Being human with B2B marketing
“Business to business is still person to person in the end” is a piece of advice I was given many years ago by a seasoned marketing strategist when we were planning a B2B campaign. I’ve never forgotten those words, and they resonate ever louder today, with automation and marketing tech advancing at pace. I’ll always champion being authentic and speaking to the person behind the role and in this blog, I’m exploring how and why that will always outperform a robotic and unemotional approach, whatever the industry.
The person behind the buyer
We’re all guilty of labelling customers as buyers when we’re examining the customer journey, but doing so can lead to marketing output being received as pushy and transactional.
It’s understandable to try and capture a moment of intent in a buyer journey, but these individuals spend most of their time being someone other than a buyer. So, taking the time to understand who they are, what their daily challenges look like and who the human is behind the job title will make your messaging much more powerful. Gaining trust, building a relationship and focusing on the value of what’s on offer is likely to have a better outcome than going straight for a sale.
What behavioural science tells us
Human decisions are typically influenced by imaginative, rational or emotional drivers and the emotional is top dog - including in B2B product and service marketing. That fact was at the heart of the keynote address by the fascinating Daryll Scott, expert in unconscious communication and behavioural change, during Marketing in Maritime’s live event at London International Shipping Week in 2025.
Daryll explained, “In order for you to act on something you’ve discovered or been shown, there needs to be an emotional engagement. Your contextual, emotional mind needs to be engaged, otherwise nothing happens with that motivation.”
We may think that appealing to the rational mind and outlining the features and benefits of a product is the way to go in B2B but such content is “highly ignorable and mind-numbingly boring” according to Daryll. You can watch his superb 30-minute session here.
Show your audience that you care
Relationships are a two-way street, so while you’re crafting content for the human you’re addressing, remember to be human, too. Armed with the knowledge that people respond to emotional messaging in a business environment and may often make an emotional decision and then use rational thinking to justify it afterwards, infuse humanity into your marketing content. You’re more likely to build trust and credibility with your brand if you do.
A simple way to show that you care is to truly understand your customers. By listening to the challenges your customers face and focusing on their pain points and how you can solve their problems, your marketing content will come across as more authentic and belief in your brand will grow.
Don’t be afraid to stand out
AI may change the mechanics of how we reach our audiences, but it doesn’t change why we reach them. Whether your first touchpoint is a chat function, a QR code, or a person, the end goal remains the same: to connect with the human making the decision.
B2B brands that thrive in the future will be those that can do both: harness the speed and efficiency of AI tools when needed but never forget how to speak to people. In that spirit, be bold with your marketing and take chances. Leave your competitors to be mundane and formulaic and stand out from the crowd.
Bring out the personality
It’s understandable that B2B maritime brands work hard to present themselves as professional, but professionalism alone doesn’t garner much attention. Just as marketers need to understand their audience, customers want to understand the people behind the business. They want to hear genuine perspectives and see real experience. When brands rely on finely tuned statements, they lose the chance to build trust.
With social media now being a key part of the customer journey, it’s vital to understand that personality plays an important role in how prospective customers form opinions. The maritime companies that embrace this reality are the ones that create stronger engagement and stronger commercial outcomes.