Branding is an overlooked operational element when evaluating a target company and maximizing performance of a portfolio company. Yet it harbors the most leverage in optimizing marketing and sales, growing market share and increasing retention, and commanding price premiums.
Here’s why a focus on branding is crucial:
1. Strong branding increases profitability
A company…
“Disruption” is more than just a business buzzword or a marketing trend. For many organizations, it has become a true strategic mindset. Companies jostling in crowded markets, as well as start-ups entering slow-moving industries, are searching for the fresh idea or novel business model that will shake up the status quo — and help…
B2B buyers are more sophisticated than ever. They have access to a wealth of information about every solution to every challenge their business may be facing. Many technology solutions make switching vendors simple — if not entirely painless. Strategically minded and budget-conscious, prospects are juggling decision criteria and competing interests in ever-changing ways.
For…
Successful brands start with honest self-assessment — which may be hard to come by in a large company or an entrenched corporate culture. Enlisting the aid of an outside brand strategist can help, providing a clear-eyed window into the company’s strengths and weaknesses and offering agnostic, professional solutions.
But as in any relationship…
Each year, agencies and research firms publish the rankings of the world’s most valuable brands. More than an ego boost for the listed brands’ marketers, these valuations are important intangible assets, and they become especially pertinent during M&A activity. In fact, a study from Houlihan Lokey showed that among its sample, 70…
Content is king. Content is the new creative. Both true, but this is old news. It’s long been common knowledge that in a crowded, advertisement-saturated environment, content marketing gives companies an opportunity to stand out by providing compelling information or entertainment rather than additional clutter. Best-in-class B2C examples include Netflix’s…
Every branding engagement starts with a determination to stick to the schedule and meet every deadline. But many branding timelines go awry, leading to frustration and delays.
Most often, branding timelines are stalled by scheduling logjams, internal indecision, or last-minute executive bombshells. And delays can be costly. Not only do they represent missed marketing…
In a crowded market, it can be tough for brands to find whitespace. Identifying an ownable market positioning while maintaining brand authenticity is infinitely harder — but doing so is imperative for a brand’s ongoing success.
Our client, CDISC, was facing this challenge. CDISC began as a grassroots, nonprofit organization determined to develop and advance…
Much has been written about brand agility, the idea that a strong brand needs to remain true to core principles while always remaining open to new ideas. But this is easier said than done, especially for legacy brands. When a brand conjures up an indelible image in the minds of its customers, deviating from that…
Now, more than ever, a B2B website is the front page of a brand. As many businesses shift their focus from the conferences and in-person events that have historically driven so much of B2B sales and engagement, they are considering how to better leverage their digital presence and connect with prospects in new ways…
Companies rebrand for myriad reasons, and each resulting brand is — or should be — unique. But there are four essential elements shared by winning B2B brand strategies: authenticity, individuality, cohesion, and adaptability.
1. Authenticity: Stay true to your brand foundations
All brand strategy engagements should result in an authentic brand. And brand strategy is not always…
Brand positioning. It’s a concept pioneered by branding legends Jack Trout and Al Ries in the 1960s that has since become the essential foundation upon which all of an organization’s marketing is based —from print campaigns to digital engagement, sales outreach to recruitment efforts, content strategy to customer journey mapping. Defined as the…
One of the biggest takeaways from our recent discussions with B2B marketing leaders is that their roles can be lonely. B2B marketing teams are often smaller than those at their B2C counterparts, and CMOs’ peer executives frequently underestimate the value of brand. What’s more, there are few convening opportunities for B2B marketing leaders; CMO…
There’s been a fundamental shift in how business is conducted. Businesses can use LinkedIn, blog posts, and social media to reach customers in new, unexpected ways, and the purchasing process itself has become more informal. Rather than relying on the formal pitch and conference call, companies are constantly interacting. They’re looking to form…
The digital landscape evolves rapidly — new trends seem to surface weekly. And as digital natives become decision-makers at their companies, they’ll expect B2B marketing to merge with broader digital innovations.
Here a four B2B digital trends that will keep companies competitive in this changing marketing landscape.
1. Personalization
As account-based marketing (ABM…
According to the Harvard Business Review, “study after study puts the failure rate of mergers at somewhere between 70-90%.” More often than not, brand is not promoted or leveraged to provide unity, clarity and solidarity during this critical inflection point, yet brand can make all the difference between success and failure for the companies…
We recently found ourselves in the following conversation:
Client: We need to engage employees in our company’s new mission. We need your help with the execution of the communications campaign. We already have the positioning and messaging. The CEO wrote it.
DB: Oh, that’s great. What kind of research was conducted in developing…
Getting the green light to undertake a rebranding project is a moment to savor. You’ve got a mandate and a budget: time to hit the ground running. But you’re going to need an agency partner — even companies with in-house capabilities often go outside for fresh perspectives and expanded resources. So you’re…