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If you have any experience in the business world, you’ll have come across the terms B2B and B2C. B2B stands for Business to Business and describes the business strategy of companies who sell their product or services to other businesses. 

B2C stands for Business to Customer and is the business strategy of companies who sell their product to the mass consumer market. The contrasts between B2B and B2C are essentially the difference between wholesale and retail.

B2B marketing tends to focus on more logical, process-driven purchasing decisions due to the target market being businesses. B2C marketing, however, tends to focus more on emotionally driven purchasing decisions due to the target market being end consumers. They may overlap sometimes but the marketing strategy differences are still significant.

Understanding these differences is key to building a high-performance marketing strategy. Let’s look at some key differences between B2B and B2C marketing.

1. Customer Relations

B2B

The target audience in the B2B model is businesses. You’re a business marketing your product or service to other businesses. Your marketing focus is going to be on creating and building more personal relationships that will lead to long-term business.

Personal relationships are important as potential clients get to know your practices, ethics, and morals. These things can separate you from your competition and let your target audience know that you are a good, reliable supplier. These are long-term qualities that business people look for.

Building these business relationships and generating leads creates repeat and referral business. So developing relationships with target audiences is crucial for B2B businesses. One way to do this is to allow customers to call you at any time using a toll-free number.

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B2C

The target audience in the B2C model is retail consumers. You’re a business marketing your product or service to consumers. Your marketing focus here is going to be on leading consumers to your ecommerce store and driving sales. 

Because you’re only generating one or two small sales at a time with no guarantee of long-term business, your marketing focus can’t be on building personal relationships. Instead, B2C businesses need to focus on sales efficiency and creating extremely transactional relationships.

The marketing strategy for B2C focuses on selling the product, with the majority of time spent on delivering high-quality products as quickly as possible. One way to speed up the customer experience is to use AI customer service. 

2. Branding

B2B

As mentioned above, in B2B marketing, the focus is on relationship building. This applies to branding as well. Honoring relationships through consistent presentation and delivery of products or services will build your reputation or brand in the industry.

Your target audience is businesses whose decision-making is business-oriented. To build your brand you’ll need to market your position in the industry and let your personality shine. This will build brand recognition and generate leads. Don’t forget to adjust your brand towards your target audience and be aware of their personalities.

B2C

When marketing to a B2C audience, branding is essential. Having a strong brand allows you to deliver a message, build brand loyalty, create credibility, emotionally connect with customers, and motivate purchases. 

Branding is the number one priority of B2C marketing due to the fact that the customer and business don’t interact a lot. To make up for this you have to create a lasting, positive opinion and provide a quality experience for the customer, ensuring repeat sales.

Building a brand with a good reputation can be achieved by delivering clear, credible messages, and creating motivational copy that resonates with consumers.

3. Decision-Making Process

B2B

The decision-making process in the B2B model involves more open communication between businesses so that both parties can decide if it would be a good partnership. Therefore appeals to emotional and rational decisions can be made.

In B2B, the decision-making process sees customers evaluating their needs which can have rational and emotional motivators. Rational motivations are driven by financial mindsets; is this a good investment? Emotional motivations are driven by emotional connections; Will we lose money and have to fire some staff?

Understanding your audience can help you comprehend the decision-making process that may apply to you. This allows you to get ahead of competitors by creating an emotional connection through clear, specific messaging.

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B2C

With B2C, the focus is on the sales funnel. Marketers should use their knowledge of the conversion funnel in the decision-making process, maximizing ROI. At the top of this funnel are advertisements that give customers the need for a product.

Now, the customer will know what product they want to purchase. However, unlike B2B, customers are more open when looking for a specific product to buy.

That is why it’s essential to simplify the decision-making process for consumers while continuing to appeal to them. There is still a high chance that consumers are looking at your competitors as well. Using an influencer marketing campaign is a great strategy, especially when paired with discounts via a referral code.

4. Audience Targeting

B2B

B2B businesses operate in a niche market, and so it’s very important to know your target demographic. An example of a niche may be cheap electronic parts made specifically for the Indian market. To effectively attract customers, you must compile and analyze accurate data (both qualitative and quantitative).

B2C

Since the target audience is so broad (retail customers), B2C businesses must work in larger-scale markets. For marketers, the marketing funnel is crucial for attracting customers.

