Applying B2C Learnings to B2B Marketing

B2B companies face unique challenges distinct from the B2C world, such as longer sales cycles, higher-value transactions, and complex decision-making processes involving numerous stakeholders. Sure, these differences are pretty significant, but there are definitely strategies B2B marketers can use from B2C to be more successful. Let’s take a look at some of these.

All the Information

One key lesson from B2C is the power of education in the customer's journey. In B2C, information about products is abundant and easily accessible, often including detailed videos, customer testimonials, and creating communities.

B2B companies adopt this approach because they know that the more content the consumer has, the more educated they’ll be, and it will lead to a faster decision-making process. They are empowering potential clients to learn and make informed decisions independently. This transparency not only nurtures trust but can significantly speed up the sales cycle.

Engagement

B2C also excels in continuous engagement. Consumers will repeatedly encounter the products that solve their problems or that they’ve shown interest in across different platforms. If you’ve ever shopped for a pair of shoes online, you’ll notice that those shoes or other brands of similar shoes will show up in your feed, across social channels and websites you’re visiting.

This a strategy that B2B businesses can replicate to maintain brand awareness. By identifying and targeting potential clients, and consistently presenting solutions tailored to their needs based on their search histories, B2B companies can ensure they remain top of mind throughout the longer decision-making cycle.

This is more than just retargeting. Anyone who visits your website or competitor websites are able to be retargeted, but how do you incite action? How can you offer them personalized information that gives them a bit more education every time they see the ad?

Product Videos and Hands-on Tools

Product videos and hands-on tools that all the potential buyer to really dive into the product or service is another B2C strategy. Because they lack sales and sales engineering teams, there has to be a way for the user walk themselves through the solution.

Enterprise companies don’t do this enough. Instead, they rely on sales and SEs to engage with the customer at the beginning of an engagement and hand-hold throughout the sales process. This turns into an expensive and long sales cycle.

To solve for this, B2B should create in-depth solution videos and/or incorporate product-led growth strategies. These should also include videos and material designed for the typical influencers of a corporate purchase. These tactics allow the customer to self-serve themselves through the first few stages of the sales cycle and reach out when they’re ready to move forward with purchasing the solution.

Tamp the Fear

For many B2B organizations, there is a fear of publicly revealing too much about a solution because of intellectual property theft. They’re afraid that the competitor will replicate everything they’re doing and then take the market away from them.

However, this shouldn't deter companies from being open about their products and sharing with their customers. Reverse engineering technology takes a long time as does trying to replicate patented technologies. If you’re focused on the right things and looking forward to advancing your solution based on your existing customers’ feedback, you’ll be able to stay ahead of the game.

The ultimate takeaway is clear: by leveraging the right B2C strategies, B2B marketers can energize their approach, foster faster decisions, and gain competitive advantages in their industries.