When Complexity Meets Craft: The Future of B2B Marketing

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 will offer groundbreaking thought leadership and content resources informed by LinkedIn data and insights, our team of experts, and leaders across the B2B marketing industry.

When I read LinkedIn’s new research about the lack of creativity from B2B brands it fired me up. Because I have lived this challenge, this reality, for the bulk of my career.?

The task of doing good work for large businesses whose primary audience is other businesses seems to be more of a challenge than it should be. Why is that? Because you have complex solutions that address complex problems? OK, but so what. At the end of the day there is a problem and a solution. And more importantly there is a human being who desperately needs that solution. The stakes are high. The passion is real. So why don’t we tap into that???

My personal experience was reflected this year in Cannes, where I was honored to be a judge for the first-ever Creative B2B awards. Kicking off this new category, jury president Paul Hirsch had to remind all of us B2B judges to keep the bar high. The creativity in B2B must be as great as any other category. It must be Lion-worthy.

I saw some great, compelling B2B marketing creative, and it convinced me more than ever that we need to increase investments in brand building—in the upper funnel—because no B2B brand can afford to have its value, purpose, and actions remain unknown to potential customers.

Business marketers, this is our moment. World events of the past two years have lifted the veil between B2B and B2C, as consumers became highly influenced by what's happening with businesses, turning topics like supply chain into cocktail party talk.

Here’s my B2B CTA: It’s time to rebrand the term. Maybe it should be B4B. Or delete the second “B” entirely because it’s always “business” at some point, anyway. B2H—humans—would reflect a critical focus with (hopefully) greater creativity.

Fifty-six per cent of respondents in LinkedIn’s research said that B2B marketing is “more challenging” than B2C. Yes, but we can do hard things! B2B may be complex, but we don’t need to show the audience that same complexity in our marketing.

The best B2B work is simple and human. It makes customers and talent understand, trust, and care that you exist as a company. Positioning human insights as central to the strategy allows creativity and craft excellence to shine.

We can’t rely on advertising alone to get people to love us; it’s just one lever we can pull. We have to start from the outside in, focus on what potential customers want, and show up in those places. Brand is important, as the research says, because “It's about memory.” It’s also about love—brand love, which is the outcome and the destination.

Ultimately that’s the core function of a brand: to act as a shortcut and drive preference.?

Visit the LinkedIn Collective for more.