B2b and B2c Customer Leads

B2b and B2c are both types of advertising plans. Learn the difference between B2b and B2c marketing and how to effectively use both techniques.

B2b and B2c are both marketing terms. B2b means business-to-business, while B2c is business-to-consumer. B2b applies to companies whose clients are other companies and organizations. B2b advertising focuses more on selling products or services on a rational, fact-based level. Presentations involve quoting statistics and projecting future profit margins. B2c advertising campaigns appeal to emotions. These advertisements are flashier, making a product or service look appealing to whoever sees it. The majority of television commercials and online advertisements are B2c.

Both B2b and B2c have a place in marketing. In some cases, the two methods converge, such as focusing on the success of a recent B2c marketing campaign as part of a B2b presentation. While the advertising methods are different, creating successful B2b or B2c pitches follow many of the same steps.

Researching Sales Leads

Sales leads apply to both B2b and B2c. Your sales lead is your target audience. The most important part of your research is identifying what your sales lead wants. With B2b marketing, the best way to find out what your sales leads need is networking. Do not be afraid to directly ask what your sales lead is looking for. 

Another option is to highlight your past successes. Talk with your previous clients and find out which services benefitted them the most. This is an excellent way to build a campaign, since you can directly advertise your effectiveness in previous business deals. 

B2c research involves tracking sales leads and studying previous marketing campaigns. If you are creating a new product, an effective research tool is running a focus group. With a focus group, you premier your product to a small audience, who then provide feedback on the product. If you have not decided what you want to produce, you can send out customer surveys. These surveys ask generalized questions to help you identify what your audience needs, which gives your development team something to focus on while developing a new product or service.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO is an important part of both B2b and B2c advertising. SEO determines where your website shows up in search results as well as what keywords cause your website to appear. With B2b advertising, you want your business to appear on the top of search results with as many relevant keywords as possible. If your business is not on the top, it becomes much harder to sell your services to another business. 

You also want high SEO results with B2c marketing. If your results are not on the front page, check your competition to see why their websites are getting better results than yours. This gives you an idea of what kind of content to add to your website. 

One of the ways to improve your SEO is adding blog posts or videos advertising your products. For example, if you sell computer parts, write articles advertising the strength of your products. This not only increase your SEO, but it gives consumers additional reasons to purchase your merchandise.

Social Media

Social media has become a much larger part of both B2b and B2c advertising. How you use social media greatly varies depending on how you want to advertise. With B2b, social media marketing focuses much more on the numbers. Businesses want to see successful social media campaigns. The more subscribers you have, the better. You also want to highlight user engagement, including how many times your posts are viewed and the number of responses you get.

With b2c, social media is a way to speak directly with your customers. While social media is an excellent way to advertise directly to your audience, it is not the only function. Your social media account often doubles as public relations or customer service. If your customers have an issue with your products or service, they often go directly to your social media account. Your social media manager must handle these situations carefully, responding in a positive and helpful manner. This is an excellent way to show your customers how much you care and how dedicated you are to providing them the best possible experience.

Customer Referral System

Customer referral systems are primarily associated with B2b marketing, but there are also uses in B2c. Referral systems rely on previous customers recommending your products or services to other customers. To encourage recommendations, you provide incentives to your customers, such as a discount for both the original and referred customer on their next purchase.

This appeals to customers because they are encouraged to keep doing business with you. This increases your sales and acts as a successful marketing campaign, which is appealing to other businesses.

Influencer Marketing

Another marketing technique is hiring an influencer to market your products. With B2b marketing, you want an influencer directly related to the business you are approaching. For example, a famous Instagram influencer is appealing to clothing industries. With B2c marketing, influencers act as a spokesperson for your product. Not only are they advertising your product, but their fans are more likely to buy your items because they want to mimic the influencer.