Brand Voice Matters: What B2B Can Steal from B2C

Mimi Hammer
Jun 2
3 min read

Updated: Jun 25

Let’s start with a hard truth.

The way many B2B brands talk to their audience is the marketing equivalent of elevator music—inoffensive, indistinct, and easily ignored. Meanwhile, B2C brands are out here dropping mics, telling jokes, and building cult followings.

And it’s not because they’re selling sneakers instead of software. It’s because they understand something B2B often forgets: your brand voice isn’t a garnish, it’s a growth lever.

So, how can B2B marketers start treating voice like the revenue-driving asset it is? Let’s steal a few moves from the B2C playbook.

1. Own a Point of View

B2C brands win hearts by standing for something. Think Liquid Death’s irreverence, Patagonia’s activism, or Duolingo’s unhinged TikTok owl. Whether it’s funny, fierce, or weird, they commit.

In B2B, taking a stand often gets watered down to generic values like “innovation” or “customer-centricity.” But buyers don’t trust empty adjectives, they trust conviction.

Tactical tip: If your tagline or LinkedIn “About” page could work for 10 of your competitors, you need to audit your voice. Sharpen your POV until someone could disagree with it.

2. Message for Emotion

B2C marketers know the purchase journey starts with a feeling. B2B buyers may be shopping for their business, but they’re still human. And while the stakes are different, the decision-making process is just as emotional.

Whether it’s trust, relief, confidence, or control, your B2B brand voice should help your buyers feel something. Because explanation alone doesn’t drive action.

Tactical tip: Show, don’t tell. Instead of listing features or explaining what your product does, create a felt experience with moments, scenarios, and phrasing that brings business outcomes to life.

3. Say It Like a Human

No one’s ever been inspired by “leveraging strategic synergies to optimize ROI.” B2C marketers know that clarity wins. They speak like people, not pitch decks.

This is even more critical in B2B, where buyers are busy, skeptical, and inundated with noise. A strong, plainspoken voice cuts through.

Tactical tip: Try the “pub test.” If you wouldn’t say it to a friend over drinks, rewrite it. Better yet, run your copy through a text-to-speech reader. If it sounds robotic or convoluted, simplify it.

4. Be Consistent

Great B2C brands build trust by sounding like themselves everywhere, from billboards to CTA buttons. That’s what cements your voice in the buyers’ minds and gives your brand staying power.

Too many B2B brands treat voice as a “when we have time” exercise, resulting in a landing page that’s punchy, a webinar invite that’s stiff, and a customer support chatbot that sounds like it’s time-traveled from 2008.

Tactical tip: In addition to developing a style guide, build (and enforce) a voice system. Define your voice principles and pair them with concrete examples for different channels and formats.

5. Know How to Adapt

Yes, your brand voice should be consistent. But consistency isn’t code for copy-paste. Strong brands adapt their voice to fit the moment, without losing their core identity.

Great voice systems don’t just define how you sound. They show how that sound shows up in different contexts.

Tactical tip: When building your voice system, implement voice “guardrails,” not rigid rules or prescriptive language. It’s not about watering voice down. It’s about making it work harder.

6. Treat Voice as a Strategic Asset From the Very Start

To be both consistent and adaptable, brand voice needs to be baked in early. In B2B, it’s often sprinkled on at the end. That’s backwards.

Brand voice should guide everything you do, from your product touchpoints and GTM strategy to your ad copy and sales enablement. It will shape your market perception and attract better-fit customers, but only if you give it a seat at the table.

Tactical tip: Include brand voice discussions in campaign and product kickoffs. Use it to inform not just what you say, but how you say it and why.