B2B branding: how to increase brand awareness in B2B

Companies offering B2B services or products, or any professional who has to implement a B2B marketing strategy, will have encountered the significant challenge of getting sales and leads in a market that works differently from B2C. So, how can having a strong B2B brand help?

The importance of the B2B branding

Business-to-business companies often focus their marketing efforts on immediate leads and sales, a short-term strategy that can work, but only targets customers who need to buy their B2B services at that particular point in time. According to a study by The B2B Institute on LinkedIn, these clients only account for 5% of your potential buyers, while the other 95% don’t need to buy from you yet but will consider doing so in the future. 

From a business point of view, it doesn’t make sense to spend your entire marketing budget fighting off hundreds of competitors for 5% of your potential customers. Yet, we all know that this sales strategy offers two advantages that provide considerable reassurance at the boardroom table: it delivers short-term results (even if they are bad), and (almost) everything can be measured.

It’s striking how, unlike in B2C commerce, it’s fairly common for business-to-business branding to be overlooked due to the mistaken belief that it’s less important in these sectors. So here are some facts and reflections on why it’s just as important to work on branding in B2B:

• Meaning: you will be able to convey your company culture inwardly and outwardly and reinforce the values, beliefs and attitudes that represent you. This is especially useful in service companies, where the people behind the service are the “product”.
• Awareness: you will increase brand awareness, i.e., you will reach more potential customers who may access your services in the future. In fact, the probability of a client contracting your services is 14 times higher if they are already aware of your existence, according to a study carried out by Marketing Metrics.
• Economic benefits: when you work on your brand and all its corporate applications, such as your B2B website, you communicate better, convert better, and transmit a superior quality of service. This is essential for managing your pricing strategy, a key component of B2B trading. 
• Consistency over time: a good B2B brand is a business asset that can bring recurring value for many years. Unlike a B2B sales campaign, it’s not a “one shoot”, and its effects are ongoing. 

Three key aspects of a B2B brand strategy

As a branding agency that works for B2B companies, we’re always mindful of several aspects that differ from B2C and should be taken into account when approaching B2B projects.

• Organisational culture at the core. The brand is the people; the people are the brand. They are the ones behind the service; they have to feel represented by the brand, and vice versa. Building a brand based on the company’s culture is vital for the team to make it their own and for the customer to perceive it as authentic.
• The target is not a specific person; it’s a category. If you want to reach 95% of your potential customers, designing a brand (and campaigns) for a hyper-segmented target is a feast today, famine tomorrow strategy. It’s important to develop a B2B brand and communication plan that targets major categories of professionals or companies that are likely to buy from you in the future.
• Activate your brand with a performance branding strategy. Don’t stop working on your brand once you’ve created it. Implement actions to be present in the day-to-day lives of your potential customers without overpowering them or always wanting to sell to them. Work to make them associate your brand with specific situations so that when they find themselves in one… bam! They think of you.

Did you enjoy the article? If you’re looking for a B2B branding agency for your company and want to know how Agencia Jaimito can help you, don’t hesitate to contact us.