Creativity isn’t a concept that can easily be put into words.
So in an effort to demystify the term, we’re going to dive into marketing creativity in the B2B realm. With the ultimate goal of increasing conversion rates, marketers have to accelerate brand activity through digital channels.
Our examples highlight ways companies achieved branding success through creative marketing initiatives.
1. Genesys: CX Heroes
Genesys, a cloud communications company, decided to present their product with a humanitarian image. In their mini documentary-like video series, CX Heroes, they commemorate individuals who happen to use the Genesys platform in their heroic efforts.
Each video tells a story of a seemingly average person showing their heroism through extraordinary customer service. These stories hit the more vulnerable, emotional spots in watchers, which Genesys calls “The Human Touch”.
With Genesys’ exceptional storytelling, they targeted audiences interested in actual humans in service positions rather than state-of-the-art AI and bots systems.
They direct focus away from the Genesys company and shine a spotlight on moments of service, loyalty, and trust from everyday people. Genesys isn’t even mentioned until the end of each video.
Instead of pitching how great their product is, Genesys chose to show how extraordinary their customers can be.
2. SalesForce: Marketing Cloudcast
SalesForce offers a suite of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools used to simplify, automate, and organize business contacts. The company is well-versed in the world of content marketing. But recently, they ventured into a new format: podcasting.
Most companies are familiar with the benefits of content marketing. In the B2B world, content typically takes the form of a blog post, eBook, whitepaper, or webinar. Very few B2B companies have mastered the art of podcasting. In fact, SalesForce is among the first.
The podcast, titled “The Marketing Cloudcast”, discusses the same topics the company usually covers in an audio format.
SalesForce hasn’t reinvented the wheel and they’re not trying to do something outside the box. Instead, their team recycled topics they’re already familiar with and distributed them in a different format, using different channels.
It’s a simple change that allowed SalesForce to share their content with a larger, more diverse audience.
It’s definitely creative, but they didn’t do the impossible.
3. Hubspot: Inventing Their Own Game
If you’ve worked in marketing for any period of time, you’re likely familiar with the term inbound marketing. If you’re new, we’ll let Hubspot tell you what it is — because, well — they invented it.
That’s right, Hubspot founders Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah wrote the book on inbound marketing in 2009 titled, Inbound Marketing: Get Found Using Google, Social Media, and Blogs. Before this book, the term simply didn’t exist.
“Unlike outbound marketing, inbound marketing does not need to fight for potential customer’s attention. By creating content designed to address the problems and needs of your ideal customers, you attract qualified prospects and build trust and credibility for your business.”
So how did Hubspot and the concept of inbound marketing grow so quickly? Their robust resource hub, social media presence, and content team are top-tier in the industry. Although Hubspot’s success stems from the ability to sell an entire industry on a concept that already existed — it just didn’t have a name.
It’s more than ten years later and inbound marketing is a staple strategy in nearly every marketing department.
Key Takeaways
These three living examples show that you don’t need to move mountains to be creative in marketing. You just need to be smart and strategic with the resources you already have.
As fellow creative marketer Jay Acunzo has said, “… when we can embrace our constraints, we begin to scale our work based on results, not theory or trends.”