The 12 Best B2B Marketing Campaigns [+ What You Can Learn From Them] (2023)

Are you working on a marketing campaign that will blow your audience away, but don't know how to go about it?

It's okay to feel uninspired. We all have those days.

Fortunately, a little inspiration can go a long way and get your brain's creative gears turning. We reached out to experts and asked them to share the most creative B2B marketing campaign they've seen and why their chosen campaigns are so effective.

But before that, let's cover what matters most when it comes to creating successful B2B marketing campaigns.

proceed.

The most important elements of a marketing campaign

At the beginning, we asked survey participants to vote on the most important marketing elements.

Three elements emerged as winners: message, positioning and voice/tone.

Let's look at each campaign element individually.

The campaign message is the most important element

Based on the responses we received, messaging was cited as the most important factor in creating a great B2B marketing campaign (4.5 out of 5 rating).

The messages are pretty self-explanatory. It's the message you want to share with the world. Want to tell your target customers that starting your own business is easy? tell them Want to send a message that project management is easy with your software? Go ahead and send it.

The positioning of the company is also crucial

The second most important element for B2B marketing campaigns (rated 4.4 out of 5) is your company's unique USP or selling proposition. In other words, it's what sets you apart from the rest of the competition.

For example, Zappos has a reputation for excellent customer service. This sets them apart from others in their industry.

What is your unique positioning? Ease of use? Friendly staff? Whatever it is, write it down and feature it in your B2B marketing campaign.

Consider your campaign voice/tone

Our respondents also agree that language/sound is almost as important (4.3 out of 5 rating) to the success of your marketing campaign.

In addition to helping to show the human side of your business, a unique voice helps you stand out and leaves an unforgettable impression on your audience.

Once you've found your voice, be sure to script your campaign with that voice.

Your campaign needs to pull some emotional threads

We also asked about the importance of making an emotional impact with your campaign. It turns out that making an emotional impact is important (rated 4.05 out of 5).

Why? Because deep down we are all emotional beings and whether we like it or not,Emotions play a crucial role in decision-making.

The medium you choose is just as important.

Likewise, the marketing channels you use to publicize your campaign are of great importance. Marketers in our survey give equal importance (4.05 out of 5) to emotional impact when it comes to the success of a B2B marketing campaign.

Visuals communicate your message quickly

Not to forget, visuals always play an important role in marketing (3.9 out of 5). Strong images get your message across quickly, so it's a good idea to pay close attention to how your campaign looks.

And don't forget a solid campaign slogan.

After all, according to our marketing experts, your marketing campaign tagline falls between “least crucial” and “most important” (rated 3.45 out of 5). While it plays a medium to important role, it's also something to consider when creating your B2B campaign.

The Most Creative B2B Marketing Campaigns

Now that you know what elements make a great marketing campaign, it's time to look at some of the best B2B campaigns that highlight these elements.

1. At IBM, every second counts

First on this list of the best marketing campaigns is the IBM campaign.

reliableLucas Robinson comments, “[This campaign's] mixed media approach helps drive users to your landing page and also gives the customer a more interesting persona to browse and interact with. The films were really moving for the campaign and something different from the usual format.”

The take home message? As Robinson points out, "Using more than just images helps the audience experience a campaign in a very engaging way, and social media is a great way to target content."

2. Drifting employee campaign

“Singling out individuals humanizes the roles in the organization and ensures that clients see each role in the organization as one person working there with face and life, rather than just seeing the organization as one,” notes Ethan Taub ofdebts.

The lesson learned is simple: “If you want to put people at the center of your business, make sure they are in every piece of your content,” describes Taub. "If they're at the forefront of every campaign, customers know they'll always be remembered."

3. WeWork Video Campaign

Thomas shinesSmallbizdailywelcomes WeWork's video campaigns. Glare writes, “This is a creative company and their recent campaign is a great example of how to get the most out of your video investment.

