Anthropology is the study of people and their behaviour, and cultural anthropology focuses specifically on the rituals, beliefs, and habits of people. When used as a research framework, anthropology can help us understand why people make decisions in a specific context and what kinds of actions happen when people choose to buy.
In a marketing context, unpacking the buyer behaviours enable us to talk to buyers throughout the journey, and connect in a different way.
In B2B, we often assume that because our buyers are more informed, they are also more rational about their decisions. But B2B buying is often all about the relationships that are formed, the people and the feelings involved. People deeply need to feel trust and a sense of connection with their salesperson, to take the big risk of a business buy.
So, using anthropology to understand why people buy helps us to unlock a few things. Firstly, we can understand the context that that the actors or buyers are making decisions in. Anthropologists are trained to understand and observe the unsaid, notice power dynamics and question assumptions. When we go into field to understand a particular place or group of people, we try to experience it as both an insider (understanding shared meanings, noticing norms, and picking up on biases) and as an outsider (seeing what they choose to ignore, noticing who assents or disagrees and who stands outside of the place/group). Observing and spending time with the decision-making unit is the first place to begin – who are the people and what are their spoken and unspoken roles in decision making? What makes them tick and who do they talk to or collaborate with at work? What kind of career pressures do they face? How does this buy influence their opportunity to grow or flourish in their job?
All these questions help us to frame the different forces at play in the decision-making unit. The more we know about them, and their behaviour and belief system, the more we are enabled to write strategy that creates chemistry between our brand and this collection of people.
The next thing we need to do is begin to think about the big emotions and feelings at play. Once we’ve discovered the risks that they are willing to take at work, and who takes what role in decision-making, we need to ask ourselves how this might make our audience feel. We can ask them, too, but we are often looking for the things that people may not like to admit, such as feeling nervous about making the wrong decision, or feeling jealous that someone else has the final say. These big emotions are the things that lead us back to our human truth – the thing that gets to the core of the person behind the buying role and speaks to them on a relatable and real level. This is what will ultimately make our message cut through the clutter.
Lastly, we need to understand how people engage with the product or the offering at hand, and in which ways it affects their industry, or position in relation to competitors. Understanding this opens a window into a potential strategic direction or competitive edge. How can we show up and position our brand in such a way that it meets a need, and unlocks something other for our clients? How can our brand really shine for our customers and audience?
When we ask anthropological research questions, we don’t look for yes or no answers. We search for why people do the things they do, and often how they do them. Seeing people engaging with products or with one another, observing them in their normal life, can tell us so much about who they are and what’s really going on beneath the mask that people often wear at work.
Marrying insights of their contexts, their feelings and finally the role of the brand can help us tell a compelling story. This story does not necessarily have to be about our brand, but it can be meaningful enough to speak to the person in a way that makes them pay attention. A great example of this was a technology client of ours looking to sell to CIO’s and CTO’s in large corporates. Despite being powerful individuals in big organisations, we discovered that they were riddled with fears around becoming irrelevant. Their roles were considered more influential than ever and the pressure to make the right decision had never been more intense for buyers such as these. So, we told a story around making the right decision, and soothed their fears around irrelevance. We did this by talking about sports – perhaps seemingly completely unrelated to technology, but in our context it worked perfectly. Being competitive folk – they got it. They felt seen.
Perhaps that’s my big take-away here, as head anthropologist in a B2B marketing agency. People, no matter who they are, long to feel seen. Anthropology can help us create the kind of advertising and marketing that does that – that represents. That, as a higher calling, is a purpose marketers can align themselves with right now. It doesn’t have to be something we only promise Gen Z consumers in Coca-Cola ads – B2B marketing can be just as fun, conceptual, and meaningful with the right human truth.
Claire Denham-Dyson
Head of Anthropology, Demographica
