I had not spoken to Lisa in a year, and only a handful of times ever. So imagine my surprise when Lisa greeted me and then said “you grow Momotaro tomatoes, right?”

Wow, that is making a connection. That is what relationship marketing should be about. Connecting on a common interest and common passion. That passion is what B2B marketing is missing. As personal relationships in your business are replaced by machine-personalized communications, your passion has been lost.

Lisa, who runs Our Little Farm and Nursery, a small local business that sells, among other things, vegetable starts, immediately found something we have in common, and she is passionate about it. In the spring, she grows more than 100 tomato varieties alone for sale as starts at their small farm and local farmers markets. Her passion is clearly reflected in what she does.

In B2B marketing, you build relationships around knowledge and a common interest. But all to often, the relationship is like buying a tomato start at Home Depot instead of from Lisa. They both have the tomato starts, but one of them isn’t only technically knowledgeable, but is palpably passionate about tomatoes. As a B2B marketer, you want to be like Lisa, not Home Depot. How do you show that you are not just knowledgeable, but you are passionate?

• First, understand what you are passionate about. It sounds easy, but most companies have been delivering for so long that they don’t even know what they are passionate about. Passion is focused and you cannot be passionate about everything.
• Make your passion clear. Start a blog about it. Look across your marketplace, not just within your company, for stories. Let your passion show in your newsletter and other corporate communications. If it is your passion, talking about it will be easy. If it isn’t easy, it isn’t your passion. Passion isn’t decided by marketing, it is in your heart!
• Search out people with similar passions. Shared passion creates stronger connections. Future employees and customers will likely come from these connections.
• Reflect your passion across all facets of your business. Your passion should be visible in your product, service, sales and hiring, not just your marketing.

Who do you want to work with, a competent company just doing their job, or one that is truly passionate about it? At least for me, the choice is easy. It is time for businesses to start sharing their passion for their business.

Momotaro tomato seeds and starts are difficult to find. For Northwest gardeners, with our cooler and shorter summers, it is one of the best tasting tomatoes (in my opinion), and you will get more ripe fruit earlier than with varieties like Brandywine. I buy the seeds from Territorial, but when I need Momotaro (or other) starts, I will be buying them from Lisa from now on.