Being a B2B marketer isn’t that much different from being a B2C marketer, except for one thing: You have to be more creative when it comes to B2B media.
B2B media is not lacking in options, but the audience is significantly more cynical and somewhat jaded compared to traditional consumers.
I did some informal polling over the last two weeks with other B2B marketers, and they all felt that the only truly effective strategies they have at their disposal are events, communications and advertising.
Email and phone calls are dead.
LinkedIn, as powerful as it is for connections, is not a great medium to engage with ads or InMail.
Captures attention but…
When I say communications, I am referring to press announcements, content marketing and some component of business development. Comms are great because they are based on storytelling, and they inspire others to write and talk about you.
B2B media can deliver an audience, specifically one that leans into the content. B2B media captures attention, but breaking the attention and diverting it to an advertiser requires real creativity.
You must be “out there” and try things that most B2C companies would never try. The wonderful thing about this audience is that they respect a good creative, and a good one goes viral.
Events are still the bread and butter of a B2B marketing playbook because they create one-on-one engagement and more intimate opportunities to speak to your audience.
When it came to advertising, they all agreed on the necessity to look at it differently from standard B2C advertising.
Create actions
Advertising is where you generate reach and frequency, but to be effective, you need more than branding. You need to create actions.
Simple branding is not enough, and this is coming from someone who already believes branding and direct response go together. That means B2B creative needs to be even better at eliciting a response than regular-old B2C.
When you notice good creative in B2B advertising, it’s typically really, really good. Humour does wonders in B2B (see how AT&T business used The Office and AI in its ‘Wake up with CrAIg’ campaign).
Research, while admittedly more boring, performs well in B2B (if you apply creativity like the Spotify Wrapped for Advertisers, you get both). Unique points of view presented in a more extravagant manner perform well in B2B (see the HubSpot ‘Make my persona’ campaign).
More creative, more targeted
Don’t get me wrong — I love B2B marketing. I do think people underestimate how much more difficult it is. But when you take ideas and learning from B2C and apply them to this space, you succeed by doing more of what works there.
You have to be more creative, more targeted, more of most things that make B2C work well. It’s not for the faint of heart. Oh — and did I mention you typically have less budget than B2C does? That is an entirely different constraint to deal with.
If I’m saying anything, it’s to cut some slack to the people in B2B who are trying new things. It’s more than LinkedIn emails to get you to pay attention, even though they have their place as well.
Respect the new ideas they come up with and pay a watchful eye to them. You will be able to glean the strategy and read into it for what it’s worth.
Cory Treffiletti is chief marketing officer at generative AI-powered product placement platform, Rembrand. He has been a thought leader, executive and business driver in the digital media landscape since 1994. In addition to authoring a weekly column on digital media, advertising and marketing since 2000 for MediaPost‘s Online Spin, Treffiletti has been a successful executive, media expert and/or founding team member for a number of companies, and published a book, Internet Ad Pioneers, in 2012.
