Humanising B2B marketing: Why the human touch still wins
Technology has transformed the way we work and connect. It’s given us efficiencies we couldn’t have imagined a decade ago and opened up new possibilities for businesses of every size. But if we’re honest, it’s also left some of us feeling a little… disconnected.
Because when every process is automated, customer conversations are routed through bots, and interactions are reduced to ticket numbers, something important slips away. The human touch.
We’ve seen this before
Technology trends can be circular, like fashion trends. Something shiny and new arrives, and we all rush to embrace it, but the cracks begin to show over time. Just as the world of desire moved from small mobile screens back to bigger, more immersive ones, we’re now shifting away from total automation thanks to a renewed appetite for genuine human connection.
We’ve learnt that technology can be brilliant, but it’s not the whole answer. People still want to feel understood and valued, not just processed – however efficiently.
Balance is everything
In the B2B marketing sphere, we believe in finding the sweet spot where technology and humanity work in harmony.
Let tech do the heavy lifting
Automate, but carefully. Use it to free up time by removing repetitive tasks and lean on its accuracy, scheduling, analysis and reporting strengths. Let it take these things off your plate to create more room for you to focus on the human side of business: creativity, empathy, big-picture thinking. There will be plenty of occasions where a CRM system can issue a templated response, and it will be absolutely fine. However, only a human has the skill to know when a relationship needs a unique reply.
Make time for real-time conversations
Sometimes a quick call or face-to-face meeting achieves more than an entire automated campaign. Generational awareness is critical here; you may need to train and encourage your younger employees to pick up the phone, and it’ll be essential to judge how each member of your high-value target audience likes to communicate. But the principle holds that direct, personal conversation can outperform nurture track programmes by miles.
Stay human
This isn’t about resisting change. It’s about choosing the right moments for a personal touch and making them count. In some ways, this means stepping up your vigilance for such moments and remaining alert for the times when you need to break free from the dictates of a marketing campaign structure to make a tailored move. For example, is your audience swamped with digital marketing to the extent you suspect they’re just deleting it unread? Could you break through this overwhelm with something unexpected, like sending some printed material with a hand-written cover note?
Humanising B2B marketing: What this means for us and for you
At asabell, we know our clients remember more than the results we deliver. They remember how we make them feel, which is why we combine the efficiency of technology with the warmth of human connection.
We stay vigilant and monitor marketing, sales and communication trends as well as the mood of your markets. And, although we use highly performing digital marketing strategies and tools in our campaigns (some of which lean on automation), we always start by asking ourselves how we can best get through to your targets. Sometimes the answer is as simple as helping your sales teams to make opportunities to speak to their customers.
This is how we earn trust. It’s how we help our clients grow. And it’s how we stand out.
If you want to work with a partner who can cut through the noise, tell your story in a way that resonates, and keep the human touch alive in a digital-first world, we would love to talk.
While your company page plays a central role in shaping your social media presence, the real power lies in activating the voices of your people.
When employees regularly share relevant industry news, offer expert commentary and speak authentically about their work, it adds depth, reach and trust to your brand. It also boosts visibility to new audiences - particularly important for scaling businesses looking to stand out in a crowded market.
Yet for many innovative organisations, particularly in fast-moving sectors like cyber security and quantum tech, managing consistent, strategic social activity can quickly fall down the to-do list.
That’s where a focused, low-lift social strategy that supports both company and individual accounts becomes a game-changer.
Take KETS Quantum Security, for example. This award-winning UK startup wanted to boost its credibility and industry profile online while staying focused on its core business. We partnered with KETS to deliver a streamlined, end-to-end LinkedIn strategy that elevated both its company page and employee voices - driving a 214% engagement uplift in just one month.
How the right marketing partner makes all the difference
For businesses operating at scale, a strong online presence isn’t just a nice-to-have - it’s business-critical. And for global organisations working across multiple industries, website overhauls can become an endless process where internal teams struggle to find the time to pin down a web vision, refresh content and turn complex messages into clear calls to action.
Whether you’re looking to refresh your website or build it up again from scratch, it’s important to bring in marketing experts who can help shine a fresh perspective on where your messaging and user journey is working, and where they could work harder.
