Humans love a good story (and so does B2B)

In an era where every marketer has the exact same superpower – the ability to target any audience exactly where they are with a personalized message – we know the only way to win is to play differently.  

In other words, marketers can no longer afford to do the same thing as everyone else. It’s imperative to differentiate from the masses by not relying on logic and targeting alone. This means creating moments of connection through storytelling that breaks through the noise. 

And it's especially true when thinking about B2B buyers. These key players have a far greater scale of responsibility for their purchases, with decisions potentially affecting the entire business. As a result, they need a higher perceived value than a B2C buyer would. 

So, how can you level-up your marketing and communication strategy to get the best ROI? 

Overloaded with social media, news, texts, emails, and ads, we’ve naturally learned to self-filter. A constant influx of facts, opinions and images restrict information retention, effectively leading to shorter attention spans. In fact, neuropsychologist, Dr Kenneth Freundlich notes that our working memory can hold fewer than ten items at a time.   

What’s more, as work life and home life have merged into a more digital-first, hybrid environment, it is harder than ever for B2B brands to cut through. It's not surprising that business communications are lost in the din of information overload when individuals are actively disengaging. 

So, how can we drive attention and make sure that every interaction is impactful? 

• Like B2C, use a hook to grab attention 

• Add emotion to create a memorable and relatable experience 

• Know your audience and design your story for the channel or environment they consume it in 

While B2C brands have long seen stories as a potential to drive awareness, B2B marketers are failing to take advantage. So, it really is time to remind B2B sellers what evidence shows — whatever the audience, emotion outweighs logic in the long run. 

Fiction is shown to be more effective at changing beliefs than logical arguments. As well as driving the audience to feel affinity with the brand. According to research, 71% of B2B buyers purchase once they see personal value in a business. Plus, nearly three quarters say that they’re willing to pay a higher price to do business with a brand that they truly believe in. 

And if that’s not enough to convince you, best-selling business author, Peter Guber, tells us that stories can also function as Trojan Horses. The audience accepts the story because, for a human, a good story always seems like a gift. But the story is in fact a delivery system for the teller’s agenda; a trick for sneaking a message into the mind. 

So, ask yourself these questions: 

• What is the foundation that could guide all storytelling efforts? 

• Who are the characters in the story? Who is your hero? 

• What visual elements (sound, visuals and text) can complement your story?  

B2B marketers shouldn’t shy away from consumer trends either, like tapping into the senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch) to tell more compelling stories. It’s without doubt a powerful tool when it comes to immersing your audience.  

Where to start? 

• Connect sensory language in text and visual design. For instance, the scent of an online antique shop could transport a customer back to their grandmother’s house and elicit feelings of childhood and warmth.

• Expand your mediums beyond static, to video or immersive, making them more tangible, experiential, and memorable. 

Breakthroughs in AI are making it easier for marketers connect stories with customers. Large language models are a great resource for researching and optimizing stories, operating as a multiplier to stay on top of audience preferences, trends and insights. This is creating exciting news for marketers who are increasingly able to react in real-time, build more engaging narratives and harmonize this across channels like social, web and email. 

Today the #1 way marketers are leveraging AI is for email marketing. 63% of marketers are using AI or ML software for email marketing (Capterra AI Marketing Survey). 

Despite the success of AI, marketers and creatives still need to guide storytelling. Afterall, computers can’t laugh at a good joke, but they can tell when people will think something is funny. So, AI can’t generate new ideas or content in the way human creativity can. But the adoption of AI can have positive inputs for marketers. 

• AI is a great tool to for research or inspiration, when it comes to creating stories for real people there is nothing better than an empathetic human touch.  

Many B2B advertisers can be fearful of brand communications, thinking that it requires big-budget investment on projects like TV ads. But this is not the case. 

While multiple formats are effective at scale, the best way to tell stories is through video content. A study by AdWeek shared that 83% of businesses gain lead generation from video, and 94% of marketers agree that video accelerates both user understanding and audience connections. 

With mobile devices becoming the primary gateway, brands are pivoting towards YouTube and TikTok. This highlights the immense potential of video advertising to drive conversions and elevate brand engagement. According to Forbes, social video generates 1200% more shares than text and image content combined. And viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video, compared to 10% when reading it in text. 

Yet even when they’re armed with this information, the question that marketers still ask is how they can distinguish themselves... 

This is where we can help add value. If you’d like to learn more about storytelling tips and tricks, book your FREE inspiration session today.

[1] 2015 Headstream Report