Your brand. There’s an argument that it’s the most important thing you can build as a marketer. It lasts longer than any one campaign, event or lead nurture programme, and, built properly, it can help your business go to stratospheric levels.
And yet, B2B brand marketing is often treated as an afterthought in B2B – a nice logo designed to sit on every advert, email signature and whitepaper, in order to bring a level of consistency and professionalism, not to drive growth. So, how do we fix that, and make sure our brands aren’t lost in the mix or associated with the wrong things?
This blog outlines what we mean by ‘brand’ in the first place – beyond just colours and logo – and just why it’s so important.
What is branding in B2B marketing?
In the words of Darren Coleman, our Brand Expert in Propolis – our global community for B2B marketers: “A brand isn’t just a logo, name or other visual cue for the simple reason that, if you take away any of these visual brand elements, there’s nothing left. People won’t pay a premium for nothing. People don’t pay for IBM advisory services because of a three-letter logo.”
Instead of agonising over the definition of a brand, Darren advises that B2B marketers consider a brand from a number of different angles, helping you to develop a more rounded view of what a brand is. These are:
- A name with connotations, i.e. how VISA is associated with international travel.
- An image in consumers’ minds, i.e. how Apple is associated with slick, user-friendly devices.
- A personality, i.e. how MailChimp is seen as fun and playful.
- A relationship, i.e. how HSBC plays on heavily with corporate clients via its global and local angle.
- Added value, i.e. such as the advisory and integration services that companies that some software companies provide over and above their product offering.
- A metaphor for meaning, i.e. the arrow above Accenture’s name, representing progress.
- A cluster of associations, i.e. how boutique consulting firms like Bain are associated with niche, high-end, high-value work.
- A value system, i.e. how Dutch bank Triodos aims to make a positive impact on the world, by only investing in socially responsible funds.
- A company, i.e. General Electric.
- And, of course, a logo, i.e. Nike.
In Darren’s words: “By considering a brand from multiple angles, you can make your brand more sophisticated, intricate and complex. This gives the fabric of your brand depth, and makes it more strategically defensible as it makes it harder for your competitors to replicate.”
Boiling that down, a brand isn’t just your font, logos and colours – it’s everything a customer thinks about when they hear your name. Think to yourself, what do you think of when you think of any common consumer brand? Is it positive, or is it negative? These same thoughts go through the heads of your buyers in B2B, and that is the power of your brand.
These thoughts and feelings are all influenced by a multitude of factors – from their experience of the product, through to their dealings with customer service. In other words, brand isn’t just managed via websites and digital advertising – it’s something your entire organization has to be build. Marketing can lead the conversation, but it’s a group effort.
- In addition to defining what a brand is, our Propolis course also covers:
- Why a brand is worth investing in.
- What stops B2B marketers from building great brands.
- The four key intangible assets (values, essence, personality and positioning).
- How to manage your brand with consistency – at scale.
- Measuring brand equity.
- And how some of the ideas can be applied via a case study.
If you’re interested in taking this course, or one of our several other courses on ABM, measuring marketing, building campaigns and more – all specifically for B2B marketers – we’d recommend you learn more about joining Propolis.
What is the value of a strong brand?
In terms of measuring the impact of brand, there are several ways you can do this, but it’s first important to start with the actual value of having a strong brand. In our on-demand training course available to Propolis members, Darren talks through a number of charts to explain the value that a strong brand has, from a number of angles.
In one such chart, Darren looks at research conducted by the IPA in collaboration with Effworks, designed to understand what drives city analysts’ appraisals of companies. Top of the list ahead of reported profits and technological innovation? The strength of brand and marketing.
What are B2B brand examples?
Understanding what constitutes a strong brand is one thing, but actually building one can be a huge task. There is no one way to do this, as, ultimately, this will need to be tailored to the specific industry and company you work in. However, what we can do is look at some B2B brand examples.
With all of this in mind, we’d recommend you check out these episodes of The B2B Marketing Podcast (and one separate report), where we speak with senior B2B marketing leaders about rebrands and brand campaigns at their own organizations:
- Learn how Publicis Sapient won ‘Best brand initiative’ at The B2B Marketing Awards.
- How BT successfully transformed into a B2B brand with its new campaign
- How Dayforce put storytelling at the heart of their rebrand
- How to visually make your brand stand out, plus the traps to avoid according to Valtech
- Sophie Bowkett talks through Bird & Bird’s rebrand and the importance of emotion
Wondering how to build a B2B brand? These episodes should provide an insight into how some of the world’s biggest B2B organizations are positioning their own brands in B2B, but if you’re looking for more of a B2B brand marketing framework, we’d recommend learning more about our global community for B2B marketers, Propolis.
Propolis helps you to shape your marketing strategy, while building the skills and effectiveness of your team; all with the express goal of delivering business growth. In order to do that, we have a number of training courses, Expert consultancy services, content and more. Amongst this library of material, we have a number of brand-specific frameworks, all designed to help you become a brand expert in your own right.
So if you’re interested, you can find out how to drive growth through marketing here.
If you’re looking for a specific B2B branding agency to provide support, you can check out our latest B2B Marketing Agency Benchmarking Reports for the UK market, US market and globally here.
