B2B differs from B2C in the detail, not the principle.

B2B is different from B2C, and overlaps.

Marketing is easy to explain but difficult to do well.  The difference between B2B and B2C is all in the details, not the principles (you can download my strategy guide to understand the principles). Of course, there is overlap, which we’ve visualised above.

In this article, I tackle the Why? and How? of it's difference.

Why?

The main reason why B2B is different is complexity.

B2B is nearly always more complex.  The complexity relates to the products or services on offer and the sales journeys that need planning.  This could mean many stakeholders/decision makers to address and reach in different ways and more complex sales journeys where much of the conversion will happen offline.

To dramatise this complexity, we decided to share some examples of How.

How?  

Here’s how B2B differs from B2C. The following example shows the different stakeholders involved in purchasing high-technology manufacturing tools. We’ve organised the nine stakeholders into three working segments based on their needs.

Nine stakeholders with many different needs.

Below is how we map these stakeholder needs to the three segments, which allows us to start planning propositions, messaging and journeys.

Grouping needs into segments.

And finally, this is how we simplify this complexity to plan messaging and content ‘through the funnel’.

Planning through the funnel.

I hope this helps clarify the difference between B2B and B2C, and explains why at Nucco, we put ‘make it beautifully simple’ at the heart of its proposition.