There is a challenge I often see among high-complexity B2B brands: when you’ve spent years (and thousands of pounds) developing a product that solves a genuinely difficult problem, the temptation is to talk about the difficulty of the solution rather than the simplicity of the result.
Brands can have the tendency to towards trying to sound ‘sophisticated’ in order to reflect all that internal hard work that has gone into developing the product. But the risk here is that when you try too hard, you’re actually being invisible to target market because when they don’t understand what you’re saying, you alienate your potential customers.
Most technical teams are sitting too close to the engine. They assume the customer is standing right there in with them, looking at the same gears.
I recently worked with a client in a highly specialist sector. Their lead messaging was packed with technical innovations, the kind that sounds impressive to engineers. But putting myself in the shoes of the potential buyer, I was left with one nagging thought: ‘But why?’
When translating your complex B2B product to the target audience, ‘But why?’ is going to be your most powerful strategic tool. For example:
When you turn the ‘how’ into the ‘why,’ the messaging gets simplified. You aren't ‘dumbing it down’, instead you’re making your product relevant to the customer.
Founding teams often worry that simplifying their language will sound patronising to a specialist audience. I disagree: Even a PhD-level engineer is a human who is tired, busy, and likely reading your website on a phone between meetings.
I always ask: Would a 12-year-old understand the value of what you do? They don’t need to understand the code, but they should understand the outcome. Using plain English will help make the most complicated of concepts more understandable.
There’s a persistent fear in B2B that if you aren't using ‘business-speak,’ you won't be taken seriously. We’ve all seen the websites filled with ‘leveraging value’ and ‘synergistic ecosystems.’ Unfortunately, these are ‘nothing’ words. Sophisticated language doesn’t sell, it’s clarity that’s more important here.
I always think that B2B marketing can learn a lot from B2C. You aren't selling to a faceless PLC, you’re selling to Sarah in Procurement or David the CTO. They buy for the same reasons anyone else does. They want to solve a problem, look good to their boss and go home on time. Jargon just creates a barrier to that connection.
It’s natural to be proud of your tech. If you built it, you’ve probably lived it day and night for months if not years. But a customer isn't going to give you a pat on the back for a fancy feature list, no matter how much work you put into it. All they want to know is how you’re going to make their life easier.
To move from Features to Benefits, I tend to use a simple framework. We list out the technical spec (feature), then we hunt for the rational and emotional benefits.
If you have 15 different products for 10 different industries, your website runs the risk of looking overloaded. As soon as a prospect lands on your page and feels overwhelmed, you’ve lost them to a competitor.
The gateway product logic
In a complex suite of products, it’s not likely that every product is an entry point.
Plus, structuring your website by use case or industry is almost always better than leading with the product list. When you put the customer’s problem and how you can solve it at the centre, the product maze suddenly becomes a clear path.
When an industry is full of PhDs, ‘human’ marketing can be dismissed as ‘fluff.’ I would say it’s quite the opposite, it’s actually a competitive advantage. If everyone else in your sector sounds like a dry text book, the brand that sounds like a person is the one that gets remembered.
Imagine your company is being featured in a Sunday paper magazine or on the BBC website. You have to explain what you do to someone who has nothing to do with your industry and you have to make them care.
Injecting personality doesn't mean that you always have to be humorous, or be your customer’s ’best mate’. It means showing the real faces behind the tech.
Get your senior specialists on LinkedIn talking about the problems they solve, not just the products they sell and get them to showcase the ‘why’ behind their passion for the industry.
Complexity is a product feature, but can very easily become marketing failure. My job as a fractional marketing director is to take that beautiful mess of technical brilliance and turn it into a storefront that people actually want to walk into. Find out more about my fractional marketing services or get in touch here.
" Are you ready to bring in a fractional marketing director for your B2B company? From ongoing support to one-off projects, strategy to delivery, harness marketing expertise at a fraction of the cost of an employee."
- Georgina Willison, Fractional Marketing Director, Marwhal.
