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HOW B2B MARKETING CAN USE B2C TACTICS TO REACH BUYERS
BORROWING FROM B2C:
BORROWING FROM B2C: HOW B2B MARKETING CAN USE B2C TACTICS TO REACH BUYERS
If you‘ve been around marketing any length of time, you understand the traditional separation between B2B and B2C marketing. Differences like price points, the length of the sales cycle and personas of the buyers themselves create different considerations for marketers.
However, like it has with most every field and industry, technology has altered tradition. Anytime access to digital information has changed how business buyers operate. In many respects, they act more like consumer buyers than ever before. As a result, B2B marketers have incentive to adapt their playbooks to incorporate what, until now, have been primarily B2C elements. There will always be differences in the two genres, but the gap is closing, and successful business marketers understand this.
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Understanding the Modern B2B Decision Maker
Like consumers, business decision makers commonly begin important purchasing decisions online. In fact, research from Accenture Interactive found 61% of all B2B purchases start online. That means buyers are interacting with sales reps much further down the purchase funnel than in the past – if they intend to contact a sales rep at all. A separate Forrester study found that six in 10 B2B buyers don’t want to interact with a sales rep, and 62% said they can finalize their purchase selection criteria based on digital content alone.
These changes related to self-education in buying behavior are vital to understanding why and which elements of B2C marketing can translate into business purchasing decisions. It’s also important to understand it isn’t just buying behavior that is changing, but the buyers themselves. Decision making is more seldomly handled by a singular individual. These critical decisions are frequently subjected to committee scrutiny – and these committees increasingly include millennials and members of Generation Z, who were raised on digital shopping and purchasing.
So how does a business successfully incorporate consumer marketing tactics to reach and influence these modern decision makers? The first thing to recognize is that it requires a foundation of two critical pillars: data and customer-centricity.
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Data
The narrative of data-driven marketing has been echoed across the industry for the better part of a decade now. In reality, we’re probably to the point that all marketing should be considered data-driven, and thus the term can disappear as data becomes ubiquitous in our marketing efforts.
Nonetheless, research indicates significant strides still need to be made in the use of data assets for marketing. A 2018 report from Dun & Bradstreet found only 56% of B2B marketers currently create actionable, data-driven insights. Another 35% did say they plan to do so in the next year or two, signaling they’re aware of data’s importance. These numbers highlight that businesses have been slower than B2C counterparts to think about data in the same manner – to use it as a strategic resource for competitive advantage. Many business marketers still rely heavily on their sales teams, providing only shallow customizations to create the semblance of personalized experiences. But today’s B2B marketers need to create a more personalized buying journey, and the way to do that is by harnessing data.
To be fair, marketers can’t fully tap the benefits of data-driven marketing without the data, so the commitment to this approach requires an organizational infrastructure that supports it. As businesses move through digital transformations, avoiding siloed and misaligned data systems are a necessity to tap the power that data offer. In order to actually know the customers as opposed to thinking we know them, this data must be more integrated across the entire organization and accessible to marketing teams.
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Customer-Centricity
B2B has not only been slower than B2C at implementing use of data, but of putting the customer at the center of the marketing. Businesses tend to build products and then push that product to the customers. Consumer marketers, meanwhile, have found that putting the customer at the center of the marketing is a better approach.
To illustrate the reluctance of B2B to move toward customer-centricity, only 23% of business marketers claim to have a customer-centric structure. As business purchasing becomes more similar to consumer buying, the customer-first approach becomes more critical.
Today’s consumers have become accustomed to a convenient and personalized shopping experience. Whether online or on mobile devices, they can research products, shop around for the best deals, identify inventory, make purchases and arrange for delivery or pickup.
When not wearing their professional hats, B2B buyers are typical consumers. They, like the rest of shoppers, have grown to appreciate the ease of today’s consumer experience – and they want that in their business purchases as well.
