7 B2B Storytelling Marketing Strategies, with Examples

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By the time you reach the end, you’d have all that it takes. We will guide you build from scratch to the top-notch B2B marketer and company.

From this post, you will understand the power of storytelling and how you can genuinely approach different effective strategies and incorporate website marketing to enhance your strategy.

B2B Storytelling Marketing

The marketing game has changed with the coming of the internet. Every business out there is reaching for the global markets.

The B2B marketing industry is undeniably expanding to every nook and corner of the world. With the increase in competition, there can be no compromise in marketing strategies.

B2B Storytelling Marketing is a contemporary form of marketing. It is the presentation of the brand narrative or backstory to engage and captivate the buyer or the potential customer. The target audience here is the customer’s relativity and empathy.

One of the leading business outlets is digital marketing strategy. Social media is its primary platform to convey the message and deliver the mission better.

Today, more than half of the buyers would casually refer to the influencers before purchasing any product. In this case, social media marketing is now the trend.

Here is an example of the millennials’ favorite brand, Apple.

Apple has taken a huge leap when it comes to social media strategy. This brand created an amusing content #ShotoniPhone on Instagram.

The team collected shots of colorful variant pictures from all over the world taken from an iPhone.

Striking and bright images fill the social media accounts of this brand. The company’s professional service offered to its buyers was the credit to their own inspiring stories their picture had to tell.

Anyone would preferably want to be a part of the story more than listening to one. Apple made the customers’ experience with their product a significant portion of their journey.

They are sharing new and powerful messages from across the globe by creating close-knit communities through different stories.

An innovative campaign such as this leverages the relationship between the company and the customer.

The brand becomes more relatable, showing the human side of the business by approaching the target in this manner.

Importance of Storytelling Marketing B2B

Every B2B brand urges to have their products uniquely delivered to the customer. In the course of this rush, the company tends to overlook communication and relationship with the buyer.

The attention and behavior of the customer need to be in focus. Why? So that the business can resonate with their story more personally.

Storytelling is a valuable skill in need of hone. Today, the ‘brand’ is nothing but a ‘story.’ The brand needs to deliver a genuine and real motif to maintain authenticity.

B2B companies can be very challenging at times. To fix this, the marketing team can incorporate storytelling into its content marketing strategy.

Brand storytelling will help develop emotional inclination and attachment towards the brand.

Keeping the buyer persona in mind, marketing tactics of this kind should be compelling.

For a successful B2B marketing strategy, the prime factor should be building rapport with the customer.

Effective Storytelling Marketing Strategies

1. Contemporary Context.

Have you wondered why your story has been having a hard time competing in the market? Maybe we are missing out on the relativity of the context. The audience should relate to the story we are providing.

Our B2B buyers would like to keep up with the latest scenario. The marketers continuously need to provide the customers the ongoing and updated.

Contexts, as such, will indicate the buyer’s active engagement, assuring them that they are a part of the entire journey.

2. Inspirational Message.

Isn’t it always better to invest yourself into something that inspires and motivates you? How, as a B2B brand or industry, can you achieve it? Know your audience. Keeping up with the buyer’s journey is undoubtedly a marketing tactic that will help in the long run.

The story delivered to the customers should empathize with them. It has to be an inspiration that drives their decision making.

The ultimatum here is building a relationship with the buyer or any other prospect.

With the pandemic taking a considerable toll globally, Nike has pulled a masterpiece strategy.

In collaboration with the advertising agency Wieden + Kennedy Portland, their "Never Too Far Down" commercial received an immensely positive response. With fans worldwide, this brand united with a cause to stand firm against the odds.

The highlights of this campaign were prominent athletes like LeBron James, Cristiano Ronaldo, Naomi Osaka, Tiger Woods, Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams, and many more. James himself was the narrator of the commercial. This ad, captivating hearts amid adversity, gained massive supporters. The message reached out to every possible audience besides the brand’s sports fans.

“Right now, we’re fighting for something much bigger than a win or a championship. But if we’ve learnt anything from sports, it’s that no matter how far down we may be, we are never far too down to come back.”

Nike has donated shoes to the frontline workers of this pandemic. The brand has indeed proved the power of humanity by beatings the odds together as one.       

Inspirational storytelling often seems to have profound impacts on its audience. After all, inspiration is what we all are looking for in our daily lives. Such campaigns and ads show that the brand is consistently thinking about the welfare and benefits of the customers.

The principal purpose here is to remind its buyers and potential customers that they are significant. It acts as a reminder that they are not alone in their struggles and challenges.

3. Backstory and Insights.

The growth of B2B industries and success has inspired many to follow the same route. Developing a marketing strategy could be quite a handful.

However, brand storytelling is a great start to spread brand awareness. Likewise, an insight into the brand or company and the team will help the buyer associate more intimately with them.

Today, customers prefer to purchase from brands they are well-informed. Stories of the hustles, the ground-level work, behind the scenes are all huge contributions in disguise.

The key here is to merge the brand and the buyer as one unit in this successful journey. This sense of proximity triggers and motivates the audience to remain loyal and consistent in the long run. Emotional marketing is the drive here.

