B2B Marketing: Why Being Better Doesn’t Have to Mean Being Boring
In a world where 71% of B2B customers crave a B2C-like experience, according to Accenture Strategy’s B2B Customer Experience Study, it’s time to admit a fundamental truth: Boring doesn’t sell. The compelling allure of a well-crafted consumer experience shouldn’t be exclusive to B2C brands. So why does B2B marketing often struggle to engage, connect, and stimulate its audience?
The Dull Stats Behind B2B’s Reputation
A study from Alan, a B2B marketing agency, titled The Power of Provocation, revealed that a staggering 82% of B2B brands fail to personalize for their target audience. Given the want for a B2C-like experience, you’d think personalization would be a given in B2B marketing. But it’s not.
The Better Not Boring Approach: Get to Really Know Your Customers
Don’t make your B2B marketing a guessing game. Systematically gathers insights and market research to get to the core of who your customer is and what they desire. Gain an understanding of who your “right fit” customers really are, not who you hope they might be. This allows you to build not just any story, but the right story. And that’s how you make your marketing better, not boring.
Insight: The behavioral science drives the creative art to improve your growth marketing outcomes.
Making B2B More Like B2C: What Can Be Done?
1. Storytelling is Your Best Friend
B2C companies are often excellent at building captivating narratives. Your B2B brand needs a story too—one that engages not just the logic-centers of your customer’s brain, but also their emotions and imaginations. That’s why combining the behavioral science with the creative art leads to the most powerful storytelling.
2. Personalization is Not a Luxury; It’s a Necessity
The lack of personalization in B2B marketing is akin to throwing darts in the dark and hoping one sticks. But why rely on hope when you can work on strategy? Use the data and insights gathered to tailor your approach to your audience.
3. Their Experience is Everything
Whether it’s user interface, customer service, or the simplicity of the buying process, your customers crave an experience that is seamless and enjoyable. That’s what they get in the B2C world; why should their expectations be any lower when the same individual puts on their ‘Business Buyer’ hat? Make their experience about them.
Real-World Example: How to Do It Right
Let’s consider an example to understand how you might turn these insights into real-world strategy. Imagine a B2B SaaS company with a powerful, but complex product. The old way would be to delve into features, functionalities, and technical specifications.
The better way is to find out exactly who the decision-makers are and what they need most. The first part of that is straight forward although it goes beyond LinkedIn and Google searches. The second part takes more of a commitment and intentionality. You might learn that they are most concerned about the efficiency and ease of integration of the product. If so, craft a narrative around this, highlighting not just the features but how these features will solve their precise pain points. That’s marketing that’s better, not boring.
Insight: Connect on a personal level. Understand their individual needs, and your messaging becomes not just another sales pitch, but a solution to their problems.
The Bottom Line: It’s Time for a Paradigm Shift
The message is loud and clear: B2B doesn’t have to be a snooze-fest. By embracing tactics that have made B2C marketing so appealing, like storytelling and personalization driven by behavioral science, and by systematically gathering insights to craft your strategy and messaging, you can create a B2B marketing plan that not only educates but also engages.
B2B marketing can and should be compelling. By placing the customer at the center of your marketing strategies, your brand can not only defy the statistics but also redefine what B2B marketing can be.
At MASSolutions, we’re here to guide you through this transformation. Our expertise combined with our approach of the science driving the creative art achieves tangible results. Want to make your B2B marketing better, not boring? We’ve got you covered.
Defy the stats and join the revolution of Better, Not Boring B2B marketing. It’s time for a change.
Are you in?