Even the best B2B marketing can quickly become forgettable and boring. Don’t let your company’s B2B efforts falter and revitalize them with four proven strategies.
Traditional B2B marketing content is data-rich and insightful, but it often lacks character. When was the last time you heard someone describe a white paper as “inspiring” or a case study as “fascinating”? Never? Me too. The problem is that most marketers succumb to the myth that B2B efforts need a sterile, actionable element. As a result, their work, while valuable in itself, is unconvincing in terms of personality.
“B2B” means business-to-business, but ultimately you’re writing for other people. You can only hope that your content encourages them to buy your products or services on behalf of their company, not for themselves. And you can’t do that if your content puts users to sleep. Today’s workers are busy. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that most professionals spend roughly 40% of their week in email and work meetings. What this means for you is, to put it politely, that your audience has little time or energy to engage with your B2B marketing efforts. The only way to grab their fleeting attention is to try something new and fresh and unexpected — something far more human than what you’re probably doing right now.
This doesn’t mean you should throw out all your case studies or get rid of your SEO-rich landing pages. Don’t do it. There’s value in these things. Instead, consider using a few strategies to make your marketing more personal and less dry:
1. Hone your storytelling skills
We all love a good story. We remember good stories too. Remembering a PowerPoint slide full of numbers is much harder than remembering a great, memorable story. So before you send it, rethink the entire content of your story. Is there a hidden story? Stories allow you to create an emotional connection with your target group. It gives them a connection to you and what you offer. HP did this a few years ago by memorably characterizing hackers as wolves. The ad campaign was so successful and attracted so much press attention that the video was submitted for a Shorty Award. As a bonus, HP was able to capture the interest of both B2B and B2C buyers with that one concept. That’s the power of turning your service into a story.
2. Humanize your marketing
You know the saying, “People don’t buy from companies, they buy from people.” I couldn’t agree more. As I always say, the most human brands win. To take advantage of this truism, incorporate a marketing approach that puts a name and a face on your brand. For example, you could start a corporate podcast or video show hosted by one or more executives. We’ve seen countless brands create shows for this very reason.
In addition to starting a podcast, you can also spotlight your employees on social media to humanize your brand. You might even want to have some of your team members do marketing-approved social “takeovers.” This allows a target group of potential B2B customers to see your company from an insider’s perspective. This may be the only thing that distinguishes you from your competitors in the eyes of your potential customers.
3. Use emojis appropriately
Did you know that emails with emojis are opened more often than those without? The reason is simple: they are simply more appealing and appear more human. By the same principle, Facebook posts with images get more engagement. People tend to block out text. But they do respond to visuals.
That doesn’t mean you should plaster your next B2B email drip campaign with emojis. Please, don’t. Emojis should be used tactically and cleverly. Still, depending on the content you’re creating and the brand you’re representing, it might make sense to include a few here and there. You can always do some old-fashioned beta testing with or without emojis on a portion of your population to see if using digital emojis makes a difference.
4. Increased customizability with AI
You might think that personalization is only important in B2C markets. That’s not true. B2B buyers leverage B2C buying habits. At the end of the day, businesses are human. So they want individualized attention from companies like yours. Forrester found that 52% of B2B executives are investing in marketing personalization for this reason.
The good news is that personalization is easier than ever. You may already have AI integrations or systems in your martech stack that can help you personalize interactions. There are tons of customization options, from addressing your audience by name in interactions to providing a personalized website experience. You just have to decide which ones you want to try.
Let’s be honest, most B2B marketing is pretty boring. But this is actually a blessing for you. By simply changing your marketing approach, you can make your brand less forgettable and more likely to say “yes.”
