Have you had a business idea that you’re really passionate about? You really have faith in the prospect of its success and that’s why you work on it tirelessly. And finally you have in your hands the finished products.
Well, now you need to market it so that people can reap the benefits and you can earn your keep. It is imperative that you focus a good portion of your faculties to this.
Now, there are basically two distinct types of marketing. B2B, short for ‘business to business’ where you serve other businesses in the market. The other one is B2C which is short for ‘business to customer’. Both can be either product based or service based.
In this article, we will delve deep into the world of B2C Marketing. You’ll find out what it is and how it manifests itself in the day to day business scenarios. Then there will be the things that are going to come in the near future.
The Story of B2C Marketing
If you have developed a product or are out there to provide a particular service, your customers can be either individuals or any organization. Sometimes both.
When you want to do business with individual customers, you’ll need to market your offerings to them in a way. And it will be drastically different from the way you’ll market it to a business. That is B2C marketing.
Some B2C examples include basic consumer goods. Say Kellogs, who sell a plethora of different cereal options to their customers worldwide. While another would be an ecommerce website that you order from. In terms of services, think house cleaning or lawn mowing from local enterprises dealing with that.
Although there are B2C services that you can find, they are relatively rare. B2C is generally product based and thus, these marketing strategies will be in accordance with that. But, it is also a fact that the line separating the B2B and the B2C approaches to marketing, is thinning with each passing day.
What is so ‘Out of the Ordinary’ in this Case?
A business will have very different priorities as compared to the individual customer. Also, you can find general patterns in the needs of the businesses. Which is not as much the case for a B2C scenario.
Wants and needs vary a lot from person to person. A lot more so than that with businesses. Be it products or services, the marketing campaigns that you’d need to put together will have to be highly targeted.
It all starts with the brand. Your brand, which the customer will be able to associate with. It is not just from anecdotal experience, that we can say that people want something they can associate with, something that they can believe in.
If you can fill that need for them, that will set you up for a lot of profits in the days to come. So, if you can build a brand, you’ll have a lot of success with this. Your products or services will just market themselves with sheer brand power. Something especially pertinent to the game of B2C marketing.
What you can Expect for B2C Marketing in Terms of Technology?
This is the year 2020 AD. There is absolutely no need to elaborate on what AI is and what it does. As it is a big part of the technological mainstream conversation worldwide. You most likely are aware of it already if you’re reading this article.
However, what we do have to tell you is that it is going to have a lot of influence on the way marketing is done. Don’t worry, it’s not going to take away your job or anything. Rather, it is going to enhance your capabilities as a marketer by a significant margin.
If you’re not convinced, just consider the case of a smartphone. Are you more efficient with it or without? Just like that, AI is going to be a big-time stretching of your capabilities. You’ll be a better marketer, that’s all.
The Trends in Details
Let’s get into the finer details of the B2C marketing trends that are to come.
Loyalty for the Win
This is absolutely vital when comes the issue of B2C marketing. Your main focus will be to put together campaigns that will move your customers. That will give them a reason to come back to you for more. Over and over and over again.
Like we have mentioned before, that B2C is mostly product based. So, is most of what e-retailer giants Amazon does. As the days pass, you’ll find Amazon entering into more and more new product sectors. So, if you are one of them, then your competition is formidable.
Now the question is, what to do? How to compete? The answer is loyalty. The loyalty your customers have towards your brand. If you’ve built your foundation upon that, you’re Amazon proof. No pun intended.
AI at your Service
Artificial Intelligence won’t be a threat to your job as you think it’ll be. If you’re aware of the capabilities of machine learning. You know that some of the jobs will cease to exist for us humans. The mundane ones.
Your job will be the same. That is to come up with more and more creative ways of marketing your offerings to your customers. With AI at your beck and call, you’ll have access to information for which you had to employ people. It took the time it needed, but that’ll be a lot quicker now.
So, don’t fear AI, embrace it as it’ll help you become a better marketer.
The New Era of Customer Relationship Management
CRM is the lifeblood of B2C marketing, there is no doubt about that at all. And now with the advent of new marketing technologies, AI made its place. Personalised marketing messages will be better than ever before.
In order to do this currently, there are a lot of different applications that you can use. But using them in unison in order to get the best results is quite complex and tedious. Now, with the newer and better marketing technologies, it will be significantly easier.
More Data on Customer Behaviour
Yes, you got it right. You’ll have access to more information than ever before. All a result of the new advancements in analytics technologies. You’ll be able to get into more details of the maneuvers you execute.
Identifying any problem in any step would be possible with a greater degree of accuracy. In the end, you’ll be able to take more control of the revenue that you can generate. And your customers will have more say in this process at the same time.
To Conclude…
Well, if you are an ambitious marketer looking to reach out to your customers, then this is the best of times. With the things we have discussed above, the B2C marketing ‘Force’ will be with you. Just, stay updated on everything that will be coming up and make your decisions based on that. The future is really bright.
