In B2B marketing we've got funnels and waterfalls, channels and verticals. But none of that matters until you hook someone with a big idea. So is B2B is the same as B2C? It depends on who you ask. See what 10 leading B2B experts say.

1. 10
Experts Share
Insights
B2B vs B2C

2. JAY
BAER
Author, Youtility
Founder, Convince
and Convert
Is B2B Marketing Really
All that
Different from B2C?
“Yes, the purchase funnel and some of the tactics
are different in B2B. But the strategic thrust of
content (help, inform) and social (help, humanize)
are the same regardless of what you’re selling.
Every B2B customer is also a B2C customer, and
the marketing playbooks of the B2C companies
are changing the expectations of B2B buyers.”
—11 Big Myths About Social Media and Content Marketing

3. JAY
BAER
Author, Youtility
Founder, Convince
and Convert
Is B2B Marketing Really
All that
Different from B2C?
@jaybaer
“IF YOU THINK YOU CAN
TAKE A PASS ON THIS STUFF
BECAUSE ‘WE’RE B2B,’
YOU’RE IN REAL TROUBLE.”
(tweet this)

4. Is B2B Marketing Really
All that
Different from B2C?
KIM
CURRY
VP Strategy & Planning
Babcock & Jenkins
“At the beginning of the buyer journey, you have
to get a buyer’s attention. You have to give them a
reason to move out of the status quo, and you can’t
do that without providing some sort of value early
on. That’s a very difficult thing to learn how to do,
and that’s a place where I feel like B2B marketers
can actually learn a lot from B2C marketers.”
—B2C and B2B Marketing: Twin Sons of Different Mothers

5. Is B2B Marketing Really
KIM
All that
Different from B2C?
CURRY
VP Strategy & Planning
Babcock & Jenkins
“THE BASIC TENETS OF
MARKETING THAT MUST BE
FOLLOWED TO HAVE SUCCESS
IN B2B AND B2C ARE
REALLY PRETTY SIMILAR.”
(tweet this)
et!
we is
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6. TODD
WHEATLAND
VP Thought Leadership and
,
Marketing
Kelly Services
Is B2B Marketing Really
All that
Different from B2C?
“Five years ago the requirement on B2B marketers
to entertain was pretty low. That’s totally shifted
now. B2B marketers need to think like consumer
marketers, marketing to a person, not to a
faceless entity.
Just like you yourself try to humanize your brand or
company, you’re also trying to engage at more of
an emotional level with the people you’re
selling to.”

7. TODD
WHEATLAND
VP Thought Leadership and
,
Marketing
Kelly Services
Is B2B Marketing Really
All that
Different from B2C?
@ToddWheatland
“IN SEEKING TO CONNECT
WITH PEOPLE, YOU’RE UP
AGAINST ALL THE OTHER
CONTENT AND VOICES
THEY’RE EXPOSED TO.”
(tweet this)

8. Is B2B Marketing Really
All that
Different from B2C?
JON
MILLER
VP Marketing & Co-founder
Marketo
“Too often, marketers get hung up on the idea that
B2B content and B2C content require wholly
different approaches, and they don’t. Whether you’re
selling blue jeans, cheese, enterprise-grade software
or wind turbines, the ultimate goal is for the reader
to first feel an emotion, and then be motivated
to act.”
—Content Marketing for B2B and B2C More Alike than Unalike

9. Is B2B Marketing Really
JON
All that
Different from B2C?
MILLER
VP Marketing & Co-founder
Marketo
@jonmiller
“PEOPLE DON’T ACT UNLESS
YOUR CONTENT IS USEFUL,
ENJOYABLE, INSPIRED AND
EMPATHETIC.”
(tweet this)
et!
we is
t th

10. Eric
WITTLAKE
Sr. Director of Media
Babcock & Jenkins
Is B2B Marketing Really
All that
Different from B2C?
“There are a whole lot of differences...where do
you want to start? To begin with, you’ve got a
different kind of person. Yes, these people exist as
consumers, but generally when you’re going after
an enterprise B2B buyer, they don’t look like the
vast majority of consumers.”
—B2B Marketing Is Not the Same as B2C

11. Eric
WITTLAKE
Sr. Director of Media
Babcock & Jenkins
Is B2B Marketing Really
All that
Different from B2C?
@wittlake
“ONE OF THE DIFFERENCES
IS THE PEOPLE YOU’RE
MARKETING TO ARE EXPERTS.
IN CONSUMER MARKETING,
YOU RARELY MARKET TO
EXPERTS.”
(tweet this)

