Kathryn McKay | Founder | Executive Creative Partner | Black&White | mail me |
With the global economy going through uncertain headwinds, making business decisions on all fronts has become more difficult. A decision that could result in a multi-million rand outlay for the company has never been easy.
Given the constant need to drive efficiency in the current economy, the pressure to generate Return On Investment (ROI) is relentless. Business decision-makers feel this pressure directly, and the consequences of making the wrong decision are huge. Which is precisely why a fresh perspective in B2B marketing is essential.
Too many companies start their marketing efforts superficially, focusing on the short term. They rely on direct selling and lead generation. Often, they use LinkedIn to draw attention to products and offers, have their sales force trawl the platform for procurement contacts or business leads and then push products. But this approach fundamentally misunderstands both the profound differences between B2B and B2C marketing and the role that emotion plays in B2B decision-making.
Understanding the emotional core of B2B marketing
B2B marketing has too long been pigeonholed into being just “selling to businesses”. In contrast, a fresh perspective in B2B sees it as a unique blend of science and art. It recognises that business decisions involve many stakeholders and carry significant emotional weight.
If you are a decision maker signing off on a large RFP, your job, other jobs and your entire career could be on the line. This is far removed from a consumer’s casual purchase. You need to be confident that the solution and partner you appoint will function as promised, be cost-effective and deliver real value and ROI over the years. That kind of confidence does not just come from facts and figures. It comes from trust built consistently over time.
In a B2B environment, you navigate multiple stakeholders – procurement managers, CMOs, CEOs, CFOs and many others. Each has different emotional drivers, but all are pivotal in shaping the final decision.
Where most B2B approaches go wrong
Given these complexities, many brands go one of two ways. Either they take the direct-selling route, which offers a purely functional, product-driven approach that pulls leads into a funnel for sales teams to chase. Or they lump B2B marketing together with B2C tactics and assume it is the same, just with a different budget. They create generic ads or tweak consumer brand lines for business use.
While traditional advertising agencies often excel at consumer campaigns, the same playbook cannot work in the B2B space. These approaches fail to address the relational depth and emotional stakes involved. That is where a fresh perspective in B2B becomes crucial.
Take the case of one of our B2B clients, a mobile telecommunications brand shifting toward the converged solutions space. Their ICT offering was valuable, layered and cutting-edge. However, its scale was largely unknown. They consulted with clients on complex IoT needs, but those clients often turned elsewhere for implementation, unaware of the brand’s full suite of world-class capabilities. Sales teams reported that their offering “was one of South Africa’s best-kept secrets”. They believed in their product’s impact in the enterprise space but struggled to get in the door, even with existing relationships.
Building trust through research and relevance
How did we know this? Because effective B2B marketing begins with on-the-ground research. It involves talking to sales teams and product managers at the coal face to understand what stakeholders need, what is missing, and why conversions are delayed. Without this immersion, it is impossible to create a powerful and holistic B2B strategy. That is exactly what a fresh perspective in B2B marketing requires.
We discovered that the brand’s consumer-focused identity, while powerful, had not helped its enterprise unit. It led potential business clients to overlook advanced solutions because they could not risk trusting a “mobility provider” with complex ICT systems. Understanding these emotional barriers was essential.
The outcome was a separate identity for the business unit. It included a lock-up that represented the enterprise offering and separated it from the consumer brand while showing a clear link. This also served as an emotional promise, encapsulated in a brand line featured in every execution. It spoke to capabilities that business leaders could believe in while respecting its mobility heritage.
Research showed that the brand’s differentiator was its local heritage – 30 years of operation in Africa and a hyper-local, on-the-ground service offering. The line “Africa’s leading enabler of connectivity and converged solutions” leaned into this identity while highlighting cutting-edge ICT solutions.
The awareness campaign launched with targeted out-of-home placements in high-traffic business hubs, such as major airports. It began with impactful billboards, using visuals that implied stature and scale to inspire confidence. Solutions-based messages targeted specific industry sectors. This not only addressed the “best-kept secret” challenge but also built a strong foundation for sales teams. It enabled informed dialogues based on trust and fostered loyalty up the effectiveness ladder. The approach married the artistic elements of a campaign with scientific precision.
A move toward lasting differentiation
Ordinarily, campaigns tend to lean one way or the other: purely art – treating B2B and consumer brands alike – or purely science – focusing on direct-response marketing. By combining both, brands can create strategic assets that foster emotional loyalty. This takes a business out of the realm of price wars and moves it toward lasting differentiation.
Unfortunately, the space for such conversations is underplayed in the industry. B2B marketing often receives less attention than consumer marketing. Yet B2B is a distinct skill set that drives progress in crowded markets. In a tough economic climate with longer decision cycles and multiple stakeholders, overlooking dedicated B2B expertise is a serious mistake.
A good starting point for CMOs and the C-suite is to ask: Are you truly listening to your sales teams at the coal face, or are you and your agency hypothesising about what works without seeking the truth?
Then ask: Does your advertising address the emotional weight on decision-makers with jobs on the line and multiple stakeholders to satisfy?
C-suites should embrace immersion-led, holistic B2B marketing expertise not just to build sales but to empower teams and foster loyal partnerships. That is the essence of a fresh perspective in B2B marketing.
