B2B vs. B2B: the ultimate marketing showdown - Amy Shaw | E13

B2B vs. B2B: the ultimate marketing showdown - Amy Shaw | E13 transcript

Charlotte White

Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Scaramanga Podcast. I'm Charlotte White, I'm the Social Media Assistant here at Scaramanga. Today on the podcast Emma King is joining me, our Social Media Manager. And we also have a special guest, who is our Account Manager Amy Shaw!

Amy Shaw

Hey guys.

Charlotte White

Thanks for coming on the podcast.

Amy Shaw

No worries.

Charlotte White

First of all, in case people don't know you, can you just tell them a little bit about who you are and your job role? What you do for us at Scaramanga?

Amy Shaw

Yeah, yeah so I'm the Account Manager here at Scaramanga, like you said, I basically look after our client relationships, making sure all our projects are on track, as well as doing the email marketing and copywriting. So, any sort of long form blog pieces, articles, that sort of thing. Right. So yeah, that's kind of what I'm in charge of. Yeah.

Charlotte White

Yeah, you're like our little.. you're like the cog that keeps it all running.

Emma King

Yeah, making sure we're on time!

Amy Shaw

Pretty much!

Emma King

And our subject today is B2B marketing. I think the first question is, what is the difference between B2B and B2C marketing?

Amy Shaw

Yeah, so I guess B2B stands for business-to-business. So that's kind of what we specialise on here at Scaramanga, B2B marketing. So that's yeah, a lot of our clients are B2B businesses. So we basically do the marketing for them. And the B2C is, yeah, business-to-consumer marketing. So that would be more... yeah, products that consumers buy. Yeah, it could be anything but our focus at Scaramanga is B2B marketing.

So we have, we have clients in like, the energy procurement sector, as an example. So basically, our clients, their clients are businesses. So a lot of the marketing we focus on is thought leadership. So putting content out there gains the trust of their clients. Yeah. And I suppose when you look at B2B marketing, it's a longer sales funnel than say, B2C marketing. So you basically want to get in front of their clients and say, you know, "we're here if you need us", because often with B2B services or products that, you know, for the sales process that goes through quite a lot of stages and a lot of stakeholders. So it's not just a quick decision, unlike B2C products.

When people buy B2C products, that's sort of, one person is making the decision. It's sort of an emotional decision, whereas with B2B services or products, it's, it takes a lot longer for the business to decide they want that service, or need it. Yeah.

Charlotte White

Yeah. We were talking about, obviously, when we were planning the podcast, we were talking about this subject before we actually hopped on to do it. But yeah, I really liked the kind of analogy that you said to us. I don't know if your remember or maybe I'm putting you on spot here.

Emma King

Yeah, the shoes!

Amy Shaw

Yeah, I guess that one just comes to mind. And I think that's more kind of in the e-commerce sector, which is very heavily B2C where, you know, if you're marketing a product like a pair of shoes. You know, a consumer goes onto a website, they see a pair of shoes they like, they like the colours, they like the specs of it. And it's a very, you know, add to cart, checkout type transaction. Whereas B2B services or products is very much, you know...

Emma King

Here's your problem.

Amy Shaw

Here's a problem, and...

Emma King

This is how we're going to solve it.

Amy Shaw

Yeah, this is how the business is gonna solve it for you. Yeah. And it's, like I said, a lot of more stakeholders are involved in making that decision when choosing to go with that certain business for a certain need.

Emma King

Like financially driven decisions, basically?

Amy Shaw

Yes. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. Especially if it's like a service that's on a retainer. Obviously, that needs to come out of the company's, you know, bank statement every month. So it's, it's kind of yeah, probably it's a more weighted importance of a decision when deciding to go with that product or service. Yeah.

Charlotte White

It's a lot more... I guess its like, more of an ongoing campaign in some ways as well compared to B2C?

Amy Shaw

Yeah.

Charlotte White

I feel like B2C is more, you do like these one off campaigns.

Amy Shaw

Yeah. It's very transactional, whereas I'd say, yeah, a lot of the businesses that we work with, you know, with their clients, it's their relationships. So not only do we have relationships with all our clients, they have sort of relationships with theirs. So a lot of what we do is sort of helping businesses to grow through through the marketing we do for them.

