B2B, B2C, H2H, WTF?

 Rejected for the Wrong Reasons

In the last year or so, we’ve lost pitches with professional services firms despite strong presentations (even if I say so myself). The feedback stung: "Loved what you shared, but you're FMCG marketers, not <insert category here> specialists."

FFS.

This thinking is deeply flawed. We weren't creating a marketing strategy for an abstract HR department; we were connecting with Fred and Jane — real humans overwhelmed with business challenges, needing immediate solutions.

Isn't that what marketers should be doing every day?  We connect brands with an audience. An audience of humans. 

A Two-Way Street of Bias

Importantly, this divide works both ways. Consumer brands are equally guilty of dismissing B2B talent. I’ve heard of B2C businesses automatically filtering out candidates with B2B experience, assuming they lack the creativity, speed, or insight needed for consumer marketing.

This two-way bias creates artificial career barriers that benefit no one. The result is a marketing world where talent is constrained by labels, rather than capabilities.

Ritson's Take: A Tired Question

Brand expert and marketing professor Mark Ritson reckons that marketing examples often skew toward B2C not because it's more important, but because it's easier to explain a well-known and well-invested Guinness strategy than to provide hours of context about dialysis machines and hospital buying committees before getting to the actual marketing point.

The truth is that marketing fundamentals are called "fundamentals" for a reason. Understanding your audience, communicating clear value, creating emotional connections, solving real problems - these principles don't change whether you're selling milk, cereal or HR software.

The B2B Institute at LinkedIn agrees.  They’ve been applying traditionally B2C theories to B2B contexts with remarkable success. Concepts like salience, distinctive assets, emotion, and mental availability don't just apply to B2B — they often work even better.

Or search for the Volvo trucks “Epic Splits” ad if you want to see that marketing fundamentals, applied to a seemingly functional category creates work that is, well, epic.

It’s the tactics that differ

But in most cases of B2B marketing, the differences occur at a tactical level.  The media choices and therefore the execution might look different.

We might use LinkedIn instead of TikTok, trade press instead of TV. And the sales cycle might be longer with more stakeholders. But at its core? Marketing is still about connecting brands with humans.

The channels change, but sound marketing principles remain true no matter what you're selling.

The Human Element

That’s the most important truth: humans make all purchasing decisions. Whether buying cereal or enterprise software, emotions and personal values influence choices.

B2B buyers still respond to storytelling, seek brands that align with their identity, and want to feel confident in their decisions.

There may be a few more stages in the purchase process (such as board approval and budget sign-off), but a fundamental understanding of when to apply emotional or rational benefits still applies.

It’s this human element that makes marketing skills transferable across categories. A marketer who crafts compelling narratives for consumer products can adapt those skills to explain complex B2B solutions.

So What?

As marketing leaders, we must rethink how we evaluate talent, both in terms of the agencies we use, and the people we hire. Look beyond the B2B or B2C label and ask: Can this person understand audiences? Can they communicate value clearly? Can they build emotional connections between brands and customers?

Let's challenge convention together and bring the best of both worlds to our business challenges.