Putting the Human Experience Into B2B Marketing

Have we become too comfortable with the terms “Business to Business” or “Business to Consumer,” when we really should be more focused on building a “Human to Human,” or H2H, perspective? While technology and automation are vital tools for crafting and delivering impactful, relevant and resonant communications, putting humans at the centre of your marketing strategy is the key to creating a customer experience that matters.

Digital technology has changed the face of B2B marketing. Now more than ever, marketing teams need to be aware of and utilise marketing automation platforms, social media, search engine optimisation and a host of digitally-focused strategies. A strong combination of digital and marketing prowess is now required to reach the business consumer.

One point that tends to get lost in the rush to automation, though, is the realisation that target prospects are not just numbers to be analysed and managed – they are human beings that want to be dealt with on a human level. Yes, their business and logical needs must be met in order for them to commit to a business transaction, but their emotional needs must also be engaged, so they are able to enter into a long-term relationship.

In a fascinating Deloitte Insights report entitled, 2020 Global Marketing Trends: Bringing Authenticity to Our Digital Age, Deloitte Consulting LLP delves into this very conundrum. With such a massive amount of data being produced in recent years and the continued reliance on smart devices for everyday interactions, the international consultant says we are now engaged in the “Fourth Industrial Revolution.” The report explores how brands can navigate the new business, marketing and communications landscape to initiate and cultivate human connections.

Not only do consumers and business prospects want to be seen as more than just possible transactions; they want to be recognised and treated as humans. They also expect their most trusted brand partners to embody the human qualities they find so appealing – those of loyalty, transparency, steadfastness, consistency, and authenticity.

One trend at the core of the human focus now found in business marketing is the importance of building the human experience. Here, Deloitte states that the human experience is central to weaving a brand’s purpose across all its interactions and relationships. Internal operations should then focus on improving the human experience for all.

Deloitte Digital also conducted research into trying to identify and quantify a Human Experience (HX) Quotient. They found that organisations which exhibit a close alignment to the values of their customers, workforce, and partners, and that then leverage their resources to create human experiences for these cohorts, are those which are most likely to grow faster and build stronger brand loyalty. If fact, they found that:

“Companies that focus on the human experience are twice as likely to outperform their peers in revenue growth over a three-year period and have 17 times faster store growth than those who do not.”

They uncovered and explored five core human tenets for elevating the human experience, in order to activate human values in business:

• Be obsessed with all things human.

• Proactively deliver on human needs.

• Execute with humanity.

• Be authentic.

• Change the world.

Examples they cited for delivering on the human experience include:

• General Motors and “Zero, Zero, Zero”: GM began to focus on a purpose of creating “zero crashes, zero emissions, and zero congestion” in order to achieve its mission of creating a better world.

• Walgreens “Feel More Like You” Program: To address the emotional and physical needs of cancer patients, Walgreen created a more human approach to beauty and personal care consulting.

• REI’s #OptOutside for Black Friday: While many in the United States see the end of Thanksgiving as the beginning of the holiday shopping rush, outdoor retail cooperative REI focused on creating connections through a mutually shared love of outdoor activities. The company backs this sentiment up by closing its retail outlets for the U.S. Thanksgiving day observance and the ensuing Black Friday shopping madness to encourage employees and customers to engage in human togetherness.

Making Human-Cented Customer Experience a Reality

“Our job is to connect to people, to interact with them in a way that leaves them better than we found them, more able to get where they’d like to go. Every time we waste that opportunity, every page or sentence that doesn’t do enough to advance the cause is waste.”

~ Seth Godin

While the Deloitte piece certainly offers some great justifications for creating a human experience, how can we turn those concepts into reality? Here are some tips for improving the way B2B marketing works to create connections rather than simply sell a product:

• Storytelling: Although it might seem more intuitive to focus on features and industry jargon, a more effective approach is to seek to build an emotional connection with prospective business customers. Business prospects, in particular, have probably heard enough about all the great things a specific product can do, but what they really want to hear is how it can make their life easier or better. Share compelling stories that show how existing customers have achieved results, and you will quickly grab their attention.

• Be Authentic: Prospects want to know that you are a brand they can trust, so they will be willing to invest emotional and financial assets into the relationship. Don’t cheat with fake “reviews” or self-made puffery about your company. Use real case studies that show how your brand solves problems, and even reveal challenges that surfaced and were overcome along the way.

