B2C, or business to consumer, refers to the business relationship between a company and a private individual, i.e. the end consumer (customer/consumer). Online stores in particular are classically designed for a B2C situation: The company offers the goods and services and the end consumer purchases them. This is therefore primarily consumer goods marketing.
What other business relationships are there?
Of course, there is not only the relationship between companies and end consumers. In addition, you will also find:
B2E – Business to Employee, i.e. relationships with employees
B2A – Business to Administration, i.e. business relationships with public administrations/administrations
Success factors of B2C
The basis of success in the B2C sector is a sophisticated sales and marketing strategy. This is what you need to address exactly the people you define as your target group. On the basis of this strategy you can precisely define the actions of your company. A market analysis is also helpful to be successful in the B2C area.
Marketing measures in the B2C sector
Content marketing
B2C customers like emotionalized website content. For this reason, content marketing is a great way to reach your target audience.
There are different types of content that are particularly suitable for a B2C campaign:
How-to’s, which are short instructions or explanations that introduce the user to the product or service and explain how it works.
Comparisons
Insights into the product or service that strengthen the user’s trust. Here, for example, you can take the customer into the creation process or similar.
FAQs – the most frequently asked questions of users. This helps your customers to clarify any ambiguities.
Background knowledge
Testimonials, i.e. experience reports from satisfied testers, are a good way to increase the credibility of the product/service. It also enhances trust.
Email marketing
Sending newsletters leads to regular and direct customer contact. This way you manage to inform them and win them over. (Potential) customers become newsletter subscribers for very different reasons:
The customer subscribes with the aim to be entertained.
The customer wants to be informed and up-to-date.
The customer hopes to receive useful information about products and services.
The customer wants to receive current offers.
Social media marketing
Social networks are particularly suitable for maintaining the closest possible contact with your consumers at all times. The social media content created for this purpose reaches them in a targeted manner and thus ensures an increase in your brand awareness. In addition, you can use social media channels to positively influence customer loyalty and the acquisition of new customers. But you won’t reach the right target group for you via every channel! The choice of the right platform is therefore crucial. LinkedIn and Xing in particular are the go-to when it comes to B2B contacts. In the B2C sector, on the other hand, you should definitely rely on Facebook, Twitter and similar.
Website
Your website is your flagship. Therefore, you should make sure that it has good usability. In principle, the user should perceive your website as positive, find his way around easily and not have any problems with page layout, etc. Your website should also be easy to reach on mobile devices and make a good impression. Responsive design ensures that your site is displayed appropriately on all devices. In addition, SEO helps you to be visible on the web and to be found by potential customers.
Differences between B2B and B2C
Especially between B2B and B2C there are some serious differences. You can find them summarized in the following table.
B2C
B2B
CUSTOMERS
Individual buyers
Companies in which different employees make purchasing decisions
NUMBER OF CUSTOMERS
Large number of buyers
Small number of buyers
ADDRESS
Emotional
Rational and logical
WORDING
Individually adapted to target group
Professional jargon
BUYING DECISION
Driven by emotions and a specific buying desire
Rational, usually very well considered and logically thought out
PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE
Is not assumed
Is necessary
CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP
Relationship between customer and company is rarely established
Comprehensive support and close business relationship; very time-consuming
DURATION
Mostly short-term
Mostly long-term relationship
Digitization in the B2C sector
Stationary retail has been complaining for a long time that e-commerce is snatching more and more customers away from it. The fact is that companies are relying more and more on online and performance marketing. Google, Facebook, Amazon and the others are the appropriate keywords here. There, companies place click- and keyword-based campaigns that are intended to attract the attention of customers. Many companies are also active via their own online stores and are very successful with them. Online commerce has become indispensable, as have the appearances of individual brands on social media. Campaigns that can even be measured individually, in contrast to classic advertising media, make it much easier to analyze and optimize. This allows you to better monitor and control your marketing measures.
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