I have a degree in Creative Nonfiction, which is essentially a degree in making true stories land with the same force as fiction. And I’ve been working in marketing for close to 20 years.
The key to both, as I see it, is narrative and audience match, because content doesn’t resonate into the void. It resonates with a person, for specific reasons.
What we don’t talk about enough in B2B marketing is how to actually be compelling to the right people. Instead we lean into the safe voice, the “don’t rock the boat” mentality, the bland yet acceptable. But have you ever heard of a book becoming a bestseller because it was bland yet acceptable?
My first career was in the film industry. And you could say that my first real marketing job was selling my city (Nanaimo) to film productions as an alternative to Vancouver (or even Hollywood). And I was good at it, helping Nanaimo become a film destination for big budget and indie films alike: Godzilla, the Scary Movie franchise, and a lot more.
I didn’t really see writing as a career choice. It was just always what I did. My grandmother put a typewriter in front of me before I could read. I was winning poetry awards as a teenager. In film school, the part I loved most was the scriptwriting. Even when I was working on set, I was writing in my off hours.
The film industry can be exhausting. Long hours, demanding clients, lack of sleep, lack of social life, etc. It’s not a job that people can do forever. So when I had a chance to go back to university, it made sense to study writing.
So I went back to school, got my writing degree, and moved into marketing properly. This was before “content marketing” was a job title, so I did everything: PPC, SEO, print, events, whatever needed doing. I learned that the best marketing, regardless of format, makes the audience feel something. And I found that I got better results when the people making the content genuinely believed in what they were selling.
I’ve built content programmes for universities, run campaigns for global enterprise tech brands, and worked with clients big and small to improve their marketing and communication.
And here’s what I have learned about B2B marketing. Most clients want content that stands out and attracts quality leads. But doing what it takes to make that happen… that’s when the conversation can get a bit uncomfortable.
Differentiation means saying something specific. Something your competitors won’t say, or haven’t thought to say. It means knowing who you’re for and being willing to be less interesting to everyone else.
A lot of B2B brands find that harder than it sounds, because the default in B2B is to look professional, stay safe, and hope the leads come anyway.
They usually don’t.
Or they come, but they’re the wrong ones.
If you’re looking for someone to execute a brief without question, I’m probably not the right fit.
I will tell you when I think the brief is wrong.
I will ask questions that feel uncomfortable.
I will push back on safe choices when I think safe is the problem.
I also know what it’s like to work inside organisations where great ideas get ground down by committees, where marketing walks a constant line between “we need 100 leads” and “we can’t promise the product does that.”
I’ve been there. I understand the constraints.
But if your company isn’t open to experimentation, we’ll struggle. The best content marketing comes from trial and error, and I can’t guarantee results for a brand that isn’t willing to find its voice.
If you read this and feel relieved rather than nervous: you’re probably exactly the kind of company I want to work with.
