Fix Long-Cycle B2B Campaign Briefs using Get Who To By
Look, your B2B campaign brief is probably a 40-page dumpster fire of 'synergy' and 'omnichannel' buzzwords that says absolutely nothing. By the time you finish reading it, the fiscal year is over and your target audience has retired. The Get Who To By framework is the slap in the face your strategy needs. It strips away the corporate bloat and forces you to decide who actually matters and what you want them to do before everyone dies of boredom.
The TL;DR
Stop writing B2B novels. Use Get Who To By to isolate the one winnable audience (GET), find the real human anxiety driving them (WHO), give them a message that isn't corporate word-salad (TO), and build a mechanism that doesn't waste their time (BY).
Why This Beats Your Current 60-Slide Deck
B2B marketing is usually where creativity goes to die in a committee meeting. This framework is your escape hatch.
The Four Steps
GET
Who is the actual human being with the credit card?
Stop saying 'Fortune 500.' Identify the specific person whose life is currently a mess because they don't have your solution. The smaller the group, the better your chances of actually being heard over the noise.
WHO
What is the secret frustration they won't admit in a meeting?
They aren't just 'looking for efficiency.' They're tired of staying late fixing manual spreadsheets or they're terrified of looking incompetent in front of the board. Find the real behavior, not the LinkedIn-profile version.
TO
What is the one thing they need to hear to stop scrolling?
Write a message that sounds like a human talking to another human. If it contains the word 'leverage' or 'robust,' delete it and start over. Make the value proposition so obvious a toddler could explain it.
BY
How do we make the next step pathologically easy?
In B2B, 'Request a Demo' is a threat to their calendar. What's the mechanism that actually delivers value immediately? A calculator, a 5-minute audit, a physical gift - something that justifies their attention.
How to Ruin Your B2B Brief
(A Checklist of Failures)
- ×Targeting 'The C-Suite' when you should be targeting the person doing the actual work
- ×Confusing a product feature with a human insight
- ×Writing a 'TO' message that sounds like a legal disclaimer
- ×Making the 'BY' mechanism a 20-field lead gen form that no sane person would fill out
- ×Ignoring the fact that B2B buyers have massive FOMO and even bigger FOFU (Fear of F***ing Up)
- ×Trying to solve five problems at once instead of the biggest one
- ×Using stock photos of people in suits shaking hands as your 'creative strategy'
- ×Assuming your audience cares about your 'brand journey' (they don't)
If your brief looks like any of the above, burn it and start over.
Real Examples
Cybersecurity SaaS
Targeting IT Managers overwhelmed by tool sprawl.
GET
Overworked IT Managers at mid-market firms (500-2000 employees).
WHO
They’re currently toggling between 12 different security dashboards and are terrified they'll miss one alert that ends their career.
TO
Stop playing whack-a-mole with your security alerts and see everything in one place.
BY
A 'Security Debt' calculator that shows exactly how much time they're wasting on redundant tools.
FinTech / Expense Management
Targeting Finance Directors tired of chasing receipts.
GET
Finance Directors at fast-growing startups.
WHO
They spend their last three days of every month acting like a debt collector for $15 Uber receipts.
TO
Stop chasing receipts and start actually doing finance work.
BY
A 1-month 'Receipt Amnesty' trial where the software automates the entire collection process for their team.
Logistics & Supply Chain
Targeting Operations Leads during peak season.
GET
Warehouse Ops Leads for e-commerce brands.
WHO
They are skeptical of 'AI' hype and just want to know if their trucks will show up on time so they can go home to their families.
TO
Predict your shipping delays before your customers start calling to complain.
BY
An interactive 'Stress Test' map that uses their last 30 days of data to show where their bottlenecks are.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I have two 'WHO' insights?
No. Pick the strongest one. If you try to solve two problems, you'll solve zero. If you have two distinct audiences, write two distinct briefs.
What if my 'BY' is just a sales call?
Then your campaign is going to fail. Nobody wants a sales call. Give them a reason to want to talk to you first.
How specific should the 'GET' be?
Specific enough that you could find 100 of them on LinkedIn in an hour. If it's 'Business Decision Makers,' you're being lazy.
Is 'TO' the same as a tagline?
Not necessarily. It's the core message. A tagline is for the billboard; the 'TO' is the truth you're shoving into their brain.
What if my boss wants to target the C-Suite?
Tell them the C-Suite doesn't buy software; they approve the budget for the people who actually use it. Target the user/influencer first.
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