“For small businesses looking to increase their office space, this company has created a series of 30-second videos. Videos can be truncated to 15 or even 6 seconds and still get the message across, which is proving to be a good use for this marketing campaign.”

take it off? "For B2B and B2C marketing campaigns, video is a must for any brand," says Glare. And, of course, it's important to get your message across in as little time as possible, just as WeWork videos get their message across even when truncated to six seconds.

4. Shopify Makes You a Business Campaign

This campaign “helps everyone to believe that they can have their own business. And with the company's help, you can grow your business and prosper," he notes.Daniel FoleyThe campaign "helps business owners show they can do better without too much effort - it's just a matter of using the right platform," adds Foley.

Brand24Mike Sadowski also notes, “Shopify targeted potential new business owners and decided to spread their message across multiple channels. They used internet advertising, television advertising, billboards and other media.”

“What they wanted to achieve,” continues Sadowski, “is for their advertising to be visible in all spheres of everyday life. Whether walking, driving, watching TV with the family or surfing the internet alone; They wanted their message to stay in your mind.”

In short, Aaron McWilliams out1 dentecalls Shopify's campaign "one of the most creative B2B marketing campaigns I've seen."

By using different marketing channels to get your message across to new and small business owners, McWilliams notes that "the idea has been established that Shopify is a place for entrepreneurs to bring their business ideas to life."

For marketers, the Let's Make You A Business campaign leaves us with a few snippets of knowledge, including:

• “Positioning is the most important aspect of a campaign. Differentiating yourself from the competition and demonstrating the value you offer over other companies will lead to an effective campaign.” – Aaron McWilliams.
• “Establish a relationship with your customers and make them believe they can be more successful with your business. Put your customer at the forefront of the campaign and help them stay motivated.” —Daniel Foley.
• “By advertising on many channels, chances are someone will choose Shopify when they finally decide to start a business. Because of his presence, people would cling to what they already knew. So the bottom line is that you must use many channels for your marketing efforts.” – Mike Sadowski

5. SuperSmart Security Graphic Novel da Cisco

Those ones

"In terms of the most creative B2B campaign, the winner for me is Cisco," comments Jack Zmudzinski offuture processing.

“I'm a Senior Associate at Future Processing and I'm constantly A/B testing our marketing campaigns to see what works best. Through trial and error, I've come to the conclusion that these are strong messages that resonate with potential customers, closely followed by positioning and reputation.”

And when it comes to all of the leads on Zmudzinski's list, Cisco's campaign delivers on them all, leaving us with an interesting look at how boring information can be creatively presented.

In the words of Zmudzinski: “To educate people about cybersecurity, Cisco abandoned the idea of ​​a dry but informative campaign and instead produced a comic book – complete with a superhero. Honestly, it really doesn't get much better than this!

6. Google Comics About Google Chrome Launch

Those ones

Von Anu RamaniIsolated Communicationsays, “This comic was great content that developed highly complex concepts in simple, accessible terms. Beautifully detailed, perfectly tuned, and answers all the important questions developers might have about the browser.”

“Tech B2B doesn't have to be just about words on a page!” as Ramani puts it. "Don't be afraid to explore diverse and creative mediums in your work."

7. Campanha "Get Optimistic" da Xerox

Those ones

WillingFrancois-Louis Mommens shares this old campaign as one of the best marketing campaigns.

Mommens observes, “Xerox opted for very targeted advertising. It all started with emails sent twice a week, divided by sector. These emails would then be sent to websites related to your industry.”

“So Xerox partnered with Forbesto to create their own publishing platform called Chief Optimist. They didn't want to target just managers, but all employees involved in decision-making. I believe it was so successful because of its unique marketing approach. Also, the personal touch in advertising is a great practice.

"The most important takeaway from all of this is to keep things personal in your campaigns," concludes Mommens. “People appreciate it because it shows you care about them and want to help them grow by providing useful content about the industry.

In addition to keeping emails personal, Xerox launched an entire magazine focused on specific needs. In addition, Xerox has decided to hold seminars in the United States to further promote itself.”

