If you’re in business-to-business (B2B) sales, chances are your company’s brand story doesn’t exactly leap off the page and grab prospects by the collar.
Instead, it probably falls somewhere between lackluster and boring.
When you’re marketing to B2B clients, it can be tempting to go straight to the hard facts about your product or service – what it does, why it works, and how much it costs.
However, studies have shown that B2B buyers don’t make their purchasing decisions solely on functional features and price.
They want to buy into your company culture and brand as well. So, they’ll pay attention to how you portray yourself in your marketing materials and other communications with them.
One of the most effective ways to tell your brand story is through video content, and one brand that does it right is Rocketwheel. Check out their portfolio to see examples of video brand stories done right!
This article will walk you through crafting the right kind of B2B brand story that shakes things up a bit and actually gets results.
Crafting a B2B Brand Story That Sells
Brand storytelling is more common with B2C brands but far less so in B2B content marketing.
The reason behind this is evident: it’s more difficult to emotionally connect with your audience when you’re selling complex solutions to businesses rather than fancy products to individual customers.
However, all great stories follow the same pattern — a pattern we’ll be outlining in this article as the ‘Classic Hollywood motion picture.’
The Classic Hollywood Motion Picture
Like every Hollywood movie, a great story is divided into three essential parts (or acts). Let’s take a look at each part from the standpoint of B2B marketing.
The Setup
In the setup, you want to introduce your protagonist. This is the main character in your story — your ideal buyer.
You need to give your ideal buyer a name, age range, demographic information, interests, and behavioral tendencies. You also need to be aware of their objectives, pain points, and purchasing habits.
Simply put, you want your protagonist (buyer persona) to connect with the story in any way you can.
So, give your audience reasons to see themselves in your main character — and most importantly, make them the hero, not yourself.
The Confrontation (or conflict)
The conflict is your buyer’s pain — emotional, physical, financial, whatever keeps your audience up at night.
The conflict has to be attuned to your protagonist’s desires, and most importantly — it has to be realistic.
After you’ve created the groundwork for the plot by introducing your protagonist, you’ll put them through a sequence of events that prevents them from fulfilling their goals.
These should be everyday situations that your audience can personally relate to.
Don’t bore your audience or drag this part out longer than needed; otherwise, they will lose interest and move on to other exciting things the internet has to offer.
The Resolution
If they’ve gotten this far, they’re probably amused, interested in the character, and curious about what you have to offer.
Depending on your story’s aim, this might most likely be a happy ending with the protagonist solving their conflict with your product or service.
So, keep your pitch brief and to the point, then provide a way to learn more by concluding with a great CTA.
Conclusion
When crafting B2B brand stories, you want to stick to the same pattern as Hollywood movies. But unlike Harry Potter or Star Wars, you’ll be taking a shortcut.
Because your audience’s attention span is short (particularly when it comes to marketing material), you must hurry through the three acts while delivering your story.
For example, if you’re making a video, keep it to no more than two minutes. That gives you ample time to communicate your point without taxing your audience’s attention span.
The same goes if you’re using text. The point is, you want to make your story short and straightforward – while not losing quality or entertainment value.