Is B2B marketing a niche discipline?

Is B2B marketing a niche discipline? When you consider that 80% of UK companies derive some of their income from B2B activity, then the answer should clearly be no. 

In fact, B2B accounted for 44%, or £1.7tn, of UK business turnover and £21.78bn in Corporation Tax in 2019. At that time, over 50% of FTSE 350 companies were 'pure' B2B businesses and, unlike B2C, the UK enjoyed a global trade surplus in B2B activity. 

Yes, B2C marketing is highly visible in comparison but that does not diminish the important role of B2B marketing in driving sustainable growth

Fundamental Attribution Error and misguided big budget B2B marketing

 ‘Fundamental Attribution Error’ means we naturally overestimate a person’s disposition on their behaviours and underestimate the impact of their situation.

B2B Prospects don’t switch from an incumbent supplier or risk their Status Quo simply because they’re an ABC1 adult and have overheard your Retail campaign. They want to know whether their current situation puts them at risk and whether they should do something different to preserve their best interest.

You can target messages to each individual’s disposition (job title, function, responsibilities), but that won’t typically motivate them to make a change. The real drivers behind behaviour change are the challenges within a #b2b buyer’s situation or business context.

Don't focus on job titles or personas unless you also plan to speak to their situation. Help your buyers understand how your offering matches their business context, for example, how they can mitigate a risk that they haven’t yet spotted.

Why emotion and brand are more important in B2B marketing than in B2C

Emotion and brand are more important in B2B marketing than in B2C. Why? Because the stakes are higher. 

Imagine you’re choosing your morning coffee. You have 2 choices - grab one from Starbucks or grab a McCafe. Now imagine you’re making that same decision on behalf of your whole company and that they will have to live with your choice every day for the next 3 years. That is the reality of making B2B purchase decisions. 

Choosing a partner, a piece of software or hardware - any investment decision for that matter involves risk, especially when you consider your internal reputation and career prospects are potentially on the line. Typically these aren’t low-risk, impulse purchases that can be forgotten about tomorrow or returned easily with no downside or contractual clauses to wriggle out of.

B2B marketers often think their customers are obsessed with specifications, pricing and making objective decisions. According to a study by System1 Research, this is the focus for 77% of B2B ads. In reality, there are emotions at play and the riskier the decision, the more we tend to rely on our emotions, instincts and memories to make it.

Bothism in B2B. It's all about balance.

Like B2C, a challenge at the heart of B2B marketing is a fine balancing act between the long-term with short-term. Balancing investment in brand building with targeted product-based campaigns designed to generate demand and quality leads. Balancing your campaign approach across mass reach channels and narrowly targeted, segmented campaign support focused on efficiently converting prospects - fishing with a net and a spear. Balancing revenue generation today with creation of demand for tomorrow - to use another analogy, simultaneously picking the low hanging fruit with watering the tree. Balancing effectiveness (degree to which overall objective has been met, e.g. growth in market share) with efficiency (e.g. cost per lead generated).

Just as Demand Generation campaigns cannot build a sustainable brand, logical and reasoned arguments are no guarantee of success. Avoidance of risk is a key component of business continuity. Confidence, fear of failure and trust play a role in the B2B buying mindset. Triggering emotions is also a part of this balancing act, as it is key to the process of building memory structures and ensuring your brand is actively recalled. Similarly, don’t discount B2C insight simply because the focus was on consumers rather than B2B prospects - it’s easy to forget that your audience are people rather than decision-making robots.

Therefore, you need to invest time in understanding the relevant emotions of your buyers and their relationship with your brand / product. So, another element of balance is the need to appeal to both hearts and minds. A related balance is demonstrating to Sales colleagues that they’ve been heard and that the business challenge is understood but, ultimately, they’re unlikely to be representative of end customers, i.e. the people who grapple with the problem the brand exists to solve.

The Vietnam War: a case study on the difference between strategy and tactics

Despite their claim that they were never defeated on the battlefield, the USA lost the Vietnam War. They had superior firepower and the budgetary & industrial might of a superpower. Ultimately, their huge resources proved ineffective against an enemy with a comparatively modest agrarian and village-oriented economy. While clearly a tragic period in history, the Vietnam War is a case study in the difference between a strategic & creative approach vs. a tactical & resource-intensive one.

Ahead of hostilities, Vietcong officers extensively studied Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" with many able to recite entire passages from memory. General Võ, since described as one of the greatest military strategists of the 20th century, was an avid student of Sun Tzu's teachings. In the years following the war, the US Marine Corps Professional Reading Program has listed “The Art of War” on its reading list. It's now also recommended reading for all United States Military Intelligence personnel.

The book advises that “a wise general can achieve greatness through foreknowledge” and “know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a thousand battles without disaster”. In other words, take the time to conduct situational analysis before formalising your objective, developing your strategy and your tactical plan to achieve it. The Vietcong drew on this inspiration and sought to understand their enemy. For example, they placed spies outside brothels and at taxi ranks near US bases in the south.

In contrast, the US skipped the diagnosis and jumped straight into deploying the same tactics which had ultimately proved successful in the South Pacific and Europe during WW2. They sought to take the fight to the enemy. Their objective was to subdue the North Vietnamese into submission using the full force of the world’s best equipped superpower.

