By Rob Hamshar
Admit it. We B2B marketers have all looked on with thinly veiled envy as our counterparts in premier consumer goods companies pit their products against competitors with minimal (or no) actual differences and still manage to command massive price premiums.
The magic of branding and emotional connection, so powerful yet so mysterious that—remember now—it was only fairly recently that GAAP rules were amended to account for brand value in financial statements; official acknowledgment of the reality and potential of such intangibles.
Within the past decade especially, this promise of brand-based competition spilled over into the B2B space in a big way—but the applications and function of branding in B2B have proven fairly different. As we’ve outlined in our past research, B2B brands primarily serve to “open the door” for sales reps, efficiently communicate capabilities and benefits (on a good day), and to reduce perceived risk for buyers who have greater confidence in partnering with known brands. These are great things, and as the Caterpillars and IBMs of the world know—it’s great to have a great brand. But for the majority of companies that would need to build one from virtually scratch, branding in the more traditional sense is simply not a viable near-term option for competing.
However, differentiation—by establishing a deeper connection with the buyer and amplifying the perceived benefits of a product (a function performed by a well-manicured brand in the B2C space) is still quite possible in B2B, but it’s probably not a function of the brand per se. It’s more directly affected by particular types of deliberate marketing and selling tactics across the purchase experience. Those that do this best typically take what we’ve come to call an “insight-led” approach: they start engaging potential customers by sharing perspective and insight with them and, through the course of several interactions, create a deep connection to customer issues and accentuate the supplier’s unique capabilities in helping resolve those issues.
With big, diverse buying centers and complex multi-component offers, branding itself will never be enough to drive a purchase decision. But those B2B companies who are combining reputable brands with an insight-led approach are the companies, a decade from now, B2C marketers will be envious of.
(Caricature of Dr. House, MD by caricaturas)Related posts:
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