12. Is B2B Marketing Really
All that
Different from B2C?
MAUREEN
BLANDFORD
B2B Sales
Enablement Strategist
“Yes, yes, yes, we’re all selling to people.
And, yes, stuff from consumer habits leaks over.
(Kate Middleton has knees; I have knees.) But how
consumers buy and how execs buy is largely more
different than the same.
While strategizing for business buyers may feel more
challenging, it’s really much easier than working in
the consumer space...if we just get out of our
own way.”
– I Am Not Kate Middleton

13. Is B2B Marketing Really
MAUREEN
All that
Different from B2C?
BLANDFORD
B2B Sales
Enablement Strategist
@MaureenB2B
“HOW WE BUY POTATO
CHIPS VS. HOW WE BUY A
DATA WAREHOUSE: POLAR
OPPOSITE BUYING PROCESS.”
(tweet this)
et!
we is
t th

14. AARON
BEAN
Strategic Planner & Digital
Digital Strategist
Strategist
Babcock & Jenkins
Is B2B Marketing Really
All that
Different from B2C?
“Without question, the lines between B2B and B2C
as historically conceived, are definitely changing.
We’re marketing to people, not businesses. And
when you make that mental shift, you finally start to
realize that the way I appeal to – and am relevant to
a person – taps into things that go beyond their
role as a business decision maker or influencer.”

15. AARON
BEAN
Strategic Planner & Digital
Strategist
Babcock & Jenkins
Is B2B Marketing Really
All that
Different from B2C?
@aaron_bean
“BUSINESSES NEED TO
APPEAL TO BUYERS FROM
AN EMOTIONAL AND A
RATIONAL SIDE, WHICH IS
THE SAME IN A CONSUMER
ENVIRONMENT.”
(tweet this)

16. Is B2B Marketing Really
All that
Different from B2C?
CHRISTOPHER
PENN
VP Marketing Technology
SHIFT Communications
“At the end of the day, you’re trying to encourage a decision
to be made in your favor, whether you’re marketing a pack of
chewing gum, a martial arts school, a communications agency,
or a multibillion dollar fighter jet.
A consumer is just as likely to see your product on a
smartphone as a businessperson is. A consumer is just as likely
to check out your Facebook Page or ask their friends as a
businessperson is. Google returns the same results to
businesspeople and consumers alike.”
—What is the main difference between B2B and B2C marketing?

17. Is B2B Marketing Really
All that
Different from B2C?
CHRISTOPHER
PENN
VP Marketing Technology
SHIFT Communications
@cspenn
“HERE’S THE MAIN
DIFFERENCE: THE NUMBER
OF STAKEHOLDERS AND
DECISION-MAKERS.
THAT’S REALLY ABOUT IT.”
(tweet this)
et!
we is
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18. JULIE
WISDOM
VP Creative & Content
Babcock & Jenkins
Is B2B Marketing Really
All that
Different from B2C?
“Can you really tell me with a straight face that your
decision making process to spend your company’s
money is the same as when you spend your own?
Maybe only in that you could be ‘fired’ from either case
for making a really bad decision. It’s simply not the
same, but how we as marketers (should) draw attention
to our clients’ wares can be considered comparable.”
Emotion (Disruption) > Rationalization (Validation) > Elation (Assurance)

19. JULIE
WISDOM
VP Creative & Content
Babcock & Jenkins
Is B2B Marketing Really
All that
Different from B2C?
@juliewisdom
“BUSINESS BUYERS ARE
CONSUMERS, YES. BUT THE
MINDSET WHEN YOU’RE
SPENDING ‘THEIR’ MONEY
VS. YOUR OWN IS SIMPLY
NOT THE SAME.”
(tweet this)

20. Is B2B Marketing Really
All that
Different from B2C?
TIM
WASHER
Senior Marketing Manager
Cisco
“Humor can help to humanize a B2B brand. In a
business context, making someone laugh is the most
intimate connection you can make.
Consumer brands get away with being ridiculous all
the time and that’s fine. But with the proliferation of
social media, it doesn’t matter if the audience is B2B
or consumer. They’re people.”
—BtoB Magazine

21. Is B2B Marketing Really
TIM
All that
Different from B2C?
WASHER
Senior Marketing Manager
Cisco
@TimWasher
“73% OF PEOPLE WHO READ
B2B BLOGS ARE PEOPLE.”
(tweet this)
et!
we is
t th

22. Is B2B Marketing Really
All that
Different from B2C?
@BabcockJenkins
SO...
WHAT DO
YOU THINK?