Here’s the B2B vs B2C paradox: B2C marketers get most of the glory, but B2B marketers have much more potential to understand customer needs and drive organic growth. Learn these 12 B2B vs B2C differences to see why… and learn how the B2B Index can guide your efforts in your specific market. Someday, all B2B marketers will take advantage of their B2B advantages. Why not start at your company today?
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B2B professionals have advantages their B2C counterparts can only wish for. When you fully grasp 12 B2B vs B2C differences, you’ll know how to excel at understanding and meeting customer needs. And this is the key to organic growth.
When you consider B2B vs B2C, which market profession has greater advantages? Business schools offer more B2C courses, consumer research tools abound, and sophisticated marketers at B2C companies like Apple and P&G are held in high esteem. B2B marketers are often engineers or sales reps that were tapped on the shoulder and told to “do marketing.”
But here’s the B2B vs B2C paradox: B2B marketers receive less glory, but have more potential to drive organic growth. Why? Good marketing includes both an early stage and a late stage. While many focus on late-stage marketing (promotion), early-stage marketing is more critical. This is understanding customer needs so you can develop and promote a product that customers truly want.
B2B marketers can improve this understanding of customer needs more than their B2C counterparts. That’s because B2B customers have higher “engagement potential,” and can explain their needs very well. This paper explores these B2B vs B2C topics:
There are 12 B2B vs B2C differences with implications for your business’s organic growth:
These 12 B2B vs B2C differences don’t all have the same implications for your growth. This paper spends extra time on the first “big five,” which have the most impact on your all-important customer insight. For this, a B2B vs B2C example describes two belt producers. One makes B2B conveyor belts used in the food processing industry. The other makes men’s B2C dress belts. The first 5 characteristics from our list of 12 are the most important to consider.
Finally, this paper introduces the B2B Index… a B2B vs B2C tool for measuring “how B2B” your market segment is. The B2B Index measures these five characteristics. Each has a 0-to-20 scale, so the maximum total—the B2B Index—is 100. The higher your B2B Index, the “more B2B” your market is. This means you have more potential to engage customers.
To quickly calculate the B2B Index for your market, visit www.b2bmarketview.com. Not only will you find this B2B vs B2C analysis quick (and free), but you’ll be able to download a 16-page report with your results. This report will include your B2B Index chart with the five sub-scores for knowledge, interest, objectivity, foresight, and market concentration. Perhaps most valuable, though, are the B2B vs B2C recommendations you’ll see for your specific market segment.
Most B2B companies are still just dabbling with the remarkable potential they have to engage B2B customers. They’re treating their customers too much like B2C customers and forfeiting their B2B advantages. We hope you’re inspired to do more, beginning with this B2B vs B2C overview. The most exciting times for B2B professionals truly are ahead of us.
For more, see the 2-min video, Understand your B2B advantages, part of Dan Adams’ series of 50 (free) 2-min videos, B2B Organic Growth.