Entitlement: An Important Part of Your B2B Messaging
I recently read that the success of a campaign is based on the target audience’s belief that the issue is important enough to consider, and that the person who is delivering the message is entitled to be doing so. I often write about the many variables involved in how someone develops their beliefs about what is important (such as social perception, personal factors, etc.), but this idea of entitlement interested me, and I wanted to delve a little deeper into the B2B side of it.
Are you entitled? Often, B2B companies will market their product by talking about their Unique Selling Propositions — what makes them better than the competition. And that is important, but why are you entitled to be there? Why are you entitled to relay this knowledge, and for your target audience to be motivated enough to purchase your product or buy into your service?
How so? Perhaps you’ve been in the business for 75 years. Or maybe you’re the largest in your respective field. Whatever the reason, adding why you’re entitled to be there makes perfect sense. If you’re going to tell your target audience something, you should tell also tell them why they should listen (i.e., why they are entitled to be relaying this information).
Own it! So when developing your own B2B positioning and marketing, try to think about what makes you entitled to be there. You may have many benefits over the competition, but is there anything else you can add that speaks to the idea of entitlement? Think about it. Perhaps ask your clients what they think. If you can incorporate entitlement, you may have a better chance of influencing your target audience’s buying behavior.
Vann Morris is the Director of Buying Behavior Studies with the Atlanta B2B advertising agency, MLT Creative. She is a Social and Behavioral Scientist who is currently working on her PhD in Communications, and uses her strong theoretical background in order to show how scientific theory should be used to develop strategy and effective B2B marketing campaigns.
