In a world where customer experience is king, one of the fundamental ways brands can stand out is to establish an emotional connection with their prospects and customers.
However, as B2B brands historically tend to focus on appealing to logic over emotion, this often requires an overhaul of their communications strategy which can be quite a daunting step change.
So how can brands make the shift from ‘promotion’ to ‘emotion’?
1. Use Individual Personas
It can be easy to forget that when you’re selling to a company, you’re really selling to the human decision makers within that company.
Here at DMA Partners, one of our core philosophies is that: “It’s not just B2B or B2C. It's person to person.”
For that reason, it’s critical to ensure that your marketing personas are based on individual people, rather than corporate entities.
Be sure to go beyond the demographics and get to know your personas on a deeper level. Think about their goals, challenges, dreams and fears. Put yourself in their shoes and try to get in touch with the emotions that crop up around your solution and the problem it solves.
To learn more about developing customer personas, check out our simple 3-step system here.
2. Make it Personal
According to research carried out by Google and CEB’s Marketing Leadership Council,
B2B buyers are almost 50% more likely to purchase something when they can see its personal value.
This means that B2B marketers need to go beyond the business-based benefits and connect with buyers on a personal level by showcasing how their products and services will affect them personally and professionally.
Here are a few personal emotional drivers that are particularly relevant to B2B buyers to keep in mind:
Professional pride
Office popularity
Praise from superiors
Confidence
Comfort
Productivity
Knowledgeable
Early adopter kudos
Influential
If you are a purchaser or B2B products and services yourself, think about the last 3 purchases you have made and why you selected these options over the alternatives. Can you pinpoint the emotional reasons for your choices?
3. Share Stories
Now that you know who you want to connect with and which emotions you want to elicit, an easy way to do this is by using storytelling.
For example, let’s take the emotions of ‘confidence’ and ‘comfort’. To establish these connections, you could produce a promotional video which shows someone using your product and service smoothly, with easy access to support when they need it while explaining how they feel confident in doing so.
Let’s take another example - ‘professional pride’. To establish this emotion, you can share a success story in the form of a case study interview with one of your satisfied clients which showcases how they were able to surpass their targets thanks to your product or service.
Can you see how communicating the benefits of your products on this way is much more engaging for prospects than sitting and sifting through a jargon-filled list of features?
The bottom line is this: facts tell, but stories sell - especially those which make people feel.
----
Could your business benefit from establishing a more emotional connection with prospects and customers?
Get in touch with our Managing Partner, Philip Martin, at philip.martin@dma-partners.com to discover how we can help you make the shift.
Comments