This Week in Marketing: Tell Better Stories for B2B Success

“We’re all stories in the end. Just make it a good one, eh?”

—The Doctor, Doctor Who

Stories are powerful. Humans are hard-wired to invest in a narrative, empathize with the characters, and anticipate the story’s outcome. If you can tell your potential customers an honest, relatable story about your value proposition, you’ll be far more memorable than brands that rely solely on features and benefits.?

This week’s roundup is all about telling better stories with your B2B content. Read on for insights from the LinkedIn Collective and all over the web.

What to Read

A (B2B) Tale of Two Cannes (LinkedIn Collective): Cannes Lions is now recognizing excellence in B2B creativity. But why is there so little overlap in the awards for creative campaigns, and the awards for effective ones? Tom Stein explores how to make creativity and effectiveness inseparable instead of mutually exclusive.

The Product Delusion in B2B Advertising (LinkedIn Collective): Coca-Cola is a brand that is as much story as it is product. Mimi Turner kicks off this thought-provoking article with a simple question: What if Coca-Cola were marketed like a B2B product, all features and benefits? Would it still be a cultural touchstone, or just another fizzy drink? More importantly, how can B2B marketers tap into the power of story over product?

Storytelling in B2B Marketing (Heinz Marketing): We all know that making audiences feel and think is more effective than simply giving them information. The challenge is fitting that emotional appeal into a professional setting for effective B2B marketing. Karla Sanders provides a road map in this short but informative piece.

Turn Fans into Brand Ambassadors with B2B Influencer Marketing (TopRank Marketing): One surefire way to add more storytelling to your brand is to recruit professional storytellers to the cause. Joshua Nite shares tips on courting your most influential raving fans and nurturing them to become a community of ambassadors for the brand.

5 Lessons From the Content Marketing Awards Project of the Year Finalists (CMI): What better way to illustrate the effectiveness of storytelling than by telling the stories of five brands who got it right? Jodi Harris shares takeaways from B2C and B2B brands seeing award-worthy results.

What to Watch

The Value of Being Contrarian in B2B Marketing

By now, we all know that B2B content doesn’t have to be boring. But just how spicy can it get and still be effective? On this episode of the B2B Storyteller Podcast, Ilia Markov shares how courting controversy works for his brand’s story.

What to Know

If you need more inspiration to embrace high-quality, emotionally engaging content: Google’s forthcoming algorithm update is designed to promote content written for humans rather than search engines. Sites with shallow, keyword-stuffed content are likely to take a hit, while helpful content is expected to climb the SERP. Barry Schwartz shares an overview over at Search Engine Land.

Make sure to follow the LinkedIn Collective for more insights.