Ira Belsky, Artlist cofounder and Co-CEO.
In today’s dynamic business landscape, many companies often find themselves at a crossroads. Do they continue focusing only on their consumer-facing B2C offerings, or do they venture into the potentially lucrative world of B2B? Brands that have built a strong B2C foundation can leverage this existing success and not just enter into the B2B area but thrive in it.
Before diving in, it’s important to acknowledge that a successful transition is achievable if your target audience, at its core, is essentially the same. With this in mind and the right strategy and mindset, expanding into B2B can open up new revenue streams and drive substantial growth.
Acknowledge Your User And Value Proposition
This principle resonates with many companies. Figma is an example that proves how scalable an offering can be across both B2C and B2B markets while maintaining the same core user profile. Initially, it aimed to create simple and free creative tools accessible to all, always with the “individual designer in mind.” It offered a free version first for designers who then became repeat customers, leading to its expansion into B2B.
From my experience in the video creation space, the underlying requirements and workflows are consistent for creators. Whether the video is for a personal project, a social platform, a business client or the creator’s company, creators face the same creative process.
Realizing you have the same value proposition for B2C and B2B regarding user behavior and profiles marks the first step on the journey. The next step: How can you effectively approach it to maximize the opportunity? I’ll share some specific tactics and insights that guided our journey into B2B.
Adopt A Holistic Sales And Marketing Mindset
One of the most significant shifts in moving to B2B is combining B2C marketing strategies with a robust sales approach. Viewing the customer journey as one holistic sales cycle and bridging the gap between sourcing a lead and closing the deal is essential. This is often nonexistent in B2C. Right from the start, your marketing and sales teams need to be aligned.
To ensure this alignment, we hold regular cross-company roadmap events that emphasize the goals, vision and plans across teams—ensuring all employees and stakeholders are on the same page. This highlights our collective commitment to the company’s B2B focus beyond just the sales team.
During this transition, you need to be patient and persistent. Unlike the ROI-based quick wins and conversions you might see in B2C, B2B is more of a marathon. Changes take time to impact results. It’s about finding ways to blend your successful B2C marketing techniques with your B2B sales efforts to keep the B2B pipeline healthy.
A key aspect is consistent brand activity and nurturing efforts. Ensure the messaging your B2B audience sees in ads or emails echoes what your account managers communicate. In B2B, every interaction counts, and it’s all part of one journey. The B2C user doesn’t have the same experience. Once we established our B2B messaging framework, we prioritized meetings to reinforce its importance across the teams.
Additionally, the quality of leads and impressions takes precedence over sheer volume. A handful of engaged, well-informed prospects can be more valuable than a ton of casual inquiries. Emphasizing the importance of lead quality to your sales team is key to ensuring it focuses on getting the right leads, not just filling the funnel.
While there’s significant overlap in channels used to reach B2C and B2B audiences, successful B2B expansion requires exploring additional channels. Leveraging existing B2C efforts on social media and advertising, you’ll want to complement those with a diverse mix of B2B-oriented channels.
Relying on trusted professionals who are experts and leaders in their fields helps us determine which channels to explore. Platforms like LinkedIn, industry-specific events and niche podcasts may become invaluable avenues for effectively reaching and engaging with future clients and partners.
At the same time, don’t neglect your presence and brand perception in the B2C market; your success in the consumer market helps lay the foundation for B2B activities. Find smart ways to show your brand is equally capable of serving the needs of both. We updated our messaging and copy to emphasize that we’re also built for business clients. The beauty of this approach is that it works both ways. We’ve seen how one of our B2B targeted ads also resonates with B2C audiences because creators are drawn to products and services associated with renowned global brands.
Refine Your Product For B2B Growth
It’s crucial to understand the requirements that large businesses demand so you can adapt your product to meet their business needs. Technical considerations such as SSO integration and robust security measures may require immediate adjustments to your product development priorities.
While user behavior and quantitative data often drive product decisions in the B2C world, qualitative feedback and industry intel hold significant sway in B2B. Be prepared to make necessary product adjustments based on feedback from your key B2B accounts. Their insights can be enough to refine your offering even if these changes aren’t immediately obvious from your B2C user base alone.
We understand that our B2B users who work at scale and produce content for different purposes need a tailored license according to their needs. They also want specific data-driven information like industry trends to empower their brand. We communicate regularly with the account managers, R&D, product, marketing, data and legal—an ongoing process of constant feedback.
The art lies in striking a balance and merging your product roadmap to support both B2C and B2B efforts seamlessly while also recognizing when to prioritize one sector over the other. After talking to several enterprise clients, all sharing similar feedback, we took the executive decision to dedicate more resources to implement their demands. This investment is paying off in many ways; most importantly, it’s strengthening our relationship with these key clients.
Embrace The Journey
Adapting a successful B2C model into something that also works for B2B is a multifaceted journey. By acknowledging the similarities and considering B2C as fuel for B2B, you can effectively leverage your B2C successes to unlock new growth opportunities in the B2B space.
Embrace the challenge, appreciate that quality matters more than quantity, remain agile, and continuously seek feedback from your B2B clients to refine your offerings and solidify your position as a trusted partner for businesses and consumers alike. Prioritizing a commitment to innovation and customer-centricity, I believe, will be the driving force behind real lasting success.
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