That’s where the right agency can be a game-changer. A seamless extension of the team, ready to structure messaging, streamline user journeys and create content that speaks to diverse audiences - all while keeping strategy at the core.
In most web projects, early collaboration is key. But with an experienced agency, it’s possible to get a web project on track – or back on track – within weeks. From developing frameworks to guide website transformation, to navigation, messaging hierarchies and web copy – the key is to ensure every step of the online experience is intuitive, engaging and aligned with business priorities.
Keen to find out more about how to develop a site that reflects your organisation’s purpose while actively driving engagement and growth? Take a look at our case study to find out more about how we helped a global organisation redefine its online presence.
Winning an award isn’t just about gaining customer and industry recognition; it’s a strategic move that can boost your business in many ways. Whether you want to attract more customers, strengthen your brand or boost team morale, an award win delivers measurable benefits. Here’s why entering - and winning - business awards should be part of your growth strategy:
1. Boost sales and revenue
Awards don’t just look good on your website; they directly impact your bottom line. Businesses that win awards see an average 39% increase in sales, while SMEs have reported a 63% rise in income compared to non-award winners. That’s a serious return on investment.
2. Stand out and build trust
In a competitive market, credibility is everything; 80% of consumers prefer to purchase from ‘award-winning’ businesses, proving that an accolade can be the deciding factor when potential customers are choosing between you and a competitor.
3. Increase brand visibility and recognition
Winning an award gets people talking; 68% of businesses report better brand recognition after receiving an award. This helps you gain traction in your industry and opens new opportunities for partnerships and press coverage.
4. Motivate and retain employees
Your team’s hard work deserves recognition, and awards can be a powerful tool for boosting morale. With 84% of employees saying recognition affects their motivation to succeed, an award win doesn’t just reward your business - it energises your workforce, too.
5. Gain a competitive edge
An award sets you apart from the competition, reinforcing your reputation as a leader in your field. Whether you’re looking to attract clients, investors or top talent, being an award-winning business makes your brand more appealing to those who matter most. That's why SMEs note a 63% rise in income when compared to non-award winners.
Want to see your business take home the trophy? We can help you craft compelling award entries that maximise your chances of success.
Like many other industries, content marketing has frenetic times and quiet lulls – and December is often quiet. Campaigns are winding down as audiences focus on Christmas, the financial year may be ending, and everyone’s attention may drift a little.
Although it’s human to push back and take it easy in December, it’s also a clever time to do some thinking to get ahead for 2025 – to review, revisit and check you’re on course to stay on top of your game into the new year. Campaign activity for early 2025 is probably nailed down – but is it optimised for how prospects will think, feel and react in the new year?
This is where we come in. Here are some quick points that, if tackled now, could help your 2025 content marketing activity run smoothly and hit targets rapidly.
There’s no time like the present… to talk about what matters to your customers
How well does what you want to talk about fit with your audiences’ concerns?
You’ll have mapped out the next quarter’s strategy, but does it make sense in light of the trends likely to affect your audiences? There are a lot of predictive views on 2025 around right now, and some valuable market-leader insights and research available.
But dry facts don’t give the full picture of how audiences will react. As a content marketing agency, our success depends upon creating content that mixes a deep understanding of the audience’s operating environment and human factors. We fine-tune and freshen messaging to capture productive attention.
Contact us to explore the best approach to audience engagement in 2025.
There’s no time like the present… to find your customers where they are
Do the comms channels you’re planning to use work for your audiences?
It’s easy to get caught in a cycle of repeating what appears to work – without giving enough consideration to trend shifts, viewer fatigue and ever-shrinking attention spans. Video, for example, has delivered excellent results in 2024. It’s proved incredibly effective on social media, as longer webinar-style thought-leadership discussions and general campaign promotion.
You could carry on as you are into 2025, or you could get an external view on your plans to see if there’s anything you could try to get even better results.
We’ve spent 2024 experimenting with video: let’s chat through the possibilities.
There’s no time like the present… to get ready to talk with authority
Is your thought leadership ready to stake a claim in 2025?
You’ll have 2025’s direction sorted, but do you have the thought leadership content ready to help your content cut through the clamour of ‘new year, renewed activity’ messaging from your competitors? It’s notoriously hard to get time in the diary of the C-suite and senior leadership. Yet, they may also be susceptible to the December lull, making it an excellent opportunity to capture their views to use in Q1 campaigns.
