Written by Matt Gale, Be Human
B2B can be an unhelpful label at times.
Businesses don't read ads. Job titles don't watch films. Organisations don't feel excited, reassured, inspired or understood.
People do.
Yet B2B marketing has a habit of forgetting that.
We turn people into audiences. Audiences into segments. Segments into job titles. And somewhere along the way, we lose sight of the human we’re trying to connect with.
The result is often marketing filled with propositions, capabilities and proof points. Marketing that makes perfect sense but makes us feel very little.
I think stories can change that.
Not because every brand needs a tear-jerking film or a customer case study with some emotional music underneath it.
Because stories help us make sense of the world. They always have done. And always will.
They make complexity easier to understand. They help ideas stick. And, done well, they allow us to see a little of ourselves in the brands talking to us.
But better storytelling doesn't begin with the telling.
It starts with listening.
Finding the stories already happening inside your business, among your customers and in the world around you. Understanding the people you're trying to connect with beyond their job title. Working out what you genuinely have a right to talk about.
And then comes the art of telling it well.
Who is the hero? What should people feel? What role should the brand play? Which moments matter? And how do you create something people want to remember. Or ideally, want to retell themselves?
Those are some of the questions we'll explore in Human Stories: How B2B Brands Build Stronger Connections at B2B Live.
The panel takes place on the main stage on Thursday, 19 November. I’ll be joined by people with years of experience who, importantly, come at the challenge from very different perspectives.
The aim isn’t to spend 35 minutes agreeing that storytelling matters.
It’s to talk honestly about how human stories are found, shaped, sold in and made. What works. What gets in the way. And what we’ve learnt from doing it.
Hopefully, everyone leaves with a little more inspiration and at least one thing they can use in their own work the next day.
Come and join us.
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