B2B Versus B2C is an Antiquated Comparison

When I set out to create the AMO event, I wanted to first understand if I had a thesis. I looked at the landscape of media events and saw something interesting. On one side, you have Digiday with its Digital Publisher Summit. This is very much focused on consumer media with a heavy reliance on programmatic advertising. On the other side, you have BIMS, which is a b2b-focused media event.

The two sides of media were not really talking. And I found that odd because media is changing. The differences between consumer and b2b media were narrowing. It’s not obvious at first because people tend to get hung up on the content. However, if we take a step back and look at the trends that are playing out, there will be complete overlap between how you run a b2b and consumer media company.

And so, I decided to not pick a lane with the AMO Summit and brought the two groups together. That’s why you’ve got operators from traditionally b2b media companies on stage with operators from traditionally consumer media companies.

Now, this entire article is not an advertisement for my event. I hope you come, tickets are still available. Instead, I want to talk about this general thesis because I think it unlocks an optimistic way of looking at the future of media.

To start, the only media companies that will succeed in the future are those that have a clearly defined audience. There is no way around it. If you are a logistics publication, you clearly know your audience. And if you are a knitting publication, you clearly know your audience. And that means, if you’re a generalist, you’re screwed. We talk about this often through the lens of a barbell. You want to be on either side—massively scaled like The New York Times or super niche. You do not want to be in the middle. And frankly, in 2023, I don’t think anyone can build the next NYT, so all eyes will need to be on the niche side of the barbell.

A natural byproduct of having a clearly defined audience is that you become audience-first. In essence, since the only way to win is if your target audience is engaged, you start to ask questions like, “what does my logistics reader care about?” And so, you start creating value for them specifically.

And that means that the quality of content will have to increase considerably. One of the fair criticisms of b2b media is that our content sucks. And honestly, it’s true. There are many b2b publications out there that are just regurgitated press releases.

But that’s why I’ve long been a fan of the new crop of b2b media company. These operators really value great content because they understand that great content is what brings in and retains an audience. I love Endpoints News; the content’s great. And I suspect it has a far bigger impact for its audience than legacy biopharma publications.

An increase in content quality, though, is going to become a moat for media companies when you start thinking about all of this AI-generated content that’s going to plague the internet. According to Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies, this could be massive:

As always we work with different scenarios, but I agree with my colleague from the Copenhagen Institute for Futures Studies, Timothy Shoup, when he states that “in the scenario where GPT-3 ‘gets loose’, the internet would be completely unrecognizable”. And in this scenario, he would bet on 99% to 99.9% being AI-generated by 2025 to 2030. The development of automated content creation will change the way the internet looks, and probably make it even harder to navigate in the massive amount of content. In many ways it seems like a scary scenario.

It’s incredible to think that 99% of all content will be AI-generated in the next couple of years. Let that sink in. And then realize that creating unbelievable content will be something people desperately care about. There are legitimate concerns about “data poisoning,” where AI learns from AI-written content. Each time it learns, the output gets worse. But then it learns from that. And so, people will need good content to depend on.

I truly believe that this is an advantage for media companies that prioritize an audience-first approach and lean into creating high-quality content. And this doesn’t mean, by the way, that there isn’t utility for AI in media. I am just not bullish on it for creating fact-based articles.

So, when I say all of this, can you see any difference between b2b and consumer media? I certainly don’t. No matter what topic you’re covering, so long as you’ve clearly defined your audience and are creating great content, there will be a business.

You might say, “But Jacob, the business models are different.” But that’s not true either.

Historically, b2b media has been very performance-driven. It was all about leads. And on the consumer side, it was all about branding. Some might refer to this as above the line and below the line marketing. The reality is, both consumer and b2b media companies will have to go full stack above and below the line. Creative brand building will matter for b2b and performance will matter for consumer.

And it already does. The reason so many consumer media companies are investing in affiliate is because more of their advertisers are demanding results. What’s the difference between trying to sell a pair of headphones through content and trying to generate a lead for an advertiser? It’s all performance marketing.

At the same time, more b2b marketers are realizing that brand building is unbelievably important. I am going to reiterate this quote that Colin Fleming, Senior VP of Global Brands, Events and Customer Marketing at Salesforce, told the B2B Institute at LinkedIn:

We found a great study on B2B buying behavior showing that two-thirds of the time, when a business decision-maker purchases software, they already have a brand in mind. And 94% of the time, the buyer ends up sticking with that brand. So if you’re not part of the original consideration set, there’s no way you’re getting bought.

That’s 62% of all software buying decisions being made with a brand that the buyer already knew. That means that it’s not just going to be about lead gen, but also creating great, brand activations. The budgets may be smaller, but the opportunity will still exist there.

And so, from an advertising perspective, b2b and consumer media companies will need to offer brand advertising and performance marketing. And to be clear, there is obviously nuance here. Not every way we monetize b2b will translate to consumer. But the vast majority of the tactics we use are going to have overlap.

So once again, what’s the difference between b2b and consumer media? When we live in an era of being audience-first, high quality content, and full stack advertising, there is no difference. What I like about this is that the playbooks for media become more straightforward. And the opportunities become far more plentiful.

What do you think? Are there differences that I missed? Hit reply or join the AMO Slack to discuss. And if you want to meet the operators that I admire most across the gamut of media, buy your ticket to the AMO Summit today. Have a great weekend and see you next week!