Adding emotion to B2B marketing

Adding emotion to B2B marketing.

Are you ready? Feeling curious? OK, let’s do this.

You’re more emotionally involved in the decisions you make at work than you are the decisions you make outside of work. And it’s the businesses that fully understand this, who’ve adopted a position within their market that capitalises on the emotional benefits they offer, that’ll win out over their competitors.

There. Just whack loads of humour or heart string pulling into your comms and you’re there. Job done.

Well, not quite. I guess we need to give you a bit more don’t we.

OK, so you might initially think it doesn’t make sense to see B2B buying decisions as more emotional than B2C, because we all tend to think of businesses, especially those selling to or buying from other businesses, as rational organisations. Whereas we associate consumers with emotion don’t we.

But that’s not the case. Not in the slightest. As long ago as 2013 (I know, how old were you then?), a report entitled From Promotion to Emotion: Connecting B2B Customers to Brands, in association with Google, revealed the greater emotional investment we all make in business decisions.

Why?

And when you stop to consider why (go on, just stop). Adding emotion to B2B marketing all starts to make sense. The market, the nature of the services or products provided, the implications for the wider business, personal interest, employee tenure. All feed into creating an environment where emotions come surging to the fore like a panther on a surf board riding the wave of all waves.

Ready to dig a little deeper and take a closer look? Not at the analogy, that might not hold up. But at the reasons behind why emotion is so significant in B2B purchases. Then let’s continue.

• Building lasting relationships:

B2B buying generally involves the need for buyers and sellers to establish a long-term relationship. They’re rarely disposable, one-off transactions. Depending on the product or service, and how integral to an organisation it is, these relationships can potentially last for several years, even longer. And that potential commitment will result in significant consequences for both parties. This alone means the decision-making process inevitably triggers a great deal of emotion, as buyers are looking for partners they can trust, rely on, and grow with. Each choice is a step towards a future filled with success or potential pitfalls.

• Personal stakes at play:

When a consumer makes a purchase, it only really affects themselves. Not so in B2B. When a B2B buyer makes a decision, it often impacts their entire organisation.

Whether it’s a new SaaS platform with multiple licences, replacing outdated IT or updating office furniture throughout the entire business, appointing an external agency, or investing big chunks of budget in a specific marketing campaign. The potential consequences for making a wrong decision can be costly or difficult to fix. And when your job could be on the line, or your judgement questioned by your boss, the fear of making the wrong call can lead to sleepless nights, as the repercussions can ripple through the company and impact careers. You simply don’t want to get the decisions wrong.

• Complex decision-making:

B2B decisions are rarely made in isolation. They invariably involve multiple stakeholders, and there are two layers of B2B buyers to be aware of:

• target buyers – the business experts and ones most heavily linked day to day with usage and application of the purchase.
• hidden buyers – others within the organisation who won’t be as hands on but are highly influential. Think CEO, COO, procurement, finance, legal.

Each of these buyers will have different objectives and they’ll bring to the mix their own perspectives, emotions and professional reputations.

This complexity means reaching a consensus can be highly charged and emotional. It isn’t simply a logical process; it’s an emotional journey where every voice matters, and each stakeholder has to be convinced.

• High-ticket price purchases:

The stakes involved with B2B purchases can be sky-high. Decisions often involve significant financial outlay and the internal pressure to make the right decision can weigh heavily. Fear of financial loss is a big driver in trying to reach the best possible decision and can make the process highly stressful and emotionally charged.

• Longer term consequences:

Given the cost implications, potential long-term contracts signed, the roll out process, co-ordination across locations/sites/offices, and the sheer upheaval that can be involved in B2B purchasing, a wrong decision can’t necessarily be rectified quickly. One purchase could tie an organisation into a lengthy commitment. Bringing huge pressure to ‘get it right first time’.

B2B really IS more emotional.

So, how was that? Lots of reasons why it’s an emotional business making a B2B purchasing decision. And as was said near the beginning of this piece, it all starts to make sense doesn’t it.

You buy a Snickers (other chocolate bars are available), you wolf it down, feel satisfied and you move on. You buy a new pair of trainers (in my case yet another pair of Adidas Superstars), if you don’t like them, they find their way to the back of the cupboard or wardrobe never to see the light of day again. No one else is impacted, and you move on.

Much less emotion involved in those consumer purchases, really, isn’t there? You don’t need to convince someone else. You aren’t worrying about long term consequences, the impact on others, whether they’ll think more negatively about you.

Focus on the emotion.

Research from the LinkedIn B2B Institute and Bain & Co shows 90% of buyers have a shortlist of vendors in mind before they do any research. And 90% of those chose a vendor from that Day 1 shortlist.

Which makes embracing emotions such a powerful driver of B2B marketing. If you can get to the heart of the matter and meet their emotional needs, you’ll stick in B2B buyers minds. You’ll become memorable. You’ll be who they think of when they need what you sell. And you’ll win.

Think of all the reasons highlighted above and take the time to identify exactly how your product or service meets those emotional needs. And make those positive, benefit driven messages the central focus of all your activity:

• • Demonstrate trust and reliability to take the risk out of the purchase decision making process.
  • Give people confidence they’ll sleep at night because choosing you makes their job safer or signals to the rest of the business they’re smart individuals.
  • Convince a business your product or service is the one that’ll have the widest impact across the organisation, delivering something that satisfies the needs of all stakeholders.
  • Tell the story that says ‘we’ll make your life easier’, ‘you’ll be more productive and focus on the stuff you want to focus on’, ‘you’ll smash the competition’.
  • Show them exactly how money spent with you now will deliver improvements, position them for growth or future proof their organisations.

That’s the stuff that matters. It’s what makes us all tick.

When you connect on an emotional level, you’re not just selling a product; you’re forging relationships, creating preference, building trust, and driving success. Tap into these emotions and watch your marketing resonate like never before.

It’s not easy though.

It takes time, it takes effort. It involves knowing what to look for, and it involves thinking about what customers need in the context of their circumstances. It’s not about you, it’s about them.

If you think you might need help digging underneath the surface, prodding, probing and rummaging around to uncover the emotional benefits your product delivers. To identify compelling truths your buyers will recognise. To tell compelling stories they can see themselves in. Talk to us, it’s what we do.

And let’s make your business matter, to those that matter to you.

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From Promotion to Emotion: Connecting B2B Customers to Brands