The Difference Between B2B and B2C Marketing Strategies for Videos

Difference-in-B2C-and-B2B-video-strategies

If you’re trying to find ways to ramp up your marketing strategy, you’ve probably already considered video marketing. After all, over the past few years, many major publications have proclaimed that videos are the future of content marketing.

Videos are an effective and engaging way to share information about your business, regardless of your buyer. However, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t keep your audience in mind when embarking on a video marketing journey. Buyers in the business world have different expectations than your average consumer and vice versa. Choosing the wrong marketing strategy could alienate your ideal clients and do more harm than good.

Do you want to create the best marketing video possible for your target audience? Learn the difference between B2B and B2C video strategies and discover how a good video production studio can help you send the right message.

What Are Marketing Videos?

Any video that a business uses to promote its products, services, or brand is a marketing video. You can use marketing videos in various ways, including TV commercials, online ads, social media posts, website content, and more. Similar to written content, videos can be informational or promotional, and you can repurpose them across channels.

There are two categories of marketing videos for businesses: B2B and B2C. While companies use both to boost sales and spread brand awareness, these videos target different audiences.

B2B Marketing Videos

Companies that sell their products or services to other businesses engage in B2B or business-to-business marketing. Instead of targeting individual consumers, these companies target key decision-makers at other organizations. B2B sales are typically more involved than business-to-consumer (B2C) sales because multiple people participate in the decision-making process.

B2B businesses often use marketing videos during the sales cycle to share information about their products and services, highlight their differentiators, and explain their company mission. Marketers can share B2B videos directly with prospective customers or post them on company websites, social media platforms, and video-sharing site

B2C Marketing Videos

Whereas B2B companies sell to other businesses, B2C companies sell their products or services to consumers. The B2C sales cycle tends to be much shorter than B2B, so B2C marketers have less time to make an impression on consumers. As a result, they focus on creating brand recognition and appealing to consumers’ emotions.

Because time is limited during the B2C sales cycle, B2C marketing videos are usually sales-driven. When targeting consumers, marketers often appeal to a wide audience using broad messaging. Additionally, they share videos on wide-reaching platforms, such as social media, streaming platforms, and TV channels.

Key Differences Between B2B and B2C Marketing Videos

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Tone

When you’re chatting with your coworkers or manager at the office, do you use the same language you use with friends and family outside of work? Probably not—most of us draw a clear boundary between our corporate and personal life. Marketers use the same approach; they tend to use a more professional tone when targeting corporate audiences and a more personal tone toward the average consumer.

B2C marketers need to catch consumers’ attention quickly, and they often do so by sharing light-hearted, entertaining content. B2B marketers, on the other hand, may have a few weeks or months to attract a buyer. During this time, their goal is to build trust with the future customer, position their business as an industry leader, and convey the value a partnership would bring. Therefore, B2B video content is usually more authoritative and distanced than B2C content.

Business purchases are transactional. Executives weigh the pros and cons of their purchase before moving forward. Very few business owners will make a hasty decision when buying 50 new laptops for their employees, a $30,000 solar panel system, or a new roof for their 5,000-square-foot warehouse. Therefore, you’re unlikely to secure a quick sale by appealing to B2B buyers with witty or pushy content.

Personal purchases can be transactional, but they’re often emotional as well. If your product can solve an annoying problem consumers face, they might choose to go out and purchase it after viewing one promotional video. Additionally, consumers often choose to buy products from brands that have similar values to theirs, such as sustainability or philanthropy. By positioning your company as like-minded and friendly, you can appeal to consumers’ emotions and convince them to choose your products over a competitor’s.

Length

If you’re a B2C business, your videos can easily get lost in the sea of other advertisements and social media posts that your target customers see every day. If you want viewers to watch your entire video and stay engaged the whole time, your content needs to be concise and engaging. Depending on your message and the platform you’re sharing your B2C video on, you should try to keep your content between 15 seconds and two minutes long.

B2B businesses have more leeway with their content length. Corporate buyers tend to be extra thorough when making expensive purchases, and they want to make sure they’re choosing the right company for the job. As a result, they’re more likely to watch long, detailed product or service explainer videos. However, just because B2B customers are willing to spend extra time on your videos, it doesn’t mean you should make your videos excessively long. You can get a lot of information across in a few minutes, and you have a better chance of keeping your potential buyer engaged.

Intent

Most B2C videos have the same intention—to promote a product or service. Occasionally, businesses will release B2C videos that highlight their company values or demonstrate how to use a product, but the end goal of most videos is to increase the likelihood of a sale.

You can also use B2B videos to get closer to a sale, but not every B2B video is promotional. During the early stages of the buying journey, your potential customers want to learn more about your business before considering a sale. Instead of sending them a promotional video, you can send them a company video highlighting your staff, core offerings, and company values. Additionally, you might send a case study video highlighting a past success story. Neither of these videos intends to elicit a sale; instead, both help you build trust.

Sharing Platform

Consumers and B2B buyers use different platforms to search for products and services. Corporate buyers tend to use professional platforms like LinkedIn, whereas individuals frequent platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. As a result, B2C and B2B companies often post their videos on different platforms to attract their ideal audiences.

Marketers also share B2C and B2B videos in different ways. B2B companies often know their potential buyers, which allows them to send personalized messages and tailored video content. You may only have a dozen leads in the buying funnel at any given time as a B2B company. This allows you to focus your efforts on sending each one different video content that fits their needs. Consumer-facing companies typically can’t personalize their approach for specific individuals, so they use large video-sharing platforms to attract a large audience.

Why Is It Important To Consider the Similarities and Differences Between B2B and B2C Videos?

If you’re considering adding video marketing to your sales strategy, you might be wondering: Does my strategy really matter? After all, B2B and B2C buyers are the same people, just in different settings. Can a few changes to your video production strategy make a significant impact on your video’s success? The answer is yes.

The differences between B2B and B2C videos may not seem substantial, but they can completely change how your message resonates with your target audience. A long video with a professional tone may fall completely flat with consumers, but it could help you close your next major deal with a B2B buyer. Similarly, sending a B2B buyer a funny promotional video early in the sales cycle could ruin your chances of a future sale. Your strategy matters, and a good video production studio can help you execute the perfect video.

Choose the Best Video Production Studio for Your Marketing Video

When choosing a video production studio for your marketing video, it’s crucial to choose a partner with experience in your space. If your video production partner specializes in B2B videos, but you need a B2C video, you might not get the results you’re hoping for. It takes an experienced, professional studio to create effective marketing videos for your buyers, whether they’re individuals or entire businesses.

At Abstrakt Studios, we don’t limit ourselves based on video type. Though we love to cut our teeth designing and producing B2B videos, we also have the team and tools to make award-winning B2C video content. Whether you need a corporate video for your B2B audience, a TV commercial for B2C buyers, or a custom video for either group, Abstrakt Studios can help. We have clients in various industries within the B2C and B2B markets, and they can attest that our video production services are unmatched.

If you’re looking for a video production company in St. Louis that can handle any marketing video, look no further than Abstrakt Studios. Schedule a discovery meeting today and take the first step in bringing your video idea to life.