Inform or Persuade?

It's no secret that business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing campaigns often play upon the emotional hot buttons of its target audience to get results. Beer, clothing, cosmetics...the ads are virtually endless, and their message is not about the objective merits of the product but the wonderfulness it will magically confer upon its credulous buyers.

Business-to-business (B2B) marketing does not favor that approach, but instead relies upon a more fact-based model to promote goods and services. Here the emphasis is on providing concrete information, upon which the target audience can base its spending decisions.

That's a good thing, right?

Well, actually, no.

Because the goal of every (and we mean every) B2B marketing campaign is to get your target audience to do something: buy your new rack server, enter into a service agreement, or maybe just keep your brand top of mind...whatever the specific goal, every marketing initiative exists to achieve one or more clearly defined results.

And unfortunately, a surprising number of businesses believe it's sufficient to just lay out a buffet of product features and specifications from which their sales prospects can pick and choose, and hope those prospects find enough that piques their interest to elicit a purchase.

Sounds a bit passive and unfocused, doesn't it? So why do so many savvy companies employ B2B marketing campaigns that approximate this model? Because they know that the hyperbolic marketing techniques favored in the B2C sector are usually unconvincing, and sometimes downright repellent, to skeptical B2B audiences.

But there is a middle course, a hybrid approach we'll call honest persuasion. Cynics may deride this as an oxymoron, but there's nothing inherently contradictory about telling the truth and making a convincing argument. Indeed, it's precisely when facts are brought together in persuasive frameworks that greater truths often become clear.

And in the context of B2B marketing, that means proactively connecting the dots between your target audience's needs and your product's benefits. First, prove you that understand the audience's challenges; this immediately establishes your credibility and ensures every subsequent point you make is taken more seriously. Then explain in detail (without exaggeration or hyperbole) how your goods/services can solve those challenges.

After that, it all comes down to whether your audience thinks you've made a persuasive case for your product. And if you've done your homework, we'd say that's a real safe bet.