Brands build business
It’s a fact: strong brands drive B2B markets
By Kevin Randall and Monica Wasiljew
Movéo Integrated Branding
To stay alive and flourish in highly competitive environments, business-to-business (B2B) companies spend more time and money on R&D. Suppliers focus on making their products smarter, faster, and smaller and more cost-effective and reliable than the competition. They also find ways to improve and add services so that they provide customers with a complete and satisfying experience. Marketplaces are constantly changing, so companies have to adapt in order to stay ahead.
But how can these B2B companies truly differentiate their offering and be relevant to customers over the long-term? This is where brands come in.
Brands matter in B2B markets. In fact, they may matter even more in B2B than in B2C.
Cut though clutter
Brands matter because the B2B marketing communications world is characterized by numbing sameness, commoditized feature wars and laundry lists of product benefits. In other words, there is a sea of noise, parity, clutter and dullness. Branding allows a producer or owner to distinguish their goods or services.
Branding today is a strategic tool that helps the supplier cut through the morass of the market, get noticed and connect with the customer on many levels and in ways that matter. A strong brand becomes the customer’s ’shorthand’ for making good choices in a complex, risky and confusing marketplace.
“… connect with the customer on many levels and in ways that matter”
For me, Kevin and Monica at Movéo Integrated Branding are 100% right when they talk about branding as being a B2B company’s connection with the market. And it needs to be a strong connection – as strong or stronger than any connection the competition may have.
Strong brands put money in the bank.
I’ll let Moveo explain this bottom line statement with an example from the same article:
“Founded in 1891 and based in Fort Worth, Texas, Acme Brick is a manufacturer of bricks that are sold largely through the building trade.
A good portion of their $1.5 million marketing communications budget goes into image building and strongly branded tactics, including partnerships with professional sports celebrities and teams, PR, charity events and outdoor boards. In 1995 they introduced an unheard of 100-year product guarantee (3 to 5 years had been the industry standard) to further differentiate Acme. Their brand-building efforts have paid off. Acme is the dominant brand in the area for both homebuilders and buyers. A 1998 survey of homebuyers showed Acme had achieved 84 percent brand preference when no other supplier was above ten percent in their regional market. In fact, Acme estimates:
- Their brand is worth an extra ten cents for every dollar’s worth of Acme brick sold and $250 in incremental revenue per home.
- Approximately $20 million of Acme’s annual $200 million brick sales is a return on the investment that Acme makes yearly in brand-building.
- There is a 13-fold return on an average annual marcom budget of $1.5 million.
If a brick can be successfully differentiated then almost anything can be branded to create value.”
How very true. Strong brands do build sales, margins and customer loyalty. Period.
More on B2B branding:
Brands are dead? Brands are now more important than ever
Back to The Long Hello: making B2B marketing work for the bottom line
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