Tell us a (B2B) story

Everyone loves a good story. It’s human nature and every culture on the planet has storytelling built into its DNA. People buy into stories because it’s our way of making sense of everything. Storytelling is insanely powerful and I think it’s critical for engaging your audience. It’s crucial to stand out in a competitive landscape, or cut through with something new. Yet all too often B2B marketing is overly driven by short term data and metrics rather than the potential brand power of emotion. I think it just simply doesn’t cut it any more. Storytelling is an essential element behind any campaign or content marketing strategy. 

Why bother with stories in B2B?

B2B marketing is often seen as less exciting or emotional but if anything, emotion is far more important in B2B than in consumer marketing: B2B buyer relationships run deep. Google’s study of 3,000 B2B buyers found that B2B brands require more emotional connections than B2C brands. Of the hundreds of consumer brands studied, most have emotional connections with 10 to 40% of customers. In B2B, the majority of brands had emotional connections in over 50% of their buyers. They are much more emotionally connected to vendors and service providers. 

This high level of connection with B2B customers makes sense. When a consumer makes a bad purchase, the stakes are low. Business purchases often involve huge amounts of risk: Responsibility for a multi-million-pound roll-out that goes bad can lead to poor business performance and easily lead to heads rolling. It’s usually a group decision but there will be one or two people sticking their necks out to swing a decision a certain way. A substantial emotional connection, trust and belief help overcome this.

Storytelling is a great way to create this depth in emotional connection. I am a big fan of TED Talks, not only because they can be thought-provoking, but they are the perfect example of ‘middleweight’ content for marketers. They challenge the assumption that people dislike serious subjects. Marketers tend to move towards fluffy bite-sized content like Tweets or Facebook posts, or very long-form thought leadership articles, but it’s the middleweight content that B2B marketers can often find the sweet spot. Let’s think like TED does – let’s approach every complex topic, not as an expert lecture, but as a storyteller. 

Techniques for better storytelling

There are techniques that make it easy to incorporate storytelling into your B2B marketing strategies. I recommend B2B marketers practice these four essential storytelling techniques:

The Hero’s Journey

Loved by marketers and screenwriters for years, The Hero’s Journey is a favourite. It was created by the mythologist and philosopher, Joseph Campbell who came to the revelation that every great story follows a brilliant similar structure; a hero – the protagonist – called to realise their potential by setting out on a difficult journey, and ultimately triumphing over adversity. 

I like Google’s Adword Video Series, which highlights small businesses such as Zingerman’s hospitality business. Google grasped this effective storytelling technique by featuring small businesses who wanted to grow, but didn’t know how until they used Google Ads with huge success. Google is not the hero; the local business is the hero, and Google’s ads are the catalyst for greatness. The lesson here is for businesses to make customers their heroes. The hero has a problem and must go to great lengths to fix it. Think of it as a dramatised testimonial.

Future Pacing

The idea of future pacing is storytelling that allows readers to imagine themselves in their ideal future. It comes from Neuro-Linguistic Programming and was used greatly by the famous Eugene Schwartz – my favourite old-time copywriter, who was a total master at stirring hidden desires and emotions with his audience.

Picture this: Ten days from now you will have kicked off the best PR campaign known in your field. Can you imagine how that would feel? The positive media coverage across the national news mentioning your company? That feeling when the Chief Commercial Officer thanks you for building relationships with new customers without anyone cold calling? It’s going to win you and your team awards.         

Yes, that’s me, using future pacing to sell a new campaign idea. Using future pacing helps someone see a specific, desirable outcome. Give them an objective, a vision and the mind steers the person towards that direction. 

Problem-Agitate-Solve 

Also known as The Trouble-Maker by digital marketer Perry Belcher, this storytelling technique is based on the fact that trouble is drama, and drama evokes emotion, holds attention and makes it memorable. The idea here is that the trouble scenario will reflect the problem that your product or service solves. 

Hewlett Packard’s latest video in ‘The Wolf’ series does a shiver-inducing job of tackling the topic of printer security using this technique. It turns a dry subject into an entertaining story that shows how vital HP’s printer security is. Using good versus evil storytelling with some high-tech production (and Christian Slater) makes HP’s printer security very exciting. 

The Before-after-bridge

The popular storytelling technique revolves around the basic idea of getting someone from a bad place to a better place with your company’s help. 

A good example is the Salesforce Success Stories page, something easily any business can implement, by showcasing clients who have used the product to grow their business. The classic B2B case study. 

Microsoft was one of the first companies to create a Chief Storyteller role (something I think all companies should invest in) who revamped their content marketing. The results were Microsoft Series. By increasing awareness of employee engagement and a great company culture, other businesses found Microsoft a good company to value and trust, and work with. It worked so well it's now their media centre: Microsoft Story Labs. 

Don't sell it, tell it

B2B storytelling makes a brand real to its audience. It encourages that crucial emotional connection. What shapes a story can often be found locked away in your own organisation. There are so many stories just waiting to be told, by your brand. You can make something complex and dull into an interesting and engaging subject for your audience, reframing and mobilising your positioning while building closer connections to customers to your company. 

So, what’s your story?