The Ultimate B2B & D2C Marketing Strategies for 2023

Every calendar year, we look for new resolutions to have, new promises to make, to self and to others. 

Some of us also do it on the work front. We set goals for personal development, while entrepreneurs do it for business development, marketing strategies, sales approaches and… well, the list is endless. 

And if an entrepreneur (and a marketer) won’t help fellow entrepreneurs and marketers, who else will? 

So, I am sharing the best marketing strategies for B2B & D2C brands you can (and should) implement for 2023. 

B2B Marketing Strategies for 2023

B2B (Business-to-Business) does not need any specific definition. 

But there are always a few limitations when it comes to marketing in the B2B sector. Your audience is a lot more serious and focused on their requirements. 

There’s a definite funnel for each type of customer, which makes it smoother to close the deals. 

But B2B is a challenge to tap into for marketers. Let me share how you can nail it in 2023. 

1. Meme Marketing

I am sure you are surprised to see this form of marketing at the top of the list. 

Well, the fact is, memes have managed to seep into every industry, every sector, every field as we speak. 

Then you will ask, are memes effective in marketing? 

Obviously, they are not going to generate leads from Day 1. But they will help you build a community so strong that you will be thankful every day. 

Memes earn about 60% of the attention on social media platforms, 12 times more than traditional marketing graphics[1]. 

Their relatability, low cost and engaging nature have made memes and meme marketing a MUST-IMPLEMENT today. 

TCC is also a B2B brand, and we share at least 2-3 memes with our audience every week. 

So, if you haven’t tried your hands at meme marketing so far, I strongly recommend you to. 

2. Voice Marketing

One more up and coming marketing strategy across the B2B sector is voice marketing. 

Brands are gearing up for voice search, developing content that is accessible and legible from any device, with any accent and any scale. 

This has been further fueled by the rising number of podcasts, and the art of leveraging the convenience of audio content. 

According to Think with Google, 27% of the global population is using voice search on mobile devices.

Even if you are not in a sector where audio content is consumed to a large extent, it won’t take much to introduce it to your audience and get them hooked. 

3. Video Marketing

Similar to audio content, video content has taken over the world by a storm. 

With social media platforms giving way to short videos that are 15-30 seconds long, it forces users to engage with them and even hop on the trend to be visible. 

Of course, these videos have reduced our attention span, but let’s face it, when were humans known for it? 😄

86% of businesses use video as a marketing tool.

Don’t tell me that you belong to the remaining 14%. 🙄

YouTube shorts, Instagram reels, explainer videos, promotional videos, animated videos – any and all kinds are the talk of the town. 

4. Account-based Marketing

One of the most successful types of marketing for B2B is account-based or key-account marketing (ABM). 

It’s when you focus on your existing top or key accounts, and target the exact segment they belong to for marketing. This is one of the most effective ways to penetrate a specific market segment and demographic.

ABM is gaining traction because of its ability to perform targeted marketing in an organized and systematic way. 

I have explained this better in a separate blog. 

Tip: If you want to win at account-based marketing, you better start listening to your customers and turn that information into marketable content.  

5. Organic Marketing (SEO & Social Media)

This goes without saying that organic marketing was, is and will continue to be the top traffic channel for B2B brands. 

Your audience is going to keep on searching for solutions (and your products), either on search engines like Google, or on social media platforms or even on YouTube. 

It only makes sense that you are right there when they are looking for you. 

However, keep in mind that the context of organic marketing has changed over the years. Brands and consumers have transformed from conversion-focused content to intent & context-based content. 

6. Performance Marketing

Working contrary to organic marketing, performance marketing, even though it costs money, is going to take the cake and the baker in the B2B space this year. 

As brands are becoming smarter because of their access to data and their ability to analyse it, performance marketing will continue to evolve. 

Sites like Google, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Quora provide brands with an advertising platform, which enables them to monetize their content. 

As it is, you are going to create lots of content. You may as well earn something out of it. 

7. Personalized Marketing

If you are thinking that personalized marketing is the thing of the past, it is not. 

In fact, it is just now, in the past couple of years, that personalized marketing has gained massive interest from the B2B sector. 

As consumers are becoming smarter with definite requirements (yes, they are not clueless anymore), a little targeted and personalized marketing would just be the nudge in the right direction. 

D2C Marketing Strategies for 2023

Done for B2B, moving on to the D2C (Direct-to-Consumer) sector and the marketing strategies they have on their side. 

