Ask the average person to name a B2C brand and they can probably reel off a dozen. Ask them to name a B2B brand and they may struggle. This means there’s a huge opportunity for B2B brands that CAN stand out. Create a compelling brand and you can drive sales, increase revenues and more. Keep reading to find out how… 👇👇👇
1. Begin with a solid product
The best brand in the world can’t deflect from a poor quality product. 😔
Brands like Nike, Apple and others have flourished because first and foremost they offer products which are genuinely high-quality and which – in many cases – offer genuinely new innovations and ways of doing things. 🤗👍
Before you start your brand-building activity, ensure your product or service is as good as it possibly can be. 🌟🌟🌟
Today’s consumers – be they individuals or businesses – are more sceptical than ever. They can easily see through slick marketing if a product or service fails to match up to the claims brands make about them. 🤔
2. Understand your audience
Why do people buy goods and services? It’s generally because they have a problem that needs solving. 🚩🚩
In the B2C space, this can be anything from feeling hungry and wanting a tasty meal, to buying a car because they want to travel more easily from point A to point B.
The same applies in the B2B realm 👔👔. Businesses buy from other businesses because they need supplies, or they require a service.
The key to building a brand that truly resonates with your target audience is to fully understand what they want from you. What are the problems they are dealing with? What are their pain points? How can you solve those problems and alleviate their pain points? 🔎🔎
By truly understanding your target audience you can craft a brand proposition that really does resonate with them. 😀😀
Whilst you’re doing this, it also helps to scope out your competitors too. How are they marketing their goods or services? How do they define their value proposition?
As the old saying goes, ‘keep your friends close, and your enemies closer…’
3. Choose a tone of voice
Words matter. The way you say them matters even more. 🖋️🖋️
Tone of voice is often overlooked, but it’s an incredibly important part of creating a compelling, memorable brand.
Just think of some high-profile examples; Innocent uses a playful, fun tone of voice, imparting a real character to their products – such that they ended up being acquired by Coca Cola because they stood out so much in the beverage market. 🥤
Likewise, some companies – take Scottish Widows for example – use a more sombre, serious tone of voice to impart the gravity and seriousness with which they treat their job (i.e. managing your pension).
What’s important is that A) your brand actually has a distinctive tone of voice and B) that your tone of voice is appropriate to your audience. 👄
After all, no one’s going to trust you with something like their pension if your brand sounds overly flippant and casual… 👀🙄
4. Choose your brand design
Like words – logos, colours and overall aesthetics are crucially important in creating a B2B brand that stands out. ✅💯
Whilst logos are important – you shouldn’t focus solely on your logo alone.
Why?
Because other visual elements such as colourways can be equally important. Colours can help convey the feeling you want to communicate, whilst also helping to differentiate you from competitors. 🔥🔥🔥
Whilst the psychology of colours is still a relatively new science, there have been certain trends identified. For example, yellows and oranges convey feelings such as optimism, warmth and happiness, whilst colours like greens and blues project feelings such as dependability, strength and health. 💪
Because of this, you’ll tend to find that certain colours are closely associated with certain industries. Blues and purples tend to work well with healthcare and finance industries for example, whilst black and greys work well with technology and high-end clothing companies.
The point is – choosing the right colour can help make your brand stand out – but, be careful not to go too off-piste as this can put customers off… 😲🤯
5. Customer success stories
There’s nothing quite like social proof to help sell B2B services. If you take a look at many B2B websites you’ll see that they’re often fairly anonymous, providing a list of goods or services available. 🕵️♀️
Whilst this may be perfectly functional, it doesn’t inspire confidence in prospective buyers. 🤔💭
Think of it this way; someone who is tasked with purchasing a new product or service for their company has to get it right or else, in many cases, their job could be on the line. 😨
If they can see that other people have used your goods and services – and that these goods or services delivered on their promise – then they’re much more likely to purchase from you. 😎😎
So, you can make your B2B company stand out by offering plenty of social proof on your website and other sales materials. Include named testimonials (ideally accompanied by photographs), case studies and anything else that demonstrates the effectiveness of your brand for real people. 🧑🤝🧑
6. Make use of marginal gains
Marginal gains refers to the theory that ongoing small, incremental improvements, can lead to big results. 📈
A brand isn’t a static entity – it should be constantly evolving, reflecting changes in your marketplace as well as changes amongst your core customers. 🤓
Just as technology continually changes, branding and broader aesthetic tastes change too.
If you simply leave your branding idle, it’ll quickly look dated, reflecting badly on your company. 😟
Aside from your logo, it also pays to continually review things like your brand colours, typefaces and other brand elements. 🎨🖌️👩🎨
A great example of this is the current trend amongst car companies (VW and Vauxhall being the most prominent examples) to ‘digitise’ their brand so that they’re more suited to digital environments such as smartphone and computer screens. 💻🖥️📱
For example, if the majority of your customers are going to be interacting with your brand via the internet rather than in print, make sure you’re implementing those marginal gains that’ll improve their interactions with your brand. 🙋🙋
7. Maintain brand integrity
It all starts off so well. Your chosen design agency provides you with a shiny new logo, a set of brand guidelines and plenty of supporting creative assets.
You and your team promise that these brand guidelines will never be deviated from.
Then Sharon in accounts adds an emoji to her email signature and tweaks the colour of your logo to her favourite shade of green. 🤯🙃🤯
Whilst it may not seem like a huge deal, it’s vital that you maintain the integrity of your brand.
A brand only works when it is consistent. ⏱️
That’s why the most successful brands are absolutely ruthless when it comes to the integrity of their brands.
It’s why retailers of Coca-Cola or Apple products have a list of brand guidelines that they must stick to resolutely. These brands understand the power of brand integrity and consistency. 💥💥💥
So, make sure that you treat your brand with the same respect as the biggest brands in the world. 💯
Create a brand identity that stands out with Snap
We build beautiful brands that mean more.
We help brands like yours unlock what’s unique about your brand, bringing it to life, ensuring you stand out and reach the right people. 👇👇👇
Find out more about Snap’s approach to brand development today
For more branding and marketing ideas and advice, read the Snap blog…
7 Reasons Why Your B2B Brand Needs Account-Based Marketing (ABM)
