Business Brand or Business Bland

Building a killer brand isn’t always top of the priority list for B2B businesses. Whilst some business brands have moved on considerably towards more human-centric communications, we still see so many falling into generic brand tropes – ‘we’ve got you covered’, ‘beside you all the way’ etc etc.

Until recently building a killer brand has rarely been an overt objective of B2B marketers .The penny does seem to be dropping in the world of business brands and is gathering pace with large dollops of creativity as it goes. Is it worth it though and what are the principles?

Well, to create a killer brand the principles are identical to those of the consumer brand. We are after all selling to people and people have never been surrounded with so much noise, clutter, information, distractions and touch points.

Driving business growth with clear Brand Positioning

At IF., we create B2B brands that are in every way as ‘killer’ – in being original, distinctive, relevant, truthful and brave as the consumer brands that we create and build. Assumptions are nullified and we don’t adhere to old school B2B cliches and language. The result is that our B2B Clients are winning, by delivering strategies and creative solutions that stand out, keeping their brands front and centre across the full customer journey. This is vital as whilst the emotional decision making can be as fast as in B2C, the rational justification process can be far longer and involve many stakeholders – so your Brand Story not only has to cut through, it also has to be able to sustain interest over time.

Take Mailchimp as a great example. Knowing their audience is always time poor, their functionality and user experience is super simple and efficient. But it’s their personality that wins the hearts of business development managers and kitchen table entrepreneurs everywhere. Their tone of voice is anything but bland; demonstrating they are in this with us, supporting our ambitions and celebrating the success; one emailer at a time.

Why Brand Positioning in B2B Matters 

The impact for brands in the B2B space who have the ambition to leave the bland behind and be distinct is there waiting to be had, right this minute.

Competing for the attention of business audiences has never been trickier. They’re overwhelmed with options and bombarded with messages through more channels than ever. But establish a killer brand for your business and these challenges and countless others become far easier to solve.

The case for Killer B2B Branding

From our research, we know that brands matter, and they create bottom line impact. One important revelation for B2B companies is how important the emotional dimension of the brand is. “Hard” facts matter, such as expertise, but the emotional components, such as “fits in well with my values and beliefs,” is an important element when B2B customers consider a brand. 

McKinsey 2024.

We’re only human. The triggering of emotion in decision-making has clearly landed from the consumer space to the business world. We are also taking into account the Decision-Making Unit (DMU) in our B2B customer organisations; the team involved in decision-making. How can we play into the pain points and needs of all of the individuals, with their specific and often different needs?

Jo Whiteley, IF.’s Director, Creativity is clear about this particular challenge:

‘Often the most creatively challenging & therefore gratifying brand development projects, are for Business Brands. Invariably, you work harder to find those golden nuggets, but it’s worth every second. I’ll explain; the key to success is internal buy-in. All too often the sheer mention of Brand is met with rolling of the eyes, yet, give the team an idea that’s not only unique in the market, but unequivocally true, easily translatable & motivating and before you know it, shoulders lift, the room starts to buzz… and the transformation begins.’

So, you’ve got your killer business brand idea, what now?

It needs to live and breath across every customer touchpoint, building a consistent experience that will place your business, products and services, at the top of the list when decision-makers enter the consideration stage of the buying journey.

It’s a bit of a mind-shift from the traditional B2B model which places the Sales Team on the coal face, often being the first point of interaction between the brand and the customer, a legacy which makes the connection with the customer and converting the sale, the start of the customer journey instead of the middle of it.

Whilst B2B businesses are paying more attention to the full customer journey and delivery of experience throughout the buying cycle, we are still seeing too many focussing solely on closure mechanics in the mid- to bottom end of the funnel, with little or no regard for brand.

Difference helps create value

These activities are much more powerful when aligned to the brand story that often got them to this stage in the first place. Whether that touchpoint is your website, a conversation with your sales team, a LinkedIn ad, a physical product or an interaction with a chatbot, everything has to ladder up to your killer brand to build a consistent, unified and powerful brand experience.

This is backed up by Kantar BrandZ 2024 Most Valuable Global Brands Report:

‘The goal is to create a brand positioning that is in line with client needs and business values -while at the same time serving to differentiate the brand from the competition. Our evidence shows that Difference is worth paying for. In simplest terms, that’s because Difference makes a brand less substitutable. Our collaboration with the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School found that adding Kantar BrandZ metrics to researchers’ models allowed them to predict business performance with 99.5% accuracy – and that Difference contributed the most to exceptional business results’.

A great example in action is Octopus Energy for Business. Their meaningful difference has earned acclaim for combining green energy solutions with advanced technology to help companies reduce their carbon footprint while cutting costs. And they keep things simple; their transparent pricing and customer-centric approach add to its strong reputation as a true business consumer champion.

The role for Cross-Channel Creative Activation

Being creative in the digital space is critical. Laura Selby, Director Digital explains:

‘You say the words ‘B2B on digital’ and your head immediately goes to LinkedIn posts and LinkedIn advertising and maybe a little bit of CRM work. Trickled down through meetings, plans and discussions and the output can often become dull, static and dark banners posted from a LinkedIn company page. And they think it’s job done’.

