Enough about B2B’s ‘creativity crisis’ – the real mess is in effectiveness

We hear about it all the time: ‘B2B is just consumer marketing’s dull cousin’ or ‘B2B marketing lacks innovation’. But these critiques miss the bigger picture. The real issue isn’t that B2B marketing lacks creativity, it’s that too much of it isn’t effective. Boring or ‘uncreative’ aside, B2B marketing has a history of not meeting B2B buyer needs.

Instead of chasing creativity for the sake of it, B2B marketers should focus on what truly matters: helping buyers make informed decisions. Creativity has its place, but it works best when buyers are at the heart of every marketing plan.

Creativity is just the start – what about empathy?

Creativity helps B2B campaigns stand out, but it’s not enough on its own to drive results. Unlike consumer audiences, B2B buyers aren’t just looking to be entertained. Flashy, “fun” campaigns may be memorable, but they only go so far in supporting buying decisions – which isn’t very far at all.

Marketing misalignment is a widespread issue. That’s why conversion rates are often low, sales cycles are long, and decision-makers ignore marketing messages.

B2B buyers are simply rejecting content that doesn’t meet their needs. Despite all the talk to the contrary, B2B marketing is still overwhelmingly fuelled by product claims and hype. Before we critique creativity or aim to ‘fix’ B2B marketing’s reputation for being dull, we need to prioritize understanding over selling.

Buyers are ignoring B2B marketing

Take chief information officers (CIOs). They’re critical decision-makers when it comes to technology purchases, and they exemplify the issues plaguing B2B marketing.

When Atomic recently surveyed 75 CIOs across Europe, we learned that CIOs find that much of the marketing directed at them fails to resonate – and fails to help. Half of respondents said that marketing content doesn’t reflect their business needs. Meanwhile, 74% dismissed marketing messages as unrealistic or overly optimistic. Exaggerated claims only erode trust and become a reason to tune out.

The upshot: many B2B buyers are frustrated because marketing materials lack essential information. For example, 52% of CIOs said the content they received lacked details necessary for informed decision making. Marketers must pre-emptively answer buyers’ questions: details on product implementation, pricing, and how a solution integrates with existing systems are critical. Unfortunately, these details are often overlooked.

Understanding is hard to come by

B2B buyers are looking for support through complex, confusing buyer journeys. The difficulty in giving them what they need, though, is that few B2B marketers (or agencies, for that matter) have ever spent time talking to, let alone listening and understanding, their potential buyer. Too many marketing plans are made and campaigns launched without input from the most important stakeholder: the buyer.

Effective B2B marketing requires empathy. But understanding the real and specific needs of buyers is hard, time-consuming and often costly. It involves talking to real people, listening to their pain points, and gathering insights before jumping into creating campaigns. It seems B2B marketers are time- (and empathy-) poor. There are campaigns to get out the door, leads to be generated, pipeline to be filled. Who has time to do meaningful research? To distil countless datasets and findings into something useful?

True creativity flourishes when it’s grounded in deep empathy and a clear understanding of buyer needs. Without this foundation, campaigns risk being irrelevant, no matter how innovative they may seem.

Bring the buyer into the room

The industry loves to complain about a ‘creativity crisis’ in B2B. But what B2B marketing really faces is an effectiveness crisis. Buyers have spoken and they’re telling us the issue isn’t a lack of creativity, or engaging campaigns.

The real, underlying issue: marketing isn’t helping them make better decisions.

Marketing planning should involve the buyer. That’s not a groundbreaking idea, but it is something that happens too rarely. A quick skim of the latest blogs, stats and facts online won’t cut it. If you're launching a new product or targeting a new buyer, you need insight into them. You must understand them, their problems, the context and your solution to them. You can’t rely on clichés, stereotypes and presumptions. It’s time to put the buyer front-and-center – not just in messaging but in the planning process, too.

Creativity and effectiveness go hand-in-hand

It’s time to stop chasing creativity as the primary goal and start focusing on marketing that actually works. Empathy is the way forward. When we bring buyers into the room, listen to their challenges, and design solutions that meet their goals, we can create more impactful, trustworthy, and – yes – more creative B2B marketing.

B2B marketers: A world of delights awaits you, over at our focus week hub.