5 Ways to Use Personality in B2B Marketing

In B2B marketing, adding personality can help your brand connect with decision-makers on a human level. With 60% of buying decisions happening without human interaction and 92% of marketers reporting that buyers expect personalized experiences, it’s essential to stand out. Here are five actionable ways to infuse personality into your marketing:

• Tell Your Founder’s Story: Share your journey, values, and lessons to build trust and relatability.
• Set Your Brand’s Tone: Develop a consistent and memorable voice that reflects your brand’s traits.
• Make Messages Personal: Tailor your communication to specific audience needs and roles.
• Highlight Your Team: Showcase the people behind your brand to build trust and authenticity.
• Use Smart Humor: Add light, business-appropriate humor to create connections and improve engagement.

These strategies not only humanize your brand but also drive measurable results, such as increased signups, higher click-through rates, and stronger customer loyalty. Ready to dive deeper? Let’s explore how to implement these tactics effectively.

The Key Differences in B2B and B2C Marketing: What Sets …

1. Tell Your Founder’s Story

Your founder’s story is more than just a timeline of events – it’s a way to connect with your audience on a personal level. As Dave Gerhardt puts it:

"Brand is not your logo or website colors. Brand is your reputation. The best way to build a reputation today as a business is right here, online, through content. Content builds authority, credibility, and trust. That’s why you should be on social media, have a podcast, write articles, etc. That is how you build a brand today."

Document Your Business Origins

Explain why you started your company. Your story should be straightforward and relatable, covering key points like:

• The problem you faced
• Why existing solutions weren’t enough
• How you found your own solution
• Challenges you overcame early on

Peter Caputa, CEO of Databox, shares his journey on LinkedIn, which helps bring in hundreds of sign-ups each month. He explains:

"People love stories. I’m telling our story as it happens. People follow along. No different than why reality shows are popular and why people follow celebrities."

Once you’ve shared your beginnings, show how your values shape your company today.

Share Stories That Reflect Your Values

Use real-life examples to highlight your company’s values. Chris Walker, CEO and founder of Passetto, does this well. His LinkedIn posts and podcasts generate $10 million in annual revenue.

"Personal stories – when the writer is transparent and vulnerable – are more likely to resonate with other people. If people feel seen and heard, you’ve created a powerful connection that you can’t get through an ad or elevator pitch."

• Angela Snyder, LinkedIn and Personal Brand Coach

Once you have these stories, make sure your tone matches the message.

Write in the Founder’s Voice

Your writing should sound like you. As Finn McKenty, Head of Product at URM Academy, says:

"It’s the same as art: imperfection is more interesting than perfection… You want to be the human equivalent of a watercolor painting, not an AI image."

David Baum, CEO & Co-founder at Relato, adds:

"As a founder, a lot of your work revolves around understanding customer needs and building product. The insight from that process is pure gold in marketing, and so are the relationships."

Founder-led marketing isn’t about becoming an influencer. Finn Thormeier, Founder and CEO at Project 33, clarifies:

"Founder-led marketing isn’t about building the personal brand of the founder, to get them to 20,000 followers on LinkedIn or 50,000 followers on TikTok."

Instead, focus on sharing insights that build meaningful connections with your audience.

2. Set Your Brand’s Tone

Your brand’s tone is like its personality – it shapes how customers perceive and connect with you. Building on your founder’s story, a consistent tone ensures your identity stands out. Ben Harmanus puts it clearly:

"Brand personality is the essential foundation for brand identity and brand marketing – and has a huge impact on the sales process."

Define Your Brand’s Key Traits

Start by identifying three personality traits that align with your company values and appeal to your audience. Amy Marino, HubSpot‘s Global Head of Brand Marketing, highlights the importance:

"A brand personality can inform everything from how you write marketing copy to how you design your website to where your brand shows up in real life."