Charlotte White

Yeah.

Emma King

I'm thinking it's like, the t-shirt thing that we talked about.

Amy Shaw

Yeah.

Emma King

Obviously when people buy a t-shirt, you know, they know they can return it. It doesn't cost a lot if they forget about it. Whereas B2B is a long term thing.

Yes.

It's the customer relationship, them knowing you...

Amy Shaw

Yeah, yeah, definitely. I think that's kind of where the thought leadership piece comes in. That's a lot of what we do for our clients. You know, we write content that's quite specialised in the industry that our client is in. And we'll put it out on LinkedIn, and even, you know, login as some of the directors at the company sharing it from their profile to show that we know what we're talking about. Yeah, we're thought leaders in our industry. This is why you should trust us and come with us for this service.

Emma King

I think that's something else we do on social, is sharing articles. And we know that they can comment on something that's trending and topical, that reassures them that they know what they're talking about as a business, I think as well.

Amy Shaw

Yeah, for sure. Yes. It's all about gaining that trust. Yeah.

Charlotte White

I guess it's like... the way I see it... because before I started here, to be honest, if someone had said B2B or B2C to me, I didn't really what they meant!

Scaramanga Marketing

(Laughter)

Amy Shaw

I know, it's okay. It's all quite technical.

Emma King

Yeah.

Amy Shaw

Even when I tell my parents. Sometimes they're like, "what do you actually do in your job?". So yeah, I feel like a lot of people don't really know.

Charlotte White

No. It's like, they're obviously two quite different things. But I think one of the main points that I've taken away is B2B, I think there's a lot more of a significant journey.

Amy Shaw

Yeah. The customer journey is a lot longer.

Emma King

Yeah, that's what I was going to say.

Charlotte White

Yeah, but I mean, I don't know how long that will necessarily span over. But...

Amy Shaw

Potentially, it could even be months, even years.

Charlotte White

Yeah.

Amy Shaw

The thing is, with B2B, it's sort of like, if you take the example of energy procurement, or actually another better example might be to use managed IT services.

Charlotte White

OK.

Amy Shaw

A business, it's only really going to need that... they're not going to shop around too much for that, once they've got someone they're happy with it they're not really going to move, if that makes sense? So we've describe it as quite a sticky market, so like, people aren't really going to move. Businesses aren't going to move. So they'll only need it once. So it's not like they're gonna be shopping around for that. So it's more like we put out marketing just to keep the businesses front of mind and be like, "okay, I can see you. And when I need you. I know you're there." Yeah, sort of thing. Yeah, that's kind of probably the best way I would describe it.

Emma King

I think the longest journey from mine was about four years trying to work with a particular client and it wasn't until four years we finally for a foot in the door, pitched and got it.

Amy Shaw

Yeah.

Emma King

And it was a lot of work to get.

Amy Shaw

Yeah, so that's a prime example, where it's, you know, say if you've been eyeing up a pair of shoes, I know I just bought some Adidas.

Charlotte White

What is it, the Sambas?

Amy Shaw

Gazelles. Yeah, Sambas or Gazelles, they are sort of the same thing. But, you know, I'd maybe been thinking about it a couple of months. Even that's probably quite a long time.

Charlotte White

Yeah!

Amy Shaw

Because if I'd been thinking about it five years or four years, I think it's either I would have bought it or not.

Scaramanga Marketing

(Laughter)

Amy Shaw

Probably would be out of fashion by the time you know, five years comes around. So yes. A good example. Yeah.

Charlotte White

Yeah. At least you're not an impulse buyer!

Scaramanga Marketing

(Laughter)

Emma King

Unlike myself!

Charlotte White

Yeah, we've been discussing colours in the office, which colours to get!

Amy Shaw

That's the most important thing in sort of B2C products. Yeah. Whereas, yeah, there's a lot more to decide with B2B service. Yeah.

Charlotte White

Yeah, B2B is like, you're trusted with a lot more responsibility and a lot more financially and...

Amy Shaw

Yes. Especially because it's for the whole business rather than just yourself. Yeah.

