- July 29, 2014
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B2B Companies Just Wanna Have Fun
If you’re a business-to-business (B2B) marketer, chances are you’re frustrated trying to find examples of other B2B companies pulling off creative integrated marketing campaigns. Somehow, along the evolution of marketing, consumer brands coveted all of the fun, leaving stodgy ideas to B2B companies.
Not anymore. Industrial cleaning equipment company, Tennant Co., decided to wash that concept down the drain, proving that any product, service or market can generate some bold results with creative marketing.
For their clever efforts, Tennant earned a MarketingSherpa award this year because “this global B2B organization infused both humor and imagination to craft a campaign that shifted the culture of its marketing department moving forward.”
Lackluster Marketing Needed a Good Scrubbing
Tennant’s products shine industrial floors and scrub streets clean. “However, its marketing efforts were habitually lackluster,” reported Allison Banko for MarketingSherpa.
As with a lot of companies, its email marketing lacked character — or a reason to read it. As you can see here, the emails were too wordy, bland and void of segmentation tactics.
“There was really no illustration or creativity, other than taking a photo and putting a caption on it,” explained Rachel Youngberg, marketing communications specialist, Tennant. “There was no fun or interactive component to our emails.”
Just Needed an Opportunity to Shine
With the pending market introduction of two pieces of equipment, the T12 Rider Scrubber and the B10 Rider Burnisher, Tennant gained an opportunity to dust off its marketing and dust up some creativity.
To most companies, it would have been good enough that their efforts included a marketing strategy around a product launch. But Tennant wanted to sparkle and devised the “I Wanna Ride” campaign, marketing the two machines around a comical, hard-core biker concept.
Banko reported on each campaign element:
The email featured the imagery of the T12 Rider Scrubber and B10 Rider Burnisher under showroom spotlights and one punchy message: “Hard-Core Riders for Hard Floors.” A single call-to-action via a button labeled “I Wanna Ride” directed customers to the interactive landing page.
The landing page showed an illustration of the two machines, outfitted with flame decals, speeding down a school hallway. Wind whips the operators’ hair. The copy warns, “Don’t be left in the dust.”
The registration form invites customers to learn more about the products or schedule an equipment demonstration.
“We really focused on that single, clear call-to-action and filling out a short form that would go into our lead management system,” Youngberg explained. “We could then pull up that lead and pass it on to sales.”
Now We’re Having Good, Clean Fun
The campaign captured the imagination of Tennant’s audience well. The majority of its customers are male janitors and facility managers older than 30 years old.
The “I Wanna Ride” campaign attained hard-core results:
- 32.5 percent open rate
- 17.1 percent click rate
- 13,884 deliveries
- 20 demonstration requests
“The numbers don’t illustrate another change for Tennant as a result of the campaign. The marketing department experienced a culture shift, focusing on exercising more imagination, creativity and interactivity moving forward,” Banko wrote.
Since the launch of the “I Wanna Ride” concept, Tennant also has created campaign-specific infographics.
Are You Ready to Have Some Fun?
Tennant’s campaign is a great reminder that even B2B companies can have a little fun.
“B2B doesn’t have to just be serious business benefits,” Youngberg said. “We can offer that same information in a more fun way. At the end of the day, these emails are person-to-person and we’re reaching people on a personal level as well as an enterprise level.”
You can implement some of Tennant’s best ideas, summarized here:
- Adopt a strategy before you start the creative process.
- Remember you’re selling to a person. Know your customer demographics and understand their interests outside of work.
- Create a multichannel campaign. Give your audiences reasons to engage.
- Test your ideas, such as the effectiveness of subject lines. (We put together some how-to tips in “The Dime Store Marketer’s Guide to Testing Direct Mail.”
- Humor is appropriate in marketing. (“When Good Ads Boomerang: RadioShack’s ’80s Phone Call” is another piece about using humor in adverting.)
Once you find a winning formula, mix in other elements to the campaign. (If you’re curious about adding infographics to your strategy, as Tennant did, check out “Infographics: Grab Readers’ Eyeballs and Pour Your Story In” for ideas.)