1st May 2024

Secret ingredient #1:

Truly understand your buyer’s journey. 

The B2B buyer’s journey has transformed from the linear, box-ticking process it once was into a complex and diverse set of ‘jobs’ that a broad set of individuals in the decision-making group need to complete simultaneously.  

This means we need to think differently as marketeers.  

Success comes from supporting the buying group in the completion of these four key ‘buying jobs’: problem identification, solution exploration, requirement building and supplier selection. 

Successful campaigns and programmes can focus singularly on these buying jobs or across a number at once. The key, the ‘secret ingredient’, lies in mapping out your buyer’s journey and your buyers’ jobs and working through how your marketing efforts can help satisfy them.

For the ins and outs of how to master this evolved buyer journey, tuck into our latest Silver Shares that explores secret ingredient #1 in more depth. 

Secret ingredient #2:

Don’t forget the educational content that helps buyers buy.

Three stats combine to reveal secret ingredient #2…

•  77% of B2B buyers stated their latest purchase was very complex or difficult, involving extensive research and consideration phases*.
• 93% of B2B buyers begin their buying process using internet search**.
• Only 17% of a typical B2B buying groups time is spent meeting with potential suppliers***.

With those numbers in mind, at Silver, we undertake in-depth Digital Landscape Analysis with our clients to provide a unique view on the digital content and organisations that are winning their buyers’ attention during their path to purchase.  

That proprietary Digital Landscape Analysis tells us that, yes, big ideas, defining thought leadership, and everything we know and love are all important, but so is the foundational educational content that helps buyers buy.  

 In fact, it’s often the organisations that do a great job of producing that foundational education content that go on to be in most influential in the journey of their buyers.  

Secret ingredient #2… don’t forget the educational content that helps buyers buy, it’s a vital part of any content strategy. 

Secret ingredient #3:

Standout in a sea of sameness.

From effectively educating buyers, to winning their hearts and minds. Secret ingredient #3 focusses on creative strategy––and having one that helps you stand out in the crowd.  

Distinction and creating an emotional connection with your audience is key to a successful B2B marketing strategy. After all, people are 22x more likely to remember a story over a list of facts****. 

Saturated by an abundance of content across a range of channels, buyers have become accustomed to uniform and generic experiences. Any brand able to successfully engage and captivate buyers effectively and repeatedly has tremendous opportunity to gain a competitive advantage. 

But how is such distinction achieved? A unique and impactful creative strategy is a powerful way of cutting through the noise. Visually striking experiences that meet and exceeds the needs of your prospects, delivered via engaging and impactful creative content, is the key to rising above the uniform and winning customers. 

In short, a creative, authentic story with a human at its centre transcends the mundane to bring your brand to life. 

Secret ingredient #4:

Showcase the true power and impact of your solutions. 

The fintech and financial services space is known for its complex and often esoteric products, services and solutions. 

While communicating the benefits of these solutions can be a challenge, digital experiences offer an engaging way to circumvent this. 

It’s not just the innovation that can get complex – it’s often the context too. If your prospects don’t understand the problem, they won’t be won over by the solution either. 

With sign-off required from stakeholders at all levels, it’s essential that you have a clear story that showcases the true value of your product and articulates the context in which its value comes into its own. A creative and interactive story that addresses multiple buyer pain points and takes the user on a journey can be a wonderfully effective centrepiece to any campaign. 

Take our work with Scandit for an example (not a fintech, but ‘inspiration can come from anywhere’ as they say). Typically perceived as a barcode scanning solution, our interactive SmartStore experience shows how Scandit offers benefits far beyond that. 

Secret ingredient #5:

Stay on message. 

Maintaining a consistent narrative, or ‘staying on message’, is a critical success factor in any campaign – marketing, financial services or otherwise.  

It’s what ensures that every touchpoint consistently drives towards the same ultimate goal and contributes to building a sense of trust and reliability with your audience.   

Just as a signature dish carries the marque of its creator, your message should be the distinctive flavour that permeates through the noise. It’s about being clear and coherent in your communication, so that your value proposition is not just heard but remembered. A defining message – that’s easily understood by your audience – acts as the north star for your campaign, guiding the myriad of content pieces, marketing activities and customer interactions that are part of it.  

A great example of this comes from Finastra and its steadfast belief in open finance. It’s a message that’s grounded everything the company does, right from its formation in 2017 to the present day–– it’s a movement, not a moment. Read more about it here.