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B2B vs. B2C Comparison Table
- Published: 20/02/2020
- (Revised: 02/02/2023)
- Reading time: 2 minutes
After my recent interview with The Globe and Mail, I found myself overwhelmed with questions about the major differences between B2B (Business-to-Business) marketing and B2C (Business-to-Consumer) marketing. Since it seems that there are a lot of myths and assumptions out there, I felt that a quick B2B vs. B2C comparison would help clarify things for everyone. Let’s first define the two terms.
Business-To-Business Marketing
This refers to the process in which an organization is targeting other organizations as potential clients. A key example of this is SAP, a B2B software corporation which offers enterprise software to manage business operations and customer relations, mostly known for its ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system.
Business-To-Consumer Marketing
This type of endeavour refers to an organization which provides an offering aimed directly toward the consumer market. Take, for example, Spotify, a B2C audio streaming service. Spotify subscribers have access to large music libraries without the need for the subscribers to own a single track.
B2B vs. B2C Comparison Table
The following table compares the B2B and B2C sales processes. Additionally, the table highlights the essential considerations that a company should take into account when they choose the B2B route:
| Parameters | B2B | B2C | B2B Considerations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales process | Complex decision-making | Straightforward decision-making | Invest in strategy |
| Players | Multiple personas (various stakeholders) | Individuals (for personal consumption) | Personalize according to stakeholder |
| Process length | Longer | Faster | Plan the journey and automate |
| Dominant decision criteria | Rational (value/ROI, productivity, efficiency, edge, advantage | Emotional (status, security, comfort, and quality) | Develop highly detailed and customized content to emphasize value and ROI |
| Marketing focus | Lead generation | Branding development | Increase customer engagement |
| Scale | Finely segmented markets | Large markets | Focus on the best-match market |
| Marketing role | Building a dialogue (awareness, market education & trust) | Broadcast | Branding is not enough |
| Language | Industry jargon | Simple language | Choose your terminology |
| Sales team | Larger | Smaller | Build relationships |
| Tactics (examples only) | SEO, business blogs, webinars, email marketing, social (LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, SlideShare, google Business), automation tools, analyst relations, case studies, whitepapers, press releases, telemarketing | Social (Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, Twitter) TV & radio ads, outdoor advertising (billboards), mobile marketing, telemarketing, conferences | Tailor the tactics to your end goal |
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