Adding a direct-to-consumer channel to your B2B company is not unlike opening a brand-new business. The B2C space is saturated with competition and heightened consumer expectations, and your B2B authority won’t automatically carry over.

What’s more, B2C means you’re competing directly with Amazon and other large retailers and dot coms, and that demands delivering on immediate shipping, price competition, simple returns, and an elevated product experience.

But don’t try to boil the ocean all at once – you won’t become a nationally-known brand overnight. Instead, think clearly on what distinguishes you from the competition, whether it’s your products, customer service, shipping speed, pricing, loyal fanbase, or overall customer experience. Exploit these key differentiators across your website, social, email, and advertising campaigns.

The first decision you need to make is how you’ll handle your e-commerce plan, as your approach to your website will impact all areas of your marketing efforts. (We’ve outlined key considerations to determine your best website strategy here.)

Next, with the right e-commerce foundation in place, you’ll need to build your B2C brand through sheer tenacity, differentiation, and a smart, multi-channel digital strategy.

Impression by impression, social share by social share, and interaction by interaction, you’ll start to build and grow your B2C identity. We’ve outlined some critical marketing considerations to get you started.

Customer acquisition is more important—and challenging—than ever. In fact, Hubspot reports that 61% of marketers consider lead acquisition their biggest challenge in 2020.

The market changed with the COVID-19 pandemic, and while we can’t predict the future, it’s clear that “business as usual” just won’t cut it in a rapidly changing environment.  To set up your business for future growth and withstand market uncertainty, a continuous, multichannel customer acquisition strategy is critical to engage, entice, and convert new customers.

Create (and Maximize) Compelling Content

Customer journeys and buying cycles are no longer linear, and every customer is different. Today’s empowered customers seek out information across channels – bouncing from a Google search to your website, to cost comparing on Amazon or reading reviews on social media. Each channel interaction is an opportunity to acquire a new customer. Of course, capturing and maintaining attention across this multichannel journey can be challenging, and that’s where content comes in.

Informative content helps you “meet them where they are” and introduce your brand to new prospects via search results, social, and more. It’s food for your channel strategy. You’ll build credibility with potential customers by supplying answers, inspiration, and opinion, and can guide deeper interactions with your brand. Meanwhile, you gain insights into your customers’ questions or topics that interest them, giving you better ammunition for personalized follow up.