If you are unfamiliar with the marketing world, you may not be as clued up on the different strategies marketers employ. B2B (business-to-business) and B2C (business-to-consumer) may sound similar and bear resemblances in many ways, but they are fundamentally different. We’ll target 3 specific areas in which they differ.

B2B

1. Target Audience

The target audience is the most prominent difference between the two marketing strategies. B2B marketers’ biggest target is the key decision makers in a company.

They need to appeal to the person, or people who would buy and supply the product for the company, which means they do not need to involve everyone in the company in their strategy, or even the end user, simply the person in charge of the purchase.

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2. Logical Approach

B2B customers get relied on to make informed, well thought out decisions for their companies. They want to be educated on the products they are buying and are interested in small details that B2C customers might find trivial or unnecessary.

This is also a good opportunity for you to teach them about the product, what it can do for their business, what it can’t do for their business, or otherwise just think critically about the purchase. This way, you can help them make a decision they won’t regret later, and they will appreciate the guidance.

3. Marketing Costs

B2B decision makers are seldom just one person in the company. It usually involves a lengthy procedure that encompasses carefully laid out contracts and a long chain of command, and coming to a consensus can sometimes take as long as several months.

B2C

1. Target Audience

While this marketing strategy does need to reach the person in charge of the purchase, the key recipient for the information is the user in the end.

A new line of candy is marketed toward the children who will eat it, not the parents who will inevitably be convinced to make the purchase. A fancy new projector is geared toward the teachers who want to use it, not the principal.

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2. Emotional Approach

People buy with the heart more than the mind (most of the time). They want to know how a product is going to make them feel better, how it will provide comfort or just make their lives feel better. They are dependent on their gut feeling when making a purchase, and they notice brands that tell an uplifting story when marketing their product.

This approach tends to include less industry jargon, fewer unimportant details about the product’s origin, and generally just be more emotionally driven.

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3. Marketing Costs

Singular consumers don’t often need a whole lot of convincing. They tend to be impulsive spenders, which saves a lot on marketing expenses.