B2B vs B2C Marketing Is a Myth (Use AI to Win)

Most small businesses waste time arguing about whether they’re “B2B” or “B2C”, then build two completely different marketing plans—and end up doing neither well. HSBC’s B2B CMO Nicole German has a cleaner take: the craft is the same. You’re still getting the right message to the right people, in the right place, at the right moment.

That idea lands differently in January 2026 than it would’ve a couple of years ago, because AI has changed how people discover, compare, and decide. Search is no longer just Google results. Prospects are asking ChatGPT-style tools for shortlists. Buyers are skimming, not reading. And in British publishing especially, “audience” now includes readers, librarians, schools, corporate buyers, rights partners, and creators—often in the same week.

This post is part of our AI for British Publishing: Content Intelligence series, where we look at how AI changes content performance and audience insight. Here’s what German’s “false divide” means for UK small businesses (including publishers), plus a practical way to apply it without adding headcount.

The truth: people buy like people (even in B2B)

Answer first: The B2B/B2C split is less useful than an audience-and-context approach, because every buying decision includes emotion, risk, and trust—just with different constraints.

German’s point is blunt: the fundamentals don’t change. What changes in B2B is the complexity around the buyer—multiple stakeholders, hidden influencers, procurement steps, longer cycles. But the person reading your email or seeing your LinkedIn post still asks the same questions:

• “Do I trust you?”
• “Do you understand my world?”
• “Is this worth my time?”
• “What happens if this goes wrong?”

For British publishing, this is obvious once you name it. A parent buying a book, a school trust selecting a reading scheme, and a corporate learning manager commissioning training materials are all balancing the same forces: price, credibility, social proof, and perceived risk. The wrapper changes; the psychology doesn’t.

Stop writing “for businesses”. Write for the buying ecosystem.

German describes B2B as an audience ecosystem: primary stakeholders, secondary users, and “hidden buyers” who influence the decision without engaging directly.

If you’re a small publisher (or any UK SME), map your ecosystem like this:

1. Economic buyer: controls budget (finance lead, procurement, owner)
2. Champion: wants the thing and pushes internally (teacher, editor, marketer, ops manager)
3. User: uses it daily (students, readers, staff)
4. Risk gatekeeper: blocks anything uncertain (IT, legal, compliance)

Then build content that answers each group’s objections in plain English. That’s not “B2B marketing”. That’s effective marketing.

Brand is the anchor when AI floods the market with content

Answer first: When AI makes content cheap and abundant, brand becomes the filter buyers use to decide what to trust.

German argues that brand association and affiliation anchor trust—especially in an era of information overload. In 2026, that’s even more true because the web is full of competent, generic copy. AI can produce 50 blog posts a day. What it can’t easily manufacture is earned credibility.

For small businesses on tight budgets, the trap is chasing “demand now” tactics (discounts, constant lead-gen ads) while neglecting the brand signals that make demand convert.

What “brand building” actually means for small UK businesses

Brand isn’t just a logo refresh. It’s your memory structure in someone’s mind. Practical brand building looks like:

• Consistent promise: one clear value proposition repeated everywhere
• Proof: testimonials, case studies, awards, reputable partners
• Distinctive assets: recognisable visual system, tone, and recurring themes
• Category focus: you’re known for something specific (not “we do everything”)

In publishing, this could be as simple as owning a niche: “phonics decodables for reluctant readers”, “climate non-fiction for 9–12”, or “business books for first-time managers”. Niche is brand clarity.

The January advantage: set your 2026 “trust goals” now

January is when budgets reset, teams set priorities, and decision-makers are more open to new suppliers. Use this month to define two measurable trust targets for Q1:

• Increase branded search (people searching your name/title/imprint)
• Improve conversion rate from informational pages (blog/guide) to enquiry or email signup

These are content intelligence metrics that signal you’re becoming a “default option” in your category.

AI doesn’t change the fundamentals—AI changes the discovery paths

Answer first: AI is reshaping the customer journey by fragmenting discovery across search, social, assistants, and agents—so your marketing needs to be findable in more places, not perfect in one.

German notes that if you had the same conversation 12 months earlier, it would’ve been different. That speed is the headline. For SMEs, the win isn’t using every new tool—it’s building a workflow that adapts.

Here’s what’s happening right now:

• Prompt-led search (ChatGPT-style): people ask for recommendations and summaries
• Agent-like tools: prospects want “shortlists” and comparisons, not long browsing
• More channels to measure: SEO alone doesn’t tell the full story

Content intelligence play: publish for humans and AI answers

If you want to appear in AI-driven discovery, your content needs to be structured so it can be extracted and cited. That means:

• Put the answer in the first 1–2 sentences of each section
• Use specific numbers (pricing ranges, timelines, counts) where you can
• Include clear definitions (one-liners that stand alone)
• Add comparison tables and bullet lists (easy to quote)

Snippet-worthy line you can adopt:

“In an AI-saturated market, clarity beats cleverness and proof beats promises.”

