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In a previous blog post, we covered five different Business-to-Business (B2B) marketing strategies. In that post, I shared with you the best marketing techniques that I would recommend and they were: inbound marketing, account-based marketing, search engine marketing, earned media, and industry events.

In this article, we will discuss the most effective marketing approaches for the most prevalent business type, Business-to-Consumer (B2C).

I will describe B2C marketing briefly, explain why it is essential to have a B2C marketing plan in place, and discuss the top five B2C marketing methods I recommend for any organization.

The term "B2C" was first coined in the early 1990s by Jean Kilbourne in an article entitled "Marketing to Women". She was trying to differentiate between different types of advertising and market segments and felt that it was important for marketers to understand how they were different from each other, so they could focus on what they do best - B2C or B2B.

B2C marketing encompasses virtually all forms of marketing and advertising that are directed towards consumers. As long as the brand's consumer or target audience is an individual customer and not a company, an industry, or a government agency, the relationship is business-to-consumer. What are my top five recommended business-to-consumer marketing strategies?

Though in recent times I have become an outspoken critic of the use of influencer marketing, due to the increase in user and consumer awareness and education on how to distinguish between paid and organic content, and due to the greed and abuse of many self-proclaimed "influencers" and the true harm they are inflicting on the youth and children, this technique, when used for good, still remains one of the most effective marketing strategies a B2C company can employ.

The appeal of influencer marketing is substantial, but caution is advised. Followers are becoming more demanding that influencers disclose their commercial and sponsorship relationships. 20% of an influencer's audience will "unfollow" them if they are not forthcoming, which could negatively impact your marketing results.

To manage their brands, B2C companies do not rely only on influencer and viral marketing or other kinds of earned media. Nearly 75% of B2C marketers publish content via paid media platforms.

This is ideally about audio and video content, two of the most prominent B2C developments. 33% of B2C marketers already use short-form video, and that number is expected to roughly increase in the next year. Why? Video is a social media staple. It drives marketing tactics for improving brand recognition (49%), product promotion (44%), and revenue (43%).

Ecommerce is a pillar of B2C. In 2021, an estimated 2.41 billion individuals worldwide purchased goods and services online, so competition is intense. Intelligent marketers view the epidemic-driven rise in ecommerce engagement as an opportunity to develop a customer-centric, dynamic marketing approach. In addition to the aforementioned strategies, there is a concentrated effort to improve site personalisation, the mobile shopping user experience, and subscription services. Maintaining flexibility and responsiveness in the ecommerce industry looks to be the key to capturing a portion of the predicted $6.5 trillion in 2023 sales (22% of global retail sales).

Conversational marketing is a real-time interaction through a chatbot or live chat that places the right information in front of prospects and customers at the right time, enables them to opt for self-service (a growing demand for 40% of customers), and provides immediate answers to questions (a top priority for 75% of customers).

Personalization and relevance significantly enhance the user experience, but there are additional benefits for B2Cs. Businesses have the potential to "humanize" their brands by sharing the stories behind them and displaying their core values when they engage in meaningful interactions. Almost 75% of customers purchase from companies that share their beliefs.

There are undoubtedly a variety of other marketing strategies that an organization can utilize and adopt to be successful in B2C marketing, including promotions, direct marketing, in-store marketing, email marketing, and a variety of social media marketing techniques; however, I chose to be less theoretical and more pragmatic by highlighting five strategies that have less of a broad meaning and more of a quick, efficient effect on marketers who adopt them.