8. Monday.com's short explainer video

This ad is a suggestion by David Cusickhomemade method. The reason for this is simple: "Monday.com's ad is visually appealing and clearly demonstrates what it can do to help companies manage their workflows and project management more efficiently."

Simply put, "A business owner looking at it can easily imagine how their business is using the app."

This leaves us with an important message: “The effective use of visuals can make a simple campaign yet powerful and effective in capturing the attention of a target audience”, summarizes Cusick.

9. Mockumentary video from Slack with Sandwich, Inc.

"The most creative B2B marketing campaign I've seen is the Slack mockumentary video featuring Sandwich, Inc." says Naveed Ahmer ofHR card.

“Sandwich, Inc. isVideo Creation Agencythese are Slack customers. The video showed Sandwich's journey from not using Slack to using Slack.” The best part? “It was explained how they bundled various communication channels across the organization into one platform. The video was funny and sarcastic and didn't bore the viewers."

So what's the message here? Experience an engaging video case study.

As Ahmer says, “The video was a real case study and also from the customer's perspective, which added legitimacy and made the app seem more real and useful. They strategically identified challenges that companies often don't even recognize and how to solve them."

10. Hey Marketing Campaign (a new email product developed by the Basecamp founders)

Those ones

best suggestionsPetra Odak says, “It's really hard to be provocative these days, but [Hey] managed to do it and get the attention of the entire SaaS community around the world. Her promise to finally “solve” the email and get rid of spam once and for all.”

In short, Odak shares, “They just created a landing page with really good copy and a sign-up form — and that was all it took. The media picked up on the story and it spread like wildfire in just a few days.” And that's what you should aim for if you want to replicate the success of Hey's campaign.

11. Podcasts da Sweet Fish Media

"The most creative B2B marketing campaign I've seen is how Sweet Fish Media, a podcast company, structures their podcasts to market to other companies in their target market," comments Stacy da Capriogrowth marketing.

“One way to structure your podcast campaign to get more B2B customers is to invite your ideal customers to the podcast,” explains Caprio.

“This allows them to be a vehicle for attracting customers. Even if they don't get a lot of listeners, they can still speak directly to their ideal customers, inviting them to talk about the podcast, which makes the campaign incredibly effective."

Would you like to try this marketing approach?

Caprio sums it up in one solid lesson: “Learn how to target exactly who they want to buy from you in your campaigns. If your targeting is very specific and precise, you don't need to have hundreds of thousands of website visits or campaign views to drive sales and revenue."

12. Oracle's "Digital Bank of the Future" research campaign

The campaign "resulted in more than 350,000 new leads for Oracle and projected revenue of $28 million," recalls Jim Pendergast ofaltLINE Sobanco.

Pendergast explains what made it so effective. “Oracle worked with B2B marketing giant MOI Global to put together a multi-channel lead generation campaign that worked well on two fronts:

“First, it offered not one, but two cohesive and incredibly detailed accounts of the disconnect between banks and the modern consumer. Even better, the reports came with a benchmarking survey for the public to review their own banking processes and see how well they are meeting today's digital consumer needs.

“Following this benchmarking survey, participants were able to enroll in Oracle-sponsored tutorials and bootcamps. This made the reports even more engaging and useful as you can bring insights into the real world to make real improvements at your bank or financial institution.”

The moral of this marketing campaign story? "The key message is that audiences still respond to gated content," Pendergast writes. “But you get real lead generation when you give prospects something tangible to do as soon as it's in their hands or on their screens. Few organizations go beyond just publishing these static reports and white papers.”

close thoughts

From leveraging different marketing channels to crafting a message that is visually striking and resonates with your audience, there's a lot you can do to make your B2B marketing campaign a success.

Start by understanding your audience and their pain points, then find a creative campaign format that captures their attention. Remember: your message, positioning and voice/tone are the important elements. So don't forget to make them a priority.