Marketing leaders across industries such as pharma, healthcare, financial services, and manufacturing have multiple stakeholders to consider when developing an effective marketing strategy.
On the one hand, as a marketer you have to influence business decision-makers and convince them that your product or service is superior to competitors', offering greater value. On the other hand, you have to provide sufficient education to those decision-makers so they feel comfortable and competent enough to sell the offering to your other target audience: the consumer.
That relationship constitutes what marketers call a business-to-business-to-consumer (B2B2C) model. And that model can be daunting if you don't have a recipe for success.
To build an effective B2B2C marketing plan:
- Build a line of communication between the business and its consumers.
- Identify where the greatest area of opportunity exists.
- Don't be afraid to break the mold.
1. Build a line of communication between the business and its consumers
When beginning the process of building the audience strategy, begin with data-driven audience planning from both the B2B and the B2C perspectives. That means diving beyond the demographics to understand motivations, values, and media consumption habits to inform audience activation and channel execution.
Once you have a 360-degree understanding of those audiences, it's important to consider the relationship and lines of communication. How can you use your marketing strategy to facilitate a conversation between the business and the business's consumer?
More often than not, the business is at least familiar with the category of the product or service you are promoting. So, instead of educating on the category itself, drive brand name recognition, unique value propositions, and the benefit to its bottom line.
Alternatively, consumers have a more rudimentary understanding requiring not only tactics that drive brand awareness and recall but also overall awareness of the category and ways it serves their needs.
It's critical that the marketing for each respective consumer journey take place concurrently, so when the B2B2C conversation begins, both sides are empowered and informed.
2. Identify where the greatest area of opportunity exists
No brand I have worked with has come to me and said, "I have an unlimited budget." Therefore, it's important to have a strategic, data-driven approach guiding where your marketing dollars are spent: You'll need to carefully consider which audiences and tactics are going to drive the greatest opportunity and divide the budget accordingly.
A Forrester report (subscription or purchase required) on B2B2C customer journey mapping suggests, "Even though you're seeking to improve the end-customer's experience, beginning with processes that have a positive impact on your partner's experience or bottom lines can build momentum and help you work with them in the future." In a B2B2C context, that means prioritizing efforts that have an impact the business partner to ultimately benefit your end-users.
Research and ask questions to gain a strong understanding of the full customer journey both for partners and for end-customers. Does the business hold the control, with the end-consumer deferring decisions to the advice of the consultant or salesperson? Or does the end-consumer take an active role in bringing ideas to the salesperson/consultant? Does the end-consumer have the ability to complete a purchase without help, or does the salesperson/consultant hold the keys that unlock the offering?
