How Different Are B2B and B2C Lead Generation?

What is the difference between B2B & B2C lead generation? Originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world.

Purchase decisions are reasonable and logical

Decisions to buy a product or service in the business-to-business market usually follow a reasonable, logical approach. This is about using the product to make the business better-to enable employees to better collaborate, better support customers, better markets, to customers, and so on.

In business-to-business, it does make the right decision for the company, and a mistake can cost thousands of dollars or more. The consumer buys according to emotion (most of the time).

They buy things based on quality or comfort to prove status (such as Levi’s vs Wal-Mart brand). This is not always the case, and some purchases require the consumer to logically consider their purchases.

But when you think of a consumer process, even for big ticket items, there is still a factor in the emotional involvement.

Business-to-business likes white papers and E-books

Content marketing works for both Business-to-business and Business-to-consumer, but content assets used in content marketing programs are not the same across the board, and some are more important than others.

In business-to-business content marketing, detailed, in-depth content is created to inform and educate the probable buyers. In this case, white papers, e-books, datasheets, and other content assets are created to generate interest, build awareness, increase consideration, and more.

This is a lot of lead generation

Content marketing is used not only for the front-end (acquisition) of the customer lifecycle, but also for extensive use throughout the customer lifecycle, all services and support.

For the business market, content-based forms of advertising run through social media and search, as well as blog posts. Its short format content is designed to get attention and convert as soon as possible.

Loyalty factors In business-to-business markets, this relationship is crucial

The market is much smaller (perhaps hundreds of thousands of them), and the decision-making process is multi-stage and may take months or longer to complete. All this means building a customer relationship from day one is critical to marketing.

They nurture potential customers over a period of time, and only a small percentage can be converted.

Once they have done the conversion, the market needs to ensure that the entire service and support relationships remain. This expanded marketing role enables marketers to take more responsibility and control over the overall customer experience.

They need to ensure that they develop lasting relationships with their customers in order to advertise and add/cross sales opportunities.

The customer community, self-service support options, and Easy-to-use service and support programs are starting to fall under marketing guidance. Loyalty is also important in the business, but until recently, the consumer brand began to realize how important loyalty was and worked out the right plan to develop loyal customers.

Business-to-business vs. Business-to-consumer

Different but identical We began by saying that many people think business-to-business and Business-to-consumer marketing are the same.

There are several reasons for this idea.

• The internet allows everyone to get as much information about the products and services they want to buy. This is true for both business-to-business and business-to-consumer-so no matter what type of marketer can get more information and better switch opportunities.

The content and delivery methods may have different formats, but the procedure remains the same.

• Social media has a huge impact on two markets. Consumer and business-to-business consumers are listening to what social media say about brands and their products. In either case, the negative content is bad and the positive content is good.

• Local advertising is changing the content marketing game. Local advertising is just one component of a content marketing strategy, but it quickly becomes a key. The production and delivery of content within the consumer’s normal content stream is raising awareness of the brand.

It does not sell their products or services, but this content-usually the length of a blog post-indicates understanding of the consumer’s problems or needs and helps develop a affinity for the brand. This is true of both business-to-business and Business-to-consumer.

• Interpersonal relationships are the kings of all parts of the world. The consumer may handle a larger number of sales, but the need to build strong relationships with customers becomes increasingly important.

A dissatisfied customer can quickly attack a brand on social media, and a satisfied customer can quickly represent a brand advocate and help encourage the transformation of other consumers. It is rare for you to see a business-to-business marketer switch to the Business-to-consumer market.

This similarity is getting bigger, but the differences are still great, due to the amount of information available on the Internet and the impact of consumer decisions on others ‘ purchases.

You need to develop roles to best understand how to deliver the Web experience in the context of your entire customer journey. You must consider the best content marketing strategy, as well as the role of loyalty and emotional play.

In the future, the line between Business-to-business and Business-to-consumer may be blurred, but now understanding key differences can help marketers design and provide the best plans and activities for their markets.

Contributed by Gaurav Sharma, Founder | Digital Marketing Consultant | Dreamer | Doer