Here are five dimensions of brand personality to consider:

• Sincerity: Honest, down-to-earth, and genuine
• Excitement: Bold, spirited, and energetic
• Competence: Reliable, professional, and skilled
• Sophistication: Elegant, premium, and refined
• Ruggedness: Tough, straightforward, and practical

Once you’ve chosen your traits, outline how they will come through in your messaging.

Create Clear Voice Guidelines

After defining your traits, craft detailed voice guidelines to ensure consistency. Michael Brenner explains:

"A brand’s voice is not what you say, but how you say it. Voice is consistent; tone may shift depending on format, channel, or audience."

Here’s a simple framework for your guidelines:

These guidelines will help your team stay aligned, no matter the platform or audience.

Apply Your Voice Everywhere

Consistency is key to building trust and recognition. Doug Kessler, Co-founder of Velocity Partners, sums it up:

"Tone of voice is a force multiplier. Present your content in a flat voice and you might make your budget back. Use a breakthrough voice that draws people in and you’re maximizing your ROI."

Make sure your voice shines across all touchpoints, including:

• Website copy
• Marketing campaigns
• Social media updates
• Customer support interactions
• Internal communications

A well-defined voice isn’t just a nice-to-have – it’s a powerful tool for creating lasting connections.

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3. Make Messages Personal

Generic messages just don’t work anymore. Today’s buyers want experiences tailored to their specific needs and challenges. In fact, companies that focus on personalized outreach are 1.7 times more likely to grow their market share.

Write to One Person

Even in B2B settings, you’re speaking to individual decision-makers. Your messaging should feel personal while remaining professionally relevant.

Ben Pines, director of content at Wordtune, explains it well:

"You need to go beyond demographics. That’s what buyer personas can help you with. Buyer personas help me think and feel like my buyers. Without understanding who these people are, their needs and wants, you have no way of going beyond the obvious marketing moves."

A great example of this is Livestorm. They created custom homepage experiences for enterprise visitors using Clearbit Reveal to identify enterprise traffic in real time. As a result, they tripled enterprise signups and increased deal size. This type of personalization should also extend to your email strategy.

Send Better Email

Email remains one of the most effective communication channels. Personalized cold emails see a 17% higher response rate, and trigger-based emails outperform generic ones by a staggering 497%.

Here’s how you can make your emails stand out:

Salesforce is a great case study here. They tailor their email content based on visitor behavior. For instance, if a prospect explores multiple products, they’ll receive emails that highlight the specific benefits of those products, complete with customized CTAs. Beyond emails, audience segmentation can take personalization even further.

Match Content to Buyer Types

DocSend saw a 29% increase in trial conversions by letting visitors self-identify their role – like founder, investor, or sales team – and then providing tailored content based on that information.

Here are some ways to segment your audience:

• Firmographic: Industry, company size, and location
• Behavioral: Actions like page views, downloads, or engagement
• Role-based: Job title and decision-making authority
• Need-state: Specific challenges or growth stage

FedEx also saw massive success by refining their market segments with advanced technology, leading to a 433% increase in sales. With 92% of marketers reporting that buyers now expect a personalized experience, tailoring your messages isn’t optional – it’s how you stay competitive in today’s B2B landscape.

4. Put Your Team Front and Center

Highlighting the people behind your company helps build trust and stronger connections with your audience.

Share Team Stories

Customers tend to trust individuals more than impersonal companies. Research shows that sharing stories about your team can make your brand feel more relatable and approachable to potential clients.

For instance, at Scott’s Cheap Flights, team members share personal travel tips, their favorite destinations, and a short professional background.

Once you’ve shared these stories, encourage your team to spread them across social media.

Help Staff Share on Social Media

After showcasing your team’s stories, amplify their reach through social platforms. Employee advocacy on social media can significantly boost visibility. Businesses with structured employee advocacy programs report 79% more online visibility. Additionally, 90% of customers trust recommendations from people they know.

