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Insist On A New Planning Process If You Want To Stand Out

James Bailey, head of Maxus for business, says really understanding the traits of your target audience is better than understanding the businesses you serve in the B2B sector. 

While there are many standout examples of marketing in the B2B category, these still tend to exist in isolated pockets. Largely, the focus still remains on tactical or lead generative activity over creative and engaging work. I believe that B2B advertisers led the way in the application of genuinely useful content for generating sales leads and the refinement of that process so leads are nurtured and utilised.

Now, the B2B sector is ripe with opportunities that don’t call for huge budgets or seismic changes to the planning process. This opportunity is open to all B2B brands so long as they are progressive in their thinking and they insist on close collaboration with and between their agenciesIndeed, when there are many fishing with big rods in small ponds, the need to create standout communications is more important than ever.

A move from observation to insight

Observation: noun. the action or process of closely observing or monitoring something or someone.

Insight: noun. the capacity to gain an accurate and deep understanding of someone or something. 

In essence, a dose of bravery is all that is required to stand out in the B2B landscape. Most B2B advertising suffers creatively because there is a significant lack of insight-based planning in the marketplace. Brands that want to stand out need to insist on a new planning process with their agency partners that is derived from genuine insights about an audience, not the observations currently typifying campaign planning in the B2B market.

Research is key to better understanding your potential customer, and by polling target audiences or tapping into media owner panels, we can swiftly unearth useful data that needn’t cost a fortune.

The competitive edge comes with proper application of learnings. Those that do it well will work to understand the traits of the personalities they are trying to reach, rather than understanding the businesses they serve. As a guiding rule, the B2B sector should never lose touch with the fact that despite trying to stimulate a purchase on behalf of a business, we are still communicating with human beings. And regardless of which sector they operate within, humans have emotive responses to advertising that are often more powerful than the rational.

So there is no point researching an audience if this doesn’t inform the approach to advertising. Far too often in B2B, briefs are issued before strategies are set. We need to take the time to understand the implications of the research and adjust our communications appropriately.

Making data meaningful

Big data, smart data, data management platforms, data to fuel programmatic media… much is being written about how technology and data is empowering communications and how the pace of change is intensifying. This can be largely meaningless for clients, however, until we are able to assess how data and technology can support their specific objectives.

It may sound obvious but one of the greatest potential pitfalls with data is opening the door to complex systems without first quantifying the effect managed data can have on marketing and business performance. Ultimately, the best opportunity exists for those clients that keep an open mind on the application of data and technology. Data in itself is never the answer to a communications challenge, but can be a fantastic way to turbo charge campaign effectiveness through smarter messaging and targeting.

Be brave, try something new

Good rigour, once we’ve come to understand the audience, is to start with ‘what would bravery look like?’ and work back from there. At Maxus for Business we stand by the 70/20/10 spend split: 70% of spend should go into what you know works; 20% should go into tried and tested emerging communications routes (mobile devices in particular); and 10% should be reserved to test something completely new. When the new works, it assumes its position within the 20%.

All brands, no matter the audience, should reserve at least 10% of their annual budget for ‘informed test and learn’. This should be especially true of B2B given that most purchase decision-making audiences are early adopters of technology and heavy consumers of media.

Building on existing strengths

B2B advertisers are great at content marketing. In my view, they are also more successful at building a relationship between a brand and an individual in a social environment by being present with a purpose in professional networks, such as LinkedIn, and creating valuable content for professional purposes.

But for the most part this relationship is one-sided, and the content one-dimensional. Now that we have a more insightful planning process, a pertinent  question to ask is whether existing activities can be augmented to better ‘connect’ with consumers.

For B2B to excel, we need to establish whether we are providing content through the right medium, in the right format. Dependent on context, would short digestible video formats be more appropriate than long form copy, for instance?

Applying a human touch

A more intuitive, insights-led approach extends into advertising, as we address whether our communications are truly in tune with the audience. There are other questions to ask too. Is there a role for a more personal form of contact, where we tailor the message to individuals? Should we be injecting a sense of humour into what we do? Are there bigger issues of importance for our audiences that we can align with as a way of building empathy with our brand?

The best-in-class work in B2B currently comes from the brands looking beyond syndicated audience data. By speaking to the individual within the business, rather than the business, we can connect and interact more meaningfully - even enter spaces where competitors aren’t yet present. With the burgeoning data stream now offering advanced insights, the timing is perhaps right for brands to be braver with B2B comms and reap the rewards of differentiation.