The value of building a brand for B2B companies

I was discussing some issues with my business partner in Solutions Found, including the impact of branding for a B2B company. Most people think of 'brands' as mainly being important for consumer products. But the idea of brand is also critical for B2B companies.

In the B2B space a lot of the business is driven by personal contacts, and personal relationships. And it might be tempting to think that the overall brand of the company is not so important. But it is.

For B2B companies, the brand should be used to create a sense of unity, and reassurance, for the customer. In fact many companies offer a variety of products or services under the one main company name (or brand). These individual products can be come a confusing mess of opportunity for customers, unless they are given clear distinctions between each product and who is selling it.

A great explanation of this is given by John Quelch at Harvard Business.

By having a unifying brand image, it is also easier to control communications from different parts of the organization. This is something we covered at a recent seminar on centralizing email marketing for franchise groups.

The 'brand' must be championed by the CEO and other senior leaders within the company. And the task of maintaining the brand usually falls into the marketing department.

Although in reality, the marketing department only directly controls a portion of the communications within a B2B company. Other departments such as sales and technical support have significant direct contact with customers (verbal and written) and they also need to be brought on stream - guided - with how to manage and implement the 'brand message'.

Tips for 2007: Advertising Growth & 'Brand' Promises

Is advertising your 'brand' as effective as it used to be? Many experts say not.

The chart above (from UK-based Business Zone) highlights the growth in internet-based advertising/marketing. It also shows the decline in local newspaper and radio advertising volume.

Some interesting thoughts are presented in this article from Business Zone. One is from, Simon Knox, a Professor of Brand Marketing.

"The old model is broken." By that he meant, advertising or pushing out messages to potential customers has lost much of its power. There were no longer big bucks to be made off the back of TV advertising and he cited a McKinsey study which showed that while the cost of advertising continued on an upward trajectory, its impact mirrored it downwards.

And another point made is that successful companies have...

competed on value not empty promises. They had shifted their branding focus up a level to the corporation, but also, they put considerable effort into delivering a rewarding experience to customers.

There are some valuable lessons here for marketing in 2007 and beyond.
Pay attention to what works now, not what worked in the 80's and 90's.

1. Focus on improving your client experience.
2. Compete on value, not basics like price and options.
3. Know your clients even better.
4. Consider your Client Relationship Management process in its entirety. Not just each aspect on its own (i.e. on a transactional basis).