Emma King

What do you think the appropriate... I might be putting you on the spot, but what do you think of benefits of having a marketing agency doing your B2B are?

Amy Shaw

Yeah, that's actually a good point. And I think that maybe a lot of B2B businesses don't think they need marketing, because I think a lot of them sort of just rely on a robust sales team, or word of mouth. Which, obviously, those things are still really important. But I think what the benefits of a B2B business having marketing is is that we sort of accelerate that process for them. And we, we do all the marketing up until the point that we can hand it over to the salesperson. So we generate those leads and then yeah, and then they're all ready to hand over to the sales person to then take it on. Whereas if a business doesn't have that, they're just relying on a salesperson, which...

Emma King

Yeah.

Amy Shaw

A salesperson can only do so much I feel like. So I feel like that's probably the main benefit of having marketing for a B2B business.

Emma King

I think it's really crucial, and Charlotte would probably agree with me, from a B2B side and like marketing side. If you have a business to be on LinkedIn. You're missing a whole different trick from ballgame.

Charlotte White

Yeah. Well, yeah, because it's exactly like... when we're talking about doing this podcast, I was saying about on YouTube, what keeps popping up for me is the LinkedIn advert that's like 'LinkedIn is the place to B2B'.

Emma King

Yeah.

Amy Shaw

It's true!

Charlotte White

Yeah. But it is true. It is true. And that got us talking about, you know, what sort of differences are, for me and Emma, doing social for mostly B2B businesses, because we deal with mostly... We are a B2B business.

Emma King

Yeah.

Charlotte White

We promote other B2B businesses on social and how that differs from, from B2C

Amy Shaw

Yeah, because you guys have had some experience in B2C before, right?

Emma King

Yeah. TikTok.

Amy Shaw

What would you say is the main difference that you've sort of encountered with that sort of social aspect, the social media aspect of it?

Emma King

I think mine is, there's a lot more creativity for B2C, there's a lot more fun with it. You can have fun with B2B, but it's more of a... I've always worked with companies that these are professional service.

Amy Shaw

Yeah.

Emma King

And they have a certain tone of voice. And it's very, 'this is what we want to look like, we don't want to use emojis. We don't want to do this'. Whereas if you're working with a brand that's maybe really creative, or if it's fashion or whatever, it's always a bit more creative.

Amy Shaw

Yeah.

Emma King

And you'd have a lot of fun with it. And the customers get involved and give feedback. And then you've obviously got influencers, UGC and all that. And that's how I feel like... yeah, there's a bit more creativity in B2C than B2B personally.

Amy Shaw

Yeah. Do you that certain platforms are better for B2C versus, you know, B2B?

Emma King

In my personal opinion these ones. So, B2B, definitely LinkedIn. 100%. Obviously B2C as well, but I feel like B2B does a lot better than the other platforms.

TikTok, I would obviously say B2C instantly I think you can use it for B2C but you've got to get it right.

Amy Shaw

Yes.

Emma King

It's a very tricky platform. And it's changing all the time. And, you know, now we've lost the music on the TikTok side of it we're noticing that there's no trends going on. There's nothing... really I don't feel anything exciting happening. And it's really difficult to create content. So then that B2C side of it also now lacks.

But B2B... there's no reason why you can't have an Instagram. But I have, from my experience, it's the hardest platform to grow on.

Charlotte White

Yeah.

Emma King

For a certain type of business.

Amy Shaw

Yeah.

Emma King

Because if you're a service business, unless you're actively getting photos and doing reels, and you're really involved in the content, it's very graphic heavy. It just doesn't catch anybody's eye. It's not feeding into the algorithm. So it's very difficult. And then obviously you've got Facebook. Facebook, I feel like is, unless you've already got a really good database of people following you and you've got good reviews on Facebook, it's slowly dying. It's dying. It really is. So I feel like LinkedIn is at the top. If I'm honest.

Amy Shaw

Yeah. And then Instagram and TikTok are more for B2C?

Emma King

I personally... yeah, I would say. I mean, you can do B2B, but obviously that's if you've got... you've just got to get it right. How you're reaching out to other businesses. Yeah.

Yeah.

Charlotte White

Yeah, I think it's like, technically speaking, you could do B2B and B2C on all platforms for both sides.