• Mindful Social Media: Although social media is another form of marketing, it has its own personality. Effective social media strategies focus on showcasing your brand’s value system, and give viewers an opportunity to get to know the people behind your product.

• Branded Communications: Everything in human experience brand marketing does not have to be about pushing for a sale. Sometimes it is helpful to take a step back, and search for new ways to humanise the brand. Look at the type of businesses that uses your product or service, and craft content that builds their interest in different ways of interacting with your brand.

Building Beyond the Expectation

“We all want to do business with other humans. We want to know there’s a living, breathing person behind the communications. And we want reassurance that those humans on the other side understand and want to help us.”

~ David Meerman Scott, Marketing and Sales Strategist

In a further explanation of the Human Experience imperative, Abe Awasthi, Senior Manager, Digital Customer at Deloitte Digital advised marketing strategists to ask themselves hard questions as they formulate strategies for the next three to five years:

• Who are your customers? What are their needs, wants and desires?

• How does your brand fulfil those needs?

• How well do you understand the buyer journey?

• What are the critical moments in this journey?

• How can your messaging deliver the exact experiences required at those critical moments?

Awasthi says that answering these questions will provide insights for crafting a B2B experience that is both human-centred and future-ready. Aspects that should be taken into consideration as part of the human experience creation process include:

• Create a Personalised Buying Process: Too often, the onus in the buying process is on buyers. They are required to find and evaluate products, gather research and communicate to relevant parties within the organisation. In reality, though, the seller should be the party performing these activities for the buyer’s benefit. Advanced analytics and predictive data models can help to uncover these needs, while marketing automation strategies take on the communication challenges. Customer mapping can help illuminate the buying journey so that responses can be crafted to respond to specific needs at each point.

• Be Outcome Obsessed: Your product or service must be able to solve an existing problem or fill a current need, but it must also contribute to future growth and success. Help the prospect understand how an investment in your company will lead to post-sale success and improvement for them.

• Commit to the Relationship: Business clients don’t want to deal with companies that simply want to make a sale, and are never heard from again. They might understand that there could be some challenges during installation, use or maintenance, but they simply do not want to feel alone in managing these matters. They want to know that your company will be there to help solve the problems, will provide necessary training and updates, and is on-hand to help with technical challenges that could bring their productivity to a halt. A constant flow of communication to highlight new uses and opportunities is helpful, as well as having a personal representative at the company who knows the customer’s needs and can provide fast answers.

The Rising Relevance of B2B2C Marketing

Taking this further, we believe there is a bigger story to be told in dissolving the boundaries between the B2B supplier and the B2B customer. Deloitte's excellent advice is to give your B2B customer better experiences, better outcomes and better relationships. But we also believe there is a bigger win in helping your customer understand how you as a B2B supplier can make their customers’ experiences, their customers’ outcomes and their customers’ relationships better as well...B2B2C.

The products and services on the market today are more complex and sophisticated. They are often a unique blend of online and offline, as well as physical and virtual. While the sophistication of the products may be greater, businesses still need to explain and deliver them with frictionless simplicity to their end-users.

That is why we have seen this shift from companies having “suppliers” to businesses having “partnerships” and “collaborations.” We are now in a more collaborative form of business-to-business commerce. The paradigm is less transactional. Businesses care about the alignment of values and cultures. As a supplier, you are joining their team and working with them to achieve common ends. Just as you wouldn’t hire an employee who wasn't a good fit with your company’s culture and ethos, so companies are less likely to want to work with suppliers who don’t align with theirs.

Because of the sophistication of the services on offer in the marketplace, companies are looking to build a sophisticated and blended team of organisations working together to deliver them. With this level of collaboration, you have to have a B2B2C mentality. In our business, for example, a potential customer should buy into 1827 Marketing because THEIR customers will get better marketing experiences as a result. It's not just about making life easy for you as a business customer; it is about helping you to create compelling customer experiences which make their lives easier and, as a result, increase your success.

In the end, it is important to realise that we are humans communicating to humans. Use this philosophy to serve as the foundation for your marketing and you will build a powerful strategy to communicate and connect in stronger, more durable ways. As we begin to focus on approaching B2B marketing from this new, human-centred approach, we may need to look at everything a little differently and evolve new ways of making connections that count.

The creation of an effective B2B brand strategy is a challenging and exciting proposition. 1827 Marketing can help to simplify and streamline your B2B, B2C and your B2B2C marketing strategies, while incorporating the human element. Our talent network, expertise and platforms and expertise give you campaigns with emotion and human experiences that deliver results.