Be playful and be creative. We have shifted in the way we consume brands and advertising – yes for B2B too! Even as simple as incorporating video into your execution – remember our attention spans have decreased, so it’s all about captivating and converting within 3 seconds. Whether it’s an ad or a post or a piece of work for CRM – now is the era for creative reinvention; focus on stepping away from the ‘way it has always been done’ and look to what’s relevant to your audience now.

A business brand’s LinkedIn page is often the start and end of the thinking when it comes to channels. Yes, it’s a core platform to the strategy but don’t forget about your ‘organic army’ of colleagues – leverage their LinkedIn platforms to communicate your business messaging and assets.

People want to hear from people and LinkedIn favours this hugely. It’s time to up the employee brand advocacy for business success.

So let’s just re-cap. What we’re saying is:

• • Ditch the cliches and encourage originality.
  • Don’t overcomplicate. In a noisy, competitive world you need to simplify then amplify.
  • Integration not replication. Stick to the brand story but adapt to suit each channel.
  • Think DMU – consider everyone who is involved in the decision-making process.
  • As upper funnel still needs to perform, so lower funnel should also drive the brand forward.
  • Brand isn’t just a Marketing task – engage and mobilise everyone in the business behind the brand idea if you want to deliver consistency, authenticity and trust.

You might expect this from the agency, but what does a client think about all this?

‘After 170 years of our legacy brand, we launched our new name and logo:  Zentia. We were very proud of what we had achieved and excited about how our new identity might inspire customers and colleagues alike. We needed an expert helping hand to develop the story behind the new brand, and we selected  IF. to support us with the next phase of our brand journey. Nearly four years down the line, we are sure we made the right call.

B2B brands can often forget that their target audiences are people at the end of the day and they communicate in corporate speak using language no-one would ever actually say in real life. It’s important for a business like Zentia to not only provide audiences with the factual information they need, but to communicate the information with a distinct and authentic personality – because of the vital need to build trusted relationships.

IF.’s thorough process from Immersion to Campaign activation, including in depth learnings from both the market and internal stakeholders, created the platform for our inspirational ‘Zentia. Above all, you’ strapline and full brand story. 

As Zentia currently enters its adolescence, we again partner with IF. to inspire the development of our brand journey. Bring it on…’

Graham Taylor, Sales & Marketing Director, Zentia.

Thank you Graham. And for those not familiar with the UK’s Ceiling Market, here’s a little case history.

Brand re-launch takes Zentia to the number one spot

Zentia is now the UK’s market leader in complete ceiling solutions. For over 100 years, they traded as Armstrong Ceiling Solutions, manufacturing a wide range of suspended ceilings and ceiling tiles.

Our Transformative Growth Challenge

Following a bit of European M&A, the UK arm of Armstrong was carved out and bought by the PE business, Aurelius. Immediately the name needed to change and our task was to launch the new Zentia brand across the UK, reassuring existing specifier, distributor and contractor customers and driving growth among new.

IF.’s Approach

Armstrong was the past. We aligned Zentia with the future, creating a powerful new proposition and delivering it through a contemporary new brand concept ‘Above all, you’. The new campaign put customers at the heart of everything and established UK Focus, Partnership, Reliability and Innovation as the Zentia brand pillars.

Zentia’s Success Story

Relationships with distributors and contractors have been galvanised. Specifier relationships have grown exponentially. Successful brand and product launch campaigns have helped establish Zentia as the highly innovative, forward thinking brand in its sector. Proud to be the UK’s number one.

‘It’s a killer B2B Brand to be proud of’ says Jo Whiteley, IF. Director, Creativity.

She continued: ‘Zentia had all the heritage (& baggage) you’d expect from a huge global operation. More importantly, they had a vision to be agile & innovative, the desire to grow & investment to support the transformation. They couldn’t do this under the constraints of the past. A new name, a new logo, a new colour palette wasn’t going to be enough. They needed a Brand to be proud of, a positioning to believe in and an idea to bring it all together for customers (past and future) to connect with. That’s what we gave them’.

If you find the words ‘one stop shop’ on your web site or ‘We’re the world’s leading provider of global solutions’ then perhaps it’s time for a Brand Development discussion.

Whilst your brand might not have, your business audience have certainly moved on. They not only want to buy from you, they want to buy into you – not just what you sell, but what you stand for. Your logo, web site, exhibition stand, linkedIn post and sales deck must go beyond product or service information. It should be infused with your values, purpose and personality.

Creating Emotional Connections in B2B Marketing

Brand positioning and emotional connections in B2B matter. As Christian James, Founder & MD summarises:

‘It’s easy and obvious to summarise and say it’s ultimately about trust. Of course it is. But it’s how you earn that trust that’s the important lesson here. Firstly, you need to get noticed – in a cluttered world where attention spans are ever shorter, this takes creativity as well as persistence. Once noticed, your audience needs to be clear that you are distinct from the other options, relevant to what they need and that you are authentic – so they are confident you are going to deliver on your promises. You have to approach the Brand Development project from the inside out. Work out what your brands super-strength is and then get the whole business behind it before you start selling it, consistently, to the outside world’.