Creativity is great for getting B2B brands noticed. But can it help them sell more products and services? Here at The Think Tank, we’ve always taken a strong stance on the debate. In this article we lean heavily on hard stats and the work of a Nobel Prize winning behavioural psychologist to explain why.
B2B & Creativity: overlooked magic or overhyped fluff?
For several years now in the world of B2C, marketers have been more and more accepting of the fact that creativity and advertising effectiveness go hand in hand. The longstanding myth that highly creative work is good for generating fame and award wins, but not necessarily all that good for selling stuff has almost completely evaporated.
But where do B2B marketers stand on the subject?
Well, data suggests they’re embracing creativity too. According to LinkedIn, 82% of B2B marketing leaders believe ‘creative confidence’ is growing in the sector.
What is creativity and why does it work?
There’s no hard and fast rule for what constitutes creativity, but few would contest that it is rooted in originality. A creative solution is a departure from convention and therefore, by its very nature, creativity is distinctive and novel.
From a marketing perspective, being distinctive has inherent value because it gets you noticed and – to state the bleeding obvious – getting noticed is somewhat fundamental in this business.
But there’s a little more to it than that. To shed further light on why creativity is effective, we can look to the work of Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman and specifically his book, Thinking, Fast and Slow.
Thinking, Fast and Slow outlines two distinct ways of processing information and making decisions: fast, ‘System 1’ thinking, which is easy, intuitive and emotional; and slow ‘System 2’ thinking, which takes effort, is more deliberative and rational.
Essentially, because it is so much quicker and requires far less effort, we humans make decisions using System 1. This is even true for big, high-stakes decisions, like buying a car or signing a long-term contract for software. Occasionally, we might cross-check the working of System 1 with a little System 2 logic, but often this is merely post-rationalisation for a decision we’ve already made.
What this means is that most decisions are rooted in our emotions and intuition. Crucially, it means we are more likely to be persuaded by a powerful piece of storytelling, something that makes us feel
nostalgic, or laugh out loud, than we are by functional and ‘hardworking’ performance marketing; in other words, we are more likely to respond to work that is typified as ‘creative’.
That’s not to say that performance marketing, direct response or messages that focus on rational benefits have no use. Kahneman’s research indicates that such tactics can be effective on category enthusiasts, or when a prospect is at the narrow end of the sales funnel and is highly engaged. However, enthusiasts are few and far between, and there’s a huge amount of work to do to move a prospect down the funnel.
But surely B2B buyers are different?
Aren’t B2B buyers a completely different species from consumers, you may ask. They’re professionals, often spending money that’s not their own and making choices that are subject to greater scrutiny. Surely, therefore, it is pure common sense that promotional content rooted in the rational realm would be more fitting and effective for B2B than creative brand advertising.
It’s not. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, B2B buyers, just like their B2C counterparts, are people and they make their choices in the same ways.
Creativity – the essential, often overlooked, component of B2B marketing
Creative campaigns build brand salience and memorability. As already stated in this article, these simple and intuitive triggers are critical in shaping B2B buying decisions. Especially because sales cycles are so much longer in the world of B2B than they are in the world of the consumer.
Based on a report from the extremely influential Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, 95% of B2B buyers are not in the market to buy right now. That means that your marketing must build a long-term connection to ensure you are top of mind when your target is finally ready to spend their money.
As the data suggests, B2B marketers are embracing this insight, although, equally, they could do more to harness the power of creativity. Around two thirds of B2B marketing leaders agree that B2B purchasing decisions are just as emotionally driven as B2C; 39% say they are increasingly using storytelling, emotion and humour to improve effectiveness; and 81% say that B2B’s creativity now rivals that of consumer brands.
Here at The Think Tank, we’re fully subscribed to the Creativity Cult. It’s the magic that makes all the difference for brand success – the great effectiveness multiplier. Take a look at our work for Additive Industries, IRIS and Lords Builders Merchants to see B2B creativity in action.
And, if you’d like to harness some creative firepower for your own brand, we’d love to hear from you.
