B2C marketing: strategies and tips

When your sales are aimed at individuals and not companies, that means your business is B2C, business-to-customers, or in Spanish: from company to buyers. This means that your business is direct and that your marketing should be aimed at certain goals. It is not the same to sell services to an international company as to an individual. It’s like when Steve Jobs discovered the need for a personal computer and not just computers that would make big business operations. If it is still not clear if this is the case for your business you can read this article and compare it with these cases: What is B2C or business-to-consumer? Definition and examples.

In this post, we will talk about some basic strategies that will help your company implement B2C marketing best practices.

Invest in your online presence

The first point we want to deal with has to do with having a website. Nowadays companies can’t afford not having a website. There are many types of websites depending on the type of business you have, it doesn’t necessarily have to be an online store. In the case of B2C marketing, it should be focused on telling your customer who you are. If you don’t know the types of websites, I recommend reading this post: What type of website is best for your business?

It’s not enough to have IRL customers, you need an online presence because the market is constantly changing. Probably before hiring you or buying your products, your customers want to know more about your business, so they will look for you online and if you do not exist, you will be discarded for simple distrust. That’s the trend the market is moving towards, so you shouldn’t be left behind.

Investing in a quality website can bring you great fruits to communicate to your customers that you are a trusted business. Especially for B2C communication, there is no internet. Can help you have direct contact with them through chats or email and very attractive customer service.

If you have a good website, take care of your social networks, publish good content and maintain good communication, you will maintain customers and attract new buyers. In B2C marketing strategies everything is about direct and transparent communication with customers, and what better than through the internet?

Cultivate your Community

When you’re thinking about your customers, you need to give them more than just a product or service to cover a need. Your business must be more than just a necessity satisfier. If you also build your brand and make your customers feel part of a community, you can create much more.

What defines your market? This question is not aimed at your market segmentation, but at the unquantifiable qualities, you see in your buyers. Who hires you are smarter people? Are they making a good investment? Are your customers interested in the environment? Or might they be responsible people for their health? In your B2C advertising, since you’re targeting them directly, you should rate them positively for choosing you and inviting more people to be part of that community.

Positive adjectives will help you create community but that’s not the only thing. Remember what we said about maintaining direct communication with customers? Well, having communication channels where your customers can pull each other, share experiences, is a good strategy for growing your community. Do you have a comment section on your website? That’s a good community-building tool.

On the other hand, generally taking care of your brand perception and what is associated with it will help people positively think about you and want to be associated with you. How will they associate? Buying from you. If you keep good communication with them, give them the option to interact with each other and positively identify them, more and more people will want to be a part and you will be cultivating your community.

Join an altruistic cause

What are the causes that matter most to your buyers? If you are a company dedicated to sustainability issues perhaps the most important thing for them is the care of the planet. If you’re selling clothes and shoes, maybe ethical practices with your maquiladoras are. People like to know that those who decide to buy are honest companies and committed to just causes.

No one is hurt by a little charity. Sabritas, a potato company, dedicates part of its income to supporting children with cleft lips. Cinépolis (Mexican movie theater company), for years, has been dedicated to campaigns to support older people with cataracts, raising funds for their medical consultations and surgeries. This impacts the B2C relationship, humanizes companies.

How do these causes relate to companies? Sabritas always seeks to associate with happiness, so these campaigns are always aimed at «giving a child the chance to smile». For its part, the Cinépolis campaign is related to sight because, therefore, cinema is a visual medium from its origin. Making these kinds of relationships is the smartest way to choose the cause we will join.

However, these examples are from huge companies. If you’re a small business, you can join a local cause and you’ll need to evaluate how you can support efficiently without affecting your finances. If you’re selling home pet food, is there a local shelter you can support with a donation? If you’re a dentist, can you offer free service for a small home? Think of causes that don’t surpass you but that move your clients to support you.

Corporate storytelling for B2C marketing

Telling your company’s story is a very powerful weapon for B2C marketing. Just as your website is a good reference for your customers, telling an epic story of how you managed to found your company is very impressive. Stories are always well received by people, especially when told in an adventure format.

You can write a book telling the founding story of your company or you can have an excellent «About Us» page. There are many ways to engage your buyers with stories. Just as you can be inspired by works of charity, you can do it through narratives. This article can give you more ideas for ebooks: How to Write a Successful Ebook?

You don’t have to limit yourself to written media. Imagine doing a podcast, audiobook, or videos about your company. An example is the series «Inside Chanel», short YouTube videos that told the story of the designer Coco Chanel. You can see them in this playlist to get inspired.

Social media

This strategy is directly linked to the first point. If you have a website, you must also have social networks. They must support each other to achieve an impactful online presence. Your website will give you a professional image no matter what kind of economic activity you are engaged in. Your social media is your first contact with your customers and is, therefore, a crucial piece of B2C marketing.

Many people will search you online and find your website, but if they don’t find social networks, you may lose points. Especially if there is no way to contact you immediately through your website (for example with a chat, you have to take into account that an email address is not perceived in the same way).

When it comes to B2C marketing, your social networks also report on how your market perceives you. If your brand is well received, you will surely have likes, good comments, you will be labeled in mostly positive publications. But it will also give you pointers to stay alert in case you are going through a bad time. Is there anything about your brand that your customers have stopped liking? Maybe your last post upset some or your price hike has made them leave with the competition… All that can be seen is reflected in social networks.

Have good profiles dedicated to your purposes. In addition, implement tracking methods to have a database with the results of your campaigns and your reach. All of that will help you know if you’re having effective B2C marketing.

Affiliate Marketing

Recently in this blog, we talked about affiliate marketing. It’s a great way to connect directly with buyers, to do B2C marketing. Although it is aimed more specifically at attracting new buyers to your business. Because through a mediator is how you get to reach an audience that is coupled to your target market but that are not yet your buyers and that you could not reach without going through an intermediary.

Doing affiliate marketing to have new customers and grow your business is a good strategy. That’s what we talked about in the post: Affiliate Marketing: how to measure your success? And soon we will have more articles on this type of marketing so that you learn everything you need about this strategy and grow your business.

What you need to know about B2C marketing and affiliate marketing is that it’s a growth strategy. It is advisable to implement this type of strategy when you need growth and when you have found an audience of potential customers. Before that, it is convenient to strengthen your B2C relationship through other strategies that help you to make clear to the customer who you are as a company.

Conclusions

If you are a company that concretizes its sales with individuals means that you have a B2C model. In this type of model the marketing must also be B2C, that is, directed directly to buyers. The most important thing for B2C models is to communicate directly with buyers. There are many ways to do this: with a strong online presence along with social networks, good corporate storytelling, joining altruistic causes, and cultivating community are just a few examples.

What are the B2C marketing strategies you implement? Tell us in the comments.