The Power of Storytelling in B2B Content Marketing

In our modern world of influencing, marketing, and advertisements, B2B content marketing has proved to be a successful marketing strategy in this new era of content.

But what is B2B content marketing? First, let's start with B2B companies- B2B, or business to business; companies sell to other businesses, such as wholesale to resale or farm-to-table restaurants.

As for B2B content marketing, these companies will reach out to their target audience to increase awareness of the brand and advertise their products or services. Typically, this is done through infographics, blog posts, or newsletters and has proved to be highly successful; in just 2023, it was reported that 58% of B2B companies utilized B2B content marketing to increase their sales and revenue.

Alongside blog posts, newsletters, infographics, and other typical content marketing strategies used by B2B companies, a new form of B2B content marketing has gained popularity and proved its effectiveness in sales and successes: storytelling. Why is B2B content marketing via storytelling gaining so much traction in the B2B community? Over the past few years, more B2B companies have shifted towards storytelling to advertise their products or services.

In previous years, B2B companies have stuck with their plain, boring, black-and-white statistics and strategies to promote their business; however, even among business-to-business companies, storytelling has been and always will be one of the most successful advertising methods. Storytelling tugs at people's hearts and connects to their psyche; B2B companies must remember that a person is seeing their content marketing- not a company.

Research performed in partnership between Google, Motista, and CEB suggests that 50% of consumers in the B2B industry are more inclined to engage with content marketing through storytelling, as they can emotionally identify with the content.

According to the same study, storytelling in B2B content marketing establishes personal value for your company, which increases purchases by 71%. Nearly 70% of B2B consumers are willing to purchase products and services at a higher price if they personally connect with said business. Content marketing via storytelling increases capital gain and secures a more emotional value for a B2B business. It is essential to establish a personal relationship between a business and its consumer, whether B2B or other business-to-consumer industries. Storytelling shows a more human side to a company, reaching the humanity of the business purchasing from them.

Hence, storytelling in B2B content marketing is so important and successful. B2B Storytelling Successes: The proof is in the pudding, right? Statistics and studies cannot quantify the success of storytelling in B2B content marketing. The following are successful examples of storytelling in B2B content marketing.

Cisco

Cisco is a B2B company specializing in cybersecurity, software, and technology. It advertises its services to other businesses looking for technical and cyber assistance. Cisco is one of the many successful businesses that has utilized storytelling in B2B content marketing. Topics of cybersecurity and technology often need to be more exciting, the lack of leaves consumers to avoid these companies altogether. Cisco took an innovative approach, illustrating a short graphic novel titled 'Cyber Threat Response,'which highlighted how vital storytelling truly is in B2B content marketing. The comic strip is eye-catching and simple, advertising Cisco in an easy-to-understand and fun way.

Adobe

Adobe is another significant technology-based B2B company. Adobe ran their video advertisement, 'Click Baby Click,'during Advertisement Week to promote their Marketing Cloud to businesses. The video is short, funny, and straight to the point, poking fun at everyday scenarios and suggesting that Adobe's Marketing Cloud is a solution for online businesses to explore. Adobe claims that this short clip alone increased the usage of their Marketing Cloud by 25%. The art of storytelling allowed 'Click Baby Click' to use emotions such as humor and anxiety to advertise their services. By simply sharing a short and relatable story, Adobe successfully reached its target audience and gained national popularity, making it one of the most widespread cyber companies today.

IBM

We've all heard of IBM, a successful B2B company known for its research, technological developments, and IT work. IBM delves into the emotional appeal of storytelling in content marketing. In 2013, IBM released 'A Boy and His Atom,' a short film composed by IBM scientists using 242 images compiled from a specific microscope of frames of carbon monoxide atoms. Not only did they tell the story of the scientific masterpieces that IBM as a company is capable of, but they also told a story of what its consumers could be, with the help of IBM—this example of B2B content marketing through storytelling made national headlines, proving its effectiveness.

Cisco, Adobe, and IBM are only three examples of successful B2B content marketing through storytelling. Each of these companies realized that they must appeal to their audience emotionally to advertise their services successfully, and each is a household name. Storytelling in B2B content marketing is crucial to growing business, capital, and consumerism.