We’re experts in planning and conducting interviews with senior management, turning them into compelling thought leadership content. If you can secure the time in their diary, we can rapidly translate that into meaningful inputs. Let’s talk.
There’s no time like the present… to make sure you talk so your audience listens
Is your tone of voice pitch-perfect?
It’s so easy to get your communications wrong when a single, off-tone phrase can shut down a sales opportunity. The turn of the year is full of ‘break out’ words (demure, manifest, brat…) that don’t seem immediately relevant to the business sphere, but they flag that language, buzz-words and cut-through communication terms change.
Is it time that ‘innovative’ and ‘market-leading’ are retired because they’ve lost impact? What might work better? We craft written communications day in and day out, and we’re across the language that will drive action into the new year. Get in touch, and we’ll talk you through it.
There’s no time like the present… to squeeze value from what you’ve got
What content have you got that you can re-purpose for 2025?
Budgets are tight, particularly for content marketing. It’s wise and realistic to work with this rather than fighting against it. Your organisation probably has a wealth of existing content that can be repurposed to 2025’s requirements at a relatively low cost.
Now you’ve done the planning for January and February, December is the ideal time to review this content and refresh what you’ve got, ready to push it out in 2025 to augment your new material.
We have a strong track record of taking existing, valuable content and ‘topping, tailing and refreshing’ it with future-focused messaging. Ask us how.
There’s no time like the present… to get your technology tone right
Are your planned 2025 technology messages going to land right?
It’s likely you’ll be talking tech in the new year, but it’s far from a generic task. Customers are increasingly sophisticated and have a growing knowledge of technological intricacies. However, there’s a distinct danger that technology companies assume or misread what their target audiences understand. Are you close enough to your customers’ thinking?
Talking technology and making complex messages simple is what we do. Get in touch, and we can compare notes to find the best way forward for your organisation.
Think like a scout; be prepared for 2025
Our purpose is to be the source of fresh ideas behind your content campaigns – whether they are yet to be formulated or have a structure that can be refined.
Get in touch for a chat with one of our experienced project directors to scope out the possibilities with no obligation.
It’s an unfortunate fact of life that your target audiences are bombarded with content trying to persuade them to buy – and it’s tough to cut through with your offering.
Headlines using overused words like ‘innovative’, ‘ground-breaking’, ‘revolutionary’ and ‘game-changing’ can wash over potential clients.
An effective alternative hook is crafting content that links your message with market events or interesting breakthroughs. This approach is variable, relevant, and much more likely to get your target audience to notice and read further.
Last month’s Cyber Awareness Month is an excellent example of an effective ‘in’. Although not everyone might be aware of it, a simple reference to the importance of internet security or cyber attacks is enough to get attention because it’s widely relevant on a personal level. It’s then simple to broaden it out to how it can affect companies – and you’re in.
In every industry, there are events relevant to customers or thought leaders that have said something striking that can be quoted and shared more widely. If you keep your finger on the pulse and look for relevant commentary, you’ll have a continual stream of effective openers.
If you’re searching for openers along these lines, consider identifying the leaders in your industry, people who have influence and gravitas. For example, in October’s Cyber Awareness Month, quotes from the National Cyber Security Centre can hit hard. They’re less likely to be queried or considered biased and can be a ‘soft’ in.
We help clients avoid over-used and trite words every day, crafting content that hits hard and gets your message across. For many clients, we assess their industry’s events calendar and use key times to create effective hooks for their content.
Why not give us a call or a message to get our take on how your industry’s calendar landmarks can become client attention attractors?
October is Cyber Security Awareness Month, a time when businesses across all industry sectors are reminded of the critical need to safeguard their digital assets. This is particularly true for technology and cyber security companies as they are dealing with an ever-evolving landscape of cyber threats and regulatory challenges.
But while Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) are working around the clock to support and defend their clients’ digital infrastructure, another great threat to business growth is finding the time to promote their own expertise.
Growing challenges in cyber security
Cyber threats are evolving rapidly, and tech companies are continually battling against new and more advanced forms of attack. From ransomware and sophisticated bots to advanced phishing schemes, organisations must stay one step ahead of current threats while preparing for those still on the horizon.
