B2C brands sometimes make marketing look easy — they’re more prepared to gamble with distinctive messaging and bold branding to differentiate themselves from competitors and appeal to a wide audience.
B2B businesses selling highly technical services and products can sometimes struggle to take the same approach — they’ve got to adapt their tone as they’re selling to other businesses and therefore might be less inclined to take risks.
But there’s no such thing as a boring brand — only uninspired marketing campaigns.
So here are three ways to make technical brands more exciting for customers.
Emotional marketing
Your product itself might not inspire warm emotions — but the way it makes people feel is something to shout about.
So if you’ve developed technology that makes electronic communication faster than ever, focus on the way your product brings people closer together rather than its technical features.
Online content that tells an emotional story often goes viral because people want to share the way it made them feel — they’ve bought into the experience.
IBM became a client-centric company using these principles and has marketed itself in recent years as an organisation that uses technology to improve people’s lives.
If your firm’s B2B marketing feels a bit stale, using emotive storytelling is a great way of providing customers with s refreshing perspective on what you do.
Case studies
Emotional marketing can still be complemented by a straightforward practical approach — this works well for firms who need to focus on a niche in the market and convince business clients that their offering is the best available.
Ormiston Wire is a good example of a specialist firm that uses case studies to showcase its products in use in exciting applications like cult TV shows, high-performance car safety systems and Antarctic expeditions.
Case studies from reputable companies can positively influence prospective clients — and if you can combine them with testimonials it might seal the deal even quicker.
They’re another example of storytelling because they’ll clearly explain the problem, the solution you suggest and the successful resolution — clients are automatically attracted to this story structure and it’s as effective for marketing as it is for novels.
Social video
Social media platforms like Facebook are useful for any company to market their products to a wide audience.
And social video is the best way to grab the attention of B2B customers — so use it to share emotional content and instructional ‘explainer videos’ about the best ways to use your product and your company ethos.
You can also capture user-generated content from social media which allows customers to share their own positive experiences of interacting with your brand.
If you’ve got a presence on social media but aren’t using video, you’re missing out on the most powerful way to connect with customers.
These three ways to make technical brands exciting will convert customers to brand advocates and ensure your offering always feels fresh and relevant.
How do you market your B2B brand? Share your stories in the comments section.