Emma King

Yeah, of course!

Charlotte White

But there's also I think, say if other businesses are looking for a B2B service. I think they're just more likely to go to LinkedIn anyway. Because I think it's got that reputation for being a B2B dominated platform versus consumers if they're looking for a certain product, they're most likely gonna go on TikTok and search for it.

Yeah

Yeah, on the search bit. Maybe lik,e buy stuff that the influencers that they following are wearing, XYZ. So I think it's...

Emma King

Yeah.

Charlotte White

I think you could do both. But I think the reason that the certain ones lend well, is because they've built this reputation of being more consumer based.

Emma King

Yeah, yeah.

Charlotte White

Or more business based.

Emma King

Yes, that's true.

Charlotte White

But I do think like, what I found with LinkedIn is my first impression of B2B when I started working here was that I kind of found it hard to express my creativity.

Amy Shaw

Yeah.

Charlotte White

But I actually think the more experience I get, the more ways I find that it is possible, like from other B2B businesses that I see. I think, like reactive marketing's one for me, which I think is actually a good way for B2B businesses to be creative.

Amy Shaw

Yeah, I think it's just a different way of being creative. Or jumping on things that are happening in the news, especially in certain industries. And yeah, I think like another part of B2B marketing is like, we need to almost become the experts in that industry. So I feel like maybe the creativity comes from when we know that industry really well and can kind of find niche ways to... I don't know.

Charlotte White

Yeah.

Amy Shaw

Talking about news items and that sort of thing.

Charlotte White

Yeah definitely. Well, I mean, from from, like, the perspective of like working at the B2B agency as well, that side of it is quite fun.

Emma King

Yeah.

Charlotte White

Because I kind of like helped you sometimes and kind of tapped into...

Amy Shaw

Yeah.

Charlotte White

Helping you with those articles, learning about literally, really niche things that I would not have known,

Scaramanga Marketing

(Inaudible)

Amy Shaw

Which is quite fascinating. And it's also the kind of the Account Based Marketing side of it can be quite interesting, as well, as you know, we really get after clients that our clients want to win and that sort of thing. And I find that quite exciting as well. That sort of very targeted approach, seeking out specific businesses that they want as clients. So it's creative and fun in a different way.

Emma King

Yeah.

Charlotte White

Yeah. It's kind of almost in a way like, especially with that Account Based Marketing, like a detective, do you know what I mean?

Scaramanga Marketing

(Laughter)

Emma King

Yeah.

Amy Shaw

Yeah. You need to go after certain people.

Yeah, I need a little monocle!

Emma King

(singing detective music)

Charlotte White

Like, especially, it came to mind because, I've had clients ask me before, you know, "we want to target XYZ business..."

Amy Shaw

Yeah.

Charlotte White

"And so can you do anything social wise, to help us towards that?"

Amy Shaw

Yeah!

Charlotte White

And then it's like, you know, find an following and potentially logging as the directors and other higher bosses.

Emma King

Yeah, and LinkedIn, we use the Sales Navigator for LinkedIn. And then obviously using Dripify and that. And then that just builds up your connections.

Amy Shaw

So again it all comes back to just getting front of mind of these customers and being like, you know, they might not need us right now. But we've added them on LinkedIn, so they can kind of see us and be like, "okay, we might need them in the future," you know? so I think that's kind of... yeah, it's kind of the key of B2B marketing. Yeah.

Charlotte White

Yeah.

Amy Shaw

Yeah.

Charlotte White

Cool. Well, I actually think that's perfect place to end it.

Emma King

Yeah!

Charlotte White

Cool. Before we start babbling on.

(Laughter)

Well, yeah, thank you everybody for tuning in. We'll have more episodes in the coming months. We'll keep that under wraps for now.

Emma King

Yeah.

Charlotte White

As if we actually know the subjects that are coming!

(Laughter)

Thanks Amy!

Emma King

Thank you Amy.

Amy Shaw

Yeah no worries!

Charlotte White

Maybe we'll convince you to come on again in the future.

Amy Shaw

Yeah, maybe.

Charlotte White

Bye everyone!

Scaramanga Marketing

Bye!