Finding the fun factor in B2B marketing, Marketing & Advertising News, ET BrandEquity

(Representative Image; Credit- iStock)Written by
Aditi Basu
Business Communications and Stakeholder Engagement Consultant

On the high-street of B2B Marketing, expect a few speed-breakers.

– ” We know our customers and they know us.”
– ” We have to be Technical.”
– ” It is eventually about prices.”
– “We do not need to be so flamboyant.”
– “Let’s do it like the competition.”

These impositions can be unsettling on the journey to great discoveries. Somewhere down the road one introspects, “Are these boundaries real, or fictitious?” What makes a part of the B2B marketing fraternity so risk-averse ‘creatively’. Why does it have to be like a sit-down meal and not a spontaneous pot-luck feast?

One feels tempted to settle into the loop of the ‘tried and tested’. Instead of taking that ‘road not taken’.

Having spent a while in the B2B ‘niche’ – still counting – with some of the prolific minds in high performing global teams, one learns to cultivate curiosity and ingenuity. “How can we do it differently to make a positive difference to the customer and the community?” dispels all inertia.

As a preventive, one learns to look for the symptoms. Here I take the liberty in good humour to identify some of the ‘effects’ that might set in.

– Twin-ing (no offence to the sartorial meaning)
As a fraternity we are probably too caught-up in ‘mirroring’ the competition when it comes to Content production.

– Tranquillising
We sometimes ditch the excitement of ‘creativity’ for the status quo of conventions and ‘templates’.

-Turnstile -ing
We get used to gatekeeping on ideas and fresh perspectives.
We end up staying within the boundaries that do not exist.

As Agile B2B marketers, we check the boxes on ‘positioning’, ‘targeting’ and ‘engagement’.

The ‘conventions’ fed to us can get into the way of creating a masterpiece. Possible to get stuck in jaded loyalties to what surrounds us and what precedes us!

I am not here to pretend that I have known it all. In all humility, here are a few episodes from my eclectic journey, inevidence.

June’ 2023 in Dusseldorf, Germany:

A front-running global trade fair on Steel/Iron-making. Navigating the massive hallways, trying to soak in the grandeur, I try to focus on ‘Green Steel’ and how the companies are communicating on the topic at the event. I stop on the tracks by what I see in the booth of a leading Technology brand- a smart catchline connecting the word ‘Green’ to the existing colour of their Logo. So bold and fresh.

February’ 2017 in Mumbai:

A major trade show on Chemical production. I am setting up a presence for my company (my employer). The shade of ‘grey’ that I see on the back wall is a clear mismatch to the Brand manual. With just 30 minutes to go for the inauguration I ask the constructor to make amends- and a man arrives with a pail of paint and a ladder. He perches himself on the ladder and repaints the back wall while the team counts every second. This has to be ready before the guests start pouring in. While I am happy that the shade of Grey has been fixed, I am quite embarrassed at all the attention that our booth is inviting from the neighbouring stands. I realise now that this incident could have been a great visual material for some fun content.

September’ 2012 in New Delhi:

A minerals processing conference of International Fame being hosted in India.
My first trade show of this scale. I visited the exhibition area the day before for a recce with our stand constructor.
He ask me do you need ‘promoters’ (staff available on daily hire to manage the booth reception). I shut him down with a stern look and the words “we are not in that business. Qualified Technology experts are flying in from different parts of the world to be in the straight show and that is all we need.”
I realise, in retrospect, that it is my ambiguous conditioning – that sense of vanity that being technical will suffice.I have a different perspective now. As the booth gets too busy and all the experts are in meetings with clients, it does help to have someone at the reception as a first point of contact. I have seen this ‘arrangement’ working quite flawlessly in some of the gigantic booths abroad.

The bustling world of B2B marketers does not have to be one bridled with imaginary mores. We are inhabitants of a free world as much as our B2C friends.

• Published On Sep 14, 2024 at 08:10 AM IST

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