In marketing, are we losing sight of ‘Business to Human?

What's going on?

In the past, everyone has treated B2B and B2C separately, but really it’s all business to human (B2H). If you want to move products, you need to move people. And if you want to move people, you need to move their minds. So, we need to create content that engages on a human level – that’s what B2B marketing should be all about. If we spent as much time engaging with our audience, as we did on perfecting features, benefits and our performance marketing funnel, we’d start to see the quality of sales leads improve dramatically.

Why does it matter?

As the world becomes more digital, we appreciate real human engagement and conversation more than ever. If you really want to drive growth in your business, it’s time to wake up to the power of branding, purpose, storytelling and emotion. This will help your brand become more meaningful in the minds of your audience. Business audiences want more from you than product features or benefits. They want to be entertained, educated and made to feel special. They’d love to know what your business cares about, what you value. Crucially, they want to be treated as human beings, not as buying machines.

What can we do?

• It doesn’t mean performance marketing should be ditched. Instead, consider tone of voice alongside conversational and colloquial language, and simplify complex topics and themes as if talking to a friend, and reel them in with a story where people need to hear the ending.
• Become experts in people, emotion and storytelling. Become a trusted educator for your customers; learn for yourself and experiment. Find out what your customers are really experiencing when they engage with you.
• Be more human. It will make you more likeable, and if you’re more likeable, the chances are you’ll be more profitable, too.

For more from our 2024 Signals Report, read the full piece here. Or if you’d like to discuss the impact of these signals on your business contact us at hello@teamspirit.co.uk.