Chances are, you’ve heard the phrase ‘people buy from people’ yet what exactly does this mean?
In the context of your B2B marketing strategy, it means adding a human touch so your audience has a reason to make an emotional connection with your business.
After all, emotions drive buying habits, so people are more likely to consider, purchase, and become loyal to a brand if they feel a connection with the people, products or services.
Emotional connection leads to trust, which can lead to more sales – 88% of buyers are only willing to make a purchase when they view a salesperson as a trusted advisor.
So, here are some of the most effective ways of achieving an emotional connection with customers and prospects.
Create a regular stream of quality thought leadership
If ‘people buy from people’ it makes sense to showcase your people. It’s a great way of highlighting your brand’s personality, which helps your firm stand out and gives people a personality to connect with.
Whether it’s in videos, podcasts, blogs, or at industry events, elevating company spokespeople as insightful figureheads highlights that you know your industry inside-out and positions you as a trusted and credible source.
This is particularly important when 64% of buyers say that a company’s thought leadership content is a more trustworthy basis for assessing its capabilities and competency than marketing materials.
Take up social listening
Social listening involves monitoring how people are talking about you – and your competitors – online. Tracking your mentions across digital channels helps provide you with concrete data on which to base your marketing strategy.
Another reason to monitor your brand online is that your target audience is already doing it – 65% of B2B buyers look at peer recommendations and review sites. Being aware of what’s being discussed gives you the opportunity to join the conversation, improve your offering, and shape people’s perceptions of your brand.
Discover what makes your audience tick
If you understand your target audience’s motivations and needs then you can align your marketing messaging around this. One of the most effective ways to do this is by conducting customer research.
- Quantitative research is used to analyse large quantities of numerical data from which you can get an overview of the big picture and discover statistical patterns and averages
- Qualitative research is used to analyse non-numerical data, such as personal opinions and experiences about brands, products, and services
For best results, we recommend a mixture of the two. Particularly as businesses that undertake regular research grow up to 70% faster and are nearly 50% more profitable than those that don’t.
Always be customer-centric
When you want to emotionally connect with your audience it all comes down to having a customer-centric approach and putting the customer at the heart of your B2B marketing strategy.
If you can communicate the value of the customer back to them, they’re more likely to engage, advocate, and remain loyal. 72% of buyers expect a deep understanding of their needs and 86% are more willing to pay more for a great customer experience.
Using tools such as social listening and research will help you to discover what your customers want, their pain points, and why they buy from you (or your competitors). You can then tailor your content to what matters to your customers and highlight how and why your brand is the solution to their needs.
For a deeper dive into how to put your customers first and create an emotional connection, get in touch for a free marketing consultation.