B2B content marketing strategy mainly revolves around storytelling. Tell your story by showcasing the team, office, founder, and how the company has grown to where it is now. Show your progress.

Scenes of the professional world will bridge the gap with the customers. This human side of the business often leads the buyers to incline emotionally more towards the brand’s product or service. It always doesn’t have to be facts and figures.

4. Digital Marketing.

Tastes and demand of the B2B customers in the market is ever-changing. The new generation market is based widely on social media and acts as a capital platform.

With this transition from the traditional market, to learn digital marketing is a requirement. The strategy of digital marketing in itself has sub contents.

Influencer marketing - Being an influencer in the market can draw a lot of attraction. Jobs, income, and something as simple as their daily life updates and lifestyle leaves an imprint on their followers. An influencer here can be anyone who has the ability to influence the potential customer of their recommendations. Instagram influencers, for this instance, is breaking through mainstream marketing.

A new wave of aesthetic quality pictures, collaboration with multiple local and international brands, skincare, fashion, and the list go on.

Many B2B startup companies are drawing their attention to these
influencers for the promotion of sales.

Brand products or services mentioned on these influencers’ social media accounts tend to increase the demands.

Customer’s journey (client’s diary) – It is exciting to have a
brand recognize and appreciate your purchase of products from their brand. To keep this energy going, the marketing team has added another content to their infographics: ‘client’s journey.’

The introduction of hashtags is a top marketing invention on social media. The usage and review of the company’s product is the highlight of this strategy.

Brands on social media are making sure they don’t miss a chance of presenting their satisfied customer’s journey with the rest.

Sharing pictures and hashtags of such encourages other buyers and potential customers. 

5. Event Marketing.

Talk about connecting the brand to its audience; event marketing is a platform to get it rightly done.

Thought leadership in this scenario is the driving force behind this strategy. Event Marketing, over time, has changed its outlook. From boring seminars to meet and greet, pop up events, carnivals, and festivals.

Brands hosted in these events focus on keeping it real and genuine with the service and products they are promoting. Audiences are captivated by the real-time and personal interaction between them and the business.

Show stoppers of these events are usually influencers, celebrities, and thought leaders. The attendees and audiences engage in activities like questionnaires, free samples, discount coupons, and asking questions.

Outcomes of event marketing are mainly the introduction of new brand launches, feedback, and associating personality of the client with the target market. It may also include maintaining the brand’s identity, lead generation, and earning the buyer’s trust.

The trendiest event marketing to cite for this content would be KCON. Korean wave Convention initially started as a music festival to engage Korean music and artists closer to its international fans.

Originating in the USA, several other parts of the world now host this event. Today, KCON is more than a music festival. It is an opportunity to experience Korean beauty, fashion, influencers, vloggers, lifestyle, and culture. This event is now a door for Korean companies to increase their products and services globally.

6. Visuals

Allowing the customer to play a role in your story could lead to leverage in the sales pitch. B2B storytelling should revolve around addressing the problem of the buyer and also finding a solution.

A short video or picture with narratives is far more compelling than any other word of mouth solution. To see is to believe, and the customers need to experience the content thoroughly.

"Wake Up The Devil Inside You" by Manchester United is a short video, enlarging its fanbase in China. To be culturally relevant, it awakens the Red Devil Spirit and brings it to life. The campaign ad featured Manchester United players and a hero who is the audience. They unleashed their Red Devil Spirit to save the planet by playing a football match against the predators.

The takeaway from this strategy is to center the customer’s contribution. It is a primary concern to make them feel like an active participant in your campaign to something meaningful. Visuals, as such, will promote their active and constant engagement with the brand.

7. Emotional Approach.

With various stories in the market, your story must stand out amongst the rest. There is no better advice than keeping them authentic. People are prone to draw towards real-life stories emotionally.

Find the unheard, speak for the suppressed voice, and keep it raw. The audience tends to empathize with stories that remind them of their own battles.

No brand has the power to control the emotions of the people, but their story surely can. Meaningful and motivating stories are a great way of bonding with the audience.

Guinness’ created an immensely strong impact on the audience with the campaign ‘Made of More.’ To this campaign, they added a whole different story of Japanese women rugby team ‘Liberty Fields.’

This creation was an insight into the mainstream tag on women who broke all boundaries and strived for their passion for rugby. An original message that strengthened and boosted not only the viewers but also the creators.

Key Takeaways

• The customer is the central part of your storytelling. Do not
  deviate your attention to sales.
• Address your buyer’s problem and fix it with a solution. The buyer
  will prefer a hassle-free and convenient business.
• Keep up with the latest medium of storytelling. Even with a good
  story, the brand might miss the opportunity if it fails to cope up with the
  change.
• Celebrate your client’s journey with your business. Let your
  clients tell their stories, and this will invite potential customers to want to
  experience with your brand.
• Be real and genuine with the content story.
• Maintain relativity. It is essential to know what your buyer is
  looking for so that you can meet the demand.

Conclusion

The above topics we discussed aims at providing the readers with more information on storytelling.

To aspire and practice, the pursue of B2B can be tough without the right
knowledge. We hope that you have found the article informative.

Incorporate these tips and strategies in your storytelling and see the change you want to in your business.

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