I listened recently to Nick Metha, successful CEO of Gainsight, on The Grit!. His marketing background struck a chord with me, and something he said really hit home – in fact, it mirrored what we preach here at Sköna: marketing is about changing people’s hearts and minds.
B2B marketing has historically focused mostly on the mind part, typically through education (download a whitepaper, etc.), while mostly ignoring the heart. But here’s the thing: human beings tend to make decisions with their hearts – sometimes without knowing it – then use their minds to rationalize those decisions to both themselves and others. As B2B marketers, we need to remember that, like in B2C, we’re talking to human beings. We need to be fluent not just in the “speeds and feeds” lingo, but also speak to, and drive emotion.
What does that mean? Well, we need to stop advertising solely the product or technological benefits. Instead, we need to inspire something! Given the more technical nature of B2B, we probably need to work twice as hard to find and encourage authentic emotions. That means remembering that we can’t communicate everything all the time – an ad, for example, is just an amuse-bouche. There’s always a time and a place for all the reasons that what you’re offering is better, but many of those are better suited for the main course (or even the dessert).
This year, our quest at Sköna is to focus on feelings. Awe, wonder, relief, joy, fear, inspiration, daring… we want to create B2B marketing that stands out, that’s memorable. Work that works (hard) and helps build strong B2B brands. Work that makes you feel something!
To us, work that inspires emotion is work that creates brave brands. Exactly which emotions will vary from case to case and even person to person, but that’s the beauty of bravery. To some of our clients, it may mean acknowledging competition. To others, it may mean bucking trends and saying something new. It may mean playing it safe – because sometimes safe is the scariest, standout thing to do!
The common denominator for all brave decisions is authenticity. Speaking the truth – your business’ truth, whatever that may be – and standing by it. So as we get into 2024, consider this a plug for a year of sparking feelings… emotions… a year to be brave enough to do you, whatever that looks like.
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