How to use B2B branding to make your brand stand out in the digital jungle
As a B2B marketer, you find yourself in a digital jungle. Everywhere your competitors beckon to your potential customers with their brilliant colors, variegated feathers, noisy lures and exciting winding paths that lead the customer to their shop window with their B2B branding campaigns. In recent years, those customers have evolved into self-reliant explorers, exploring the jungle on their own in search of solutions to their problems.
With so many other vendors, it is a challenge to attract them to your store or pull them into the funnel for a purchase in the future. That's why it's important for your brand to stand out. Or in this case, swing above the bushes like a Tarzan. And that, in my view, is what you do in B2B with branding.
Michael Horneman
Client & sales manager
"The moment your potential customer is ready to move on to a purchase, you want to be top of mind."
Why you want to be Tarzan
The digital jungle can be quite intimidating for your customer. He has a problem and is looking for a solution. Providers often emphasize selling their product or service in their marketing campaigns, but how does the customer know what he needs? If he knew that, he wouldn't have a problem! And so he wanders through the hard-to-penetrate thicket looking for something recognizable.
And then suddenly, in that cluttered and overcrowded jungle, he discovers you, Tarzan. A familiar friend in a chaotic world. Someone he feels more comfortable with, because you feel familiar and so you probably understand him better than the rest. You have therefore immersed yourself in your target audience and what they are looking for, so you are able to create recognition. The moment he is ready to buy, you are top of mind. How? With B2B branding campaigns.
"In the world of B2B, familiarity is not a luxury, but a necessity."
A good match?
Familiarity is not a luxury for B2B either, but a necessity! Because - contrary to popular belief - emotions also play a major role here. Purchase decisions are really not only rational. For customers, it's about a sense of connection, about a brand that understands them and fits their company values. Precisely because sales processes are often long and costly, it is important that your customer feels at home with you.
To be recognizable, you must first know your (potential) client. Do you really fit together? In addition to closely examining who your customers are, you must also take a good look at yourself. What customers do you want to attract and how should you profile yourself for that? The way you communicate - tone of voice, corporate identity, etc. - ensures that your customer gets a recognizable image of your company.
How B2B branding ensures a good night's sleep for your customer
Do you match? Then the key is to make sure you are visible with strong B2B branding campaigns. And you do that by:
- To ensure that you are visible and findable on the channels and websites where your customer sits
- Matching these to his experience
So you need to know what your target audience is looking for. So don't think for a moment (only) about your product or service and the fantastic features your product or service undoubtedly has. Above all, think: what is the problem that my service or product solves? Your ad content must connect to the challenges that keep your target audience awake at night. And of course show the result your service/product achieves for them, so they can sleep soundly again at night. Target the people searching for these search terms with B2B branding campaigns.
Your brand on your customers' minds with B2B branding
And then how do you call this message into the jungle? Omnichannel is the best approach for branding in B2B to make sure you reach your target audience on the most relevant channels. Think social media and search engine advertising, but display campaigns - banner and video advertising on relevant web pages - are also a must.
If you use DV360 - Google's premium demand side platform - for your display advertising, you have an estimated 90% of all web pages worldwide at your disposal, including YouTube. A very powerful feature of DV360 is that you can target people searching for certain keywords. If you use the right search terms, you'll also reach your target audience on the websites they browse on, not just in the search results.
Learn more about strong B2B campaigns in our whitepaper "A higher ROI in a cookieless era for B2B marketing".
Strong B2B branding campaigns in practice
Want to learn how to deploy successful B2B branding campaigns? Then sign up for our free event No leads without branding on Wednesday, September 20 that we are organizing together with Google. During that event you will learn from inspiring speakers how to fill your funnel with leads.
Google shares the latest market developments and best practices, Envalior (formerly DSM Engineering Materials) talks about their approach to lead nurturing, and we show what such a B2B branding campaign looks like in practice. finally, digitalAudience talks about how you can use smart data solutions to reach hyper-relevant audiences with your branding campaigns.
So will I see you at the event? Register here!
