Brand advisor Yvonne Tocquigny says B2B brands need to go beyond ‘marketing gobbledygook’ to stand out from the pack
A quick scan of typical B2B companies reveals that the bar is often quite low when it comes to their branding, positioning and sales enablement. Websites provide no surprises in their sameness, especially now that creating a passable site is a matter of choosing a WordPress template and inserting stock photos.
Aside from looking like distant cousins that all sprang from the same progeny, B2B companies also tend to say the same things. The vocabulary for describing a B2B company is too often limited to a glossary of business terms that include ubiquitous descriptors such as “cloud-based”, “real time”, “data-driven”, “easy to use”, “all-in-one solution” and “smart.” Efforts to differentiate a company using this limited vocabulary prove fruitless and end up sounding like what I call “marketing gobbledy-gook.”
Emerging companies often imitate their larger, well established competitors. But they are imitating companies that already hold the dominant market position and don’t prioritize branding. Many established companies don’t think they need to inject imagination into their brands or messages because they don’t see the need for investment in turning heads.
As emerging competitors copy the least imaginative legacy players in the market, we see more of the same lack of imagination. And, as advertising agencies observe this dull landscape, few get excited about braving a new path because they have experienced that there simply isn’t the appetite. So the best creative talent often chooses to put their energies elsewhere.
All of this doesn’t mean that you can’t turn your ship around. There are options and choices to take a different path.
Sell it to the leadership
It can be difficult to sell a steak to someone who is happy with hamburger. Or worse yet, can’t tell the difference. Your company leadership must understand that if the face of the business has no soul, no voice, no sense of humor and nothing to be remembered for, then it is just another “me too” company coasting on its success, and vulnerable to attack from an emerging competitor with a winning smile and a joke up its sleeve. Sirius Decisions provides an excellent justification for the development of personas that define the various pain points of buyers and the research-based rationale to use them as the foundation for marketing concepts that relate to prospects in ways that are more personal and emotional, as opposed to hammering on the features and functions of the product/service offerings. Educate your leaders through objective evaluations of your brand against competitors. Help them understand the possibilities of improving your marketing. Often, a significant shift in a brand pays for itself in less than a year when future incremental sales are taken into account. And, the overall “cost per sale” metric can be lowered over time if marketing is more effective.
Build a fresh team
The best way I’ve found to justify bringing in new blood to refresh a brand and the creative marketing platform is: “It’s hard to read the label when you’re in the bottle.” People within your company are simply too close to it to think differently about the problem. Build a team that has a fresh perspective, yet still has some knowledge of your business, especially if it’s highly technical.
Set yourself up for success
Follow a rigorous process. Include your company leaders in the process and show them a rational approach. This will help them to separate their own personal preferences from the ideas you develop to target buyers. It can be helpful to remind them that they are not the target audience. Begin your process by establishing a deep understanding of your competitive space and your audiences. Define the emotional drivers for your buyers that are not being addressed. Then, unleash a great creative team on the task of bringing this to life in a way that elicits the feelings you want to generate.
Borrow from B2C
There’s a predictable look and feel that most B2B companies use to appear “legitimate.” But even engineers, who tend to want just the facts, appreciate a more accurate description of product benefits or a crystal clear description of what you sell. Stay abreast of the best B2C marketing to understand what’s working there. Then, look for opportunities to cross-pollinate B2C techniques into the B2B space.
Humanize your brand
The more you can inject a personal human quality into your messages and the visual images your brand relies on, the easier it will be for buyers to imagine having a relationship with your business. Too many B2B brands portray themselves as sterile, objective tools. They lack the imagination to relate to buyers in ways that are more intimate and understanding.
Launch your new marketing platform with fanfare
Do not dribble bits and pieces of your new brand out into the market as they are completed. You will get better results if you have an intentional deliberate launch strategy for turning some heads with your new brand and marketing image.
As you review the efforts to raise the bar with your improved marketing, you will most likely have to ask your team to try again. It’s not easy to break through the barrier of sameness and do something heart-stopping in B2B marketing. Your new brand platform should make the hair stand up on the back of your neck. It should make you smile from somewhere deep inside. It’s not easy. But the payoff is rewarding.
