B2C vs. B2B copywriting - what's the difference?

A quick look at B2C vs. B2B copywriting  

Copywriting for content marketing is time-consuming. Although we all get the same hours in a day as Beyoncé, let’s face it—there’s a limit to how much the rest of us can achieve in a single workday. To make sure that time spent on content marketing isn’t time wasted, you need to know you’re headed in the right direction with regard to your copywriting strategy.  

B2B or B2C copywriting – which one is right for you? That depends on who you’re writing for.   

• B2C | Business to Consumer/Community – this type of copywriting facilitates interactions between a business and its customers. Here, the customer you’re writing for is an individual or group of individuals. They’re directly in charge of making their own buying decisions.   
  
• B2B | Business to Business – this type of copywriting enables interactions between a business and other businesses. Here, the customer you’re writing for is an organisation, and their purchasing decisions involve more than one person.     

While there are major differences between these two types of copywriting, the one thing we can learn from B2C copywriting is this: on the other side of the screen is a person reading the content you’ve written, and you are hoping that it will help them make a decision about buying something.   

How can you influence that decision to ensure that a purchase is made from your business? Through content marketing, of course.

Here’s the quick lowdown on what you need to know about the differences between B2B and B2C copywriting, in order to get it right. 

The key differentiator between B2B and B2C lies in their buying power 

• B2C content is directed at individuals who exercise their buying power for themselves. They often shop for things that they want, but don’t necessarily need. Such consumers tend to be driven by emotion (shop impulsively), and then afterward justify their decisions with logic. These individuals buy things, because they want to seem smart, or because they want others to think they’re cost-conscious, or that they're one step ahead of the trend curve.  
• B2B copywriting is directed at individuals who exercise their buying power on behalf of a company. They are shopping for things that the business needs, and while they’re likely to lean toward logic in their purchasing decision-making, there should also be an emotive element in any copywriting aimed at them. In fact, neuroscience shows that decisions cannot be made without a combination of emotion and logic together. 

The major difference lies in the fact that purchasing decisions made for a company affect the entire organisation. That's why B2B copy has to work harder to convince more people. These people often have competing interests and requirements, so B2B copywriting requires a more nuanced approach, as well as more time to convince the target audience - both the final decision-makers, and the decision influencers. This is why the B2B sales cycle is usually longer than that of the B2C cycle.   

B2B vs B2C copywriting tone: one is professional and logical; the other is personal. Both need to be persuasive and human.  

B2C copywriting uses a more personal and conversational tone. Your reader wants to feel as if they’re talking to a friend: someone they can trust and turn to for advice and recommendations.   

B2B copywriting has a more professional tone. Credibility in this space is important. Your reader wants to feel as if you understand their business and their industry, and that this understanding is going to be used to help them fulfill a business need, or solve a business problem.  

However, we also need to remember that every B2B reader is still a human being, and engaging them with writing that has a personal element to it is more likely to resonate with them than writing that is stiff, impersonal, and filled with corporate speak. In fact, more and more businesses are using a more personable tone in their marketing, in an effort to build trust and a feeling of approachability.  

Think of B2C audiences as window shopping, while B2B audiences know they have to buy something. They’re browsing with intent. 

Most individual B2C buyers are ‘just browsing’, because they don’t yet know what they want, or even if they can afford it.  

B2B buyers are different. They’ve got the budget, because they already know that they need something. They know there’s a problem to solve. How much budget they’re willing to spend in solving their problem and where they choose to spend it—well, that’s where your logically persuasive B2B copywriting needs to come in.    

B2C or B2B copywriting: Getting to know your customer really pays off 

Keeping your customer’s best interests at heart is the best copywriting strategy. How do you do this? Tell them what you’d want to know about your business if you were in their position, and the rest will come naturally.  

Create B2B content that shows that you understand your customers, the way their business operates and what their pain points are. The most effective content will speak to people in specific roles in certain types of businesses (also known as buyer and influencer personas), and will answer questions and objections they’re likely to have.  

Your copywriting must also speak to a team, not just a decision-maker. Each team— marketing, finance, customer care, and so on—has its own unique requirements that must be clearly addressed in B2B copy.  

Lastly, whether you’re writing for an individual or for a business, it’s important to keep your copy authentic. It doesn’t matter whether your customer is buying a £10 notebook or a £100,000 software system, they want to know that the company selling it to them understands their needs—and it’s your job to convey that.   

 Contact us to chat about your B2B content needs.