The Challenges of Creative B2B Content
In a world where engagement is always on, always available and always unpredictable, content is king at all customer touchpoints. This is a fact that B2B marketers are starting to come around to, even though this wisdom has been in the consumer market for decades.
So, what does that mean for a B2B funnel? It means creating content that makes a massive, immediate and long-term impact without foregoing traditional B2B expectations (educate and nurture).
The 95-5 Rule and Emotional Engagement
I, as much as any marketer or content creator in the B2B space, have followed a tried-and-true philosophy that the best way to approach B2B marketing is to provide the right kind of educational content to inform without overwhelming and then nurturing these customers further down the funnel with more specific and technical information towards a final sale or conversion.
But what might we be missing with this method? An entire market of buyers that aren’t ready to buy yet, but will be at some point and will be on a relatively predictable schedule.
According to LinkedIn research, most buyers in each market “out-market” or not ready to buy. That’s not to say that they will never make a purchase, but instead that they will make a purchase at some other time.
This tells us that working in the immediate, in the strictly informational and funnel nurturing frame of mind, is leaving tons of customers on the table. That kind of marketing is still reasonably necessary, so much so that a study by the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising shows that the optimal split for B2B marketing is 60% branding and 40% direct response. Furthermore, audiences exposed to both branding and acquisition are 6x more likely to convert.
This means that it’s time to step outside of a direct marketing mindset and incorporate strong and memorable branding powered by creative content.
What Does Creative Content Mean in Practice?
You might say, “isn’t all content creative?” The short answer is… sure, yeah, but not in the same way.
Strategic nurture campaigns are essential, and they aren’t going anywhere soon. But it’s quickly becoming apparent that businesses cannot produce thought leadership or other expert content without considering their audience’s needs.
A research study from LinkedIn and Edelman came away with a few fascinating insights:
The pandemic led to a “glut” of informational, but low-quality thought leadership that diluted the effectiveness of this content for B2B decision-makers.
Nonetheless, B2B thought leadership, when done well, is still a driving factor for decision-making, with 42% reporting that good creative assets in this category led to invitations to bid, and 54% reported making purchases of new products or services based on these assets.
87% of buyers think that thought leadership can be both intellectually stimulating and run simultaneously.
Creative Content in the Funnel
Throughout 2022 and into 2023, we’ve been having serious and continuing conversations about what it means to evolve into today’s marketing climate. A fundamental idea that we’ve continued to come back to repeatedly is the idea that the foundational services that we had offered for years (downloadable assets, social media campaigns, landing pages… all the traditional stuff) were a very operational way to approach what has been increasingly become an emotional and creative space.
I have audited and commented on several types of content for a wide range of clients in the B2B tech market. I come across the same thing: slick, but dense, artifacts that provide tons of information and discussion of pain point but don’t necessarily establish a unique voice or approach that would truly make them stand out.
As we’ve been developing content for clients for quite a few years, this notion of creativity has been a live question that we’ve never fully answered—we may never, and that may be for the better.
Bake the Right Cake
When you’re baking a cake, the result is only as good as the component ingredients. Cut corners and your product isn’t everything that it should be, and amazing ideas about icing and color only serve as lipstick on a pig.
If you’re going to put content to market for your organization or your clients and you want any shot of really making something special, then use the right ingredients. This means beautiful, relevant, high-resolution images and graphics. These deep insights are relevant to and informed by the target industry, diversifying assets (both in creation and presentation), incorporating video as primary or ancillary pieces of thought leadership, and ensuring that all content is accessible to the extent allowed by the medium used.
Experimentation vs. Client Asks
If you’re in charge of your company’s marketing, then this is obviously a non-issue. But for individuals or agencies that work with clients, there is an interesting balance between getting fun and creative and honoring that client's desires. I’ve found that justifiable creativity, or creativity built on justifiable best practices, can resonate with clients and serve as an effective pitch for campaign designs or projects.
Means vs. Ends
The notion of measuring success with creativity seems counterintuitive… but not really. Creativity is, in no small part, about impact. If you cannot measure impact, it doesn’t matter how creative or deep a piece of thought leadership is. This means engaging with creativity with a purpose and innovation that serves some function in a larger marketing or sales funnel.
Immediate Impact vs. Longevity
The result of any B2B content is to engage and educate with the hopes of leading to relationships down the line. And while we’ve noted that most buyers aren’t necessarily ready to make a purchasing decision at any given time, it’s still critical to have some metrics in place to measure how a creative piece of content functions in the world. It’s also critical that this functionality be positioned within short-term and long-term success metrics.
B2B Content Is Evolving—and Getting Creative
Business writing has gotten a reputation that isn’t entirely undeserved. It can be dry, unappealing, or insightful in ways that don’t help the company publishing it or the customer reading it. But, as professionals across industries seek to build communities with their colleagues and customers, it’s high time we’re moving away from a “just the facts” paradigm into something more intimate and creative when it comes to thought leadership.
There’s never a wrong time to put your best foot forward. However, figuring out what your “best foot” is an exciting challenge that leads to a world of genuinely creative B2B content.
To learn more about how to craft creative and sticky B2B content, read LinkedIn’s guide on How Standout Creative Content Boosts Performance: From B2Boring to B2Brilliant.