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Why does B2B struggle with telling a story?

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A few weeks back TopRankBlog had a great interview with Ann Hadley of Marketing Profs in which she stated “Storytelling has emerged as a hot topic for marketers. Which makes sense, right? If you are creating content, it helps to get your story straight.”

This resonated with me.  As a PR professional in the software space for over a decade, it always amazed me how cluttered B2B messaging could get (not to say PR didn’t have it’s fair share of contribution to buzzword overload).  Fast forward to today, when marketers aren’t only generating data sheets but are also publishers themselves, managing an array of content aimed at attracting buyers.  But too often marketers focus on themselves… what they offer…how they are different…how their solution is the best rather than talking to buyers in their language, what their struggles are, how to make them succeed.

This was the topic of Ardath Albee’s keynote address at yesterday’s DemandCon event in San Francisco.

A commanding storyteller herself with a no nonsense style, she highlighted her 7 elements for B2B storytelling.  The first rule?  Make the buyer the hero of your story.  Create the problem, highlight their journey, the obstacles they face and then how s/he overcomes those challenges to succeed.

Albee continued “Buyers won’t buy your product because you are offering it, they chose you for your expertise.” In a market that can often get caught up in bells and whistles and the latest features, it is a good reminder that if it isn’t going to solve your buyer’s problems, it isn’t truly going to set you apart.  B2B marketers need to showcase their value-add to the buyer, why their methodology is different and the expertise they can bring to solving the buyer’s concerns.

For more on the topic, Albee will be discussing how storytelling is core to developing contagious content during the Marketing Profs workshop, June 13th in Boston and will join Genius for a webinar in July.


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