D2C has amassed tremendous following and acceptance from the world. 

In fact, 78% of D2C brands increased their marketing budgets compared to 60% of traditional retailers. 

Don’t worry, not all of my suggested strategies would cost you a hand and a leg 😄

1. Personalized Marketing

Personalized marketing comes through with flying colors for D2C brands too. 

If it can make me buy a bunch of books even after having a list of unreads, it isn’t a challenge to use it to convince your target audience for your products. 

Personalized emails, messages, offers, campaigns, recommendations and so much more can be done here. 

Personalized marketing may take efforts to execute, but it doesn’t take much to give results. And that’s why it is one of the best strategies to implement in 2023. 

2. Meme Marketing

Let’s face it, memes are the epitome of relatable content. 

And because D2C brands need to connect with their audience through the content they create, memes act as the perfect bridge between both ends. 

Storytelling in the form of memes is one of the best strategies you can practice this year. 

Do I need to remind you, how Zomato, Swiggy and the other brands in the space engage in meme war every now and then on Twitter?

Look at what Tinder India is doing. 

3. Experiential Marketing

Experiential marketing is a type of marketing where brands focus on delivering personalized experiences to their customers and audiences in order to keep them engaged and improve brand recall. 

Suffice to say, if their experience exceeds expectations, they will purchase from you sooner or later. 

Bare Anatomy, a brand selling personal care products provides customized products for hair care and skin care based on the problems you are facing. 

Brands participating in trade fairs, exhibitions, organizing live events, or setting up unique experiences at physical stores can and should try their hands at experiential marketing. 

Special mention to guerrilla marketing, which can be included in your experiential marketing strategy. 

4. Performance Marketing

Let me share a straight up fact. 

Any brand, literally, any brand can do performance marketing. 

That’s not to say that it is easy, or it can’t go wrong. 

It definitely isn’t, and it most definitely can. 

But performance marketing earns you high exposure and reach in a short period of time. 

Targeted advertising not only lets you share relevant content to the masses, but also drives traffic to your website, which thus increases your sales. 

5. Influencer Marketing

If you haven’t seen influencers recommending (and promoting) different products on social media, well, what are you doing? 

A lot of influencers work on barter systems, where you send them your products free of cost with the hope (and a promise) that they will promote your products to their community. 

Others charge an amount of money against the promotions. 

Either way, influencer marketing is the most effective and trending strategy to gain reach, earn followers and a good word of mouth. 

Tip: Instagram is the preferred platform for brands to engage in influencer marketing. 

80% of users said that Instagram helps them decide whether to buy a product or a service. 

6. Short-form Video Marketing

Since we are on the topic of Instagram, we may as well talk about reels, or short-form video marketing. 

In 2022 itself, short-form video has accounted for 80% of all mobile data traffic in North America. 

If that doesn’t drive you to create short-form videos, well, what will?

YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, TikTok – all of them are driving the impact of short-form videos. 

7. Moment Marketing

If I have to tell you the truth, moment marketing works amazingly well for B2B and D2C alike. You know what, throw in B2C too in this. 

The art of grabbing that opportunity, that moment to ride with the trend can take you places. 

(Of course, the chances of getting featured is a bonus 😄)

Not only will it bring you the long-due attention from global audiences, but it will also enable you to think on your feet, which is crucial for D2C marketing. 

Think of Amul when you talk about moment marketing. 

8. Retention Marketing

Retention marketing mostly plays on the fact that retaining customers is easier and cost-effective than acquiring them. 

The success rate of selling to an existing customer is 60-70%, while that of selling to a new customer is only 5-20%. 

While B2B brands have their own ways to retain customers, keep in mind that the customer lifecycle is longer than that in D2C. 

So, D2C brands have to have a constant focus on bringing past customers back, keeping them interested and engaged so that they keep buying from you. 

And if you do not have a separate strategy for this, you definitely need to in 2023. 

Takeaways

While there’s a lot (a lot) to look forward to in 2023, you and I both know that we can’t do everything at once. 

It is better to focus on one thing at a time, perfect it, optimize it and then move on to the next thing. 

These strategies are to help you decide that priority based on your business goals for 2023. 

What are you thinking of implementing among the strategies I mentioned? 

TCC can definitely help you with all those and more with end-to-end marketing consultation. We are just a call away.