5 Reasons Why B2B Marketing is so Different than B2C Marketing

Why is B2B marketing so boring? This is a question you may here a lot as a marketer.

Here are 5 reasons why B2B marketing is WAY more difficult than B2C marketing.

👉 1. Many B2B companies are expensive to run – the OpEx and CapEx costs require constant deal flow. The ROI on brand building takes a long time and isn’t as easily (if at all) attributable to revenue. So it’s hard to convince leadership that it may eventually payoff. This is especially true with new, cash-strapped startups. There’s often not enough financial runway to wait around for the branding efforts to take flight. B2C teams can be smaller, sales cycles are much shorter, no buying committees, pretty easy for an agency to come in and understand what it is you do, more freedom for creativity, etc.

👉 2. Outdated mentality by leadership. Similar to point one, they want leads that can be measured. Not all brand building is measurable. They are deposits in a bank or drops in a bucket. One day it will amount to something, but day to day it seems like nothing is happening. Getting in shape is like this too.

👉 3. Many B2B end-users buy products due to JTBD, which is not like B2C where we buy for a variety of reasons, often through emotion first then justification second. We buy consumer products to make us happy, to make others jealous, to fill a void… Nobody buys a B2B product as a flex. So there are so many more ways to market to someone through emotion that is fun and interesting. B2B is more facts, features, and benefits.

👉 4. Too many decision makers. It’s difficult to go all in on one or two types of creative or campaigns that may only resonate with one kind of buyer. A no-nonsense finance person may not care about your fun skit on social media.

👉 5. Touching on some other points, B2B marketing is much more limited. There’s no cool packaging, no in-store displays, no limited edition collabs, your buyer pool is so much smaller so it doesn’t make sense to do billboards / radio / TV / direct mailers, etc. Social media is much more challenging because you have a limited tool kit with one arm tied behind your back. Think of what you could do on social selling a hoody vs a software tool. It’s easier to convince someone to take a chance on a new beverage than it is to buy and integrate a $30k+ per year new SaaS tool.

#b2bmarketing #b2cmarketing #digitalmaketing