B2B marketers are finally starting to advertise like consumer brands, and it’s working.

For way too long, B2B marketing campaigns have been largely boring and indistinct, especially when compared to consumer brands. If I asked you to recall a commercial or a billboard for a car or a beer, you’d probably have next-to-no trouble coming up with a few replies (most people I know still say “whassuuuuup” when someone hands them a bottle of Budweiser – which means that not only was that ad sticky as hell, but also that I have fun friends, thank you very much). 

But if I asked you to recall an ad for a software platform, it’s completely possible that you wouldn’t be able to think of a single one. And that’s weird, when you really think about it. Because not only do many of us engage with multiple software platforms on a near-daily basis (think: chat software, HR or payroll software, your CRM), we’re also fed a near-constant stream of ads about them. They just don’t stick. And I think that’s because they well and truly suck. 

If I asked you to recall an ad for a software platform, it’s completely possible that you wouldn’t be able to think of a single one. And that’s weird, when you really think about it. Because not only do many of us engage with multiple software platforms on a near-daily basis, we’re also fed a near-constant stream of ads about them. They just don’t stick. And I think that’s because they well and truly suck. 

We don’t really know exactly how many ads (of any kind) anyone is actually exposed to on a daily basis (non-scientific estimates put the number at anywhere between 4,000 and 10,000), but we do know that digital ads account for almost 50% of all B2B marketing spend in 2024, which means there’s tons (and tons) of ads out there, all the time. 

Of course, marketers wouldn’t keep spending money on ads if they never worked, so it’s very unlikely that our collective failure to recall such advertising means that it’s ineffective. B2B marketing works on touch points and a digital ad represents just one place that a customer might interact with your brand. So even completely unmemorable ads and totally redundant campaigns can, in theory, play some kind of meaningful role in your customer’s journey. But y’all, shouldn’t we want more? 

From my POV, testing out marketing campaigns with a bit of bite is exactly what brands oughta be doing.  Naturally, these should be built on top of a brand foundation that can support a new style of messaging, but that doesn’t mean that businesses have to wait a million years before deploying some fun, new stuff. You can update your Tone of Voice or Key Messaging Guides while you create new marketing campaigns. I know it’s possible because I help my clients do it all the time, and the results are usually pretty darn exciting.

I could type about ten more pages on this topic but I’ll spare you from whatever fresh circle of marketing hell that would be, and instead point you in the direction of a few resources that I think do the topic justice. 

Here’s a great, brief article from DIGIDAY about how B2B marketers can use traditionally B2C tactics to cut through a crowded marketplace. 

And here’s a deeper dive into the topic from Marketing Week – in the piece, Mark Ritson, a columnist and Founder of the Mini MBA in Marketing, explains how and why almost every traditional B2C marketing concept is applicable to B2B marketing.