However, the troops expected to take the fighting to the enemy deep in the jungle were largely of conscripts. In stark contrast, the North Vietnamese soldiers were dedicated to the cause - fighting for independence, for communism and as an expression of their fierce loyally to their leadership. Many of these committed volunteers had had themselves tattooed with the words “born in the North to die in the South”. Therefore, the opportunity for the Vietcong and their strategic focus was on breaking the will of the American troops and, in turn, their relatives at home.

Gradually, the Vietcong became even more knowledgeable about American tactics. They learned that carpet bombing was clear indication of where and when US ground troops would arrive at a particular location. They sought to remove their enemy’s greatest strength (air cover) by placing themselves amongst the US forces. Drawing on another of Sun Zhu’s mantras (“All warfare is deception”), they frequently distracted their opponents before commencing the real offensive. They knew the American troops respected and enjoyed national holidays, so used the TET lunar new year to launch a surprise offensive and coordinate their logistics with simultaneous attacks on South Vietnamese bases.

Ultimately, the strategic approach trumped the US' tactical one. In a final symbolic episode, as the Americans were negotiating their withdraw, US General Frederick C. Weyand told his North Vietnamese counterpart “you know, you never beat us on the battlefield”. To which the response was “that may be so, but it is also irrelevant”. In a strategic sense, he was absolutely right.

Beware the ‘Bias for Action’

Having a ‘bias for action’ means not afraid to make decisions and take action, even when (especially when) you’re faced with uncertainty.
 
If you’re prone to “act first, think later” behaviour, then I’d recommend taking a look at Good Strategy/Bad Strategy by Professor Richard Rumelt.
 
In the book, Prof. Rumelt makes the important point that “The most common path to success is not raw innovation but skilfully riding a wave of change". In other words, don’t leap into action for action’s sake as you run the very real risk of incorrect diagnosis and tackling visible symptoms of a problem rather than the underlying cause. 
 
Thinking through the ‘real’ business problem you’re trying to solve requires diagnosis and close examination of underlying issues, as well as questioning your assumptions. The ‘bias for action’ is like any other cognitive bias in that it pollutes our thinking. The tendency to dive straight into solution mode creates the risk of causing more havoc.
 
As you look forward to 2021 or simply trying to close out a challenging 2020, don’t mistake ambitious goals and effort for strategy. A robust strategy starts with a robust diagnosis which then informs a direct of travel (or ‘guiding policy’) and, in turn, a coherent set of actions.

Behavioural Science can help B2B brands maintain resilience in a post-pandemic world

 B2B buyers in all kinds of industries are still grappling with the repercussions of COVID-19, and although there have been some encouraging signs in recent weeks and months of a possible return to the “New Normal,” we are not yet out of the woods. Many are now busy with scenario planning as budgets are reviewed and spending is scrutinised.

This means that you can’t take B2B relationships for granted and shift your emphasis wholly on to tactical sales messaging. Uncertainty makes it challenging for businesses to identify the most appropriate path forward. In contrast, times of crisis and uncertainty make it much easier for trust to be broken, as things can easily go wrong.

So, how should B2B campaigns be adjusted to reflect the current context?

Root yourself in empathy

Try to share the thoughts and feelings of your customers / prospects. Try to walk a mile in their shoes. For example, think about a colleague you work with and trust implicitly. How do they make you feel?

Chances are they make you feel understood and supported. They’re transparent in their dealings with you, so you always know what you’re getting. They’re a safe choice if you need to work alongside someone else.

Be sensitive to current context and, ideally, be seen to be responsive to it. Given this backdrop, it is also important to be conscious in the language you use in Marcomms.

Seek to make a connection with your audience

Google’s ‘From Promotion to Emotion’ study demonstrated that brands that connect meaningfully with B2B decision makers are disproportionately rewarded with greater consideration, purchase intent & willingness to pay a premium. Binet and Field’s work for the LinkedIn B2B Institute reinforced the importance of emotional messaging in driving sustainable growth.

As humans, we tend to trust faces behind the brand, so while B2B sales meetings are remote, we need to consider how can we achieve this connection without face-to-face conversation and human-to-human interaction? It’s easy to forget that negotiations are supported by non-verbal cues and allow for more nuanced discussion of complex business solutions.

Actively listen to customers and reflect on what they’re saying. Understand their motivations and mirror their language. Avoid jargon seek to foster trust, understanding and build rapport.

Use words which trigger sub-conscious mental processes (known to Behavioural Scientists as heuristics or cognitive short-cuts). For example, using the word “because” and following it with a reason helps ensure people feel they’ve been understood and, as a result, this improves compliance in subsequent behaviour. This will give your audience more of a sense of being understood and that your brand is authentic. Real, true and genuine. These techniques will improve receptivity to your messaging.

In summary, you can build more of an emotional bond with B2B buyers by:

1. Seeking to build trust
2. Showing empathy
3. Reflecting customers’ language in your comms
4. Explaining (“because”)
5. Demonstrating authenticity (as well as brand personality)