What's The Difference Between B2B & B2C Copywriting?

Join Alex’s global Copy Posse on YouTube, now 66, 400 strong. To get the last word in the world of copywriting – delivered straight to your smartphone – join my email list or connect with me on Instagram.

B2B? B2C? What’s the tea? If you’re curious to know how marketing and copywriting differ when speaking to these two different audiences. Keep reading.

This week I’m addressing another common question I receive – “Alex, what are the main differences between copywriting for business-to-consumer brands and business-to-business brands?”

And can the techniques and methods that I’ve shared in my tutorials apply to both?

Ahaaa you are in the right place. I love the questions, keep them coming! Like this article below if you’re already part of the Posse. And, if you’re new here, welcome! Please subscribe to this newsletter The Right Phrase Pays to make sure you don’t miss any more articles from me. Every single week I release a new tutorial to help you start or scale your business with copy that connects and converts.

All right. So, B2C vs, B2B, what’s the difference? Let’s first begin with a super quick description of each...

Business to Consumer or B2C refers to commerce between a business and an individual consumer. So, you’re speaking directly to a customer who is in complete control of what they are going to buy. 

Business to Business or B2B refers to customers that are typically buying on behalf of a business or for a business, which means more than one decision-maker might be involved. 

Now – to get back to your question – do the same marketing principles apply to both? In short, the answer is yes.

All the same formulas, frameworks and psychological triggers apply to both B2C and B2B marketing.

The only thing that’s changing is your customer avatar – specifically their unique desires, fears, needs, pains and dreams – and their buying process.

Yup, just because you're talking to a “business” doesn’t mean you shouldn’t till inject some level of empathy and emotional resonance into your copy.

At the end of the day, it’s still a human being or a team of human beings making the purchasing decision on the other side.

So, while “businesses” do make decisions differently than a single consumer, they still want the best product for their needs and one that will protect the productivity and wellbeing of their employees. 

With that being said, you knew there had to be some differences right? Judging by the title of this article. There are some valuable differences to consider when copywriting for B2B vs B2C brands. And here they are…

#1. Business Products Can Be More Complex

Chances are, business products are more complex than typical consumer products. Especially if we’re talking about a sophisticated software or tool made for an entire organization and involves lengthy implementation and indoctrination.

Therefore clarity and education take higher priority in your copy, as half the battle is in the explanation. You need to be able to quickly summarize what the product is, what it does, and why the business should be interested in it WITHOUT skimping on details. It’s a tricky balance to achieve, but the objective here is to educate first.

You want a clear and straight-forward USP to avoid confusion, but stay away from oversimplification or curiosity-driven marketing!

Kajabi is a great example of a B2B brand with a clear USP. “All The Tools You Need To Build A Successful Online Business Kajabi is an all-in-one platform that makes it easy to create online courses, launch marketing campaigns, build landing pages, and design the perfect website.” It also features live chat which is essential for on-the-spot education catered to their business audience.

#2. B2B Customers Are More Ready To Buy

While you may need to go the extra mile to compel B2C customers to buy into the solution you’re offering, in many cases, business customers are already primed and ready to invest.

They’re just looking for the RIGHT product. 

A business buyer usually already has the interest, budget and incentive to regularly purchase products and services that can help them stay profitable and competitive.

This means that copywriting for B2B requires a tremendous amount of research on your part. You want to make sure that you have a high understanding of your market sophistication so that you know how to effectively position and price yourself next to your competitors!

Chances are when a B2B prospect lands on your website they’re already in the process of doing some cost/benefit analysis.

For this reason, you’ll want to have a very clear pricing and feature chart on your website, like MailChimp, where you can clearly see the plans and packages they offer, and what’s included with each.  

#3. B2B Customers Rely On Logic First (Or Do They?)

While you might spend more time crafting something emotionally engaging for your B2C customers, when you write for a business buyer, it’s been long known that you want to first focus on the logical and tangible.

A B2B audience makes a decision based on factors such as increasing productivity, boosting profitability, and reducing costs – all those things that impact the bottom line...

