Give your future buyers a sense of what it’s going to be like working with you.

Whether you’re a business consultancy, an enterprise technology company offering both cloud solutions and managed services, or a provider of high-priced, niche medical equipment that relies on salespeople and product experts to educate and persuade various medical specialists and internal groups, one thing is clear: if you’re a B2B brand, you’re in the people business.

While it’s often a CTO or CEO who signs on the dotted line, B2B brands know that their C-suite buyers don’t operate in a vacuum. A multitude of decision-makers are involved, each with their own needs at different stages of the buying process. For a B2B brand aiming to smooth and shorten the buyer's journey toward a purchase, it’s never too early to start answering the question—what will it really be like to work with you?

The good news: It’s possible to answer this question spectacularly well, but it requires some ecosystem-level forethought, digitally speaking.

If I were advising a leader at a B2B brand who asked, “What are the must-dos if I want to prove that working with us will be pleasant, reassuring, and fruitful?” here are some things I’d put at the top of the list:

Use a Multi-Tiered Content Strategy

What are the focal points of your messaging for the C-suite? For VPs and Directors? For junior and mid-level employees? And which content types and formats make the most sense for your varied messages and audiences? For example, audiences in the C-suite will take notice of things like industry expertise, capability alignment, and added value on top of product offerings. As far as types and formats, thought leadership, industry reports, client rosters, and, of course, bottom-line data will resonate most. These not only support your messaging but, in many ways, they are the message—they signify seriousness, credibility, and legitimacy.

And again, don’t stop at the C-suite. Map out messaging, content types, and formats for other important, influential audiences. (Also remember, your content strategy is only as strong as the signals, intelligence, brand knowledge, industry expertise, and contextual understanding you have in hand.)

Provide Functional Support, but Consider What People Are Feeling and Experiencing

B2B decision-making presents a heavy burden for decision-makers. Even online, a B2B brand can show up and lighten the load. This is where interactive experiences and educational resources play a crucial role. There are ways to address pain points, alleviate anxiety, and empower everyday people throughout the buyer’s journey.

For instance, during the discovery phase, easily accessible and downloadable top-line brand summaries can be incredibly helpful. As buyers progress through the journey, make sure that high-level solution configurators are designed and waiting, able to offer digestible and scannable information about costs and benefits. Want to go even further to help them out? Shareable and customizable C-suite presentation generators are invaluable, especially as directors begin aggregating everything they’ve learned. Besides that, anything you can do to accelerate executive decision-making is beneficial.

Lastly, don’t forget to engage your buyer’s other internal teams—they often want to know how your products or services will impact their work (and working life). Provide dedicated resources about how everyday processes could be affected and how solutions can deliver daily value. And hey, you’ll foster more advocacy in the process.

Use a "Many Doors In" Conceptual Framework

What is a “Many Doors In” conceptual framework? It’s the reality of your digital ecosystem and the varied paths your buyers take across the globe. You’ve got one homepage, but countless first-page visit locations. Embrace this reality by establishing strong frameworks for brand messaging and content hierarchy while balancing emotional connection and functional support. Good data will help you start strong, and robust data feedback mechanisms will help you learn which doors are most frequently opened.

Since we’re on the topic of data and dynamic content, be sure to mix dynamic, personalized content with proven evergreen content to anchor your brand. A data feedback plan will also help you make sure you can scale your optimizations across global and local needs on an ongoing basis—with an eye toward hyper-personalization. This approach not only makes your digital brand more efficient and effective, but it also enhances the buyer’s experience, making it more meaningful and valuable for them.

Be Human, Be Real, Be Different.

B2B clients are like every other worker. After they finish researching or browsing your site, they’ll return to their overstuffed inbox, their half-finished report, and their everyday stressors. The opportunity you’re offering is intertwined with all of that.

So why not find delightful ways to show them you understand? Be relatable. Empathize as you help them organize, categorize, and summarize. Be a human voice that breaks the fourth wall and lets them know you live in the same reality they do. Because you do. We all do.

Sometimes, little interactions that have nothing to do with marketing your solutions, products, or services reveal a humanity that often gets lost in the urgency of the buying process. It’s easy to see why, but if you take the extra time to wink, quip, help, and reassure people in moments that were previously laden pain points (which you’ll be solving), more and more people in your buyer’s decision-making circle will start thinking, “You know, these people would be great to work with.”