems, you can see a comprehensive breakdown of your business sales. This can provide you with insights into which aspect of your business is doing well and the places you need to improve.

Some of key metrics to keep an eye on include:

• Monthly recurring revenue
• Bounce rate
• Number of sessions per user
• Session duration
• Organic traffic
• Average order rate
• Customer retention rates

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5. Improve Customer Service and Relationships

A key part of developing a B2B eCommerce website is optimization. Web optimization involves restructuring various website elements to satisfy both search engine bots and prospective customers. You can improve customer experience by making your website faster, easier to navigate, and loading it with relevant content.

While a call center IVR is one way to attend to your customers, your website can be another way to deal with customer complaints or queries. Customers can easily leave feedback regarding your product on your eCommerce website, and you can use the feedback to improve your processes and customer relationships.

6. Personalization Options

Ecommerce websites also enable B2B businesses to improve their customer experience initiatives. One key way to do this is through personalization. By having an ecommerce website and the right analytics software, you can improve the shopping experience for both new and returning customers.

For instance, you can suggest products for returning customers by using their order history and tracking information. Also, by integrating it with an omnichannel contact solution, customers won’t have to start from scratch when they use your direct inward dialing number. Instead, your team will be able to see their previous orders, any communication you’ve had previously, and personal preferences. This is a great way of maintaining that personal sales connection via the online world.

7. Increase Customer Retention and Scalability

Customer retention is what you get when you combine a customer-centric system with top-notch customer service. An eCommerce website enables you to set up your business to please every one of your customers. The more you’re able to satisfy your customers, the better your chances of retaining them.

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It doesn’t end there; an effective eCommerce website will expose your business to new channels. With proper SEO optimization, your business will continuously find its way to new market segments through organic search results.

8. Explore New Products

An eCommerce website may also be what you need to push out a new product mix. It’s easier to offer various products in a digital space, as you’re not reliant on having room in a physical storefront. This is even easier for brands that sell digital products, as there are no warehouse costs either.

You can also accurately see how your new products are doing –  do they have a high cart abandonment rate? Are people clicking through but then bouncing away? Or are these new products catching their eye and converting to sales? With metrics like this easily available, you’ll be able to tell whether your audience approves of the new product mix. 

9. Improve Brand Identity

Having an eCommerce website bolsters your online presence and strengthens your brand identity. It puts your brand out there, making it easier for other businesses and customers to recognize it. That said, you want to pay attention to your website security. As your popularity increases, people will try to gain unauthorized access to it, so take the right precautions before it becomes a problem.

What now?

If you haven’t got a website already, you’re missing out. But don’t worry, it’s not too late! Spend some time finding the best B2B eCommerce platform and enjoy the full perks of entrepreneurship today. While you could make the whole thing from scratch, there are so many options out there to help you get set-up that you can create a whole online presence in no time.

-Grace Lau is the Director of Growth Content at Dialpad, an AI-powered cloud PBX phone system for better and easier team collaboration. She has over 10 years of experience in content writing and strategy. Currently, she is responsible for leading branded and editorial content strategies, partnering with SEO and Ops teams to build and nurture content. Here is her LinkedIn