How Creativity Is a Force Multiplier for B2B Marketing

By Joshua Nite

There’s always been an uneasy truce between creativity and commerce. We accuse financially successful artists of ‘selling out.’ We’re wary of sponsored content and product placement in our favorite TV shows and movies. In general, we think of creativity as an artistic pursuit, unconcerned with the practicalities of the business world. And we think of business as the opposite: Concrete, practical and pragmatic.

But it’s that kind of thinking that leads to astoundingly boring B2B marketing. If we see creativity and business as opposing or unrelated forces, rather than complementary elements, we’re not going to inspire our audience.

Creative B2B marketing isn’t just more fun to create and more fun to consume: It’s directly related to better business results.

Measurable. Business. Results.

And I don’t mean that lightly sprinkling some ‘creativity’ dust on top of a campaign leads to a minor boost. I’m talking about a 10-20x effectiveness multiplier.

Here’s how creativity elevates B2B marketing to win awards AND new customers.

Why creativity is a force multiplier for B2B Marketing

Anecdotally, it’s easy to make a case for creativity. I remember creative ads more clearly than the boring ones. If you engage my emotions—make me laugh, cry, get queasy—I’ll remember your brand. For example, Lamisil’s commercial with the little fungus monster lifting up a toenail and burrowing under it is forever seared into my consciousness.

I’ll spare you an embedded video. Search youtube if you’re morbidly curious.

But we do actually have some hard data to back up the claim. The folks at The B2B Institute at LinkedIn joined forces with a data analysis company called System1 to analyze 1700+ B2B ads. The results: Exceptionally creative ads get 10x the market share compared to the dull or status quo ones.

It’s lovely when the right thing to do (make more creative marketing that inspires, entertains and informs) is also the financially expedient thing to do.

Here’s how we can make that business case for creativity.

Let’s keep it positive: There’s plenty of room for improvement!

I have been thrilled to work during a creative renaissance in B2B marketing. TopRank Marketing has been pushing boundaries with eye-popping comic books, colorful social-first campaigns, and engrossing podcasts.

But as cool as some of these campaigns are, creative campaigns are still more an exception than a norm. The B2B Institute study rated ads on a creativity scale of 1-5 stars.

One half of one percent scored in the 4-5 star range. Over 3/4ths – 77% – scored one star. Those 4-5 star ads saw an average of 2.5% market share growth. The low performers were around .25%.

That’s a 10x difference.

And 99.5% of B2B marketing is missing out.