What’s an idea worth? In B2B marketing, more than you might think. Around 50% of all marketing is ignored, with that figure rising to 75% in B2B sectors. That’s a big effectiveness problem, and therefore a lot of wasted marketing spend.
But in turn that means a big opportunity, as those campaigns that work well face much less competition in cutting through. So plenty of reward for those who can produce effective marketing.
But what does “effective” look like? There are a few key components to achieve the required high quality of work. Having a strong creative idea should be high on the list, given this has been proven to help drive advertising profitability and growth in market share.
That goes not only for lead generation activity but also brand building. Especially brand building, in fact – where the emotional dimensions of B2B purchases (“You don’t get fired for buying IBM” etc) are crucial in generating memorability and, ultimately, financial value.
The stock market itself is a great example of this. As the writer Morgan Housel observes, “The valuation of every company is simply a number from today multiplied by a story about tomorrow.” In Housel’s words, the best story wins – whether that’s in business, politics, science, entertainment or any other walk of life. If you don’t have a compelling story to tell, you’ll always be underselling yourself.
To create a great story you need a great creative idea, but at present B2B marketing doesn’t consistently hit the heights of creative effectiveness that it should do. This is a problem highlighted by the B2B Effectiveness Ladder developed by WARC, Lions and the B2B Institute at LinkedIn. Their analysis of 435 case studies found that only a small amount, around 5%, met the highest standards for effectiveness – showing that there is plenty of room for improvement.
So how can brands harness creativity
for better campaign results?
We believe it’s important to take a different perspective in order to come up with effective ideas – EPIC ideas in fact. Epics are by their very nature memorable, grand in scale and long in duration – precisely what a creative idea needs to be…
Memorability is of course key to ensure your brand is at the races when customers have a purchase to make. However, the best campaigns now go beyond just recall to secure strong mental availability, a concept developed by Byron Sharp and Jenni Romaniuk to indicate the likelihood of a brand being noticed or remembered in a buying situation. This means that the most effective creative ideas are not only striking in their effect on recall but also help to build the right mental associations during the purchase journey.
Yet being memorable isn’t enough on its own. Modern B2B marketing campaigns must work across a range of different channels, at different times and to a range of audience groups if they are to hit home effectively. So any creative idea must be built at the right scale and durability to suit all required tactical executions both now and as campaigns are adapted in the future.
To be truly effective, those strengths in scale and memorability must be combined with staying power if a campaign is to have full effect. Studies by the likes of System1 have shown that older campaigns are often some of a brand’s most effective assets, with ads “wearing out” nowhere near as fast as might be feared. To meet these demands, creative ideas need to have longevity in being able to support a sustained narrative and campaign durations measured in years rather than weeks or months.
We think EPIC sums this up pretty well. It stands for ideas that can be Expanded to suit any medium and adaptable to all future requirements. Those ideas must Perform against KPIs, be Inspirational in execution and beautifully Crafted to ensure they build mental availability.
Yet being memorable isn’t enough on its own. Modern B2B marketing campaigns must work across a range of different channels, at different times and to a range of audience groups if they are to hit home effectively. So any creative idea must be built at the right scale and durability to suit all required tactical executions both now and as campaigns are adapted in the future.
To be truly effective, those strengths in scale and memorability must be combined with staying power if a campaign is to have full effect. Studies by the likes of System1 have shown that older campaigns are often some of a brand’s most effective assets, with ads “wearing out” nowhere near as fast as might be feared. To meet these demands, creative ideas need to have longevity in being able to support a sustained narrative and campaign durations measured in years rather than weeks or months.
We think EPIC sums this up pretty well. It stands for ideas that can be Expanded to suit any medium and adaptable to all future requirements. Those ideas must Perform against KPIs, be Inspirational in execution and beautifully Crafted to ensure they build mental availability.
So whilst some of the best epics may be a thing of the past, we’re creating new ones that meet the challenges B2B marketers face in the here and now.
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