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Chapter 3—How do B2B and B2C (consumer)
marketing differ?

When you hear “marketing”, what do you think of? Most people
think of consumer marketing, the domain of Coke and Disney,
Apple and Ford. Consumer marketing (Business to Consumer
or B2C) is dominated by splashy, creative advertisements and
massive budgets. During the Super Bowl, companies spend
millions of dollars to grab the attention of viewers for just 30
seconds. That is B2C marketing.

Unfortunately, people’s familiarity with B2C marketing leads to
confusion and frustration with B2B marketing. While there are
important consistencies between the two, there are significant
differences.

B2B marketing is less about show (grabbing the buyer’s
attention in whatever way works) and more about tell (why
is your product or service better than a competitor’s?). It is
vital for B2B companies to establish credibility in the eyes of
target buyers. This is because B2B decisions generally carry
more risk than B2C decisions. For example, if I buy a new
laptop and it doesn’t meet my needs, I (and I alone) bear the
consequences of that decision. If I make a similar decision
when buying laptops for my workplace, my colleagues and I
both have to live with the consequences. And if that decision
is extremely bad, not only will my colleagues be upset, but my
job may be at risk or my business may suffer.

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© 2012 Lisa Shepherd