B2B Brands: What To Ask Yourself

In today’s digital age, client audiences are spoiled for choice. At the click of a mouse, prospective clients can find a multitude of firms fighting for their limited online attention span. This makes choosing a firm all the more difficult.

Prospective clients often choose a firm based on tangible factors, such as pricing or level of service, but they can also be influenced by a more human element; a connection with a brand.

That’s why your B2B brand is much more than just a logo. Your brand is the first thing a prospective client will judge you on. If done right, it is your first chance to connect with a client and communicate why your firm should be chosen over a competitor’s.

Brand accounts for nearly 1/5 of the purchase decision for B2B buyers, according to research by McKinsey

In last month’s JTN newsletter, we shared a list of starter questions to consider when building or refreshing your B2B brand. This blog post delves a little deeper into how to go about answering these questions…

1. What does success look like to you?

The most successful brands inspire prospective clients to choose them simply because of who they are. They do so through being known and trusted by their target market. When setting out to build your brand, it’s important that you define what you want to be ‘known’ for and why you can be trusted for it, be it for your quality of service or for being cutting edge. This information will help to guide all of your brand decisions going forward, to ensure you’re always set up for success.

2. What should your brand help you achieve?

A truly successful brand can help achieve your business goals. Outline your business goals and check that the brand you build clearly communicates your positioning (what you offer), your passion (why you do it), your personality (what it ‘feels’ like to work with you) and your differentiation (why you do it best) to engage your ideal clients and achieve those goals.

3. What are the demographics of your target audience?

Branding starts with identifying who you are trying to target, then building around this audience and their needs. Identify key characteristics about your ideal and usual client prospects, such as industry, firm size, geographical location etc. and use this to inform your brand positioning.

4. What kind of content / visuals / language / tone does your ideal or typical client engage with?

Once you’ve identified your target audience, the next step involves discovering how best to engage them. For example, if you are targeting clients in the financial sector, they may respond best to authoritative brands and data-driven content or research reports. Meanwhile, if you’re targeting clients in creative industries, such as advertising, they might respond best to visuals and design.

5. What are your competitors’ brands like and how will yours be different?

With client audiences spoiled for choice, you have to stand out. Take the time to research your competitor brands; what’s their color palette, tone and brand archetype? For example, do they position themselves as a ‘hero’ (the brand that swoops in to solve clients problems in a complex world), or a ‘sage’  (the wizened brand that guides it’s clients using years of industry knowledge)? Investigate their positioning and adopt a different one to differentiate.

Considering and answering these starter questions can help direct you in building a winning, relevant B2B brand that engages your target client audiences – and ensure it’s your firm they choose.

We’re helping firms just like yours build their B2B brand and online presence to stand out from the crowd and connect with their target clients. If you want to know how to magnetize your brand, let us know, and one of the senior team will get in touch.