A simple “AI-ready” page checklist (no new tools required)

• One page = one job (rank, convert, reassure, explain)
• Clear H2 headings that match real search intent (e.g., “Pricing”, “How it works”, “Who it’s for”)
• FAQ section answering objections (especially risk and implementation)
• Strong internal links to related content (build topical authority)
• Visible proof blocks: logos, testimonials, measurable outcomes

This is how you bridge B2B and B2C: the structure supports both the skimming consumer and the cautious committee.

Measurement got harder. Don’t respond by measuring less.

Answer first: With more channels and messier journeys, the right move is a small set of shared metrics that marketing and sales both trust.

German points out that measurement is becoming more complicated, not less. That’s exactly what small businesses feel when they can’t connect “a post did well” to “we got enquiries”.

A useful stat from Marketing Week’s 2025 State of B2B Marketing survey (cited in the source article): 68.2% of marketers say they work closely with sales, but only 30.4% feel completely understood by sales. That gap is where leads die.

A practical measurement stack for SMEs (publishing-friendly)

Pick one metric for each stage and report it every month:

1. Attention: impressions / reach on your primary channel (often LinkedIn or email)
2. Engagement: email replies, time on page, or content downloads
3. Trust: branded search, returning visitors, direct traffic share
4. Revenue: qualified enquiries, proposals sent, sales cycle length

Then set one agreement with sales (or whoever handles enquiries): define what counts as “qualified”.

Example qualification rule for a small publisher selling to schools:

• School name + role + timeline + budget band (even a rough one)

If marketing can’t get those details, sales can’t follow up properly. If sales doesn’t feed back outcomes, marketing can’t improve targeting. Shared definitions beat more dashboards.

The modern small marketing team: adaptable beats perfectly staffed

Answer first: The future marketing team is less about rigid roles and more about flexible capability—using AI to remove admin and protect time for strategy and creativity.

German talks about always-on, cross-functional teams and a shift toward a network-based talent model. SMEs are already there by necessity. The opportunity is to make that scrappy reality deliberate.

A realistic AI workflow for British publishing and other SMEs

Use AI for what it’s good at: speed, summarisation, pattern spotting, first drafts. Keep humans on positioning and judgement.

A lean weekly workflow:

• Monday: AI-assisted insight scan (reader trends, competitor messaging, internal FAQs)
• Tuesday: create one “pillar” asset (guide, case study, author interview)
• Wednesday: repurpose into 5–8 derivatives (email, LinkedIn, carousel notes, FAQs)
• Thursday: sales enablement (one-page summary, objection handling, comparison sheet)
• Friday: measurement + iteration (what moved qualified enquiries?)

For content intelligence in publishing, this can include AI-supported tasks like manuscript trend analysis, topic clustering for SEO, and reader segmentation—without pretending AI replaces editorial taste.

Keep asking better questions (the habit that compounds)

German emphasises curiosity and comfort with change. Here’s what that looks like tactically:

• “Which stakeholder are we not speaking to yet?”
• “What’s the riskiest objection in this deal—and have we answered it publicly?”
• “If an AI assistant summarised our brand in one sentence, would we like it?”

If you’re not sure, that’s a signal your messaging is too fuzzy.

A 14-day plan to bridge B2B and B2C (and generate leads)

Answer first: You can unify B2B and B2C marketing by building one message, one proof set, and one content system—then tailoring the packaging per audience.

Here’s a two-week sprint I’ve found works for small teams:

1. Day 1–2: Write your one-sentence value proposition (no buzzwords)
2. Day 3: List your top 10 customer questions (sales inbox is gold)
3. Day 4–6: Build one “ultimate guide” page answering the top 5 questions
4. Day 7: Create two case studies (short is fine: problem → approach → result)
5. Day 8–10: Turn the guide into social posts + an email sequence
6. Day 11: Add an FAQ block focused on risk, pricing, and timelines
7. Day 12–14: Measure: enquiries, email replies, and time on page; update one section

The goal isn’t volume. It’s findability + trust + clarity.

Where this fits in “AI for British Publishing: Content Intelligence”

This series is about using AI to understand audiences and improve content outcomes. The biggest lesson from HSBC’s “false divide” is that the audience is the product requirement. Once you see marketing as audience intelligence, B2B and B2C stop being separate playbooks.

Your next step is simple: audit your current content and ask, “Could a buyer confidently choose us from this?” If the answer is no, it’s not a traffic problem—it’s a trust and clarity problem.

If 2026 is the year AI makes everyone louder, the businesses that win will be the ones that stay recognisable, useful, and easy to recommend—by people and machines.