The world’s leading B2B brands are instantly recognisable.
Why?
They’ve bridged the gap between good and great when planning and executing a B2B brand strategy.
Based on the assumption you don’t place yourself on the same pedestal as Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates (yet!), this article will explain how to build a B2B brand strategy befitting an industry heavyweight.
We’ll focus on:
- What a B2B brand strategy is
- How branding differs from brand strategy
- Benefits of a B2B brand strategy
- How to create a B2B brand strategy
But before we delve into the finer details, we’ll kick things off with the essentials…
What is a B2B brand strategy?
A B2B brand strategy is an in-depth plan explaining how your company will build, manage, and communicate your brand to other businesses.
It helps create strong, positive perceptions of your brand among other companies, to build long-term business relationships and drive sales.
How is branding different from brand strategy?
Whilst some people often consider branding and brand strategy to be the same thing, this isn’t necessarily true.
Branding refers to the process of creating a distinctive identity for a product, service, or company.
This involves various elements that together create a unique image and perception in the minds of the audience.
Let’s take a whistle-stop tour of the pieces that make up the branding jigsaw puzzle.
Key components of branding
Visual identity
- Logo: The visual symbol representing your brand.
- Colours: A specific colour palette that reflects your brand’s personality.
- Typography: The style and appearance of the text used in branding materials.
- Design elements: Patterns, shapes, and other visual aspects that contribute to your brand’s overall look and feel.
Brand voice and tone
- Voice: The distinct personality or style in which your brand communicates.
- Tone: The emotional inflection applied to your brand voice in different contexts (e.g., formal, friendly, authoritative).
Messaging
- Taglines and slogans: Short, memorable phrases that encapsulate the essence of your brand.
- Key messages: Core ideas and values your brand consistently communicates.
Brand experience
- Customer interactions: How you engage with customers across various touchpoints.
- Packaging: The design and presentation of your products.
- Digital presence: Website design, social media profiles, and online content.
Benefits of a B2B brand strategy
While planning and rolling out a B2B brand strategy for your company isn’t a straightforward task, it can help your business thrive.
Let’s take a look at some of the main benefits.
Enhances brand consistency
The most successful companies on the planet all have one thing in common: they’ve mastered the art of establishing a consistent brand.
A clear-cut value proposition, precise positioning, and slick messaging ensure internal teams and prospective customers, know exactly what you offer, who it helps, and how your products solve specific pain points.
Apple’s the prime example of a company continuing to knock it out of the park with its positioning, messaging, and value proposition:
- Positioning: Premium, innovative technology products.
- Messaging: Simple, sleek, and focused on the user experience.
- Value Proposition: “Think Different” – emphasises innovation, design, and superior user experience.
This trio continue to serve as key ingredients in establishing a brand consistency that’s contributed to a staggering total net sales revenue of $383.29 billion in 2023.
Improves customer acquisition and retention
Apple could release an iSprout and send their customers into a frenzy.
But for the average Joe like me and thee, customer acquisition doesn’t come as easy, so you need to put plans in place to a) improve your customer acquisition and b) nurture buyers so they don’t take their custom elsewhere.
Average Customer acquisition costs (CAC) vary depending on industry:
- SaaS: $702
- B2B: $536
- eCommerce: $70
A B2B brand strategy is key in successfully promoting your positioning and proposition, driving conversion rates and retaining customers.
It helps you position yourself as the go-to option for them and helps differentiate yourself against other solutions within your industry that could convince them otherwise.
Maintains competitive advantage
With 3 million B2B businesses in the US alone, it’s hard enough to survive, let alone thrive.
The key to flourishing and establishing yourself as a market leader lies in defining your value proposition and positioning your brand in your respective marketplace.
Without labouring our aforementioned point, never underestimate the power and influence of conveying your differentiating features to your buyers.
This element of your B2B brand strategy will help you create compelling messaging that resonates with your audience.
And as we all know, piquing a buyer’s attention can often be the hardest part to master.
Now, we could harp on the benefits of B2B brand strategies until the cows come home, but let’s move on and focus on what you really want to know…
How to build a B2B brand strategy
Building a B2B brand strategy is like training for the New York Marathon.
If you go in all guns blazing, with little to no strategy, your race will be run before it’s even started.
Instead, take one step at a time, be patient, and form an overarching outlook to shape your plan.
1. Define your brand purpose and values
To build a B2B brand strategy, start by defining your brand purpose and values.
Articulate why your brand exists beyond making a profit by clearly stating your mission and the impact you aim to achieve – you may’ve heard this referred to more commonly as a mission statement.
Identify your core values – the fundamental beliefs and principles guiding your actions and decisions. These values should resonate with your target audience and be evident in every aspect of your brand.
Mission statements vary dramatically, and are often inspired by real-life experiences of the business owner.
For instance, TOMs founder Blake Mycoskie started the One for One® model—giving away one pair of shoes for every pair sold, to support larger health, education and community development programs through strategic partnerships following his experiences whilst travelling.
