Conventional marketing wisdom will tell you that business-to-business marketing must be, well, boring.
Driven by logic, financial incentives, and long bullet lists of product benefits. And we get it: business is serious. But it’s an approach that’s overlooking huge opportunities.
To carve out a unique space in the market. To make authentic and lasting connections with customers. To inspire exponential growth—both in the market and internally.
Opportunities that can be realized with a distinct and ownable brand personality.
1.
Don’t just rattle off your unique sales proposition, tell your story.
Here’s the thing about business people: they’re also real-life people. Who have hopes and dreams and a desire to be a part of something meaningful. And that “something” can be the purpose behind your products. The reason why you make what you make the way you uniquely make it. Give a customer a well-articulated purpose, and they’ll know exactly where you stand.
Say you’re a global leader in professional tools like RIDGID. Here’s a company with a reputation for being the best of the best for the best in the trades. But they were in danger of being undercut by cheaper alternatives. To protect and grow their position in the category, they needed to go beyond “highest quality.” Which, for RIDGID, meant honoring the true pros (and those who inspire to be them) with a manifesto that put a purpose-driven stake in the ground.
By demonstrating how their passionately high standards inspire, and are forged into, every tool, RIDGID built a brand that became a rallying cry for customers, decision-makers, sales staff, and internal stakeholders.
2.
Stand out with simplicity.
B-to-B marketing typically doesn’t believe in brevity. “Are there a couple extra millimeters in that brochure? Fill it with more words! More numbers! More charts! We’ll beat them into submission with reasons to believe!” All of which makes a brand that says what they do simply, a breath of fresh air. That’s even true for brands with a complex portfolio of services.
Take Gardiner, a full-service building automation and controls, energy solutions, and professional services company (did you get all that?). Gardiner doesn’t do just one thing, like HVAC, for buildings—they do ALL THE THINGS FOR BUILDINGS. And that had customers confused. Gardiner needed to clearly communicate who they were: a single-source building solutions provider with incredible customer service. Which meant building a brand identity that leveraged their “approachable expertise” in Building Intelligence.
By simplifying their brand and their many offerings, Gardiner not only stood out from overly complex competitors, they created a foundation for more lucrative customer relationships as the blueprint for better buildings. A simple approach that actually incentivizes customers to smash that “find out more” CTA.
3.
Give your features and benefits some voice and tone.
Ever seen a great public speaker? They (typically) have facts on their side. And something valuable to say. And can clearly articulate their ideas. But any great speaker will tell you, it’s really about the delivery. It’s all about the how, which is something most B-to-B marketers often ignore—cutting immediately to the HERE ARE OUR FEATURES AND BENEFITS chase.
But when those F and Bs are your true differentiators in a category crowded with competition of varying levels of quality and price, how you deliver the importance of your F and Bs matters a great deal. Something for which StrongHold, manufacturers of nearly indestructible, American-made industrial workspace solutions, had a need. To protect and grow their category position amongst industrial customers and expand their do-it-yourselfer customer base, StrongHold leaned all the way into a brand voice and tone that brought their undying obsession with quality and a distain for the sub-par to life.
In humanizing their F and Bs with an authentic-to-the-rivets brand voice, StrongHold didn’t just list product specs that made them different—they positioned their products as the unrivaled must-have storage upgrades they truly are.
4.
Tell the (human) truth
Okay, let’s talk ROI. Marketing departments of B-to-B brands often live and die by these numbers. Understandably so: it’s how profits are made, which is pretty much the point of business. But what’s often overlooked in B-to-B marketing is how telling the truth about your brand, service, or category can resonate with your audience to drive better-than-expected ROI.
Take Schill Grounds Management, a premium commercial landscaping company that needed help attracting new employees prior to peak landscaping season. To find more qualified leads, they leaned into the very human truth about their “every office is the corner office when there aren’t any walls” work environment.
Telling the human truth about their business helped Schill cultivate the ROI they were looking for with 9x higher recruitment engagement and a 538% increase in sponsored clicks year-over-year. In short, “Outside is Calling,” and a ton of new employees answered.
B-to-B with personality is just good business
Business decision makers aren’t “Anonymous Purchasing Robot 456.” They’re human beings with tastes, preferences, and emotions. And when B-to-B brands acknowledge this and engage with their customers as authentic people, they stand out amongst competitors, make more meaningful and lasting business connections, and drive verifiable growth with a distinct and ownable brand. So, when you’re dreaming of expanding to that brand new facility, or increasing your ability to upsell, or just move way more product—it makes solid business sense to build or upgrade your brand personality.
