Disrupting B2B marketing with End-User pull

Authored by Sridhar Rajagopal, Director Strategy - Head of Sales & Marketing at Otis India.

Over the last few years, the differences between B2B and B2C marketing have narrowed. The pandemic has reduced it to a blur. Take for example the phenomenon of Work-From-Home. Today, almost everyone is building their own home workstation and are looking for ergonomic chairs. If people have heard of only one, top of the line brand like Herman Miller chairs, that is all that they will buy. Brands that are not connecting with End-Users are losing out. It is now imperative for B2B companies to connect with their Business Buyers and End-Users.

However, connecting with End-Users is easier said than done. B2B marketers are used to highly technical communication, often in violation of the cardinal rules of marketing. For instance, the brochures and websites are largely focused on the product’s technical superiority – ‘our product is the fastest or safest or most efficient, etc.’ The messaging makes the product the hero of the stories and not the customer. This approach often fails to click with End-Users. Fortunately, in a Digital First world, it is easier for B2B companies to leapfrog their marketing programs to a level that can connect with end-Users.

Here are 5 steps for B2B companies to begin their connect with end-users:

Service Marketing: This is the most purposeful way to connect with End-Users. For B2B companies, while the sale of products is to Business Buyers, the aftersales services are provided to End-Users. With the advent of connected products using the Internet of Things (IoT), B2B companies can offer a range of new services to End-Users like remote health-check & maintenance and on-demand repair & replacement of products. Some companies have taken it a lot further with a new business model of Product-as-a-Service (PaaS). A great example is Tires-as-a-Service (TaaS) by Michelin Tires which is sold directly to End-Users through a subscription model. In essence, service is all that the End-Users careabout and not the technical superiority of products (which they did not buy in the first place). B2B companies should split their marketing spend smartly between productsto Business Buyers and services to End-Users.
Employee Advocacy: Research in digital marketing shows that customers connect and trust employees more than institutions. The latest Gartner report says that ‘By 2023, 90% of B2B social media marketing strategies will incorporate scaled employee advocacy programs. The content shared by employees has a 2X click through rate as compared to company posts.’To connect with End-Users, B2B marketers should make their product designer, R&D team, installation or Service teams the faces of their brand value proposition. Not fancy pictures of their products.
Ingredient branding: ‘Simplicity is the key-note of true elegance.’, said Coco Channel and to this day it remains the best marketing mantra. This is the biggest challenge for B2B marketers who are used to dumping a ton of technical information on Business Buyers. This will not connect with End-Users. B2B marketers must distill the essence of the brand value and share it in a simplified manner. The best example to date is the iconic Intel Inside campaign, one of the earliest B2B companiesto pioneer End-User marketing.
Make the customer the hero of the story: Maya Angelou says, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” This is the essence of marketing. B2B companies should build the brand story around End-User experience and provide credible references and testimonials. Experiences are relatable and sharable across users.
Digital First: Today, we operate in a Digital First world. In the buying process, our customers do their research online and spend < 20% of that time with sales teams. B2B marketers have to build End-User campaigns on social media platforms. Gartner reports that ‘by 2026, 60% of millennial and Gen Z consumers will prefer making purchases on social platforms over traditional digital commerce platforms.’

As customers evolve and their needs change, the B2B space has some exciting times ahead. All we need to do is reimagine our relationships with both buyers and end-users.