We don’t need to copy consumer marketing. We just need to stop using seriousness as an excuse for being invisible.
As B2B marketers, we usually admire the breeziness of B2C marketing. Then we look at our own market, with its serious buyers and long sales cycles, and decide most of it does not apply. Nobody is impulse-buying a new production line because the advert had a catchy soundtrack. But that does not mean consumer marketing has nothing to teach us.
The useful lesson is to become easier to notice …and remember.
That’s where a lot of B2B advertising falls short. It’s accurate, but dull. Full of useful information, but wrapped in language that could belong to any company in the sector.
Consumer marketers are usually better at one simple thing: accepting that attention is scarce.
They know that people do not owe them time. So they work harder on the first impression, with stronger hooks and simpler messages. They repeat key ideas until they become familiar. They make it easier for the audience to know what the brand stands for.
B2B marketers shouldn’t be embarrassed to borrow that discipline. A product page can still be technically accurate but have a sharper title. A newsletter can still be useful but have more personality. The point is not entertainment, it’s memory.
As I’ve discussed a lot recently, in B2B, buyers may not be ready to buy for months or years. When they do enter the market, they often begin with suppliers they already know. That means our marketing has to leave some trace before the sales process starts. Consumer marketing understands that repeated, easy-to-recall signals matter.
Use plain language instead of committee language. Show real people and real applications. Create campaigns around one memorable thought rather than twelve different ones fighting each other. And above all, write and present as if a real person is on the other end.