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Merging Data and Customer-Centricity into B2B
B2B and B2C marketing will always have their differences. But as business purchasing becomes increasingly similar to consumer buying, it should be clear that B2B marketing needs to incorporate some tactics from B2C.
From here, we’ll look at specific areas traditionally more prevalent in B2C marketing that have useful roles to play in modern B2B marketing. It’s important to understand that many of the concepts that follow are synergistic and holistic – meaning that they overlap and work in concert together as part of the overall bigger picture. And, at the core of all of them you’ll notice the integrated use of both data and customer-centricity.
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Personalization
Even though you may be selling to a business, the decision maker is still a human. There’s an assumption B2B purchase decisions are guided strictly by what maximizes business value. This has proven to be a misconception. In fact, Google research found that B2B purchasers are almost 50 percent more likely to buy when they recognize a personal value in that product or service. In other words, business value is table stakes, so they choose options that also benefit themselves in some fashion.
Data-driven marketing helps you build accurate and extensive profiles of customers and potential customers, allowing for the greater personalization that we have come to expect and appreciate from consumer marketing. By using segmentation, you can create personalized buying journeys that get to the heart of what the potential customer needs and wants – not just for the business, but on a personal level. Then, speak to those wants and needs, not just about product features (a la putting the customer at the center of the marketing as opposed to the product).
It’s easy for B2B marketing to take the boring route of listing out facts or specs about the product or service, but illustrating how it improves the life of the buyer greatly increases the likelihood of closing a deal.
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Email Marketing
Email itself isn’t foreign to B2B marketing, but the approach to this channel can be quite different from B2C marketing, in large part because B2C’s shorter sales cycle affords greater opportunity for directly driving sales.
From a B2B perspective, email is less likely to drive direct sales than to facilitate prospects down the sales funnel. But as such, the marketing content must be more akin to dialogue than sales pitch. Many B2C marketers have moved beyond the old “spray-and-pray” or “batch-and-blast” approaches, and B2B can’t afford to stay lost in those days either. Your email messages can’t be product-centric features and specs, but need to be more like conversations than one-way messages from you to them.
Furthermore, taking advantage of data can help you personalize these email messages. When prospects visit your website, you can capture important information about them that allows for the kind of personalization mentioned previously.
Email is a highly successful B2C medium, and incorporating a few of its tricks related to data and customer-centricity can bear fruit for business marketers as well.
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Storytelling
Storytelling is as old as humanity, and it has long been a buzzword in consumer marketing, but there’s also plenty to be gained by business marketers taking a page from this book. Studies show that prospects do more than half their research before talking to a sales rep. This, of course, is the new nature of readily available and always-on information through the internet.
Thus, potential customers may already know about your product; now they need to know about your business. As previously mentioned, decision makers are real people with human emotions. That’s why branding has become more important than ever in B2B marketing. It’s not just about your product or service, it’s about your company and what it stands for, where it comes from and how it aligns with the prospect.
This is accomplished by leveraging the power of storytelling. And not just the story of your company, but the story of how your company has helped others and how it can help this particular buyer, individually and for the business, in the big picture and the immediate.
Case studies have become a popular vehicle for sharing stories to prospects, relating to those potential buyers how your company or product has helped others solve issues. Decision makers can relate to the pain points of their peers, and relaying these success stories builds confidence that you can do likewise for them.
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Creativity
While telling stories is a great way to personalize marketing, it’s also a great way to introduce creativity. B2B marketing has long been considered the straightforward, left-brained discipline, while B2C has enjoyed being the fun and creative counterpart. But to think there’s no room for creativity in B2B marketing is selling it short and leaving opportunity on the table.
Again harkening back to buyers being humans, not all people prefer to digest information in writing. B2B has traditionally taken a very textual path, via spec sheets, white papers, etc. But consider tapping into the other side of the buyer – the more creative side. This could be as simple as colorful and animated infographics, or as advanced as interactive web content or even virtual reality.
