Here is how SMEs can ace B2B branding

Branding remains a mystery to many business-to-business (B2B) marketers, especially if they are in the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector. Why do B2B executives have such a hard time with brand image, while their consumer marketing counterparts seem to glide through it?

Consumer marketers recognise that brand image is one of their most valuable assets, something to be lovingly nurtured and watched over with the greatest of care. They will do whatever it takes to protect their brand equity, including drastic measures such as recalling a product on complaints of tainted or defective products.

It is the brand image stupid  

Many consumer-product marketers have even developed a "personality" for their brands, consistent with strategic selling points that customers regard as important—Dove and moisturised skin, Colgate and the whitest of teeth, Crest and no cavity, etc.

B2B managers, on the other hand, still think their customers buy features and benefits and are not influenced by brand image.

Experts have varying opinions on surviving in a world of parity products. For instance, there is a five-step "parity ladder" in which revolutionary new products are created followed by copycat competitors, then some with worthwhile new features better than the original.

Eventually, however, it becomes harder and harder for customers to differentiate between suppliers. At the fifth level, all products and services are essentially viewed as equal, which, by the way, is where the personal computer industry now finds itself in.

What is needed is creating a personality for the company, one a customer wouldn't mind dealing with. This is how Dell captured the B2B market for computing solutions.

In his book, Integrated Marketing Communications, Don Schultz says, "In a parity marketplace, the only real differentiating feature that a marketer can bring to consumers is what those consumers believe about the company, product, or service and their relationship with that brand."

So, why is there confusion among B2B marketing practitioners? One reason could be that many SMEs in the industrial supplies business do not view advertising as strategic.

They push it down organisationally to the level of "doing brochures" and assign it to bureaucratic managers who have other more important responsibilities.

The closest that marketing communication (MarCom) people get to branding is at the product level, and even then, it is not thought through.

Another problem frequently encountered is about accountability metrics. David Aaker, the author of Managing Brand Equity, says, "Instead of focussing upon an asset such as a brand, too often 'fast-track' managers get caught up in day-to-day performance measures that are easily available." This includes quarterly sales quotas, market share figures or stock prices, for example. As we all know, building images takes a while.

Or, are marketers and SME owners getting conned by salespeople who think they can sell without regard for the brand image?

Despite mountains of research showing a correlation between a quality image and things such as market share, higher pricing, ROI and profitability, many B2B managers remain ambivalent about the need to invest in brand-image development. They end up earmarking funds for more pressing things like product literature and trade show displays.

‘Hat trick’ 

I am not saying that product literature and trade show displays are not important. I would urge SMEs to raise their sights to include image development programmes that will affect how the product brochures and trade show promotions likely will be perceived by prospective customers.

I do have a favourite quote on the subject of brand image: "The Hat Trick.” It refers to the practice of "getting up off your chair, putting on your hat and going outdoors to find out what the prospect wants."

My first job in advertising was to do in-person research for a copywriter at an ad agency. I went to hardware stores for a leading tools manufacturer to talk to salesmen about power tools. Why did they recommend a particular brand? What did they like about my client brand? What about the competition?

I then took the "who, what, where, when and why" back to the copywriter who would use that information as the foundation for his ad copy.

The missing link

I think this is the missing link for B2B marketers. Most of them never get to talk to real customers or, in some cases, people who know real customers.

If they were to do that, they will be more aware of branding opportunities and problems. The solution may be as simple as getting B2B MarCom people out of their chairs, forcing a face-to-face session with real customers who will have real views on the company and what it offers.