B2B branding:
Place your company
on the top of the
industry with certainty

The differences between consumer and B2B branding and how to utilise branding successfully

Branding is the art of creating a specific image for something. It is a term invented by the advertising industry and, in a way, a misnomer as such.

With this I mean that branding, as understood by ad agencies, is really a very limited concept and mainly originates from the sphere of consumer advertising.

The usages of branding in the B2B market — or what passes for the assignment of "creating a strong brand" for your company, as seen by the average ad agency — are, to say the least, very limited in application.

This is because branding through advertising is only suited for the indirect marketing. Indirect marketing is, as you know, the type of marketing where one markets not to one's own target group but the audience of one's clients.

The most common examples of this are found in the food industry, whose products are sold through supermarkets and who invest millions into marketing to the end user, the consumer.

So they don't market (anywhere near as much) to THEIR direct clients, the supermarkets, but to consumers who are customers of these retail outlets.

These consumer campaigns are the bread and butter of the advertising industry, with billions of pounds spent annually in media costs alone.

But this format of branding suits the B2B sector quite poorly.

Consumer branding — the one-way-flow, one-trick pony

Consumer branding is based on a one-way flow. The ad agency creates ideas for a television and/or media campaign and advertiser then decides which of these "brands" his product the way he feels is desirable.

This is then flowed to the public in short information bursts of 10-30 second television ads — run at full length first and then gradually cut shorter as the public learns the message — and in media adverts that say little and concentrate on the visual side of things.

Oh, I know ad agencies explain this in far more complex and refined way, but in reality their idea of branding is just a one-trick gimmick.

Together with the advertiser they then decide which image (brand) they want to create for this product and then they go for it, pounding it into the public consciousness with endless repetitions.

And then... well, nothing. That's it, done and dusted, that's their one trick performed. Onto the next client and product, next campaign... moving on...

One-trick branding it should be called in my opinion.

This method of branding doesn't work within the B2B sector, not if you want to have any tangible results and some value for your money.

Branding in the B2B sector

In the business-to-business sector, branding needs to be a process of many gradual steps.

While B2B branding always includes some method(s) of addressing your target group as a unit (some "advertising" so to speak), you won't get very far with that.

Professional buyers and B2B decision-makers need to be addressed personally. Thus, the most important part of "branding" really occurs one on one with each prospective (and existing) B2B customer.

In fact, with a carefully planned set of tools (gradual steps) to guide the prospective client onwards, you can achieve absolutely amazing success in branding your solution head above the rest in the mind of each decision-maker.

But it occurs one by one, not by way of addressing the masses in one swell swoop.

The concept of branding itself denotes some considerable degree of PERMANENCE. It indicates a very clear-cut concept being created in the mind of the target group about your company as the solution-provider and about your products and/or services.

Your products and/or services are infinitely more sophisticated and refined than a bar of chocolate. Thus, to create permanence the branding requires lot more actions to be successful.

Equally, your products are based on specific requirements of clients whose decision to purchase is arrived at with logic, not the "me-want" -grade of emotional responses as with consumer goods.

The B2B buyer's need for information is far greater for you to have a chance to make a sale than what's the case when someone points to a candy bar at the store counter.

Consequently, the number of data we need to guide the prospect through is greater and the quality of each datum more complex.

Build your brand / create the branding based on indisputable facts and certainty on what your target audience really thinks

In conducting surveys and creating such tools for B2B industries, I found that the number of issues that need to be clarified in one way or another is about one hundred.

Some issues require a single question, some several... and some none, provided the prospective client won't bring the subject up in connection with some other matter being discussed.

These 100 steps then provide a staircase for the prospect to walk effortlessly, increasing his awareness of the benefits of your solution while gradually committing to it as HIS idea, HIS solution, HIS creation if you wish.

Provided that these steps are in correct sequence, an easy gradient is created and all possible concerns of the majority of prospective customers are addressed, creating sufficient certainty in the mind of the buyer to make an informed decision.

This, then, is the multi step process of B2B branding which works extremely well.

But it cannot be arrived at by GUESSING each of these steps, since each of these steps opens up a kaleidoscope of possible alternatives... and if you go astray, you will lead your prospect astray too.

Thus, the only way to BUILD this staircase of steps for effective B2B branding and to be certain that each step is correct and in correct sequence, is to conduct a survey with your target group to find out which barriers there are to making a sale.

When it comes to this end of things, you don't get by with subjective knowledge or logic.

See. Your target persons are not experts in YOUR field but their own. If they were equally expert in your field then they'd be competitors, right?

Thus, a myriad of problems arises with what they know and don't know.

Here are just a few examples of what needs to be found out:

Do they truly understand correctly about your products (specs, quality, usage, etc.)? What don't they know about your products (leading them into wrong conclusions)? What false / misleading information have they about you or your products (such as generalisations or rumours adopted from someone else which bias their thinking)? What do the salesmen not explain / know about your products that irritates them? Is there something salesmen should do but don't? Do salesmen behave in some way in which they shouldn't? What information is most important to clients? What's next important? How should this be explained so as to give the data but so it's not condescending as experienced by the client? What's suspicious about the products / services / sales tactics / deliveries of this industry providing these goods / services? Which indicators do clients consider signifying that there's something amiss with the vendor and/or his products and/or services? Which signs or manifestations point to a good service / goods deliverer?