But, I’m NOT saying to ditch emotions altogether! Because your brand personality and your customer experience can be a significant factor that sets you apart from your competitors. 

In fact, research has shown quite conclusively that emotionally-led marketing is more effective at driving decision-making in B2B than a more rational and ‘business-like’ approach. 

No one can resist a great offer that also comes with a feel-good tug at the heartstrings.

Whether we’re acting in a professional or personal capacity, humans still respond to things that appeal to our emotions.

Good B2B copy should be logical and fact-based, yes, but it must also be compelling on a personal level.

Take Slack for instance. When the team messaging app launched in 2009, it was up against some heavy hitters in the industry. But through a beautifully-crafted marketing message that focused on their user’s passion for collaboration, productivity and transformation, they were able to capture the hearts and minds of teams around the world – from NASA scientists to small tech startups.

#4. B2B Copy Speaks To A Team

In most B2C selling situations, the purchase decision is made by an individual. But a business purchase is usually a team effort, with more people involved. I mean, you don’t usually consult with a team of experts when you want to buy a new pair of shoes, do you? 

If you’ve worked for a corporation before, you know that there could be meetings upon meetings or, at the very least, a crazy long email thread or Slack conversation when it comes to making a decision that can impact an entire team or organization.

In B2B marketing, many department heads influence the buying decision — from marketing to management to HR to sales to finance to IT – and each of them have different concerns and will assess your solution based on different criteria. So, your copy must address the needs of all parties involved.

Asana, the project management app, does a great job at this, providing benefit-driven use cases for a variety of different teams. Brilliant!

#5. B2B Is Has A Longer Sales Cycle

A business purchase is rarely an impulse, knee-jerk buy. Often, because of the number of decision-makers involved, you’re dealing with a longer, multi-step buying process. 

For example, if you’re selling a high-priced, slow-to-implement solution, it’s never a one-step checkout process. It will likely involve a free consultation, team demonstration, sales call, followed by a trial and finally a contract! Then there is onboarding and migration and implementation and training.

Therefore, as you’re writing B2B copy, bear in mind that it only needs to convert the prospect on the FIRST STEP, whether that’s to request a demo or start a free trial. The goal here is to get an easy “yes” so that you can follow up and sell after-the-fact.

You’ll then write additional assets, such as follow up emails, call scripts, demonstration videos, etc to guide the prospect along the entire buying journey.

Take Active Campaign, for instance, they have a clear USP on their home along with a low-barrier “Start your free trial” call-to-action so you can ‘Try it free. No credit card required. Instant setup.” They also have a clear “Request a demo” option. What’s more, after I signed up for an Active Campaign trial someone personally called me to walk me through the setup process to make sure I was all set. They know that the likelihood of me canceling my free trial goes WAY down when I start actually implementing. That’s smart B2B marketing!

So there you have it! While audiences, marketing goals and sales strategies may differ between copywriting for B2C and B2B, the two still have more in common than you might think. 

You still need to convey a strong solution to a singular problem in a clear and concise way!  

So whether you write for B2C or B2B, my copywriter coaching program, the Copy Posse Launch Files, will guide you step-by-step through writing high-converting and highly-paid copy assets for your portfolio. Just click here to learn more about that!

And, as always, thanks for reading and subscribing! I’ll see you again next week. Till then, I’m Alex. Ciao for now!

Alex Cattoni is the Founder of the Copy Posse Agency and Academy. Since 2011, she has launched several successful brands and has proudly partnered with many of the hottest transformational brands and businesses on the planet, writing high-converting sales copy, scaling multi-million dollar brands, and crafting iconic promotional campaigns.

Today, she’s on a mission to mobilize the raddest, baddest crew of authentic copywriters with a passion for creating community, credibility and conversions with nothing but powerful and precise wording.

Through her weekly YouTube videos, Alex helps copywriters, aspiring copywriters and entrepreneurs learn, write and ignite their businesses with words that work.