How should B2C product marketing differ to B2B product marketing?

At its core product marketing is reaching the right customer with the right message proposition at the right time to get someone to consider, try, buy or renew your product. How you do this for B2B and B2C often differs across the messaging, channels and tactics used to reach your goals. Why? Let's break it down.

B2C product marketing targets individual consumers who typically make decisions based on personal preferences, emotions, and immediate desires or needs. Marketing strategies therefore tend to focus on creating a personal connection with the consumer, using messaging that taps into emotions, lifestyle, and instant gratification. The goal is to appeal to the consumer's needs, desires, or aspirations in a way that feels immediate and relevant. Channels and tactics to reach the target consumer could range from out of home to social to media placements to other niche solutions perhaps around community building or events depending on the goal being executed against.

For B2B product marketing the audience typically involves multiple stakeholders who make decisions based on considerations relevant to the role they play for the company and the need they have for a solution to the problem the product offered is seeking to solve. Thus, B2B marketing typically focuses on rational messaging, emphasizing the business value, ROI, and long-term benefits of the product. Up market aspects around control, compliance and security are critical tablestakes as well. Marketing is usually less emotional and more focused on solving business problems, improving efficiency, or enhancing profitability. Importantly less emotional does not mean boring or a bad story and there are outliers here, especially with PLG companies. The primary channel and tactic is about enabling and supporting a sales team (note this includes your website) and the messaging can and should evolve through the buying process.