It might be more challenging to find creative ways to market an industrial grade blast furnace than, say, a candy bar or body spray, but it’s a challenge B2B marketers should welcome and will find rewarding when done successfully.
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Video
We’ve been hearing for a while now that video is the future of media, and indeed the amount of video on the internet is increasing. What’s great about video for B2B marketers is the opportunity to provide prospects something more than the information they could get from reading a website or a product brochure. This visual medium can be instructional and informative, but also creative and entertaining. B2C marketing has embraced this freedom to think outside the proverbial box (sometimes without the best results, of course). Your business videos need not be constrained to dry and dull. Take a chance to be bold. Be daring or funny if you think your audience can handle it. These kinds of messages and stories can connect on that important, personal level.
Don’t forget that social media can be used to leverage video content. Many businesses are still searching for effective ways to use social media, and video content performs particularly well on these platforms. While social media may cater more naturally to B2C, video content is a good way to incorporate social into your overall marketing plan.
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Creating Advocates and Influencers
It’s always been canonical that word of mouth is the best marketing. Social media has pushed that to a different level, and consumer brands have taken advantage by turning happy customers into advocates. Think of people posting pictures of their new Air Jordan shoes, or Apple enthusiasts proclaiming their excitement over new product announcements.
You may not be Nike or Apple, nor may you be selling something necessarily fashionable, but it doesn’t mean you can’t benefit from social influencers. Make customers happy enough that they tell colleagues about it. Encourage them to share the positive experiences they have with your company. More than ever before, people are looking at customer reviews and the experiences of other people to help guide their purchase decisions, and that filters into B2B marketing as well. Don’t be above putting reviews or customer comments on your website or even print collateral. Your organic advocates – that modern word-of-mouth marketing – can be extremely influential.
Though some B2C brands have had success with paid influencers, that’s less likely to translate to B2B. In fact, only 15% of B2B brands say they’ve established influencer programs. Still, if experts in the industry are talking about or paying accolades to your products or services, that kind of publicity can be worth its weight in gold. Foster these relationships where possible.
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Leverage Emerging Technologies
Consumer marketing is often quick to jump at fads and shiny objects that hint at the next big thing. Business marketing tends to be slower at piling onto marketing bandwagons, for several valid reasons. While trends are slower to reach B2B (and some are best left alone altogether – remember the headlines such as “Is ‘Pokémon Go’ the Future of Digital Marketing?”) – there is something to be said for leveraging emerging technology.
Foremost, this means keeping up with the latest digital customer experience. Make sure your website provides the latest in CX design. You can also dip your toes into technologies that show promise for enhancing such digital experiences, like chatbots. As artificial intelligence gains traction, automated offerings like chatbots can provide personalized experiences to customers anytime, day or night.
It’s vital to determine what is fad and what is promising new technology, but don’t be afraid to incorporate digital advances into your marketing efforts. Buyers, whether as consumers or in their professional roles, are encountering these new experiences and will likely appreciate them from your marketing.
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Mobile
As soon as it was clear smartphones would be in most pockets, consumer marketers starting seeking how to exploit mobile devices to their benefit. But mobile devices aren’t just used for playing games on the subway. Smartphones have also been a game-changer for business.
Company leaders are as agile as ever and conducting business on these devices. As a result, it’s important that your marketing translates to mobile. Make sure your website is mobile responsive and fully function on phones and tablets. Have versions of collateral and other materials that work well on these devices so your best can be in front of a prospective buyer on the go.
Buyers today won’t wait on you – you have to meet them where they are, and often they’re on mobile devices. Include mobile considerations when developing all your marketing efforts.
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Final Thoughts
While business and consumer marketers will always have their differences, these two have more in common than ever before, thanks in large part to shifting buying habits brought on by technology and the influence of generational turnover in decision makers. As business buyers shop for their companies more like they shop for their selves and their families, B2B marketers must be able to provide them the buying experiences they desire. The key to doing so is applying data insights to a marketing approach built around the customer instead of the products, and working that into all your inbound and outbound channels.
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