Why B2B Marketing Needs Emotional Storytelling? A B2B client looks forward to have more deals with a person who is able to provide products and services at the proper time (fixed before), who does not utilize him and can be trusted completely
By Gaurav Pratap Singh •
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A product can be of A-one quality but emotional marketing has to be done well to sell it to a large crowd – both in B2B and B2C marketing. The thought that audience of B2B does not need to be emotionally impressed (as they are more into corporate selling's receiving side) has to be changed. Emotional storytelling is a powerful tool that connects you properly with your clients in B2B marketing.
Why Establish Emotional Connect?
A B2B client looks forward to have more deals with a person who is able to provide products and services at the proper time (fixed before), who does not utilises him & can be trusted completely. Hence emotion is involved in B2B marketing.
Only the nature and the type of emotions are different from that of B2C. In B2C, emotions like love towards a family member is used for selling a product but in B2B emotion like trust, punctuality, confidence etc are prominent. Hence establishing emotional connect is a must!
Why Select Storytelling Strategies for Establishing Proper Emotional Connect?
The reasons of why storytelling becomes the most powerful tool for establishing an emotional-connect are:
- Stories include emotions well without any leakage
- It influences various parts of the brain and thus produces maximum results
- The order presented does not go off your clients' mind
- It takes off boredom caused by traditional methods
- It consumes lesser energy and time
Stories Include Emotions Well Without Any Leakage
A person feels many kinds of emotions like sadness, happiness, love, trust, confidence etc throughout the process of story hearing according to different contexts). Hence storytelling is an effective way of injecting emotions in your client's mind.
It Influences Various Parts of the Brain and thus Produces Maximum Results
While hearing a story one person creates imaginations in his or her mind based on their own creativity activating various parts of brain. Thus each story gets created again in the mind of your clients according to their own interest and thus they get connected to it easily & intensely. Hence storytelling is essential for producing maximum results.
The Order Presented Does Not go off Your Clients' Mind
The story has a proper order and this helps your clients in understanding the points in the same order & avoids any confusion. Thus storytelling is a simple but powerful tool for helping your clients remembers the flow of the points properly with minimum effort.
It Takes off Boredom Caused by Traditional Methods
The act of going through various documents related to your product & services is the traditional method that creates boredom. Storytelling avoids such boredom as all – from a small child to an old person - love to hear story. It keeps your clients' mind fresh and helps him or her in imbibing the message you wish to convey easily & flawlessly.
It Consumes Lesser Energy and Time
A story is something that you can remember & reproduce easily. Hence less effort has to be put in its preparation-work. A story lies in your mind in the form of images created by yourself which helps in reproducing it without any mistake. Thus less energy and time is needed in the whole process of preparation and reproduction of story from your side. But stories convey messages easily within a short time - that too in a powerful manner.
The Art of Storytelling
- Narrate the story after imagining you are telling the story to a friend
- Tell not only your customer's story but also your customer's customer story
- Use suspense in your story
- Make your clients feel that they are part of the story
Narrate the Story After Imagining you are Telling the Story to a Friend
You cannot establish emotional connect if you are presenting story in a professional way. Emotional connect comes only when you tell a story thinking you are narrating it to a friend. The flow becomes natural and you get to establish emotional connect easily.
Tell not only your customer's story but also your customer's customer story
For you the most important asset on which your business relies is your customer. Similarly for your customers the most important asset is their customer. Hence tell stories in such a way to make your customer understand how your customers' customers got benefited through you (in the past) because of you.
Use suspense in your story
Suspense is the best part of a story. It is not needed that suspense makes your clients feels negative. You can indirectly portray some situations - creating negative environment in your customer place now - as if it happened in some other place. This creates suspense in the mind of your customers hearing the story. Then tell how your products & services changed the situation positively. Yes! Here you become the hero of the story saving people through your products & services.
Make Your Clients Feel that They are Part of the Story
Your clients should feel like living the story. Worried whether the negative areas hurt your customers? How to avoid it? Pointing directly on your customers does not help as your customer might feel offended when you describe a negative situation relevant to your customer. Hence convey the story in a general way and tell how your products produced universal impact. The personal relevance occurs automatically in the mind of your customers in this manner.
The Three Mandatory Parts of a Story
There should be three parts in a story to make it highly effective. The three parts are:
- Conflict
- Climax
- Resolution
Conflict
Identify the points where your customers lack efficiency. Design the story in such a way that the story emphasis on how you were able to change such negative situations. Note: Make sure that you do not point out negative situations - like not able to satisfy their customers – directly as it might pain your customer.
Climax
Now you have addressed the conflicts existing in your client's business environment. The next step is conveying the message to your customers that you are the right solution for the conflicts existing in their business environment (through the story you tell). Tell how you changed the professional lives of your customers and customers' customers in a constructive way through your products & services in the stories you narrate.
Resolution
Just telling how you made positive changes & resolved problems in your customers' life does not help. You have to go into the specifics. Tell them how many people you have helped and include the stories narrated by your customers themselves as it works as a proof for what exactly you wish to convey.
Companies being Examples of Becoming Great Success-reapers Through Storytelling
Now let us have a look on how certain companies gained better success via storytelling.
1. Dial4trade – They used storytelling for selling their service "BuyerConnect". Through the images and corresponding texts they conveyed the message of helping company owners to get connected with lots of buyers via conferencing calls. More than thousand customers are already using their services and reaping immense profit.
2. IndiaMart – IndiaMart is yet another example for a company that reaped better success via storytelling. Many B2B clients sell their products through them due to their well-implemented storytelling strategies.