This list could be a lot longer but you get the idea.

Funnily enough, most of us believe we KNOW these things about our target group.

But actually we don't. We know OUR views of these things, not those of the target group. We are certain of our own conclusions of what causes prospective clients to act as they do, but we don't actually KNOW.

If we knew, if our certainty was spot-on correct... then we would have SOLVED all the problems related to acquiring as many interested prospects as wanted and convincing these that our solution is the best one.

So self-created certainty of knowing the cause of problems is one thing, and actually researching the views of the target group to know THEIR certainity about these issues... well, that's another.

In terms of achieving results, the two are worlds apart.

Unfortunately, there's another problem in finding out their views.

Most of these things are of such delicate nature that prospective clients (of your target group) would not feel at all comfortable telling (confiding in) YOU about them.

Well, not in any balanced way anyhow.

This information is best acquired by a third party, a professional of market research, someone who can put these decision-makers at ease so they tell the truth as they see it.

If you were to conduct the survey, chances are that the information will be biassed in two ways. One part of the audience would not tell you about their reservations simply because they THINK you would then use that data to sell to them.

And having to talk to the "source of their troubles," those that would give you their grievances are likely to do so in such a violent manner that it, too, would be slanted.

Thus, you would not achieve a balanced or truthful picture of those viewpoints.

But once you DO have certainty on what your target group thinks about all the aspects that are important for branding your company on top... well, it will be plain sailing.

One-to-one branding — the forgotten potential of B2B marketing & sales

With advertising agencies so dominating the branding, the gradual step-by-step and one-on-one art of B2B branding has remained a white spot on the map of marketing and sales.

You could say that by branding themselves as the "experts of branding," the advertising industry has made branding its own brand of ownership.

This has then led to another solution which is that we try to find sales experts who are at such high level of competence that they can GUESS their way through these 100 steps and achieve sales.

Which, amazingly, they DO.

Of course, we don't know whether their success ratio is anywhere near the optimal. We assume it is, we see that by our own reality it is... but is it REALLY?

Equally, in the face of evidence to the contrary, we presume that the SPEED with which they cause sales is the best that can be achieved... but is it really?

We accept that it takes months or years for a sales person to become sufficiently experienced to acquire the skills to achieve sales... which then creates a tight bottleneck for sales and varying feelings of great dependency on sales personnel... leading to all sorts of other unwanted things no doubt.

We find no alternative but to agree with how difficult it is to find new prospective clients and how carefully we must tread with those precious few we acquire monthly.

But is it really so... does it have to be this way..., is there no alternative?

And what about HOW the sales people present the company and its products? Is that also left up to them to decide?

We can see that there could be a few flaws in how things are done but, without a better alternative for doing things, what is an executive to do?

Well, here's some food for thought:

What if it was possible to find out each of these 100 points about your target group with a high degree of certainty... and then create a set of ready-to-use tools which would go through these steps in correct gradient and sequence, so that YOU could be absolutely certain what the sales persons say and how they present your company and its products and/or services?

In fact, what if it was possible to create a branding for your company that would turn the tide of prospective clients to YOU, simply because what you offer is so SPOT-ON, aligning totally with what the target group wants but isn't receiving from any other service provider in your industry?

And, with this increased flow of prospects, what if this system would speed up the time it takes to close a prospective client into a sale?

And, being based exactly on what the target group wants, would it be feasible that such a system of selling would directly increase the success ratio too?

And what if this system would only take a day or two to train for every sales person, after which they could sell with reasonable skill, presenting the company and its products/services EXACTLY as you want?

Would that open up the bottleneck in sales? Make it easier to keep sales statistics on a nice upward trend instead of that "heart attack" graph of violent up and down movements of rags-to-riches-to-rags weeks following each other?

Would it enable easier acquisition of sales personnel and, perhaps even with lower cost at the entrance level? Could it give you more freedom to control sales, make quicker improvements when needed and decrease the dependency on others?

Well, I don't know... only you can tell. Without looking into it, I can't tell whether or not our B2B branding method would suit you, the company or your products and/or services.

But what I can do is help both of us find out.

If you're interested, why not read the presentation of our B2B Success Marketing Analysis introductory service, which could offer a lot more information on what could be done to brand your company accurately and successfully on the top as seen by your target group?

Alternately, if web site presentation is currently more important to you, click here to read about our Internet Marketing & Search Engine Optimization Analysis and how it can help you create an online branding for your company.

And whatever you do, trust your own instincts as that's what the success of your company builds on, past present and future!

Best wishes,

Harry Kafka
HDK Consultants Ltd
32 Manning Close
Richmond Square
East Grinstead RH19 2DR
West Sussex, United Kingdom
Tel. 01342-328 116
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