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5 principles to help build your most valuable selling tool

Brand strategy

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In marketing, few topics are discussed as much as brand strategyBe it the importance of tone of voice, the need for a ‘brand mission’ or the merits in ‘storytelling’, B2B and B2C marketers alike are endlessly pouring over ways to make their brand as effective a selling tool as possible.

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Therefore it is no surprise that, in 2020, Gartner’s CMO Spend Survey saw brand strategy labelled as the marketing leader’s most vital strategic capability -

ranked highest by 33% of Chief Marketing Officers.

So, in recognising just how valuable brand strategy is to an organisation, Silver’s strategy team wanted to share 5 key principles that help guide their thinking and can help you ensure your brand delivers the best results for your organisation.

Source: Gartner CMO Spend Survey, 2020. “n= 432 marketing leaders”

Which of the following best describes your preferred risk tolerance approach for the marketing organisation in pursuit of its strategic objectives and which is actually allowed for by the broader enterprise?

Advertising/media buying & placement

Demand generation & lead management

Creative design & development

Talent/Skill development

Personalisation/testing

Customer/user experience research

Multichannel marketing strategy & orchestration

Content/campaign creation & management

Marketing technology strategy, adoption & use

Strategy development & planning

Market research & competitive insights

Digital commerce

Marketing operations

Market analytics 29%

Brand strategy 33%

28%

26%

25%

22%

22%

21%

14%

14%

14%

13%

12%

12%

12%

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principles

Be patient1

4

2

5

3

Have a story to tell

Don’t be scared of emotion

When others zig, zag

Build something you’re proud of

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1Principle Be patient

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The business benefits of investing in a strong brand aren’t immediate. Long-term growth and profit are achieved after years, not months, so a long-term perspective is required to see real value. Remember, when it comes to brand-building, good things come to those who wait.

Principle 1: Be patient

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Brand building is the most effective way to achieve long-term growth.

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Unlike sales activation, which is good for short-term selling, brand building is the main driver of long-term profit and growth.

Here, brand creates demand (filling the top of sales funnel), whilst sales activation converts demand into revenue (bottom of sales funnel).

Brand does this by working on an emotional level to create long-term memories and associations that continue to influence purchase decisions long after your advertising runs.

To achieve this, an adjusted budget split is recommended.

Marketing works in two ways:

Sales uplift over base

Time

Brand building

Builds brand preference and reduces price sensitivity. Main driver of long term growth and profit.

Sales activation

Converts brand preference into immediate responses. High efficiency and ROI.

Source: Binet and Field, 2013, as cited in The 5 Principles of Growth in B2B Marketing, The B2B Institute, 2020.

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Whilst B2C follows a general 60/40 budget split between brand and sales activation, data suggests the most efficient split for B2B is

46% allocated to brand and 54% to sales activation.

46%Brand

54%Sales activation

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Ask yourself...

What budget split are you currently using when it comes to long-term (brand) versus short-term (sales) activity?

Do you feel that long-term brand building is given sufficient thought in your organisation when planning communications?

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Don’t be scared of emotion2Principle

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Silver was built on the idea of People-to-People, not Business-to-Business. The companies we sell to may look faceless from the outside but, behind the corporate façade, you’re still talking to people. Afterall, people may not remember what you said, but they’ll remember how you made them feel.

Principle 2: Don’t be scared of emotion

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B2B buyers are more emotionally driven than you think.

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It’s assumed that B2B decision-making is a lot more rational than B2C. However, IPA data suggests it’s only slightly more rational.

Here, B2B case study authors assessed how important rational and emotional consideration was in purchase decisions by grouping campaigns according to whether emotional consideration was greater, equal or less important than rational.

B2B customers are more emotionally connected to vendors than B2C.

Furthermore, a study by Google and CEB found B2B customers to be significantly more emotionally connected to their vendors and service providers than consumers are to B2C brands.

Relative importance of emotional vs. rational consideration.

Sector

E > R E = R E < R

B2C B2B0%

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

42% 35%

32%35%

26% 30%

Source: The IPA Databank, 1998-2018 cases, as cited in The 5 Principles of Growth in B2B Marketing, The B2B Institute, 2020.

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Ask yourself...

How would you describe the weighting of your communications in the context of rational versus emotional?

Is your messaging more rationally focused, emotionally focused or balanced?

As an organisation, how much value would you say you place on the importance of emotional messaging in achieving business results?

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When others zig, zag3Principle

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In a world of pretenders, your brand is the only thing distinguishing you from your competitors. Brands that stand out will always be the first to spring to mind when people ask themselves ‘who could help me with this?’.

Be a sunflower, not a shrinking violet.

Principle 3: When others zig, zag

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In a world of same, brand is what makes you different.

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silver.agency

Whilst the story of ‘same’ is spouted often in B2C, nowhere is it truer than in B2B. In a survey of 9,000 B2B buyers, 86% saw no discernible difference between suppliers which could warrant paying more for one than another.

This means that, in a crowded category, without a distinctive brand there’s no reason for your target audience to choose you over one of your competitors.

If that wasn’t enough of a reason to invest in a distinctive brand…

In the technology industry, 60% of buyers look for peer-to-peer reviews to aid their decision-making process. So, if your brand lacks any distinctive features, it’s unlikely to come to mind when clients recommended brands to one another.

Do you see a real difference between suppliers and value the difference enough to pay for it?

Customer perceptions of supplier “unique benefits”

Yes

No

86%

14%

Source: CEB Customer Experience Survey, 2009, cited in From Promotion to Emotion: Connecting B2B Customers to Brands, Think with Google, 2013. “n= 9,000+”

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Ask yourself...

What is it about your brand, and customers’ experience of it, which means people are likely to talk about you to others?

Thinking about key competitors, how distinctive is your brand from theirs?

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Build something you’re proud of

4Principle

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Brands work internally too. Building a brand which staff can say they’re proud to work for is a sure-fire way to increase engagement and productivity at work, as well as providing a North Star when making decisions.

Principle 4: Build something you’re proud of

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Brand impacts those inside a business too.

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Not only does a brand act as an operational ‘North Star’, it also makes employees feel part of something bigger and more engaged with the company.

Research shows that employees actively engaged in their company’s brand are:

21% more profitable to a company and sales professionals are 20% more productive.

Source: Patel, N., Brand Bias: Does Branding Matter For Driving Sales in B2B? Here’s What The Data Says, 2020.The Relationship Between Engagement at Work and Organizational Outcomes, Q12 Meta-Analysis: 10th Edition, Gallup, 2020.

21% more profitable

20% more productive

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Ask yourself...

Right now, do you believe your brand is compelling and engaging enough to motivate your employees?

How much of a role would you say your brand currently plays inside your organisation?

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Have a story to tell5Principle

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Brand isn’t just what you look like, it’s also the story that connects your business to customers. The best brands have stories, be it who they are, what they stand for or where they come from.

These stories make you memorable and give you a platform from which to springboard the rest of your communications.

Principle 5: Have a story to tell

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People remember stories, not facts.

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Storytelling not only increases brand favourability amongst your audience, it is also proven to be up to:

22x more memorable than facts.

As we mentioned earlier, you can’t underestimate the power of emotion when it comes to B2B brand strategy.

silver.agency Source: Zandan, N., 2019. Does Telling Stories Really Make You 22 Times More Memorable?, Quantified Communications.

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Ask yourself...

Do you know of any brands telling a compelling brand story which you could emulate?

How well do your communications tell an engaging brand story?

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principles

Be patient1

4

2

5

3

Have a story to tell

Don’t be scared of emotion

When others zig, zag

Build something you’re proud of

silver.agency

silver.agency

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