Panic at the disco - being different in B2B

What to expect

A recent Octopus Group study of UK marketing directors revealed that changes in the competitive landscape were causing them to lose sleep, with over half stating that differentiation was a major challenge.

True differentiation in a B2B market is difficult. Differentiation means taking a different route, trying new things, being different. All of this creates risk, and like trying to be different at your first school disco…it can go wrong: customers can disengage and senior execs assume that the comms function doesn’t understand their business.

This session will cover how to get differentiation right in a conservative B2B market where both customers and colleagues count.

Billy Hamilton Stent, MD of Octopus Group’s research unit, Loudhouse, will discuss the two key stages of differentiation:  

1. How to use customer insight to formulate a differentiating B2B strategy that strikes the right balance of engaging customers and appeasing internal stakeholders.
2. How to activate differentiating campaigns brilliantly to build brand advocacy quickly.