AI is an especially powerful tool in the hands of cyber criminals. It enables hackers to identify and exploit vulnerabilities at an unprecedented speed, making it more challenging for tech professionals to counter and adapt cyber security measures at pace.
In addition to these direct threats, cyber security companies are having to navigate an increasingly complex regulatory environment. Compliance with standards like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Network and Information Systems (NIS) Directive require constant vigilance. Data Protection Impact Assessments (DPIAs), policy development, training and incident response planning are just some of the essential safeguards that must be in place to avoid the significant risks of non-compliance.
Finding time to build your brand and grow your business
In this demanding environment, cyber security and tech experts often struggle to find the time to promote their company and services and differentiate themselves from their competitors. SMEs are focused on using their technical expertise to protect clients from cyber threats, leaving little time for marketing. Efforts to highlight the company’s strengths and achievements often take a back seat, and valuable insights go unnoticed, making it difficult to attract new clients.
While you’re busy helping your clients, we can help you with the clients you haven’t met yet
While you’re busy safeguarding your clients, we can help you reach new ones. With years of experience partnering with technology and cyber security organisations, we understand the nuances of your industry and the challenges you face.
We know that your SMEs have valuable insights, but time is scarce. That’s why we’ve developed a streamlined process to extract their expertise in a quick, 30-minute call and turn it into compelling content.
We specialise in translating complex technical topics into engaging content that resonates with your target audience. We know how to talk tech and be listened to.
Whether it’s a blog post, white paper, case study, or thought leadership article, we can help you build a content strategy that positions you as a trusted expert, showcases your expertise and helps you stand out in the marketplace.
Cyber Security Awareness Month is the time to build awareness for your brand
With Cyber Security Awareness Month coming to a close, now is the perfect time to build awareness for your brand and show prospective clients why they should trust you to protect their digital assets.
Contact us today to learn how we can help you create content that reflects your expertise and builds your authority. Check out our case studies to see how we've helped businesses like yours succeed and browse through examples of our white papers and articles to see the value of well-crafted, thought leadership based content.
Calls to action (CTAs) take up a tiny amount of time, money and space, yet punch well above their weight – improving conversion rates by up to 30%.
A great CTA gets readers clicking and will seriously increase your overall conversion rate.
It’s a quick, easy, and cost-effective way to convince your audience to do something: whether that be clicking a link or downloading a file. By writing great CTAs, you can re-generate older content in minutes and make sure your new stuff is irresistible to readers.
Here’s how to write a great call to action:
Make it actionable and personable
Imperatives and the second-person are your friend. Get customers’ attention by using ‘you’. And make it clear what they should do with imperative verbs (the bossy ones) — think ‘download this’, ‘click that’, ‘get it?’.
Motivate them to act
Give your reader a reason to act. They’re asking ‘what’s in it for me?’, so it’s important you tell them clearly. ‘Download something’ would be a less motivating CTA than, for example, ‘Downloading this will make your job easier’.
Keep it consistent
Whatever your CTA refers to, give the offer/proposition a name and stick to it. If you call it a download on your landing page, call it a download in your blog, and in all CTAs. Otherwise people either get confused or don’t trust you. Either way, they’re not clicking on your link.
Make it urgent, now
We’re all busy, so you need to make the most of people’s desire to get things done quickly. The internet, after all, is hardly a place for thoughtful contemplation. The word ‘now’ is your friend.
Stand out
Websites that are consistent and well designed, encourage trust. But it’s important that CTA buttons also stand out. So make it pop (and look clickable). Buttons are stereotypically red for a reason.
Test them out
Not sure if your CTA has what it takes? Ask your audience. A/B test multiple CTAs to find the one with the best engagement.
As you can see, these steps are pretty simple. They’re also inexpensive and can be done straight away. So don’t be deceived by their size, CTAs are powerful little things.
Click now for even more conversion tips – (see what we did there!?).
In B2B marketing, analysing your competitors’ content can uncover valuable insights to help inspire new ideas, highlight opportunities for differentiation and steer your content strategy in the right direction. It's a great way to make sure your efforts are on track and set up for success.
