5 B2C Marketing Principles That Also Work in B2B Businesses
Posted: Sun Jan 19, 2025 6:56 am
Over the past 20 years, best practices for increasing the effectiveness of B2C advertising have been well-researched, while B2B marketing remains a relatively neglected terrain.
Many professionals question whether the same guidelines can be applied in B2B as in B2C. In this regard, most of them agree that advertising strategies that have been widely discredited in B2C are still commonly used in B2B.
The UK-based IPA database is one of the world's best sources of information on marketing effectiveness, collecting campaign effectiveness data spanning almost 40 years. The database currently contains almost 1,500 marketing and advertising campaigns, including details on creative objectives and strategies, budgets, media and, most importantly, business results.
Although this database contains mostly B2C strategy cases, we have looked for clues that help us understand which strategies work best and which patterns are interesting and can be useful for B2B marketing .
Five key principles that drive growth in B2C and that also work for B2B businesses
Invest in SOV (Share of Voice)
The Share of Voice , known in Spanish as the Quota de Voz, is a KPI (Key Performance Indicator) that identifies the level of fame, knowledge by potential customers and reach of your messages and offers that your brand or company has in the market compared to competitors.
There is a strong relationship between market share growth and advertising investment measured as share of voice. The relationship is very similar to that observed in B2C, implying that advertising works in both B2B and B2C.
Balancing brand and activation
Advertising investment should be balanced between long-term brand building and short-term sales activation (e.g. lead generation ). Investment is needed in both, but it seems that in the case of B2B marketing, investment in sales is more important and a split investment of 40% in campaigns aimed at increasing brand awareness and 60% in sales activation is suggested.
Expand your customer base
Long-term growth depends on expanding your customer base, rather than trying to sel germany mobile phone number list l more to existing customers. This means that, in addition to targeting your campaigns at your existing customer base to increase their purchases, you should primarily target your communications at new potential customers and their prescribers.
Maximize brand awareness
The degree of awareness of your brand in the market indicates the speed at which your brand reaches the minds of your potential customers in a purchasing situation. This degree of awareness that the market has of your brand is caused by the great notoriety and identification that customers associate with your product or service category. Campaigns that encourage the buyer's "mental availability" more strongly tend to be more effective.
Harness the power of emotions
Emotional campaigns (those that try to make prospects feel more positive about your brand) are more effective in the long term than rational campaigns (those that try to communicate information). The types of emotional approaches required will be very different in B2B from B2C, but the same principle applies to both. This is because emotional campaigns are better for brand building. However, rational campaigns are better for short-term sales activation, so a balanced campaign will incorporate both.
Many professionals question whether the same guidelines can be applied in B2B as in B2C. In this regard, most of them agree that advertising strategies that have been widely discredited in B2C are still commonly used in B2B.
The UK-based IPA database is one of the world's best sources of information on marketing effectiveness, collecting campaign effectiveness data spanning almost 40 years. The database currently contains almost 1,500 marketing and advertising campaigns, including details on creative objectives and strategies, budgets, media and, most importantly, business results.
Although this database contains mostly B2C strategy cases, we have looked for clues that help us understand which strategies work best and which patterns are interesting and can be useful for B2B marketing .
Five key principles that drive growth in B2C and that also work for B2B businesses
Invest in SOV (Share of Voice)
The Share of Voice , known in Spanish as the Quota de Voz, is a KPI (Key Performance Indicator) that identifies the level of fame, knowledge by potential customers and reach of your messages and offers that your brand or company has in the market compared to competitors.
There is a strong relationship between market share growth and advertising investment measured as share of voice. The relationship is very similar to that observed in B2C, implying that advertising works in both B2B and B2C.
Balancing brand and activation
Advertising investment should be balanced between long-term brand building and short-term sales activation (e.g. lead generation ). Investment is needed in both, but it seems that in the case of B2B marketing, investment in sales is more important and a split investment of 40% in campaigns aimed at increasing brand awareness and 60% in sales activation is suggested.
Expand your customer base
Long-term growth depends on expanding your customer base, rather than trying to sel germany mobile phone number list l more to existing customers. This means that, in addition to targeting your campaigns at your existing customer base to increase their purchases, you should primarily target your communications at new potential customers and their prescribers.
Maximize brand awareness
The degree of awareness of your brand in the market indicates the speed at which your brand reaches the minds of your potential customers in a purchasing situation. This degree of awareness that the market has of your brand is caused by the great notoriety and identification that customers associate with your product or service category. Campaigns that encourage the buyer's "mental availability" more strongly tend to be more effective.
Harness the power of emotions
Emotional campaigns (those that try to make prospects feel more positive about your brand) are more effective in the long term than rational campaigns (those that try to communicate information). The types of emotional approaches required will be very different in B2B from B2C, but the same principle applies to both. This is because emotional campaigns are better for brand building. However, rational campaigns are better for short-term sales activation, so a balanced campaign will incorporate both.