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If you\u2019re reading this, you\u2019re probably a B2B business.<\/p>\n
Have you already started developing a B2B branding strategy? If you haven\u2019t yet, then you\u2019ll gain a lot of precious info from reading this article. <\/p>\n
This article explains all you need to know about the importance of developing a B2B branding strategy and the rookie mistakes you should avoid when doing B2B branding.<\/p>\n
To get started, there\u2019s an important truth you need to know about branding:<\/p>\n
\u201cBranding is more than just a logo and a name.\u201d<\/p>\n
Too many B2B brands think their job is done after designing a fancy logo and name for their company.<\/p>\n
So, if branding isn\u2019t about a cool name or logo, what is B2B branding all about?<\/p>\n
The correct answer is it\u2019s about building a relationship and establishing trust with your B2B customers. <\/p>\n
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Many B2B marketers are very focused on short-term sales. But who can blame them?<\/p>\n
Getting sales is an immense pressure. On top of that, they have to meet quarterly needs to keep your shareholders satisfied. <\/p>\n
These major reasons make it difficult for marketers to meet long-term goals such as brand building and advertising (which you see B2C brands doing since the stone age).<\/p>\n
Only just recently, B2B brands have just started focusing more on branding.<\/p>\n
So, to grow a healthy brand, B2B brands must focus on a 50\/50 split between short-term sales and long-term brand building.<\/p>\n
Here are 5 reasons you need to focus on developing a B2B branding strategy. <\/p>\n
B2B branding helps position your business strategically in the market. <\/p>\n
Needless to say, almost every industry is already very saturated. This means competition is cutthroat. <\/p>\n
If you\u2019re a financial advisory firm offering the same services as your clients, then in the eyes of your customers, you\u2019re not going to look any different from your competitors. <\/p>\n
So, what you need is to find your USP. Something that makes you special and different from your competitors to stand out in the market. <\/p>\n
To be even more precise, this refers to something which your brand does so much better than anyone else in the market. This can be one or more things that your company does better than anyone else. <\/p>\n
By doing brand positioning, you can shape the way you want your audience to think and feel about your brand. <\/p>\n
If you consistently communicate that your brand stands for something, then people who believe in the same values will flock towards your company and spread the word about your brand.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, if you can\u2019t position your brand strategically, then it\u2019s hard to get your best customers to pay attention.<\/p>\n
Today, there are already so many companies flooding most industries. These companies probably provide the same products\/services as you. So, you need to beef up your B2B branding strategy if you want to stay ahead of the curve.\n<\/li>\n
The point about creating brand awareness is to build familiarity with your audience. <\/p>\n
Yes it\u2019s true; just making a prospective client aware of your brand alone won\u2019t drive revenue. But it is an essential first step in the sales process, wouldn\u2019t you agree?<\/p>\n
When people start becoming more aware about your brand, they will tend to cling to the belief that if something is well-known, then it is good. <\/p>\n
Just think about it, the big four companies like PwC, Accenture, KPMG and Deloitte. <\/p>\n
You might not have used their services before. But would you trust them to service your brand?<\/p>\n
Chances are, you would. Why? It\u2019s because they are already well-known across the world. <\/p>\n
From there, as your brand awareness continues to grow, then people will slowly start to trust you more. At the end of the day, awareness is essential for every business. <\/p>\n
To learn more about brand awareness, here\u2019s an article that you might find really helpful. Click to read the article here<\/a>.\n<\/li>\n It\u2019s not easy getting your customers to think about your brand as their first choice during their purchase process.<\/p>\n There\u2019s only so much our brains can remember. This is what psychologists call \u201cmental availability\u201d.<\/p>\n So, that\u2019s why B2B owners like yourself need branding to assist your customers in recalling your brand better. <\/p>\n Don\u2019t believe \u201cmental availability\u201d is something that really exists?<\/p>\n Well, let\u2019s play a quick test. Name 7 consulting firms at the top of your mind (without using Google). <\/p>\n Here are a few: PwC, Deloitte, KPMG and Ernst & Young. <\/p>\n After naming 4 of these firms, you\u2019re probably struggling to name 3 other consulting firms now. <\/p>\n To help you out, 3 other famous consulting firms also include big names like: Accenture, McKinsey and Boston Consulting Group.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t worry if you struggled to answer. This just goes to show that mental availability is something that really does exist.<\/p>\n Having a Brand Strategist plan a solid brand strategy will definitely put your brand at the top of your consumer\u2019s mind when they make their purchasing decisions. <\/p>\n Why wait? Hire one today! Click here to contact us for a chat about branding<\/a>.\n<\/li>\n Often you hear B2B marketers focus their branding efforts on logical and rational brand messaging. They often neglect the emotional narrative.<\/p>\n But if you really want to create a successful B2B branding strategy you need to combine logic and emotion in your message.<\/p>\n When deciding which B2B company to hire, your clients don\u2019t park their emotions and personality in a corner when making this decision.<\/p>\n This means B2B clients are also emotional buyers. So, why all this huge fuss about emotions?<\/p>\n Here\u2019s why: once you successfully appeal to your buyer\u2019s emotions, you\u2019ll have a better chance at convincing them to choose you over your competitors. But how does branding help you achieve that?<\/p>\n Well, if your customers like your brand, they tend to hold certain positive beliefs about your brand in their minds. <\/p>\n Such customers will even defend your brand against naysayers to the death. (It\u2019s all about psychology, and it\u2019s true. No gimmicks.)<\/p>\n This isn\u2019t surprising, because branding helps to create the right associations towards your brand and evokes appropriate feelings (even if your customers can\u2019t explain why).<\/p>\n From there, you can build a following of clients who believe you are a good brand. <\/p>\n These clients will also become more responsive to your ads messages that tell them to act on their positive beliefs about your brand now. <\/p>\n For these reasons above, branding is important as it helps to make your B2B customers feel good about your brand. It\u2019s not just a B2C thing. <\/p>\n<\/li>\n Through branding, you can develop a more consistent message to your customers through words, tone of voice, pictures, designs and logo. <\/p>\n Have you looked at a brand\u2019s website and their social media pages and struggle to believe it\u2019s the same company?<\/p>\n For example, their website could have a very minimalist look and feel. But their social media posts are designed with every colour of the rainbow. This is why consistency in your marketing message and design is important. <\/p>\n By focusing on your B2B branding strategy, you can build better brand guidelines for your brand to ensure consistent messaging across all departments in your company.<\/p>\n When there is a high level of inconsistency, it\u2019s easy to recognise the root of the problem. This company either does not follow their brand guidelines or doesn\u2019t have one. <\/p>\n Truth be told, there\u2019s really no right or wrong way to create a brand guideline. But your guideline should at least cover the following fundamentals:<\/p>\n If you\u2019re interested to learn more about brand guidelines, you can click here to read more<\/a>.\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n Here are 4 common B2B branding mistakes you might be making.<\/p>\n This is one of the most common mistakes among B2B companies.<\/p>\n These are companies who turn every advertisement, social media post and any piece of content into a sales pitch.<\/p>\n While you are promoting your brand, this tactic will drive your customers away because you are constantly shouting about yourself.<\/p>\n More than that, it provides no value to your customers. People will naturally flock to things that offer them value or help improve the quality of their life.\n<\/li>\n Simply having Google Analytics isn\u2019t enough. You need to understand what the data is telling you. <\/p>\n After all, if you don\u2019t use your data then you\u2019ll be operating just based on your gut instincts, which is dangerous.<\/p>\n Without tracking your Google Analytics, you\u2019re also missing out on key information such as your website visitor\u2019s age, location, time spent on pages and topics of interest. <\/p>\n Aside from that, if you don\u2019t use Google Analytics, you won\u2019t know what is your best performing content. <\/p>\n This means you wouldn\u2019t know which content your audience loves to read\/watch. As such, you wouldn\u2019t know what to focus on producing. <\/p>\n This will cost you loads of valuable website traffic because you\u2019re producing content that your audience does not enjoy watching\/reading.<\/p>\n Google Analytics is your compass. You need to use it to guide your marketing efforts. Otherwise, you\u2019ll be fumbling blindly in the dark.\n<\/li>\n Content marketing is important to both B2C and B2B businesses today. <\/p>\n Failing to use content marketing to the fullest in your branding arsenal will cost you tons of traffic. Offering only one or two content a month won\u2019t do your brand any justice. <\/p>\n Content marketing must be produced consistently to keep your audiences continuously hooked on reading or watching educational content that improves their lives.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t ignore social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn. These platforms are extremely useful for B2Bs to promote their brand and shouldn\u2019t be used only for B2Cs and cute cat memes. <\/p>\n Aside from that, if you don\u2019t utilise content marketing, you\u2019ll be putting less effort into creating brand awareness for your company.<\/p>\n All these things that you are missing out on will cost you tons of sales waiting to be generated. <\/p>\n Don\u2019t wait for that to happen. If you don\u2019t have enough manpower, outsourcing your content creation to an agency can work wonders for your brand. <\/p>\n If you\u2019re interested, you can contact us here to learn more about our services<\/a>.\n<\/li>\n This is a cardinal sin which many technology companies make when describing their products, particular processes or IT concepts. <\/p>\n When marketing their products, these companies often speak in their own language and not their audience\u2019s.<\/p>\n Doing this will leave the audience confused, thinking that you\u2019re speaking Greek to them, especially to people who aren\u2019t in the same industry as you.<\/p>\n Aside from that, using jargons to communicate your message to your audience also sounds more robotic and less genuine.<\/p>\n Think about it, when you speak with your friends in real life which of the following sentences will you say more often:<\/p>\n \u201cI love using Macbook laptops. They don\u2019t lag as much as Lenovo laptops.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cMacbooks have a 8-core CPU with 4 perform\u00adance cores and 4 efficiency cores, 8-core GPU and 16\u2011core Neural Engine. Therefore, I firmly conclude that they have a better processing speed than Lenovo laptops.\u201d<\/p>\n Do you speak like the latter to your friends in real life? Probably not. <\/p>\n That\u2019s not to say you shouldn\u2019t use jargon at all. There is a time and place for using them. Just don\u2019t overdo it. <\/p>\n The key here is to make your message simple and understandable to your audience.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n You\u2019ve reached the end of this article. <\/p>\n Now you have all you need to know about the importance of a B2B branding strategy.<\/p>\n Hopefully these points highlighted in this article have shown you why devising a B2B branding strategy is important for your business.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re interested to engage a branding agency to help you plan a rock-solid B2B branding strategy, we could be the right guy for your company.<\/p>\n You can click here to check out our services<\/a>, and later contact us here if you have any further enquiries<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5809,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[110],"tags":[23],"table_tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\n\nA solid B2B branding strategy increases your customer\u2019s mental availability<\/h3>\n
\n\nA B2B branding strategy can help tap into your customer\u2019s emotions<\/h3>\n
\n\nA strong B2B branding strategy helps communicate consistent marketing messages to your customers<\/h3>\n
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\n\nRookie B2B Branding Strategy Mistakes You Should Dodge<\/u><\/b><\/h2>\n
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Your branding over-emphasises sales<\/h3>\n
\n\nNot setting up your Analytics to track your traffic<\/h3>\n
\n\nFailure to maximise content marketing<\/h3>\n
\n\nUsing technical jargon that confuses your audience<\/h3>\n
\n\nWrapping it up…<\/u><\/b><\/h2>\n