Here’s how to do a competitor analysis swiftly and accurately in four simple steps:
1. Make a list of your main competitors
The foundation of your competitor analysis is identifying your serious competition, in two stages. First, make a list of your direct competitors; businesses that offer similar products or services to you. Then, expand your list to include any indirect competitors; those who offer different products to you but target the same audience or fulfil a similar need. Consider, as well, any websites that consistently publish content relevant to your industry. These sites can compete for your audience’s attention, so it’s important to track their content and messaging.
2. Seek out any content gaps
Having identified your competitors, delve into their content to see what topics they cover and, more importantly, what influential areas their coverage misses. You’re on the lookout for subjects that are underrepresented or not covered at all, yet are highly relevant to your audience. These gaps become prime opportunities for you to create motivating content to address unmet needs while positioning your brand as a valuable resource. Analyse the formats and depth of their content, too, and consider deploying different formats for greater standout.
3. Evaluate competitors’ content quality and engagement
Evaluating content quality and engagement involves assessing the depth, accuracy and presentation of your competitors' content. Look at how well they cover topics and whether their content is informative, engaging and visually appealing.
Equally important is analysing their audience engagement by measuring likes, shares, comments and other interactions to gauge what resonates with their (and potentially your) audience. Identify their top-performing content to understand what drives engagement and why, and also analyse underperforming content to learn why certain pieces fail to engage and learn what to avoid from that. The result will be a better grasp of any areas where your content could improve in quality and deeper insight into how you could boost engagement.
4. Plan to do it better
The final step is to pull all this knowledge together and make a plan. If you're going to cover the same topics, make sure you do it better by offering more detail, presenting it more clearly or adding more valuable and influential expertise. This will help you increase the effectiveness of your content, improve your SEO and increase your engagement, delivering a content strategy that’s more effective and competitive.
Let’s get started
At asabell, we specialise in conducting thorough competitor analyses to help you stay ahead of the game. Our team is dedicated to uncovering valuable insights and crafting strategies that give you a competitive edge. Get in touch with us today to learn how we can enhance your content marketing efforts.
In B2C marketing it seems like you can’t turn around without falling into a persona workshop. Hours and hours are spent on constructing detailed personalities for customer segments with names, hobbies and life ambitions.
But B2B is a different field, so can personas have any value in the B2B sphere?
B2C and B2B are worlds apart
Since many B2C companies or divisions offer goods and services to an extremely fragmented audience, personas are an effective way to bring some focus to the largest groups they’re targeting.
But over in the B2B world, segmentation takes a different form, splitting audiences according to the broader factors around job roles and industry. This isn’t an absolute that applies in every instance; individual job specifications and the challenges of organisations within an industry will vary to some extent. However, this approach is a simple and easily applied route to kick off thinking about the requirements of different groups.
Effective B2B segmentation can accelerate planning
As a result, planning a campaign from a job role and industry position perspective can provide an effective framework for formulating marketing messaging quickly. At the core of this approach is establishing the pain points and challenges that the typical job-role holder faces within their specific remit, as well as the more wide-ranging challenges the organisation is up against. These organisational challenges are often closely linked to what’s currently going on in the relevant industry, combined with some that are specific to the organisation’s ambitions and standing.
In some cases, it will make sense to group job roles. For example, there will be broad issues that apply to the whole C-suite, or challenges that will have an impact across the IT, legal and compliance teams.
Also, it’s always valuable to look at segmentations used in previous campaigns to get a feel for what worked well and what wasn’t as successful. Talking to those in customer-facing roles can provide useful insight into how organisations in the sector are currently structuring their functions, so you can be sure your campaign is reflecting the most up-to-date segmentations.
Getting B2B segmentation right pays off
A robust and accurate segmentation framework sets your campaign up to unlock a wide range of benefits, including:
- Enhanced personalisation through tailored messaging to achieve improved engagement.
- Increased conversion rates as a result of targeted approaches and directly relevant messaging and offers.
- Better campaign returns via a focus on higher-value segments, enabling budget optimisation.
- Strengthened customer relationships thanks to relevant interactions offering clear benefits.
- Competitive advantage achieved by building a reputation for a deep understanding of the target audience, together with approaches unique to that audience, giving an edge in the market.
At asabell, we frequently use segmentation tailored to each client’s market as the foundation of campaign planning. We’ve developed significant expertise in using this approach to deliver swift and accurate targeted messaging and add extra value through our experience of transferring segmentation learning from one sector to another.