The worst thing in optimisation marketing in 2025? No idea.

I think it goes without saying, but times have changed in the whole marketsphere.

There. I’ve said it.

It’s been changing for a good while.

In days of old, the world of DM claimed to have an edge over traditional outbound advertising.

Why?

Because it was quantifiable.

You wouldn’t just send out (or paste up) a blanket piece of communication. You would send it directly to the individual. It had a personalised nature to it. It spoke to the individual, based on their wants, need or buying habits. There was a Johnson Box, pride of place with a hard-hitting line. And there was a call to action (with a code to quote) so you’d know how effective it was. A pen would be included to help those respond (research showed that numbers were greatly increased when a pen went in the envelope). Engagement rates were most definitely a thing.

I remember a long time ago, I was discussing good advertising with an awfully good creative director who, as you would expect, is very forthright with his words. Of course, you could make your ad a direct response ad, he quipped. Put a phone number at the bottom. Which ironically, most ads had at the time anyway. A knowing look was shot at me as I was trying to get my head around it. Ads had a phone number, didn’t they?

Before I meander down a different path, let me start by saying that the world of digital is not essentially too much different.

Although it’s much…. quicker.

What has essentially characterised ‘digital’ advertising is the power of variation and personalisation, letting the numbers drive ‘refinement’ and ‘optimisation’. The ability to tailor ads quickly to the target audience or individual means campaigns promise to speak directly to the individual.
This is great. Except when that individual talks to other individuals, who all saw their own special version of the ad, and so don’t recognise that they all saw the same thing. Or until that individual sees the next ad, similarly tailored, yet totally different, killing momentum and starting a new journey.

This is, at best, delaying. At worst, it’s confusing.

So how in the world do you create an ad that truly harnesses the power of personalisation in your B2B campaigns?

The answer is simple. Make it good.

Now this is where a lot of today’s work falls flat on its face, breaks its nose, is sick everywhere, then messes its own pants.

So….how do you create good campaigns?

Have an idea.

An idea isn’t a picture. It isn’t necessarily a line. It’s a concept right at the core of it. One that’s gettable.

It’s an idea that can carry the personalisation. Personalisation helps to lift an idea, not replace the idea.

In B2B, not unlike B2C, it’s vital you grab attention. Hit someone in the face. Then build momentum in your target buyer group. To build momentum you need inspiring consistency.

Ok. Fun time. Here’s where it’s going to get quite buzzword heavy. Ready? Buckle up folks.

It’s about impact and engagement. This is achieved through an irreplaceable combination of authenticity, emotional resonance and nuanced storytelling. These are the key pillars of high conversion deep engagement in what has become a highly saturated digital ecosystem.

It’s about leveraging empathy-driven marketing, tapping into psychographic segmentation. This allows us to craft messaging that can align with your audiences’ values, fears and aspirations. Or in other words, knowing how to relate to people.

We need to create content that’s rich in emotional stickiness. Before you start to wince at this plethora of what some humans might see as buzzword balderdash, this is what not only converts, but cultivates brand evangelists.

It’s about honing your narrative craftsmanship, ensuring your work is rich in tonal agility – highly crafted on-brand narrative that’s contextually relevant across omni-channel touchpoints.

Personalisation, from ToFu awareness to BoFu conversion.

Had enough, you MoFus? Want more? Here goes.

Human-created content scores higher on authenticity KPIs. After all, humans can spot automation. They’ve subconsciously trained their minds to distrust it. Of course, I make the assumption that people have the attention to see it in the first place, of course. It might have no idea whatsoever.
Marketing isn’t about data. Rather, it’s not JUST about data. It’s also about gut. And for that, you need humans. Creative humans. Creative humans bring strategic intuition, incorporating the ability to spot white space opportunities and creative angles that data alone will almost certainly miss. Humans use data to form an idea. That’s what matters. And guess what? This is effectively cyclical. Data can help form the idea. And an idea can produce more data, which can in turn re-hone the idea. Wonderful stuff.

Humans have the ability to blend qualitative insight with quantitative analysis. This is a game changer if you want market disruption. Actually, what? Is it really a game changer? isn’t that absolute common sense? Nope. Not when you want to get wrapped up in marketingspeakonomics, it isn’t. And there are loads of people spouting that stuff. They’re everywhere, with their own brand of snake oil scented guff.

Look. I’m going to wrap this up.

Humans have the power to inspire, disrupt and emotionally convert. Because they think like humans. And in thinking like humans, they can speak to humans. The more you know about people, the more you can create work that’s based on human truth. And that’s big idea stuff that’ll get noticed by eyeballs and data sheets.

The thing is, however…it takes certain type of unconventional thinking, which requires a certain type of mind. An individual thinker, good at helping others to see things in a way they've never been thought of before. The creative leap - the sideways, illogical telekinesis that apparently came from nowhere but works, tethered to reality by an invisible thread. And you don’t get that anywhere else than a creative human.

Now physically stop looking at a screen, go outside and watch some cloud formations. There’s an idea in there somewhere.