Meet the One Rand Man, the average 30-year-old who lives in
Cape Town, South Africa. As an architect, he lives his best life, eating in
fashionable restaurants, buying tequila shots for the whole table, and
indulging in clothes of the highest quality. He rarely keeps track of his
finances.
But one day he wakes up and realizes that the more he learns,
the more he spends on his extravagant lifestyle. He becomes curious and has his
entire monthly salary paid out in one-rand coins. Yes, you heard right. The One
Rand Man is now trying to understand how much they are spending in hopes that
they will spend less by using coins to buy everything.
Sanlam Life Insurance has taken up its social experiment as
a marketing tactic to teach people how to better manage their money and make
smarter financial decisions. And that story exploded - we're talking about thousands
of hits on Youtube and a lot of positive advertising. This B2C business used
the story of One Rand Man to educate consumers about the power of informed
financial decisions. And where do you think consumers turned when they needed
financial help? Sanlam, of course.
But what about B2B companies? Does the same concept still
apply? The truth is, many of you may think that implementing this marketing
tactic is time-consuming or irrelevant to your business audience, but the truth
is it works - with flying colors.
For those in the B2B world, you've probably heard of B2B,
which is known as "Boring 2 Boring". Well, it's time to end that and
spice things up a little. So let's explore marketing storytelling techniques
that can help you take your B2B marketing strategy to the next level.
Why is storytelling important in B2B marketing?
You have likely reached out to the usual suspects in your
marketing efforts - urgency, fear, and shock. That way, you've reached your id
customers' weaknesses with discounts and shiny offers, but the power of a story
can turn those one-time customers into brand evangelists.
Why is that important? The most powerful form of marketing
is word-of-mouth recommendations.
Story-based marketing attracts the heart and cultivates
trust. Instead of viewing your customer as a sale and just viewing them as a
product or service, you are building long-term relationships that break down
the barriers to consumption.
This is especially useful for B2B companies, where products
and services are often difficult to understand for consumers. Storytelling
humanizes your brand and simplifies complex B2B topics by offering an
alternative perspective.
Seven benefits of storytelling you should know about
There are numerous benefits to using storytelling as a
marketing tactic, including lower customer acquisition costs and shorter sales
cycles. When done right, story-telling messaging will lift and scale your
business faster than you would have thought possible.
1. Humanizes the brand and conveys personality
Dove portrays a sincere and authentic personality that is
inclusive for everyone, regardless of skin tone, body shape, or complexion. In
a world where fashion brands and cosmetic powerhouses tell women what to look
like, their story-driven message is a refreshing change from the narrative.
How to bring this to B2B
People relate to other people. So, think about how you can
highlight the stories behind your team to connect with your target audience. As
a B2B SaaS company, Dubsado did a dashing job of highlighting his team's
backstory with a super cheeky copy. By simply including the story of your
employees, you stand out from the sea of other companies in your industry.
2. Creates emotional connections with the audience
To take another example from Dove, this campaign shows the
futurism of a little girl who is heavily influenced by all of the beauty ads
and urges parents to speak to their kids about the industry before the ads do.
By explaining how these ads may affect young girls'
thoughts, Dove creates an emotional connection with parents. You're not just
buying Dove for its product benefits, you're buying from a brand that has an
inclusive and positive message.
How to bring this to B2B
Let's check out a video made by Zendesk called Sh * t
Support Agents Say. Zendesk is a B2B SaaS company that makes businesses better
by engaging both its teams and its customers. In this video, they relate to the
emotions of a specific group of people within a company: account managers.
Think of a specific group of people within a business sector
that you are targeting. How can you create a story-based video that stirs
emotions? How could you create content around current events or values that
are important to you and your target audience? By taking an attitude and
incorporating it into your brand message, you create a lasting impact and
encourage your audience to genuinely care.
3. Motivate customers
The image below is a snippet from the Dollar Shave Club website. This brand is known for making it easy and fun for new customers to engage with their products and services.
Website visitors can quickly identify the right products and
learn how to join the "Easiest Quiz Ever" on their daily grooming
routine and product needs.
That way, customers are both motivated and excited to see
how Dollar Shave Club's products can improve their daily routine.
How to bring this to B2B
Let's express this idea of motivating people to work for
your B2B business. Motivating others doesn't mean you have to stop what you're
doing and start a new quiz. Check out Zeb Evans, CEO, and Founder of ClickUp (a
project management software). Every week he posts videos on Linkedin motivating
his audience to join the discussion about work culture, localization, and even
some of his biggest lessons on how to scale his team.
You can easily motivate your target audience to get started
with your brand first by sharing behind the scenes and the lessons they learn.
That inspires others and also makes you more accessible.
4. Works as a basis for customer loyalty
Canva does a great job creating content that their B2B and
B2C audiences will love. They understand that, in the interests of their
customers, their offering shouldn't consist solely of design principles and
templates. Her carefully curated blog covers a variety of topics, such as case
studies (how a redesign can make a nonprofit more effective), organizational
skills (teaching school teachers how to organize their digital notes), and how
to create guides.
Canva is not only a leading brand for amateur designers
but also a point of contact for its users to find out more about various
aspects of their daily work.
How to bring this to B2B
Determine the types of people working in the companies you
are targeting. They have graphic designers, content marketers, company
founders, and various other titles. Think about them and create blog content to
target their specific areas.
Perhaps you're doing a series that aims to show how content
marketers can be more productive in their daily lives by using your product or
service. If you provide a solution to their stress, they are more likely to
stay if seen and heard from.
5. Also a great way to get new customers
To mention the last point, since Canva's blogs are very
helpful, they are very likely to be shared and act as free advertisements on
different channels.
Let's take a look at how Eddie Shleyner, founder of Very
Good Copy, is putting this into his business. Every week he delivers new
micro-articles with story-rich, quick writing tips. In the end, he encourages
his audience - and makes it easy for them - to share with others.
How to bring this to B2B
Creating rich, educational, and engaging content for
specific people within your target audience and then giving it to a friend is a
surefire way to get lots of referrals.
6. Makes your content unique and engaging
Most of us would love to watch Netflix give a day off and
some freshly popped popcorn. We crave stories and are ready to invest our time
in stories that arouse our curiosity and help us identify.
A good example of this is the British B2B software company
Advanced. In their "Right the first time" campaign to increase brand
awareness, they use fairytale elements from stories such as "Jack and the
Beanstalk"
How to bring this to B2B
When applying this to your own B2B business, think of
stories you read as a kid and weave them into an animated video (or blog)
series that tells stories. However, use your company characters instead of the
original characters (you are the loyal friend, your customer is the hero).
Using storytelling gives your brand message a unique and
exciting edge as it helps people identify with and engage with your content. So,
think about how you can use everyday stories we tell our children in a new
product or service that you bring to market.
7. Shows a less "selling" side of your company
Instead of "buy now!" or "buy here!" CTAs on your clients' throats focus on the text that will make them laugh, arouse their curiosity, and make them feel like they are in control. Take Barkbox for example they do a great job with humor. In this tweet, you can see how their CTA is making the audience feel like they are in control.
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