5 emotions for B2B marketing
Align your campaigns and messaging with these emotions for more leads
Mehdeeka is for solo marketers working in the B2B, SaaS, startup, and tech spaces. Check out the previous issue: an interview with Vanessa Sammut. Help me grow Mehdeeka by sharing it with a friend or colleague!
So last year I went to a conference and saw Mark Ritson speak. He actually talked about 100 topics in the span of an hour and one of those topics was about six B2B emotions for B2B. But he was speaking about so many things that I missed the sixth emotion, so here are the five I remember, featuring real ads currently running from Atlassian!
No one ever got fired for…
This one is all about saying “if you buy our product, you won’t regret it, and you won’t get in trouble”. The original campaign this comes from is “no one ever got fired for buying an IBM” way back when businesses were skeptical of computers.
In this Atlassian example, the caption is more in line with this message than the image; “Your customers demand more every day. Be ready to respond faster.” I.e. no one ever got fired for improving customer service.
We are your partner in a tough world
This is all about building partnerships with your customers, telling them you’ll hold their hand at every step of the way, and a chance to brag about your customer support. You’re a shoulder to cry on and a guiding light.
“How Data Center helps enterprise customers be more efficient and effective” is a pretty emotionless caption, but it plays on the themes of collaboration, help, and partnership and the image backs it up.
You are the champion of entrepreneurs
This message appeals to the ego. You are the leader, and therefore you’ll do what the best of the best do. In this case, “you’re invited to create the future of teamwork” and lead the way.
It’s lonely at the top… we’re here for you
Very similar to the partnership angle, but more of a “leave it to us” rather than a “together” vibe. “That’s where Trello Enterprise comes in” and sweeps you off your feet like a Disney princess is a simple but great line. However, I think that it’s often overdone and over-corny.
FOMO
Dangle a carrot to make the horse run faster, and use photoshop to make the carrot look juicier than it really is. Atlassian uses the classic “are you SURE you’re good at what you do” angle in this ad, but that’s not the only way to go about it.
Whenever I’m struggling with messaging or positioning, I come back to these 5 emotions and see which one is most appropriate for what I’m going for and they usually clear my creative block pretty quickly!
Emergency clicks
Usually my links are timeless, but this week I’ve got some time sensitive ones!
In two hours after this email is sent, Airtree VC are doing a webinar Q&A with the ex-CMO of Netflix, sign up here.
Adobe Max is online and FREE this year - sign up here. Adobe Max is Adobe’s annual conference of product updates, creative inspiration, artist talks, and workshops. Oct 20-22.
AWARD School, a 12 week program for people in marketing who have aspirations of becoming a Creative Director (agency or brand side, doesn’t matter), applications are open and THIS WEEKEND they’re doing an online application workshop, but there’s a bit of homework you need to complete before registraion for the online workshop which closes 5pm Friday so GO SIGN UP! (how’s that FOMO for ya)
Ok now onto the general industry chit chat. For starters, both Google and CommBank got new logos and everybody hates all of them, although I do like the new CommBank logo.
Next week
I feel like I’ve just screamed a bunch of links at you, but there’s still more exciting news! Next week I’ll have an interview with Lauren Stephenson, global marketer from video production subscription service, Shootsa.