Most marketing playbooks assume a clear line between B2B and B2C. But in industries like pettech, that line doesn't exist - and that's where the most interesting growth experiments happen. In this industry, your end customer might sign up online - but their trust is often earned offline, in a vet's waiting room.

At Waggel, a UK-based challenger pet insurer, I led marketing during a period of dynamic growth and lots of marketing and product experiments. Our mission was to scale efficiently while staying customer-focused, combining performance-led acquisition and testing new B2B2C distribution levers that traditional players might overlook or approach differently.

Whether you're in health tech, fintech, or edtech, these lessons may help if you're:

The global pet industry is valued at over $300 billion, with pet insurance becoming one of its fastest-growing segments. In the UK alone, the market is projected to exceed £2 billion in the next few years - yet customer acquisition remains broken and highly dependent on trust-driven channels. Source: Bloomberg Intelligence Report.

But no matter how fast the market grows, the way people choose their provider hasn’t changed much: they rely on trust, not transactions. And trust isn’t built through discounts - it’s built through humans. That’s where B2B2C thinking becomes essential.

Lesson 1: B2B2C Isn’t a Channel - It’s a Mindset Shift

Mindset is everything. We often segment our marketing into B2B or B2C, isn’t it? We build a roadmap for B2B channels and another one for B2C channels. But what if your end user doesn’t make the final decision - or even discover you - without someone else involved? And this someone else has probably the biggest power, bigger than you and your competitors.

In pettech, that “someone else” is often a vet. They’re not the buyer, but they’re the conversion assist. And they’re more powerful than any performance ad or promo code. Because this is all about trust.

Any startup operating in pettech - or any trust-based, gatekeeper-influenced industry - can’t grow meaningfully without positioning itself credibly to both the end user and the key intermediary. In this case: pet parents and the vet community.

That means:

You need both to work in harmony - otherwise, your campaign speaks two different languages and loses effectiveness.

🎯 Tip: Make sure your “why us” story works in both a Google Ad and a 10-second conversation at a reception desk.

Lesson 2: Marketing Strategy Starts With Field Insights - Not Funnels

Before setting budgets or launching campaigns, I took a step that didn't appear in performance dashboards: built a strategy to visit vet clinics. Not to sell. To listen. This can be replicated to any industry too: listening to your customers / partners.

That fieldwork uncovered:

These insights shaped everything and unlocked the potential conversion uplift that couldn't be achieved via digital A/B testing alone. Because, again, trust is the key.

🎯 Tip: Sometimes, the best conversion uplift starts with a conversation, not an A/B test. Ask yourself, "Can someone unfamiliar with our brand repeat this offer clearly in 10 seconds?" If not, simplify.

Bonus: Use the JTBD Framework

It's a great tool to map what both your end users and partners are trying to achieve and will help with message-market fit and offer clarity. Example from pettech:

Use JTBD early when crafting your value proposition, campaign messaging, or onboarding journeys. It sharpens the signal and removes the fluff.

Lesson 3: Treat Partnerships Like a Product (Not a Tactic)

If you want external partners to drive acquisition - whether clinics, educators, or advisors - you need to treat them like users of their own product experience.

I'd suggest to approach this like a mini product launch:

What I won't suggest is relying on cold outreach, mass outreach, and using a one-size-fits-all approach.

🎯 Tip: Don't just build a referral scheme. Build a referral product and experience.

Lesson 4: Validate Before You Scale (Even When It Feels Obvious)

Early signs from clinic visits were promising, including a warm reception, positive sentiment, and interest in co-marketing. But instead of rolling out the channel nationwide, I paused to build a business case. Why?

In short, I took a startup approach to a traditional channel: test, learn, validate which is actually one of the core levers in the company overall.

The upside? Internal alignment, more precise ROI forecasting, and a better strategy for when (and how) to scale.

🎯 Tip: Even if a growth opportunity feels exciting, pause and ask: "Can you prove it's repeatable, not just possible?"

Bonus: Build a Business Model Early - Not Just a Report

During the pilot, I not only measured results but also used them to define a baseline conversion rate and model the long-term impact of scaling the channel. Using a combination of:

…I built a business model to project incremental revenue, marketing and sales cost, and resource impact across scenarios. This gave us a shared view of the upside - and the trade-offs - before committing to a full rollout.

Final Thought

The most exciting growth opportunities aren't B2B or B2C - they're in the middle. More and more startups are operating in hybrid spaces: part-direct, part-partner, part-community. And that demands a new kind of marketing strategy - one that blends performance discipline with brand intuition and digital acquisition with offline trust-building.

Pettech happens to be a space where this plays out clearly. But the lessons apply across the board.

So, if you're leading growth in a sector where trust is earned through relationships, not clicks, remember this: