Selling Boring Products

Industrial fans. Cloud storage. Cyber security. These are not the types of purchases that traditionally get a buyer’s heart beating faster and they don’t typically involve blue sky creative marketing concepts.

Marketing businesses of this type, what some might consider boring when compared to more emotion and impulse driven B2C businesses, can be tricky. They don’t typically lend themselves to humorous, delightful or out of the box marketing tactics. But that’s not to say that B2C brands get all the fun. There are some great examples of creative branding and campaigns out there that make B2B companies stand out.

Here are a few of our favorites. Branding. Big -ass fans. It’s always helpful in the B2B space if your company name tells prospective buyers what it is that you do.

A Kentucky based industrial fan distributor decided to do just that in the most literal sense by describing precisely what the company deals in. As you might have guessed, most of the business going through big -ass fans is for really big industrial fans.

While the name may alienate some more conservative buyers, it certainly can’t be disputed that the moniker is very, very memorable. Next time you need a big -ass fan, you’re pretty much guaranteed to remember at least one supplier who specializes in exactly what you’re looking for.

You know the one thing that would be helpful during a zombie apocalypse is an infographic on how to survive it. Sun Guard put together a hilarious infographic that shows just how to make it through the first few days of a zombie outbreak, cleverly drawing comparisons to their cloud -based solutions to the same campaign, worth checking out even if you have a master plan for the apocalypse. Sometimes it helps to tell a story when you’re positioning your brand as a solution provider.

Cisco Systems took that concept one step further by creating a graphic novel to showcase their cybersecurity solutions. What better way to make the customer the superhero of the story than actually making the customer the hero of an original graphic novel?

The campaign is long over and the original art is hard to find now, but this classic campaign remains an excellent inspiration for a brand who is looking to inject some excitement into what they do.

How can your business learn from these ideas? Although it might not be a great idea to change your name out of big -ass fans, there’s certainly room for fun and creativity in the B2B space. It’s just a case of being brave, being bold and understanding that a little bit of whimsy goes a long way when you’re selling boring goods and services. At advancreative, we create memorable marketing campaigns for B2B businesses.

Whether you’re looking for something out of the box or a more traditional and reliable marketing strategy, we are here to help. Contact us today to get a conversation started.