Start at the top of the funnel and cast a wide net. Use emotional and product-driven advertisements. From there you can create a warm lead list and remarket to those target audiences who showed interest.

5. Ad Copy

B2B

In B2B it is important for you to speak your target audience’s language. This is because businesses want to partner with experts who understand their industry. Understanding the terminology, processes, and even the decisions made by customer businesses can greatly increase the chances of a purchase.

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B2C

In B2C, customers only care about the product or service they receive. So instead of using industry jargon, you can use more straightforward language to speak to customers in a relatable voice. Aim to evoke emotion in your audience.

B2C customers want to enjoy a purchase, whereas B2B customers are making a rational, logical financial purchase.

Conclusion

As a marketer, it is crucial that you understand the key differences between B2B and B2C marketing. 

Knowing these key differences will drastically change your marketing strategy and allow you to create highly effective marketing practices applicable to both B2B and B2C businesses.

-Grace Lau is the Director of Growth Content at Dialpad, an AI-powered cloud PBX phone system for better and easier team collaboration. She has over 10 years of experience in content writing and strategy. Currently, she is responsible for leading branded and editorial content strategies, partnering with SEO and Ops teams to build and nurture content. Here is her LinkedIn

The growth of the B2B industry over the last few years has been exciting. People are beginning to see the perks of playing in the B2B market, and they’re diving into it. 

According to Tradeling, 82% of executives in the United Arab Emirates expect to use B2B eCommerce in the future. If you haven’t already carved a space out for yourself, it’s time to get ahead of the trend. In other words, you should have an eCommerce website.

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Here, we’ll discuss the top benefits of owning a B2B eCommerce website for your brand:  

1. Reach Customers Faster and With More Ease

With 30.3 million internet users in Saudi Arabia alone, it’s clear a lot of your potential customers will be looking to make purchases online. If you don’t have a web presence, they’re going to look elsewhere. But this isn’t the only advantage.

As well as being easy to find, you no longer have to worry about physical consultations with prospective clients. With the click of a few buttons, they can reach you and set up an online consultation. Your B2B eCommerce website can answer the questions clients have about doing business with your brand. On your part, you can make it easier for customers to find your eCommerce website through display ads, social media, and other digital avenues. 

2. Improve Efficiency

Having a B2B eCommerce website helps to increase the efficiency and productivity of your business. You don’t need to have customers come into a brick-and-mortar shop to complete transactions with them. Instead, customers can conveniently order online whenever and wherever they want to make a purchase. These orders can be fulfilled automatically with order management software – and with companies like Saudi Digital Payments Company signing partnership deals, it’s easier to offer varied payment options to your customers.

3. Increase Sales

Efficiency and productivity tend to be directly proportional to conversion/sales. In other words, the more efficient your B2B business is, the higher your sales will be. This is why an eCommerce website offers several opportunities to upsell your brand. 

For instance, just having the right content in your blog can bring new customers and increase sales. The numbers show content marketing efforts generate at least three times more leads than traditional marketing.

Not only that, eCommerce websites afford customers self-service capabilities from the comfort of their homes. Customers can order and reorder as much as they like without moving an inch and manage things like business invoices and past orders with the click of a button. 

4. Enhance Analytics for Business Insights

Another aspect eCommerce websites can help with is tracking KPIs. By integrating your eCommerce website with analytics systems, you can see a comprehensive breakdown of your business sales. This can provide you with insights into which aspect of your business is doing well and the places you need to improve.

Some of key metrics to keep an eye on include:

• Monthly recurring revenue
• Bounce rate
• Number of sessions per user
• Session duration
• Organic traffic
• Average order rate
• Customer retention rates

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5. Improve Customer Service and Relationships

A key part of developing a B2B eCommerce website is optimization. Web optimization involves restructuring various website elements to satisfy both search engine bots and prospective customers. You can improve customer experience by making your website faster, easier to navigate, and loading it with relevant content.

While a call center IVR is one way to attend to your customers, your website can be another way to deal with customer complaints or queries. Customers can easily leave feedback regarding your product on your eCommerce website, and you can use the feedback to improve your processes and customer relationships.

6. Personalization Options

Ecommerce websites also enable B2B businesses to improve their customer experience initiatives. One key way to do this is through personalization. By having an ecommerce website and the right analytics software, you can improve the shopping experience for both new and returning customers.

