Emotion has moved centre stage in B2B brand building. Some 85.8% of B2B marketers now rate emotional storytelling as an important element of effective brand building, according to Marketing Week's exclusive State of Brand in B2B survey of 300 respondents.

Only one hallmark ranks higher: demonstrating a strong positioning or differentiation, cited by 88% of the sample. Just 1.9% believe having a strong point of differentiation is unimportant.

Broad consensus across seniority levels

The belief in emotional storytelling holds across job titles. More than three quarters of B2B CMOs (78.6%) recognise it as a cornerstone of effective brand building, an opinion shared by most marketing directors (85.1%) and senior managers (89.6%).

Company size makes little difference. Marketers in large companies (250 employees and over) back emotional storytelling at 87.6%, compared with 84.1% in SMEs. Only 3% of the total sample dismiss emotional storytelling as unimportant.

Three quarters of respondents (74.2%) also consider communicating details about product or service quality an important element of brand marketing, while 60.7% see value in projecting an authoritative tone of voice. Just 3.4% and 6.4% respectively consider these unimportant.

Humour divides opinion less than expected. Almost half the sample (46.8%) believe humour helps deliver effective B2B brand building, and only a tenth (10.1%) claim it is not important. CMOs (51.8%) are slightly more likely than marketing directors (44.6%) and senior managers (46.1%) to see humour as a hallmark of effective work.

Differentiation beats authority

The vast majority of CMOs (80.4%), marketing directors (91.9%) and senior managers (90.4%) agree that dialling up a brand's point of differentiation sits at the heart of effective brand marketing. Product or service quality outranks authority across every seniority level: 69.6% of CMOs, 71.6% of marketing directors and 76.5% of senior managers value communicating quality, versus 62.5%, 55.4% and 62.6% respectively for an authoritative tone of voice.

Cutting the data by company size shows broad consistency. Strong differentiation tops the list for both SME marketers (88.4%) and those in large firms (87.6%). Quality communication again outranks authority in both groups: 75.4% of SME marketers and 72.9% in large companies cite it, while projecting authority matters more within SMEs (64.5%) than large firms (56.6%).

Humour shows the greatest variance by company size. Over half of marketers in smaller companies (54.3%) consider comedy important to effective brand work, but less than two-fifths (38.8%) of their peers in larger organisations agree.

Bold creative drives awareness first

The research also suggests B2B marketers are firmly bought into bold creative. Three quarters of the sample (75.7%) believe standout creative drives awareness, while just under half say it drives consideration (46.8%) and builds mental availability (46.4%). More than two-fifths (44.6%) recognise its potential to build trust, and under a third (31.8%) say a message that cuts through can nurture brand love.

CMOs lead on awareness: 80.4% agree bold creative delivers it. These senior leaders are almost twice as likely to credit standout creative with building mental availability (55.4%), driving consideration (53.6%) and building trust (50%) as they are to recognise its ability to foster brand love (28.6%).

Marketing directors follow a similar pattern. Some 78.4% claim bold creative drives awareness and 60.8% recognise its potential to build mental availability. Fewer appreciate that standout campaigns can drive consideration (45.9%), build trust (41.9%) or nurture brand love (32.4%).

Senior managers also prioritise awareness (76.5%). Under half of this cohort credit standout messaging with building trust (42.6%), driving consideration (41.7%) or building mental availability (37.4%). Brand love ranks lowest again, at 32.2%.

By company size, 79% of SME marketers and 72.1% of those in large organisations acknowledge bold creative's role in driving awareness. Half of marketers in bigger businesses (50.4%) say standout campaigns build mental availability, compared with 42.8% in smaller firms. On consideration, the figures are 48.6% for SMEs and 45% for large brands.

Bold creative builds trust, according to 47.3% of marketers in large B2B organisations and 42% of their SME peers. Its ability to nurture brand love is noted by 35.5% of SME marketers and 27.9% of those in big businesses.

Marketing Week will continue reporting from the State of Brand in B2B research over the coming weeks.

Source: Marketing Week (https://www.marketingweek.com/b2b-value-emotional-storytelling/)