"Give them the ability to create and build their brand story… This will also increase authenticity, and let them be themselves."
– Jean-Louis Benard, CEO and co-founder, Sociabble

To make it easy and effective for employees to share:

• Provide clear social media guidelines that balance creativity with brand protection
• Create a content library with approved materials and templates
• Share performance metrics to show how their contributions make an impact

Show Daily Office Life

Give your audience a glimpse into your company’s day-to-day activities. Sharing behind-the-scenes moments helps people connect with the individuals behind your brand. For example, B Squared Media’s "Fun Fact Friday" on Facebook shares personal tidbits about team members, tying them back to the company’s professional expertise.

"If people connect to other people, and not logos, then sharing this type of content can really help your audience connect with the WHO of your brand."
– Brooke B. Sellas, B Squared Media

Consider sharing content like:

• Team celebrations and milestones
• Office traditions and daily culture
• Sneak peeks of product development
• Moments of collaboration and teamwork

5. Add Smart Humor

B2B marketing often leans toward a serious tone, but adding humor can make your brand stand out and create stronger connections with potential customers. Studies show that the right humor can improve message recall and help remove communication barriers. These tactics highlight the human side of your brand and work well with storytelling, tone, and personalization strategies.

Keep Humor Business-Appropriate

Focus on wit and playful content rather than sarcasm. A great example is Zendesk’s fictional grunge band, "Zendesk Alternative", which released a customer support-themed concept album. This creative idea helped them engage with their audience while maintaining professionalism.

Connect Through Common Experiences

Tap into shared industry challenges to create relatable content. Cisco nailed this with their "SuperSmart Comic" series, which used a superhero theme to address cybersecurity concerns.

"Wanted the campaign to express the very real benefits of Slack to people who have never heard about us, while also addressing the aspects of working life that everyone can relate to in a playful way that was in keeping with our brand."
– Brad Morris, Slack Marketing Director

Vistaprint also succeeded with a video series showing small business owners turning potential disasters into opportunities. The campaign resonated by tackling real challenges with an optimistic, humorous tone. This approach is a great way to combine professionalism with relatability.

Mix Professional with Personal

Blend formality with a friendly tone to make your brand approachable while keeping your credibility intact. Marketo achieved this balance with their "Big Marketing Activity" coloring book, which combined professional insights with creative fun.

Use relatable GIFs, light-hearted success stories, and behind-the-scenes content to show the human side of your brand while staying professional.

"Showing the lighter side of your brand helps prospects and customers stop viewing you as a transaction, and start seeing you as a friend."
– Pointed Copywriting

Conclusion

Bringing personality into B2B marketing goes beyond just standing out – it’s about building genuine connections that lead to measurable business success. By using these five strategies, you can shift your brand from being just another vendor to becoming a trusted partner.

Take time to reflect on your brand’s personality. Jamie Viggiano, Chief Marketing Officer at Fuel Capital, highlights the importance of this process:

"The process of establishing your brand’s persona requires some deep thought and consideration. It’s a level of self-reflection that actually feels a little like therapy, and it’s worth putting the work in. Once you articulate the attributes that contribute to your brand’s persona and the primary elements of your brand’s voice, you’ll have a blueprint for every single writer, marketer, product team and designer who touches your brand from now on."

Your website plays a central role in showcasing your brand identity. Jodi Neuhauser, CEO of Ovaterra, explains:

"View your website as the central hub of your brand’s identity from now on, because that’s how visitors and customers recognize it. Every choice you make from color schemes and menus to catchphrases and product descriptions matter more than they once did. If you need to overhaul your website and infuse it with more personality and unique features to stand out, I suggest doing that sooner than later, because the competition is already working overtime."

Every customer interaction also shapes how your brand is perceived. Soumya Mohan, COO of Poised, underscores this point:

"Every interaction you have with a customer is putting your brand personality on full display, so this is not something that should be left to chance."

Striking the right balance between professional expertise and personality is essential. Focus on segmenting your audience rather than over-personalizing. Persona expert Ardath Albee puts it simply:

"In B2B, we don’t need to know their shoe size and we don’t need to talk about their gender. We don’t need to know they live in the suburbs and have a wife, two kids, and a dog, and they drive a red Corvette."

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