For instance, you can suggest products for returning customers by using their order history and tracking information. Also, by integrating it with an omnichannel contact solution, customers won’t have to start from scratch when they use your direct inward dialing number. Instead, your team will be able to see their previous orders, any communication you’ve had previously, and personal preferences. This is a great way of maintaining that personal sales connection via the online world.

7. Increase Customer Retention and Scalability

Customer retention is what you get when you combine a customer-centric system with top-notch customer service. An eCommerce website enables you to set up your business to please every one of your customers. The more you’re able to satisfy your customers, the better your chances of retaining them.

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It doesn’t end there; an effective eCommerce website will expose your business to new channels. With proper SEO optimization, your business will continuously find its way to new market segments through organic search results.

8. Explore New Products

An eCommerce website may also be what you need to push out a new product mix. It’s easier to offer various products in a digital space, as you’re not reliant on having room in a physical storefront. This is even easier for brands that sell digital products, as there are no warehouse costs either.

You can also accurately see how your new products are doing –  do they have a high cart abandonment rate? Are people clicking through but then bouncing away? Or are these new products catching their eye and converting to sales? With metrics like this easily available, you’ll be able to tell whether your audience approves of the new product mix. 

9. Improve Brand Identity

Having an eCommerce website bolsters your online presence and strengthens your brand identity. It puts your brand out there, making it easier for other businesses and customers to recognize it. That said, you want to pay attention to your website security. As your popularity increases, people will try to gain unauthorized access to it, so take the right precautions before it becomes a problem.

What now?

If you haven’t got a website already, you’re missing out. But don’t worry, it’s not too late! Spend some time finding the best B2B eCommerce platform and enjoy the full perks of entrepreneurship today. While you could make the whole thing from scratch, there are so many options out there to help you get set-up that you can create a whole online presence in no time.

-Grace Lau is the Director of Growth Content at Dialpad, an AI-powered cloud PBX phone system for better and easier team collaboration. She has over 10 years of experience in content writing and strategy. Currently, she is responsible for leading branded and editorial content strategies, partnering with SEO and Ops teams to build and nurture content. Here is her LinkedIn

Ecommerce is a great chance for you to increase your B2B sales. Whether you’re just starting out, or strengthening existing relationships, giving customers the chance to buy from you online makes great business sense. Ecommerce has surged in popularity in the last few years and by incorporating it into your business plan, you can ensure you remain at the forefront of your field.

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The 8 myths holding you back

Despite its importance in today’s world, myths abound on what ecommerce entails and who it is for. In order to launch a successful ecommerce business, it’s worth making sure you know exactly what it involves. So let’s look at eight common myths and show why they’re wrong, as well as providing practical advice on what you can do to make ecommerce work for you and your B2B customers.

1. Ecommerce isn’t the right fit for my business

Some companies think that their customer base won’t be interested in buying online. But, at the end of the day, the more options you have for sales, the greater the chance you have of increasing business. Besides, recent statistics show that the ecommerce MENA market is worth around $22 billion. With 82% of businesses in Saudi Arabia and the UAE planning to buy online in the future, it’s clear the demand is high.

2. B2B ecommerce is expensive

This may have been true in the past, but with the advances that have taken place over the last few years, it is no longer the case. Various platforms allow you to create a business website at an affordable price. One of the key ways you can cut costs is by considering an RPA solution. While there is an initial upfront cost, in the long run it reduces the amount of repetitive tasks your employees need to do – saving you time and money.

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3. You need to appeal to everyone

Let’s say you’ve made the decision to create a new website that incorporates options for business customers. You might be tempted to try and appeal to theoretical new buyers out there. However, it’s far better to craft the website around customers you already have. By tailoring it to their needs, you will put them at ease and show them how much you value your continued relationship. Your website doesn’t need to appeal to everyone – just to your ideal customers and intended market.

4. Ecommerce is impersonal

For those who have really honed their communication skills over years of face-to-face interactions, selling online can be a daunting prospect. But ecommerce doesn’t need to be impersonal, or replace human interaction. You can still keep your phone lines open, and, using an automatic call distribution system, send the call to agents familiar with particular clients. 

By having a customer sign-in option, you can provide personalized options on the website too – from unique offers, to easy invoicing.

