Content marketing basically has two directions to go: to consumers or to businesses. Each customer type occupies a different zone in the commercial sphere. So don’t expect one hand-dandy, all-purpose content marketing strategy to do the trick. It won’t. B2B and B2C are as different as bread and water.
No question about it. Brand marketers must be clued into what separates the Bs from the Cs. The winning content marketing strategies will be those well-adapted to the following fundamental differences:
Business Customers are a voracious lot. And what they hunger for is information. Lots of it. Aaaah, so all brand marketers need to do is spew out truckloads of data, and voila – instant success, right? Maybe in another galaxy. Right here on good ol’ planet earth in the year 2014, info better be high quality goods. Business customers are looking for relevance, expertise, thoroughness, and cutting-edge thinking that demonstrates leadership in a particular field. Brand marketers are obliged to dig deep and present the gathered information in the most compelling way possible.
Remember, top-flight information doesn’t necessarily mean dry as the Sahara Desert. B2B content marketers can enrich their messaging and engage viewers with creatively-inspired content. Such creativity, however, must spotlight the winning features of a product or service. This is what managers and executives will base their decisions on.
General Consumers, in contrast, are more often than not driven by emotion. Typically, they choose with their hearts. Therefore, successful B2C content will aim to press the emotional hot buttons of consumers; to make them ‘feel’ the product or service being offered. What flips the emotional switch, of course, depends on the offering and the characteristics of the consumers in question.
Again, creativity plays a vital role with B2C content marketing. But in this case, the creative element is intended to generate an emotionally-charged or entertaining experience for the viewer.
If you have any questions or comments about content marketing, or about any brand-related topic, feel free to send them our way. You can connect with the Young Company team at 949-376-8404 #4033 or bart@youngcompany.com. And be sure to follow us for the latest brand marketing news and tips.