On the other hand, Tesla’s mission statement is to “accelerate the world’s transition to renewable energy.”
In both cases, these brand purposes resonate with their target audience – you need to make sure your business is doing the same.
Because let’s be frank: businesses lacking emotional pull don’t go the distance.
2. Understand your target audience
Understanding your target audience is crucial when you’re building a B2B brand strategy.
Conduct thorough market research to identify their demographics, psychographics, needs, preferences, and pain points.
Develop detailed customer personas to better understand and address their specific needs and behaviours.
3. Analyse competitors and complete market positioning
Next, analyse your competitors and market positioning.
Identify and evaluate your main competitors, focusing on their strengths, weaknesses, and market positions.
Determine what makes your brand unique and why customers should choose you over competitors by clearly defining your unique value proposition (UVP).
This differentiation is key to setting your brand apart in the marketplace.
4. Develop brand messaging and identify
Developing your brand messaging and identity is the following step.
Craft key messages that communicate your value proposition, benefits, and unique selling points.
Ensure consistency in tone, voice, and language across all communication channels and create a cohesive visual identity that includes your logo, colour palette, typography, and design elements, all reflecting your brand’s personality and values.
Establish brand guidelines to maintain consistent visual and verbal communication across all touchpoints and marketing materials.
5. Implement and monitor your B2B brand strategy
Develop a comprehensive launch plan to introduce your brand to the market, including marketing campaigns, PR activities, and social media engagement.
You also need to train your employees to ensure they understand and embody the brand’s values and messaging, equipping them to represent the brand accurately in their interactions.
So, you’ve launched your strategy, your team’s been trained up – it’s time to kick back and relax, right?
Wrong.
You need to track the right key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of your brand strategy and regularly monitor and analyse these metrics.
This allows you to assess the effectiveness of your strategy, give yourself a good ol’ high five when you spot something that’s working, and work on things that perhaps aren’t so great.
So, get your pen and paper at the ready – here are the metrics we recommend tracking to align with your business goals.
KPIs for your B2B brand strategy
Brand awareness
- Website traffic: Number of visitors to your website (tracked via analytics tools).
- Social media reach: Total number of followers, likes, shares, and mentions.
- Search volume data: Monitor brand-related search queries using tools like Google Trends.
Lead generation
- Number of leads: Total leads generated.
- Conversion rate: Conversion Rate = (Number of Leads / Total Visitors) × 100
- Cost per lead (CPL): CPL = Total Marketing Spend / Number of Leads
Customer engagement
- Email open rate: Email Open Rate = (Emails Opened / Emails Sent) × 100
- Click-through rate (CTR): CTR = (Clicks / Emails Sent) × 100
- Social media engagement: Total number of comments, shares, and interactions.
- Content engagement: Time spent on content and bounce rates.
Customer acquisition
- Customer acquisition cost (CAC): CAC = Total Sales and Marketing Cost / Number of New Customers
- Sales growth: Sales Growth = ((Current Period Sales – Previous Period Sales) / Previous Period Sales) × 100
- Sales cycle length: Average time taken to convert a lead into a customer.
Customer retention
- Customer churn rate: Customer Churn Rate = (Number of Customers Lost During a Period /Number of Customers at the Start of the Period) × 100
- Customer lifetime value (CLV): CLV = Average Purchase Value × Purchase Frequency × Customer Lifespan
- Repeat purchase rate: Repeat Purchase Rate = (Number of Returning Customers / Total Number of Customers) × 100
Brand loyalty
- Net promoter score (NPS): NPS = Percentage of Promoters – Percentage of Detractors
- Customer satisfaction (CSAT): CSAT = (Number of Satisfied Customers / Number of Survey Responses) × 100
- Referral rate: Referral Rate = (Number of Referred Customers / Total Number of Customers) × 100
Market positioning
- Share of voice (SOV): SOV = (Brand Mentions / Total Industry Mentions) × 100
- Market share: Market Share = (Brand’s Sales / Total Market Sales) × 100
Content performance
- Content views and shares: Total number of views and shares of your content.
- Backlinks and domain authority: Number of backlinks and the authority of your domain (tracked via SEO tools).
- Download rates: Number of content downloads (e.g., whitepapers, eBooks).
Event participation
- Event attendance: Number of attendees at webinars, conferences, and events.
- Lead generation from events: Number of leads generated from events.
Public relations (PR) impact
- Media mentions: Number of mentions in media outlets.
- Sentiment analysis: Sentiment of media coverage (positive, neutral, negative).
Finetune your B2B brand strategy with Axon Garside
If you’re serious about supporting your business and bringing home results, a B2B brand strategy needs to be put in place ASAP, whether you do it internally or externally.
No slacking. No skimping. No excuses.
Here at Axon Garside, we’re well versed in supporting businesses with strategies that drive results – and it needn’t cost an arm and a leg.
