Introduction to B2B Branding
Building a consistent brand is increasingly important in B2B. With so few buyers in the market at any one time, plus a growing number of people in the buying group, you need to build memorable brand signals that can be a shortcut in your buyer’s memory to what it is that makes you distinct. This individual brand story will then be associated in their minds with your branded assets, freeing up space in communications for you to share deeper messages, e.g., specific product and service details.
The Importance of Purpose
The purpose of a company is its reason for being: What it is that it does every day and what it aims to do across all stakeholder groups it serves. It should be a statement that resonates with all employees and is the focus of how you deliver your products and services. It is a key part of the culture of the business and needs to be reflected in your brand, marketing, and communications. A business or brand purpose that resonates with your employees can be built into their own personal purpose. This alignment gives an even greater sense of belonging to those that work for the business.
Understanding Ikigai
There is a traditional Japanese concept, thought to have been first coined in the 7th century, called Ikigai, that is a framework used to enable individuals to find and build a sense of purpose. It can also be translated to businesses, firms, and organizations, helping you fathom your north star. Working this through will enable you to think about what it is that drives you and your audiences, aligns to your profession, and makes you money. The overlap between passion, mission, profession, and vocation is where you need to focus as you develop your own unique purpose that gets to the heart of your own unique value proposition.
Brand Positioning
The positioning of your brand in the minds of your audience should reflect how your brand sits alongside your competitors, how and what it delivers for your customer alongside how it operates as a company. It should be built on what your customers know about you, your products and services, and what they feel when they use or consume them. An understanding of your position against your competitors is key. Looking at the variables relevant to your company, you can plot your position against your competitors by using an established 2×2 block model. Plotting out variables that are relevant to your business will help you understand the competition and how they position themselves.
Variables in Brand Positioning
Variables might include price plotted against quality as a starting point – this will help you see the perception of you against your competitors as either low or high quality against low or high price. You will be able to see if there are any gaps in the market you might be able to own – either through an extension of your product or service portfolio – or the development of new offerings for the market. You need to ensure that your positioning is true to what you actually deliver as a company. Overclaiming or overpromising will only end up with a mismatched customer experience, which can undermine any trust you might have built.
Brand Promise
The brand promise is key to developing the value proposition. It is the promise to the buyer or customer that is realized when they purchase your products or services. It is your distinctive differentiator that details your brand position in terms that are relevant to the market, specifically your target audience, and is a key step in developing your messaging and narrative.
Brand Versus Marketing Campaign Messaging
The messaging you create should be aligned to all elements of your brand and able to be used across brand marketing, but it should also be able to be applied to products or services and used as part of campaign assets. These written assets should include credible reasons to believe your claims and your position. “Reasons to believe” can be a combination of case studies, use cases, data-led intelligence, and other proof points that add credence to the position you are taking in the market.
Aligning Messaging
Your brand, product, and campaign messaging should nest like Russian dolls and all align with each other, building throughout to a clear understanding of what each element means to the audience. The brand messaging should be built for the long term and have durability, whereas your products and services will change more quickly with client and customer feedback. The messaging and assets for your products and services should therefore be reviewed annually, adding in any new features, benefits, or additional proof points.
Bringing Your Messaging To Life
Communication across your full portfolio needs to be built around the brand promise, which hits at the heart of your business and is aligned to your purpose. This will give you the best springboard for delivering authentic, creative executions that resonate with your audiences. As marketers, we need to tell the story, weaving the proof points and case studies into a narrative that drives a desire to buy the products and services, even if the buyers are not in the market now.
The Power of Storytelling
Storytelling is recognized as an important facet of the creative skillset – using stories and allegories to engage audiences, build connection, inspire different types of memory, and build links from how you feel to an association with your brand. Stories resonate so well that a huge proportion of advertising – in both B2C and B2B – follows the pathway of the “three-act structure“. This is a structure used by playwrights and is often attributed to Aristotle but made popular by Syd Field in his 1979 book Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting.
Conclusion
In conclusion, building a strong B2B brand is crucial for success. It starts with defining your brand story, purpose, and promise, and ensuring that these elements are consistent across all marketing communications. By understanding your brand positioning, creating a compelling brand promise, and using storytelling techniques, you can build a memorable and engaging brand that resonates with your target audience. Remember to regularly review and update your messaging and assets to ensure they remain relevant and effective. With a strong brand foundation, you can drive business growth, build trust with your customers, and stay ahead of the competition.