B2B marketing can be a slower burn versus the more transactional quick wins of direct-to-consumer promotions. It requires the nurturing of deeper relationships over time. It’s also hard to stand out in (often) fairly vanilla, compliance-driven industries such as finance, legal or telco.

If you’re marketing online to a broker channel (as an example), there’s a constant battle for the attention of your audience, often pitching products that aren’t very different to competitor offerings. Whether it be at a large industry conference, or connecting with a large industry database, the challenges are the same…how does my company differentiate, stand out and grab attention that will ultimately improve recall, brand awareness and ultimately sales.

The target audience for campaigns in these sectors are often competitive & achievement orientated individuals, so hiring games for marketing can be an impactful way to connect with B2B prospects, or an existing database of customers or intermediaries.

In December, a SportSim client will share 3 branded online cricket games (catching, batting, bowling) with their database, with the benefits of:

· Each individual interaction (ie. each game experience) providing at least 90 seconds of uninterrupted brand exposure)…that’s before allowing for repeat plays;

· Increased digital engagement and click through rates (versus other digital comms);

· Positive emotional response (fun, achievement etc) linked back to the brand;

· Product educational messaging woven in to the game experiences.

We are seeing more and more B2B organisations incorporate game elements in to their digital and event marketing mix, and look forward to sharing more examples through 2021.