Traditional B2B sales marketing can be rich and insightful with data, but often falls short in terms of impact. When was the last time you heard someone describe a white paper as “exciting” or a case study as “riveting”? Probably never, right? The issue is that many marketers have fallen into the myth that B2B sales efforts must be sterile, devoid of any germs, to be practical. As a result, their output, while inherently valuable, often falls flat in the realm of personality.
Now, while “B2B” stands for business to business, you’re still writing for other humans at the end of the day. You’re just hoping that your content motivates them to choose your products or services for their company instead of just purchasing for themselves. And your content won’t achieve that if it bores them.
These days, workers are busy. The Wall Street Journal recently shared that professionals lose about 40% of their emails and work productivity in a week. What does this mean for you? With tact and finesse, you have very little time or energy to grab the attention of your B2B sales marketing outreach to your audience. The key during their attention span is to try something new, fresh, and unexpectedly human – something more human than what you’re doing right now.
Now, that doesn’t mean you have to toss all your case studies or ditch meticulously crafted landing pages optimized for SEO. Please don’t do that. Those things have their value. Instead, what you should do is apply a few practical wisdoms to make your marketing more personal and less dry.
Improve Your Storytelling Skill
We all love a good story, and in the realm of B2B sales, storytelling holds a unique power. We remember a compelling story much better than a PowerPoint slide overloaded with numbers. So, before you hit send on all your content, rethink it. Is there a hidden story you can unearth?
With stories, you can build emotional connections with your target audience in B2B sales. They can feel connected to you or what you’re presenting on a personal level. Remember HP’s campaign featuring a “Wolf” a few years back? The advertisement was so successful and impactful that the video entered the competition as a contender for the Shorty Awards. As a bonus, HP successfully utilized their concept to appeal to both B2B and B2C buyers, proving the power of transforming services into stories.
Put a Human Face on Your Marketing
You’ve probably heard the saying that people don’t buy from companies; they buy from people. Well, that’s likely true, especially in the world of B2B sales. As I want to emphasize, the most human brand wins. Include marketing strategies that have names and faces behind your brand. For instance, consider starting a corporate podcast or video show hosted by one or more executives. We’ve seen success with brands in the shoe-making industry through their LinkedIn slides.
Beyond starting a podcast, you can humanize your brand for B2B sales by spotlighting employees on social media, letting your marketing efforts showcase the human side. To the extent that you want to encourage some members of your team to take over marketing-approved social media “takeovers” during the week. This allows potential B2B clients to see your company from an internal perspective. It can be the one thing that sets you apart in the minds of potential clients.
Lean into Appropriate Emoji Usage
Did you know that emails with emoji included are opened more frequently than those without? It’s because they just appear more inviting—more human. This principle is the same reason why image-heavy Facebook posts get more engagement, especially in the context of B2B sales. People prefer visual over text. This doesn’t mean you need to pepper your next B2B sales email campaign with emojis, please don’t. Use emojis wisely and thoughtfully.
Despite emojis’ mainstream acceptance, understand that leaving one here or there may or may not be appropriate for your B2B sales content or audience. You can always do a small beta test of using emojis in one small segment of your audience and see if incorporating digital pictograms benefits you.
Speed Up Personalization with AI
You might think personalization is only crucial in B2C markets. Not true. B2B buyers are bringing their B2C purchasing habits into the workplace, because business is ultimately human. Consequently, they want individual attention from companies like yours. Forrester notes that 52% of B2B leaders are investing in marketing personalization for this reason.
Luckily, personalization has never been easier. If you already have an AI integration or system in your marketing stack, it can help you personalize your communication. From addressing members of your audience by name in your chat to providing personalized website experiences, there are plenty of options available. You just need to know what you want to try.
Conclusion
It’s fair to say that B2B sales marketing can be painfully slow to an extent. But that’s actually an honor for you. By simply changing your marketing perspective, you can convince yourself that forgetting your brand is difficult—and saying “yes” is easy.
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