7 Reasons B2B Branding Matters

7 min readMar 22, 2017

Many people still believe, no matter their position in the company, that branding is best implemented into B2C businesses as a way to create a trusting relationship with the consumers.

These same people believe that logic and policy are two major driving forces of B2B companies and that there is no room for branding to make a significant difference in building trusting relationships with between businesses.

This belief is far from reality or truth.

Emotional connection, loyalty, familiarity, and trust are all key constituents that build professional relationships and ultimately sales, no matter the industry you are working in or your policy.

Branding makes a huge difference in how we are perceived in the digital market and the eyes of potential clients, spreading our values across the globe and enticing people to engage in conversation.

In the B2B world, good branding is essential.

1 — Branding Boosts Conversions

One of the biggest benefits of good branding is its ability to drive sales and influence people to trust your brand and make the decision to work with you.

It is all about the way you are perceived in the eyes of the public as well as potential clients, and branding serves that exact purpose — to bring out the values of your company in the form of stories and images, and show them to the world.

These branding efforts will impact people’s emotions, and, because we know that people make decisions based on emotion rather than logical thinking, the result is higher conversion rates and brand awareness on the global market.

2 — Forming an Emotional Connection

Both B2B and B2C businesses prosper from creating emotional relationships with their clients or consumers, and the belief that emotional responses become irrelevant when trying to establish relationships and trust with other companies is just untrue.

On the contrary, as long as human beings are running companies, there will be emotion involved, and branding will play a fundamental role in building that relationship.

When forming a branding strategy, the key premise will be giving other businesses an added incentive to interact and work with you.

3 — You need your unique story and angle.

Businesses that work with you will not only receive quality service but will also gain perks that your brand offers regarding education, experience, and emotion.

Through your cooperation, businesses will learn and evolve, implement your best practices and find out how to better their affairs.

This can be applied to different aspects of business, from outsourced printing services, HR, sales, to brand voice and image.

4 — Attracting Loyal Clients

When you implement a good B2B branding strategy, you do not only get new customers, but they become loyal, as well.

Loyalty is essential for retaining old customers and nurturing long-lasting relationships, but also giving new ones a reason to stay.

Building brand loyalty offers much-needed space to grow, without the risk of losing clients to less stiff competition in the process.

Without a relationship full of loyalty, consumers might find themselves worried that you have raised the price of a particular service, and if they do not feel that you are an irreplaceable part of their company, they will be enticed to look for options that will be a bit lighter on the annual budget.

Therefore, make sure that you do not overshoot your prices, and people will stay in business with you for years to come.

5 — Faster Purchasing Decisions

Think of it this way: companies are like expensive magazines on cheap retail displays; there are hundreds of them, many occupy the same niche, so how do you make a decision?

The truth is, you do not need to make a decision, it has already been done for you.

You reach for the one that you know and love, or if you are new to the matter at hand, you will reach for the one with the best branding.

This means the winner will be the one that has the most attractive personality, a charming story, tone of voice and whose values strike at first glance.

People are more than able to make fast-paced decisions when they are confronted with the obvious, and if your brand naturally stands out from the rest, they will choose you — and they will do it in a heartbeat.

While most companies struggle to close the deal for months, you will entice people to make faster purchasing decisions because they feel that your brand resonates with their lifestyle and personality, and again, it all boils down to emotion.

Once they experience brand familiarity, the deal will be sealed.

6 — Secure Your Market Position

You should secure your position on the market and, therefore, make it difficult for any competitor to push you out or take a slice of the cake.

B2B branding will dig you deep into the market with little to no threat of competition because you have made a name for yourself through your brand.

Everyone knows you and has the incentive to work with your company over any other.

There are only several situations in which you should be wary of competition:

– When you are establishing a relationship with a new business

– When the competition is trying to steal the client

– When you are maintaining a long-term relationship

The good news is that if you have branded your business and your relationship properly, you needn’t worry about any of those.

Your brand and the values you portray will make sure of that, and if any company tries to go behind your back, you can rest assured that they will be swiftly denied by your client, out of sheer loyalty to you and your relationship.

7 — Increasing Your Approval Rating

As you work with a client, new circumstances, as well as opportunities, arise, demanding new projects to be opened, more money invested and more time devoted to various tasks and goals.

All of these are beautiful things leading you on the path of long-term cooperation.

With that in mind, all of this can pose some difficulties that prior branding could have avoided.

There will always be a bigger cheese above the cheese you are currently working with, making the decisions and approving budget allocations, workforce, and projects in general.

In most cases, you will not be able to reach this person yourself.

To get constant approvals and for the work to run uninterrupted, you should have such a reliable brand in place that it comes without a question that your proposal will be approved and all of your wishes and needs for the project will be granted.

Examples of B2B Branding Done Right!

Some companies have taken the branding game to the next level and earned their place at the top of the market with enormous followings and recognition.

Let these B2B branding examples show you how to implement branding tactics into your own business and create an amazing story your clients will love.

Kickstarter

The all-too-well-known crowd funding platform is considered to be the king of inbound marketing, because its users tell stories that evoke emotion in people, inspire trust and move the project to faster realisation.

Telling stories is the premise of Kickstarter’s entire strategy and even their motto “We help people tell their stories” evokes compassion and a desire to make a difference.

This is one of the best examples of straightforward communication towards both companies and consumers through connection and relationships.

Contrary to popular belief, LinkedIn is a B2B platform more than anything else.

It does not just help B2B marketers find clients; it brings companies together, helps them build amazing brands, connect with others, create leads and market effectively.

Their key message “We connect people better than anyone else” is both bold and straightforward, evoking respect and putting them on the map of everyone seeking professional opportunity and success.

Salesforce

The popular B2B platform for lead generation and sales is one of the best examples of smart and efficient branding.

Along with their excellent services, they let their clients tell stories, a tried and tested branding tactic which they have given a name: Success Stories.

In addition to a full story about each customer’s experience, they also feature a several-minute video to engage new visitors further.

Zendesk

This company used a tried and tested marketing trick to boost traffic and raise awareness.

They made up a story.

Now, this is nothing new to the marketing world; marketers make up stories all the time, bad ones at that. But not Zendesk, they took a different approach.

They made up a band called Zendesk Alternatives, featuring grunge musicians and a dedicated website.

As a result of this curious situation, where presumably the only real alternative to Zendesk would be a fading grunge band called Zendesk Alternative, the site boosted traffic to Zendesk’s website.

As you can tell, there are practical and convincing reasons why branding does matter in the B2B world, and you can establish some very powerful and long-lasting relationships with clients as well as building a name for yourself in the global market.

Whether by employing a dedicated B2B branding agency or doing everything yourself, you will have the opportunity to create a reliable, trustworthy brand.

If you wish to discuss how we can develop your brand or provide graphic design for your product or business, email us at: hello@inkbotdesign.com

Inkbot Design is a Creative Branding Agency that is passionate about effective Graphic Design, Brand Identity, Logos and Web Design.

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