Insight

Especially in challenging economic times, marketers have a tendency to get defensive. 

This negativity can quickly become pervasive; influencing everything from behaviours and media spend to tone of voice and reporting. 

And it all starts with ROI. 

By nature, ‘return on investment’ is a negative term that encourages a focus on efficiency, leading to lower spend levels and constantly needing to ‘justify’ and ‘prove the value’ of marketing activity. 

Ultimately, this impacts marketing effectiveness and it needs to stop. 

Our comms must become more positive, more joyful and the evidence is there. 

Behavioural psychologist, Nobel prize-winner and self-professed pessimist, Daniel Kahneman, explained how the standard mindset for business people is “mildly pleasant”, meaning B2B buyers are there waiting to be influenced and delighted. 

His work on The Power of Positive Psychology explains that emotional factors make up 70% of economic decision-making. 

Research from Hearst says brand favourability and consideration improve by 18% and 6% respectively among those in a positive mindset. And that 77% of positive people take action after consuming media, compared with just 63% of those less positive. 

And as social proof, it’s said that when pop icon Taylor Swift tours a country there’s a temporary spur in inflation. Swift’s quotes and song lyrics call for us to “Dream impossible things” and remember that “No matter what love throws at you, you have to believe in it”. This positive ethos underpins Swift’s incredibly successful career, having amassed 300m social followers, earned over $1 billion and become the highest-grossing female touring act in history. 

Here’s four ways to embrace positivity in your B2B marketing: 

1. Reframe your marketing department from a cost centre to a profit centre 

Always remember that the role of marketing is to make money, not cost money. So ensure all interactions with execs are framed that way. Accountants see return on investment as a short-term, narrow metric, so present marketing impact as ‘net present value’ (NPV); a more positive take on the value comms has on the entire business. 

2. Surprise & delight your customers 

Creating an emotional connection with your customers is the first step towards genuine loyalty and engagement. Introducing humour comes next, and it’s incredibly under-utilised in B2B. According to a recent study from Oracle, 95% of business leaders fear using humour in their customer interactions, yet 91% of people prefer brands to be funny and 72% would choose a humorous brand over the competition. Make them smile and they’re more likely to keep coming back for more.  

3. Encourage a growth mindset 

Championed by Dr Carol Dweck and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, a growth mindset approach will enable your team to think positively and embrace calculated risk-taking, whilst supporting them with learning and development. As a result, your communications will be more positive and impactful. 

4. Always end on a positive 

Kahneman’s ‘Peak end rule’ states how our memory of an experience is biased to the most extreme point at the end, it’s the reason IKEA feeds children meatballs and ice cream after a trek through the shop.  

So whether it’s an event, keynote speech, LinkedIn ad or even a Rooster Punk blog article: make sure you end on something joyful.