In B2B markets, it is crucial that your brand stands out and is remembered – not only at the moment of the purchase decision, but continuously. Because at any given time, only 5% of the potential B2B buyers are actively in the market for your offering.
But the other 95% could start looking for your solutions at any time – and if you are already mentally present at this moment, you have a big advantage in the selection process. For that to happen, one factor is crucial.
A strong creative strategy translates customer insights into marketing tactics. It identifies the category entry points of your target customers and enables you to address them in a more needs-based way than before – and more needs-based than your competitors, because creative strategy is still in its infancy in the B2B environment.
Meanwhile, in B2C, creative strategy is this year's key topic because the algorithms of major advertising platforms like Meta and TikTok now primarily base targeting on the ad itself. Its message is automatically understood – and the ad is shown to those who are most receptive to it.
And the results are strong. The time of classic targeting is over in B2C. No more manual configuration of age, interests, or distribution times. But many marketers in B2B companies have not yet heard of this trend. However, it is only a matter of time before the algorithms on B2B platforms like LinkedIn follow suit.
Successful digital ads now need to be designed for two target audiences: the people who see them and the algorithms that extract targeting signals from them. In other words, it is more important than ever that they convey messages which are aligned with the needs of your customers. Developing these messages is the task of a creative strategist.
Many IT companies have a vacuum in this area of expertise. Customer insights generated in sales departments are often not sufficiently passed on to marketing teams, and advertising messages are often developed according to a formula that only talks about solutions and unique selling points, with messages that customers forget fast.
A creative strategy-driven approach works differently. Based on an overarching messaging framework based on customer insights, clear messages are developed for each category entry point that creatively highlight what the customer really gets from the solution – which is not the same as the solution’s USP.
Imagine a billboard for a new laptop at an airport. The device has a battery life of 22 hours. Since you reach a traveling audience at the airport who often uses their laptops on battery power, you want to emphasize this feature. You only have space for a short headline and two sentences of text. What would you do?
You could do what many IT companies would do. Then your headline would be something like „22 hours of top performance“. Direct, clear, and factually correct – but forgotten after 5 seconds.
Or you say „Battery life: From here to Australia“. 22 hours is the flight time to get there. You combine a feature (battery life) with a context (Australia) that perfectly fits the location of the advertising poster (the airport). I guarantee you that your offering will be remembered much better with this approach.
Creative strategy is the process that allows such ideas to emerge. I bring this way of doing things into your company by accompanying you as an external creative strategist on specific marketing campaigns, and by helping you establish methods and processes that will permanently anchor a creative strategy mindset in your marketing team.
As versatile as an agency, as personal as a freelancer – with kraatz digital you always have the choice whether I will only implement a specific topic for you or also assist in the operationalization of the results in your company.
