With new research showing that B2B businesses that invest in long-term marketing strategies like branding significantly outperform their competitors, it is time for business marketers to take a cue from their B2C counterparts and take brand building seriously.

1. FOUR TIPS FOR
BETTER B2B
BRAND MARKETING

2. When it comes to business marketing, lead generation is everything.
And justifiably so. Without leads, B2B businesses don’t have prospects
to nurture. This is why, on average, more than half of business marketing
budgets are dedicated to lead gen (54 percent). But even though leads
are the lifeblood of any B2B business, are business marketers making
a mistake by not focusing more on long-term strategies like brand building?
Research suggests they may be. Recent research from Marketing Week
and The Marketing Practice found that businesses that outperform their
competitors were twice as likely to allocate 60 percent or more of their
budget to achieving long-term marketing goals. Is your B2B brand
neglecting brand building in its marketing strategy? The data says
it’s time to change that. Get started with the following four tips.

3. 1
START BY
RESEARCHING YOUR
BRAND’S TRUE VALUE

4. It would be a mistake to launch a long-term, costly brand awareness
campaign without having a crystal-clear idea of what your brand offers
in the market. Step one has to be investing in research to identify
where your brand’s true strengths lie in the market. This is the only
way to accurately and effectively build an awareness campaign that
will engage an audience and drive value.
4© Copyright 2019 by the Association of National Advertisers, Inc. All rights reserved.

5. REVAMP YOUR
BRAND’S MESSAGE
AND MAKE IT RELEVANT2

6. After you have done the research to identify where your brand’s
value lies, it’s time to capitalize. The centerpiece of an awareness
campaign should be the slogan or key message. When crafting this
portion, you should develop a slogan/message that spells out in very
simple, plain terms what your brand offers. Announce your value
and then hammer that message home.
6© Copyright 2019 by the Association of National Advertisers, Inc. All rights reserved.

7. MAKE CUSTOMER
SUPPORT
A PRIORITY3

8. One simple and straightforward way to build positivity around your
brand is to ensure that people interacting with it always have a good
experience. While the marketing messages you put into the world
are important, customers will be more inclined to remember their
actual interactions with your brand and whether they were positive
or negative. Consistently give customers and prospects a negative
experience and your brand will be on the fast track to irrelevance.
8© Copyright 2019 by the Association of National Advertisers, Inc. All rights reserved.

9. BE TRANSPARENT
ABOUT HOW YOU USE
CUSTOMER DATA4

10. This goes part and parcel with providing your customers and prospects
outstanding support. 21st century consumers want to do business with
a brand they trust. The best way to earn that trust? Full transparency.
Don’t bury the ways in which you will leverage customer data in
a 30-page legal document nobody is going to read. Develop a simple,
straightforward bulleted list that spells out all of the ways in which
your company uses data and share it with users when they opt in.
Your customers will appreciate it and that appreciation will start them
on the path to becoming a loyal, long-time partner with your brand.
10© Copyright 2019 by the Association of National Advertisers, Inc. All rights reserved.

11. Want to learn more about how your B2B brand can
get better at branding? Our Marketing Knowledge
Center has plenty of reading material on that:
5 Opportunities to Drive B2B Brand Growth
Driving Growth Through a Balance of Brand and Demand
Why All Brands Must Take a Stand
Reinventing Caterpillar with Data and Brand Purpose