Why is B2B marketing so emotional?

B2B marketing is often relegated to the world of “boring”. We’ve forgotten that B2B decision-makers are human beings making emotive decisions … and when the stakes include your professional reputation and multimillion-rand investments, emotions can run higher than you’d think.

The opportunity to personalise — the ability to resonate on a personal level with prospects to build meaningful brand experiences and loyalty — is a hot topic in B2C marketing right now. However, we’ve been using personalisation for decades in B2B marketing. This is because when someone is putting their career and millions on the line — not to mention often taking a regulatory risk — emotional connection is critical to get a deal done.

B2B marketing is the ultimate exercise in trust; when done well, it’s B2H — business to human — sharply focused not on millions or hundreds of thousands of prospects, but on 100, 50 or even just one prospect whose decision-making power is weighty. The deals won on the golf course — even if today’s golf course is a padel court — are not a thing of the past. People trust people; that’s a human truth that’s never going to change.

Vivian Ngalo, head of marketing and communications at Glacier by Sanlam, says: “The biggest misconception about B2B marketing is that it should be purely rational and transactional. Many believe decision-makers only care about data, pricing and product specs, but emotions play a critical role — trust, risk aversion and professional credibility all influence choices. B2B buyers seek partners who understand their challenges, not just providers of solutions. Impactful B2B marketing must blend expertise with storytelling and credibility with connection.”

Earning trust isn’t just about creating emotional connection; you also need to resonate with prospects through shared values. Values — fundamental beliefs or ideals that guide our decisions — help us assess if, regardless of changing political and economic landscapes, a brand and/or individual is likely to deliver the product, service and support we seek. Will they help me solve an operational crisis at midnight? Will they join me in the boardroom to explain a bad outcome to my exco? Will they be there beyond the signing of the deal?

Values cannot be embodied by a faceless organisation; they are embodied by the CEO, CMO, CTO, CFO or BDM who we meet on the golf course or padel court; when our kids play on the same sports team; or at networking events and industry conferences. Which means that digital B2B marketing alone, or even a good product alone, is not going to cut it.

For Glacier, a financial services company working primarily with intermediaries to distribute its products, values and relationship-led support are key. “Intermediaries don’t just buy products; they seek partners who align with their values, understand their challenges and support their success,” says Ngalo. “That’s why our marketing approach blends technical excellence with emotional resonance — highlighting not just what we offer, but why it matters and how it empowers intermediaries to create better financial futures for their clients. Winning hearts and minds isn’t about choosing between logic and emotion; it’s about integrating both to build lasting, trusted relationships.”

Hand in hand with this, I am increasingly advising clients to ensure they have a healthy dose of “traditional” marketing tactics in their B2B armoury, coupled with a clear account-based marketing strategy. This is about becoming hyper-focused on the prospects who can shift the needle — and meeting them where their head and heart connect. For example, I’ve worked with clients to identify the school sports teams they should sponsor, because their prospect’s children attend that school and they’re there, shouting from the sidelines every Saturday morning. It’s a richer engagement than yet another e-mail in their inbox.

Another good example is sending key CEOs videos of their employees trying to shop for groceries on their projected retirement budgets, illustrating how woefully ill-equipped they are simply to survive and then offering tailored corporate retirement solutions to solve this for their people. It hits at the heartstrings, it’s personalised and it works.

The good news for marketers is that an emotional buying cycle presents a rich array of opportunities to connect with your prospect — even if it might be a complex matrix to navigate. It’s often impossible for a marketing team to tap into each of these moments correctly by themselves; the most successful B2B marketing teams engage in a well-choreographed dance with their sales and product colleagues, often working in “hubs” or “sprint teams” focused on key prospects and their lifetime potential as opposed to dividing up the sales funnel and tackling the various stages in silos.

It takes this close partnership across a business to effectively jump onto the many emotional aspects of a buying cycle. For Ngalo, some of the most present emotions include:

• “Trust and confidence — decision-makers need to feel assured they’re choosing a reliable, credible partner who will support them and their clients over the long term.
• “Responsibility and accountability — decision-makers don’t just make choices for themselves; they are accountable to their clients, their firms and regulatory bodies. They need to feel supported in their decision-making with clear, data-driven insights and robust due diligence frameworks.
• “Hope and optimism — while risk is ever-present, decision-makers are also looking for growth, innovation and opportunities to serve their clients better. Marketers should tap into this by positioning their offerings as enablers of success, helping unlock new value for their clients.”

Being able to tag-team marketing efforts with a personal phone call or bespoke proposal offer, an invitation to an event or simply drinks at the right time for each individual prospect — who infuriatingly each follow their own unique journey through buying! — requires a cohesive marketing and sales effort.

B2B marketing is a complex, exciting and sometimes frustrating untangling of people and emotions that, when done well, is marketing at its best: steeped in personalisation, focused on resonance and emotional connection, and a well-co-ordinated pas de deux with key business functions.

Sarah Browning-de Villiers is the chief content officer at B2B agency Machine.

The big take-out: B2B marketing is a complex, exciting and sometimes frustrating untangling of people and emotions that, when done well, is marketing at its best: steeped in personalisation, focused on resonance and emotional connection, and a well-co-ordinated pas de deux with key business functions.