B2C Marketing Strategies

"Authentic marketing is not the art of selling what you make but knowing what to make. It is the art of identifying and understanding customer needs and creating solutions that delivers satisfaction to the customers, profits to the producers and benefits for the stakeholders." - Philip Kotler

The famous marketing management author, Philip Kotler defines marketing as an art. Yes, it is an art. With a number of businesses and marketing bodies running actively in the market, the real art is to create a unique selling proposition (USP) which makes your business stand out from the rest. Speaking specifically in terms of B2C marketing strategies, the target market consists of consumers who may or may not be familiar with the business techniques and principles, and will be more focused on getting good products at a lower price. Therefore, one needs to keep the consumer point of view as the base while building these strategies.

What is B2C Marketing?
B2C Marketing can be defined as the business that provides goods and / or services to a consumer based market. Some B2C marketing examples include consumer oriented retail online marketing, discount shopping outlets, etc. The marketing term 'B2C' is very rarely used these days, but definitely played a significant role in the rapid growth and development of e-commerce in the late 20th century. Later when the capital markets went down, many B2C marketing companies transformed into business to business marketing (B2B) companies.

Difference Between B2B and B2C Marketing
Although both kinds are involved in selling goods or providing services, the difference lies in the basic motive. Let us discuss the basic differences between the two.

Business to Consumer (B2C) Marketing (You need this product, we have it for you!)

Business to Business (B2B) Marketing (This is the product, we'll sell it to you!)

B2C marketing is when a business provides goods and / or services to the consumer market. When it comes to B2C marketing strategies, your base should be consumer oriented. You need to emphasize more on the benefits and features of the products and / or services you are dealing with. The B2C marketing strategies are based on emotional decisions based on the consumers, as you deal with different human beings having different expectations and priorities when it comes to purchasing the products. In B2C marketing, the end consumers are mostly household consumers, which means that there is a huge target market. Also, the sales process is very small because we are dealing directly with the end consumer. Another point of difference is that in B2C marketing, the consumers depend upon the seller to gain knowledge about the product and services. The buyers would choose you based on the USP and the uniqueness of the product that you offer.

B2B marketing is the business which sells goods and / or provides services to other businesses. Unlike B2C strategies, when it comes to B2B marketing strategies, the prime focus is based on the profit. The strategies are structured based on detailed logic on profitability. In B2B marketing, strategies are based on pure knowledge and logic. There is very less, or no personal emotion involved between both the parties involved. They are businesses looking for their organizational benefits. In B2B marketing, we are dealing with businesses, which means that the target market is comparatively small when compared to B2C. The sales process is more complicated and involves a lot of steps including emails, presentations, quotations, and so on. In B2B marketing, you are selling your products and services to businesses that are well aware of the features and other essential details about the services you offer. The buyers would go for you based on the profitability.

Some Useful B2C Marketing Strategies
It's obvious that the base of these strategies should be consumer oriented as already explained above, and only then they become successful marketing strategies. Below are some strategies that business houses adopt for successful marketing in order to reach the target consumer market.

Marketing Campaigns: Publicity always helps reach the target market in terms of creating awareness of the features and USP of the products. Successful marketing campaigns also arise some B2C marketing jobs, like a company representative that directly reaches to the potential consumers and publicizes the products/ services offered by the company. This is mostly done in offline B2C marketing.

Online Advertising Strategies: Online advertising strategies such as PPC and Podcast are among the most effective and efficient sources of online advertising on various search engines, enabling a chance to create product awareness among the potential consumers using Internet.

Extraordinary USP: This is one dominant factor that decides the success rate of marketing, specially when it comes to B2C marketing! Undoubtedly, B2C marketing has more wider target market as it deals with consumer based products, but there is also more business competition! Therefore, the key to effective B2C marketing strategy is to have an edge over the competitors and to clearly emphasize the same in your USP tag line! Create an impression that your competitors can't offer what you can!

Although both the marketing types are profit oriented, the approach to do so is different. The key to successful B2C marketing strategy is just to understand and create goods and services as per consumer expectations, and then not allowing the competitors to take away your market share. Unlike B2B marketing wherein the buyers are looking for profits and productivity, the advantage that B2C marketing has, is customer loyalty. Therefore, if you, as a brand, have successfully managed to implement these B2C strategies, then you can be assured of the fact that you will have loyal customers. Since this marketing is based on dealing with consumer emotions, all you need to do is win their hearts, and of course, follow up!!