Make Your B2B Brand Stand Out: Telling Creative Stories at Scale

Editor's note: This post is part of the LinkedIn Collective , which is designed to inspire excellence and success for all B2B marketers. The Collective offers groundbreaking thought leadership and content resources informed by LinkedIn data and insights, our team of experts and leaders across the B2B marketing industry.

I sometimes affectionately call my team a “content factory.”?

While that term doesn’t immediately inspire visions of groundbreaking and creative editorial work, it speaks to the reality of our task: creating more than 10 bespoke content pieces a day across six distinct channels for a community of more than 5 million marketers on LinkedIn. With just a scrappy team of four (and some really wonderful cross-functional and agency partners), we keep the content engine running for LinkedIn’s $5 billion+ advertising business.?

And though I know little about the intricacies of a real factory – I know running one requires precision, efficiency and the delivery of high-quality products over time.

That’s why this pet name I’ve given the team is, in my mind, the highest form of praise – I believe we’re a well-oiled machine that has figured out how to tell creative stories at scale that deliver immense value for our customers and for our business.

So how do we make sure we’re applying an assembly line-like model to creativity? Isn’t that impossible, since creativity is something that’s supposed to flow freely from the mind onto a page after hours of brainstorming sessions? Not so.

I’d argue that coming up with creative marketing ideas is a skill that can be learned, honed, and deployed to craft amazing campaigns. Even in B2B.?

Why invest in creativity in the first place?

Well, we know that quality creative can spin up a long-term revenue engine that builds your brand over time . And we also know that, historically speaking, B2B marketing delivered only facts and let the product sell itself. So there’s a business opportunity for marketers to bring even more value to the table by moving away from B2Boring work and embracing work that’s truly B2Brilliant (see what I did there?) instead.?

So if you’re looking for guidance on how to stand up a world-class B2B marketing function that delivers great creative and content, here’s a perspective on how my team and I approach creative ideation.?

First, define your process?

Developing creative marketing ideas is a process, not a magic trick. Sure, some people are naturally more adept at creative thinking than others, but this is a skill that anyone can develop with some practice and guidance.

Developing a structure and framework for how you’ll come up with creative ideas is a great starting point. Perhaps this looks like a weekly session you set with your team, with no formal agenda beyond discussing the most important news affecting your business and your customers. You can use that session to determine the myriad ways you could respond to that news thoughtfully.?

However you decide to create space for your team to brainstorm, creative ideation sessions are most effective when there is a clear, agreed-upon structure in place.

Pass the mic by leveraging the leadership skills and expertise of your team?

If you’ve hired right, chances are high that you have experts on your team who are eager to lead on interesting and engaging work. Ensuring their perspectives live at the forefront of any creative process you embark on is key.

Instead of taking on the task of leading creative ideation yourself, try identifying a skilled moderator (in our case, this is the one and only Tequia Burt ) to lead the session from your team – someone who knows how to lead discussions and redirect when necessary, or who can be coached to do so over time.

Madecraft Chief Learning Officer Brad Batesole offers these four rules for good creative ideation moderation :

1. Focus on quantity, not quality. The goal of a creative ideation session is to get a volume of ideas on the page. Remember the factory analogy from earlier?
2. Defer judgment. Critical feedback – good or bad – limits creativity. Value statements like “that’s a great idea!” or “maybe we’ll come back to you” have no place in a creative ideation session.
3. Welcome far-fetched ideas. Even if what’s suggested sounds nutty, ideas shared during brainstorming are just that – ideas. They aren’t finished concepts, and they certainly aren’t sales pitches. Far-fetched ideas can lower inhibitions in other members and inspire off-shoot ideas.?
4. Build on ideas. Some ideas can be combined, others linked on a path to an ultimate solution. Encourage participants to build on each other’s ideas.

Be thoughtful about who you invite to participate

To come up with ideas that challenge your way of thinking, are contrarian and are unexpected, consider reaching out to x-functional partners who are critical to your team’s work and invite them into your creative process - doing so will ensure you have thought diversity across life experience, skills and subject matter expertise, and will create an environment where ideas will challenge conventional thinking.

At LinkedIn, we regularly invite members of our Insights and Data teams as well as from our Communications team to ideate alongside us. Having their unique perspective represented gives our ideas a more well-rounded approach.

As for the number of participants – try to keep it between four and eight members in one session.?

Set a clear goal

Creative ideation exists to solve problems, and it’s best to solve one specific problem at a time.?

While it might be tempting to try creatively solving “Grow revenue next quarter” it’s easier to elicit ideas with a more refined prompt like “Create a campaign to promote Product X to Sector Y.”

Once you have your goal, present it in the form of a question to participants. Hearing it stated in this way is their cue to start formulating ideas as answers.?

Remind participants that the goal is to collect ideas, not fully-fleshed out solutions.?

Keep it simple, stupid

Creative ideas don’t have to be off-the-wall or humorous. They don’t have to be the Most Original Concept in All Human Existence.?

Creative ideas are simply ideas that present fresh solutions, examine a problem from an unexpected perspective, or pave the way to a unique advantage. They can be rational and constructive solutions to existing problems.?

Don’t get hung up on global originality – strive for solving the problem within your sphere of influence.?

Use a proven ideation model

These are some of the most proven creative ideation models in use. For a broader selection of ideation models, check out Batesole’s LinkedIn Learning course Ideation for Marketers .

Brainstorming: This is the model most of us are familiar with, and the one I use most often with my team. Developed by Alex Osborn in the 1950s, this technique encourages participants to verbally share their ideas as they come to mind.?

Braindumping: One of the pitfalls of brainstorming is hesitancy to speak up. Braindumping works around this by having participants silently and individually spend between 3-10 minutes writing down all ideas that come to mind. These ideas are then collected on a wall or whiteboard and read aloud.?

Brainwriting: This model uses a pass-the-card technique where participants write an idea, then pass their card to another participant who builds on that initial idea. The cards are passed between 3-10 times before they are shared with the group.?

Brainwalking: This technique is the same as brainwriting, but requires participants to stand up and move to the cards, rather than the cards being passed among seated participants. The idea is that physical movement and the physical change of perspective help stimulate creativity.?

Put your creative mind to work

While most of us think of creative ideation sessions as a group activity, you can actually work these sessions into your daily routine as a solo exercise. This regular practice will help you develop your creative thinking skills .

Encourage your team members to do a little solo creative ideation each day. Regular exercise will strengthen their creativity and make for better group ideation sessions.?

Want better marketing results? Get creative. And check out the product of my team’s creative ideation sessions by following our work on LinkedIn Collective .