Successful business to consumer (B2C) companies are acutely aware of the importance of their brand identity. They invest heavily to identify the attributes that resonate well with consumers and that they can truthfully claim and stand behind. They keep these attributes in the forefront of all their marketing and outbound communications to maintain a strong brand image.
Industrial business to business (B2B) companies understand that their brand is primarily defined by how they perform. As a result, many of them downplay the importance of the impact that their marketing collateral and outbound communications play in establishing their brand identity. While projecting the right image on your marketing collateral will not erase poor performance, it can certainly help project you forward and ensure that the perception of your company aligns with your current offerings and business goals.
Your company identity is shaped by every touchpoint your company has with an individual. Touchpoint interactions through your people, your work, your website, an email, an advertisement, or even internal communications can all impact your overall brand. Controlling and promoting the right image is extremely important as the perception of your company often becomes the reality in the minds of your customers and prospects. For example, if your brand projects a dated look while you are claiming to be innovative and provide the latest equipment and technology it is less believable as it does not align with your brand attributes.
Shaping an industrial B2B brand is very different than a B2C business such as Ford or Starbucks. Your brand needs to resonate with a very specific demographic that is making decisions in a radically different environment than a retail consumer. B2B procurement decisions frequently involve 4 or more individuals. You need to appeal to individuals and to the group. Even if your champion is comfortable with you, they still want the decision to look good to their colleagues. Therefore, it is important to project the right image and effectively communicate why you are a better service provider than your competitors.
Many industrial companies have diluted messaging and weak brands due to the lack of brand consistency. This often happens when using multiple vendors to create marketing collateral or when sales reps are allowed to manipulate presentations. When this is allowed to happen, logos are stretched, incorrect font and colors are used, service offerings are not correctly explained, and the benefits of your company are not positively conveyed. This approach to marketing hurts your brand and the overall goals of your company.
To shape your brand effectively, choose a marketing firm that understands your industry and the mindset of your target market.
PetroPages is dedicated to creating highly impactful industrial business to business marketing and has helped our clients achieve great success over the past 25 years. Our owner is a mechanical engineer with over 30 years of process industry experience. This is a unique benefit that allows our team to better understand your business and your target market to help you build a powerful and integrated brand.
