Marketing: Framing for attention

The magic of marketing lies in storytelling, the art of creating emotional connections with audiences, and the power to inspire action. While technical and tangible details are essential in B2B marketing, they are only part of the equation.

At Concrete, we know that by harnessing the art of storytelling, B2B marketers can create compelling narratives that resonate with their target audiences. This could involve crafting a brand story that highlights the company's values and mission or using case studies to showcase how a product or service has helped solve a specific problem for a customer.

So, what is this alchemy?

Earning attention is the key

B2B storytelling is about earning attention – and the magic keeps it.

Understanding the psychology of decision-making and using that knowledge to capture interest and influence behavior is where this happens; we believe it’s about framing the attention problem. You need to earn attention and frame it for maximum customer engagement.

Successful B2B marketing requires finding the right balance between the technical and tangible details and the art of storytelling and emotional connection. As a result, marketers can create truly magical campaigns that captivate their audiences and drive results when that happens.

Framing is an art form

When we work with a client, we pay attention to how options are presented in the story. For example, framing messages regarding either positive gain or harmful loss can be very effective. In addition, by understanding how people process and evaluate information, we can craft messaging that resonates with their target audience and can significantly influence choices.

That’s why it's essential to consider the entire customer experience journey when crafting marketing content. By analyzing the customer's experience before, during, and after each touchpoint, we can gain deeper insights into how to frame their messaging to earn attention.

Using a customer experience approach also allows us to identify and address pain points in the customer journey. While it may seem counterintuitive to highlight obstacles or pain points in marketing content, doing so can increase trust and credibility with customers. In addition, by acknowledging and addressing these issues, we can show that we understand the customer's needs and are committed to providing solutions.

Successful marketing requires a deep understanding of the customer journey and creating a story that connects with the target audience. While it's not magic, it can feel like it when done correctly!

Four essential questions

During our process, we ask these essential questions to help ensure that a client's marketing efforts will resonate with their intended audience to gain maximum attention.

• "Does our framing to earn attention help overcome customer obstacles?" This is crucial because it forces you to consider the customer journey and identify any pain points or obstacles preventing the customer from taking action.
• "Does the content solve the client’s business problem?" This is important because it ensures that the marketing content is aligned with the client's business objectives and provides clear value to the customer.
• "Does the content have a planned distribution channel strategy?" This question highlights the importance of distribution channels to ensure that the content reaches the target audience correctly and at the right time.
• "Does your content follow a story structure?“ This emphasizes the importance of storytelling and emotional connection in marketing. By following a story structure, marketers can create content that resonates with customers and inspires them to take action.

Overall, our approach is harnessing the magic by meshing traditionally B2C emotion-driven content, attention-centric framing, and real B2B case studies is powerful. It acknowledges the importance of logic and emotion in B2B marketing and highlights the need to create content that speaks to customers on a deeper level.

On a related note, check out this video on the Science behind storytelling recently presented by Dan Self to the Portland Design Thinkers community.

Dan Self is the Director of Design for Concrete . Dan has over 20 years of experience in the film and video space for B2C and B2B content creation. First as a feature film art director, then as a commercial production designer, and finally migrating into a director and creative director for digital the last 15 years.

He’s a passionate creative director filled with never-ending curiosity and deep life experience in many creative fields. Dan has a love of learning, creating big ideas, and sharing great stories.

Dan has worked with some of the world's leading brands like Apple, Cisco, HP, IBM, Intel, Kyndryl, and Merative.