5. Just by having a website you’ll attract customers

Let’s say you’ve invested the time and money to create a fancy new website. What should you do next? There’s no use having ecommerce options if no one knows they are there. Promotion is key. Tell existing customers about your website during face-to-face sales and via your call centre. Invest in SEO, paid adverts and other marketing campaigns.

6. Social proofs are not required for B2B ecommerce

Reviews and testimonials are just as important for B2B sales as to B2C ones. From the very beginning of your new online journey, create a space for them on your website and encourage them on your social media platforms. Post-purchase emails will encourage customers to leave reviews – and you can use ecommerce automation solutions to send these automatically! Make sure to actively engage with any reviews you recieve, especially negative ones. Acting on feedback is a surefire way to make customers feel heard.

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7. Sales representatives aren’t needed in B2B ecommerce

Sales representatives will always be needed for the familiarity of human interactions they bring. They can continue to act as ambassadors for your company and their role in cross-selling and upselling will continue to be key. As they go about their daily work, sales representatives can promote your online store. You can retrain your team online by using video conference solutions for small business to make sure everyone’s on the same page.

8. Business customers don’t want to deal with technology

Your business buyers are likely to be familiar with online purchases. The leap from doing it for personal items to doing it for their business is not that big. It also has lots of advantages – technology can help repetitive tasks like order management become easier by having information about past orders saved on their online account. 

If you do find your existing customers struggling, you may find it’s worth building a core team of agents that can help walk customers through the process of ordering online. Additionally, consider chatbots or a self-service hub where they can quickly find answers to their questions. This can help turn even the most technophobic users into happy customers.

Conclusion

By setting aside these eight myths, you can focus on ways to make ecommerce work for you. The preceding guidelines will help you to modernise your business and keep your customers happy. With a little reflection and adaptation, you can make some important changes without losing sight of what makes your business so great in the first place. Remember: ecommerce doesn’t mean losing who you are. It just means expanding on it.

-Jenna Bunnell is the Senior Manager for Content Marketing at Dialpad, an AI-incorporated cloud-hosted unified communications system with automated answering services that provides valuable call details for business owners and sales representatives. She is driven and passionate about communicating a brand’s design sensibility and visualizing how content can be presented in creative and comprehensive ways. Here is her LinkedIn.

Paytabs, an award-winning payment solutions company that helps entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises in the MENA region achieve their full potential in online payments – has launched a new platform called, Paytabs market.

Paytabs market is the ideal express payment platform for managing a handful of sellers and vendors in the e-commerce space. It is a centralized platform designed to help companies and businesses of all shapes and sizes manage online payments across multiple branches and stores.

It works best with any business or company that operates more than a single branch or store across different countries and cities in the MENA region. Businesses can now use the platform to manage multiple sellers and vendors and also receive payments from customers.

The way this works is simple. You can use it to create and access multiple vendor profiles within a single dashboard. The business, merchant or company will go through a series of registration and onboarding processes, while the stores and branches will become listed under the same company.

The company or merchant will sign up for the platform and then continues with the onboarding application. Paytabs then reviews the company in need and then approves the application. After that, the platform creates profiles for the merchant or company for each sub-vendor. Now the vendors and branches can start processing their activities while the merchant or company monitors their transactions.

The platform gives the ability to report and manage the group profiles involved for the business. It also offers management capabilities for the user or teams involved.  You can also use the dashboard to view and monitor the activities and transactions of the group profiles within the business.

Paytabs Market offers lots of benefits. Some of these are:

1. It supports multiple currencies and local payment options for the country in which the business operates.
2. It supports online wallets or e-wallets, debit cards, and credit cards.
3. It helps merchants to offer unique and customized invoices to their customers.
4. It supports and manages store accounting and pay-outs.
5. Offers single and bulk invoicing options to businesses.
6. It helps merchants and businesses to operate manual, scheduled and recurring invoices to their customers.
7. It supports Paylinks – a web link that directs customers to a payment page and QR payments for social commerce. It helps to make online payments super simple.
8. It integrates e-commerce plugins from popular providers like Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, and many others that suit your business model and online shoppers and enable seamless check-out for customers.

-Abdullah Idris Makarfi is a writer and content marketing strategist for companies in the finance industry. He works with brands offering financial services to create content that increases their website traffic, generate inbound leads and improves their keyword rankings. You can check out some of his work here: https://medium.com/financegeek.