B2B Branding

Business-to-business branding has its own set of challenges. Some managers or owners believe that brand strategy is only important to consumer packaged goods. They are mistaken. Why? Because study after study has shown that whatever the product or service that someone buys, even business customers buy on emotion AND justify with logic. The logical part is what you may usually talk about with business customers - the features, functions and benefits of your product or service. But underlying emotions are at the heart of purchases and long-term relationships with your business customers. While consumer branding tends to focus on aspiration and delight, business branding tends to focus on pain and risk. Addressing the immediate pain your customers face with the lowest risk is key to your b2b success. We help you discover the pain points of your customers, not the just the theoretical pain of business challenges, but the personal and direct pain of the decision makers. Then we help you build your brand around that powerful connection with your business customers.

When working with companies large and small, here are some of the common b2b brand problems we see:

You are lacking a b2b brand strategy, or your b2b branding is weak.
Your brand doesn't really have a point of differentiation, besides commonly used statements such as you are "committed to quality," or you are a "world-class customer-centric company."
Your brand lacks a clear attitude or may even be schizophrenic
You know your business customers are going to the web, but you have a sneaky suspicion they are only going there to compare prices with your competitor.
You have a new product and are not sure if it should be part of your existing brand or you should create a new one
Your products are competitive on features and specs, but have no other attraction for your business customers
You have multiple product and/or services, each with its own brand identity, and it's up to your customers to figure out how to sort through what's right for them

If your company sells into a business market, here is how we can help you:

Identify the pain points that your customers are experiencing but may not readily articulate
Create a compelling brand personality and identity
Show your product design team how to support your brand
Build equity in your brand, even in a downturn economy
Determine when to extend a brand and when not to
Manage your brand through the marketing lifecycle
Learn ways to use the Web to help promote your brand
Troubleshoot common brand problems
Get employees from different parts of the company aligned around your brand

If you need help with building or managing your brand, contact us