While marketing principles are largely the same in both the B2C and B2B spaces, there are major differences between the two that necessitate different approaches to marketing. B2C generally works on a short sales cycle; its marketing might appeal more to the emotions, a feeling of personal improvement, or a sense of belonging and fulfillment. The B2B sales cycle is much longer and involves more stakeholders and greater consequences for a poor decision. AdWords and social media are often used by both B2B and B2C businesses, and while those two channels might be effective for selling products to consumers, B2B marketing strategies must go beyond social media and AdWords to nurture leads throughout the entire B2B sales cycle.

The Limitations of Ads and Social Media

If you’re selling a consumer product to the general public, buying ads to get that product in front of as many people as possible is usually a good idea. Even if 5% of those who see the ad click on it and 1% end up buying the product, your ad campaign might still give you an acceptable return on investment. B2B organizations, however, are selling to a much smaller audience.

With a smaller audience comes a smaller search volume. Far fewer people are searching for B2B topics and services than are searching for B2C products. AdWords and pay-per-click (PPC) ads in general rely on volume to be effective, and unless you can target hundreds of thousands of potential customers, the tighter targeting required for most B2B sales outreach makes it difficult to get enough volume for these advertising methods to pay.

There’s also the matter of the length of the B2B sales cycle. A B2C consumer might look for a product, compare a few different ones, and make a purchase, all in one online shopping session. Part of the point of online shopping, after all, is that feeling of instant gratification. Ads can help speed up the process in this regard. B2B decision-makers, on the other hand, spend a lot more time in the consideration stage of their customer journey, so an ad isn’t likely to spark that quick decision that it does in consumers. (Need a refresher on the customer journey? Here you go!)

None of this is to suggest that PPC ads are completely useless. It’s just a lot more work to target your campaign keywords to a specific B2B product or service and constantly tweak your approach based on the data. The results aren’t always worth the effort. A great ad campaign for the right kind of product can bring in good leads, but it won’t be enough on its own. You’ll still need to use alternative marketing channels to nurture and convert them.

Social media has similar limitations in B2B marketing. It can be useful in the discovery stage, when buyers are first getting familiar with what’s out there. It also serves a purpose in the post-sale nurturing stage as a place to maintain and strengthen your relationships with customers. In B2C sales, influencers, reviewers, and unboxing videos might move consumers through the consideration stage, but B2B decision-makers are going to want something a little more crunchy than what social media can provide to help them make a decision. That’s why it’s important to explore alternative marketing channels.

Marketing for All Stages of the Customer Journey

AdWords and social media have their place in a marketing strategy, but you’ll see better results—more leads, more incoming traffic, and ultimately, more sales—if you take advantage of marketing channels that address all stages of the customer journey.

Inbound Marketing

We’ve written about the power of inbound marketing here, but it’s still worth mentioning again. In the discovery phase, buyers are first getting a sense of what their problem is and who can solve it, often through a Google search. You want your content (web copy, blog posts, webinars, and so on) to show up in those Google results so that customers come to you. Achieve this by creating blog posts that address the kinds of questions buyers ask, combining well-written, entertaining, and educational content with SEO principles. There’s a lot more to inbound marketing than this, so check out the link above for more information.  

Account-Based Marketing

Rather than casting a wide net with advertising, use account-based marketing (ABM) to target a smaller number of qualified leads. It is an especially effective marketing strategy for B2B organizations,  narrowing the focus to truly high-potential-value accounts. While you might be hesitant to reduce the number of leads you’re chasing, consider the fact that trying to appeal to every customer makes it harder to differentiate yourself and appeal to any one specific customer. Instead of trying to capture every lead with a broad focus, ABM helps you target the accounts that are the best fit for your business. Learn more about our approach to ABM here.

Email Nurture Campaigns

While ad targeting can provide a high degree of granularity, segmented email lists for leads and customers go even further to personalize your outreach. Segmented email lists allow you to run different email campaigns for leads at different points in the customer journey. A list for leads in the discovery phase might introduce your company or products with a focus on how your service addresses the customer’s pain points. A list for warmer leads might provide more concrete details like pricing information, comparisons with competitors, and analysis of how the product can solve the problems of a specific business.

Email marketing still has a role to play after a lead becomes a customer. Post-purchase nurturing can turn a first-time customer into a lifetime partner. Offer instructional videos, guides for getting the most out of the product, information about shipping and returns, promotions for new customers, early access to new releases—anything that shows that you are an engaged partner focused on customer satisfaction even after the sale is made.

Alternative Marketing Channels Serve the Entire B2B Customer Journey

PPC ads and social media can still be effective B2B marketing channels, but with a decision as important as choosing the right vendor or supplier, you need to give them more. Mapping out the customer journey, identifying customer pain points, and creating marketing campaigns across multiple channels that appeal to multiple stages of the journey is an effective way to turn leads into customers and first-time customers into loyal ones.