B2B Brand Strategy
Let’s build your B2B brand strategy together.
At Upp we believe that B2B brand strategy is business strategy. So, it’s important to have a clear focus on where your business is heading, what future products/services will look like and what your goals and ambitions are for the business. Having answers to these questions is vital to the development of your overall brand strategy, proposition and market positioning.
A well-considered B2B brand strategy forms the foundation of a brand’s relationship with its audiences Getting this crucial step right ensures that your messaging will resonate with B2B audiences and engage with them on both a logical and emotional level.
As a specialist B2B marketing agency, helping our clients to map out their B2B brand strategy is a skill we’ve spent over 20 years perfecting. We know the right questions to ask, and we know how to help businesses build brand strategies that truly reflect their offer today and their future ambitions. We also understand how to extract meaningful customer and market insights and wider industry behavioural characteristics and trends to find ‘golden nuggets’ of insight to shape a market leading brand strategy.
Put simply, your B2B brand strategy is the outward face of your business strategy so it’s important you invest time in getting this right and that you execute it well. Brand is the sum total of how someone perceives your company. Branding is about shaping that perception.
B2B businesses face complex challenges in every area of their business. So, we deliberately try to keep our B2B brand strategy process nice and simple. We seek to understand your challenges, spot new opportunities and identify new ways that your brand strategy can help drive your business forwards.
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- First, we like to talk to a sample of your customers in order to build up a genuine understanding of your target audience both as B2B buyers and as humans. It’s important to eliminate as much guesswork as possible, so we ask questions designed to reveal things like the rational criteria behind their buying decisions, what they need reassurance about and what trust cues would help convince them to partner with your brand.
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- After this, we dig a little deeper into their emotional triggers. Without these a brand can fall a little flat. After all we know B2B customers purchase with their hearts as well as their head. Insights we uncover here can really help you build a brand story that runs deeper than facts, stats and product claim
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- We also consider how your competitors are talking to customers by clarifying your positioning in the market and key messages used by those you are competing with. Delivering a competitor review allows us to understand how you can better articulate your strengths compared to other organisations, by finding your perfect ‘space to play in.’
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- Finally, we need to talk to the people in your business who are steering its future to gain a wider view of where you’re at and where you’re heading. This can involve interviews with senior stakeholders or a group session where they’ll be invited to take part in some tried and tested B2B brand development workshop exercises.
Our job is to ask the difficult questions to get everyone on the same page about brand direction. The success of your brand depends on it. At this stage we may also review your:
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- Brand architecture to see how this aligns with your market offer.
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- Current brand value proposition and promise.
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- Brand values – it may be that we get wider employee feedback on this too.
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- Competitive brand positioning in market.
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- Aspirational future brand
This research and insight will be the bedrock that helps shape our B2B brand strategy recommendations and plan for execution, which (depending on your brief) may involve anything from developing your story, brand messaging and identity, to masterminding a complete global roll-out plan that covers internal employee engagement communications as well.
Brand Identity Creation
If you feel that your current brand identity is outdated and no longer represents the company you are, then we can work with you to create something truly market-leading that portrays you in your best visual light. We can also develop brand guidelines to ensure your brand touchpoints are consistent and en pointe.
Read more: Brand Identity Creation
Brand Proposition & Messaging
Your brand messaging needs to stay fresh to keep your business relevant in market. It’s amazing how many businesses aren’t tapping into the potential of powerful words to gain a brand advantage. Our job is to work with you to craft a strong messaging framework for all your outward and internal facing communications that positions you as a leader in your market and customers minds.
Read more: Brand Proposition & Messaging
Brand Touchpoint Audits
Ensuring that your B2B brand is consistently presented across all your brand touchpoints and that your customers are exposed to a seamless experience is key to building a great brand impression. We offer a professional audit and independent review of your brand as it appears to the outside world and make recommendations for any realignment or improvements.
Read more: Brand Touchpoint Audits
