HKTDC Article 3

Creating powerful brand stories

The question that I get asked most by B2B businesses is - why should I focus on branding? Isn’t
that only for B2C businesses?

However, this question itself is fundamentally flawed: it assumes that the B2B audience is
somehow significantly different from the B2C audience. It’s easy to fall into the trap of assuming
that somehow the B2B buyer is not influenced by brand but makes purchase decisions based on
other factors like features or prices.

Actually, contrary to popular belief, B2B buying can be very personal: according to this study by
the Corporate Executive Board, buyers felt more emotionally connected with B2B companies as
compared to consumers connecting with B2C companies.

And what is at the heart of that connection? Strong brands.

Lipincott consulting did a study on tablets, focusing on both the B2B buyers and B2C consumers.
They found out that both types: consumers and buyers made their purchase decision focusing on
features, price and brand:

How B2C consumers purchase tablets How B2B consumers purchase tablets

Brand
Features Features
28% Brand
34% 34%
39%

Price Price
39% 27%

The surprising result was that B2B buyers focused more on brand (39%) as compared to B2C
consumers (28%).

What’s the logic behind giving so much weight to the brand of a B2B business? For a B2B client,
their purchase decision to go with a supplier often means that they are also implicitly committing
to buying future offerings and also go for on-going support. Therefore, this purchase decision
takes the company or the individuals behind the products very seriously.

Your prospective buyer is not just interested in knowing what your brand is, they also have more
touchpoints of engagement with you now more than ever before. Where once a sales pitch and
occasional service calls might have been the most common ways of engaging with prospective
and current clients - now your clients will probably look you up on a search engine, check out
your Linkedin, and visit your website, at the very least.

The relationship that you’re building with your buyers and clients is more “dynamic,
transparent, human”1 and collaborative.

1 [Link]
Special note for our OEM/ODM readers: if you have a B2B business that focuses on OEM/ODM
- the “brand” that we are talking about is YOUR own brand as a company, not the brand of the
products that you’re selling (because the buyer might change that brand to their own anyway).

Each time a potential client engages with you is an opportunity to build your brand and tell your
brand story.

Image from: Column Five

How to build your B2B brand story

Why should the client buy a Bluetooth speaker from you and not your competitor if the features
and pricing seem similar?

The answer is: because you’re a stronger partner, more trustworthy and an industry leader. And
you will gain that reputation by investing in creating your brand story.

You can create a strong brand story through content marketing, which will help show your
prospective clients that you are an expert in your industry, that you can be trusted, and that you’re
their true partner, not just a supplier.

1. Create authenticity:

Build honesty, transparency and trust with your B2B clients. Show them examples of how you
work as a company: interview your top management to showcase how they solve problems,
create a video of your supply chain or explain the tech behind your product range in an article.

2. Become a partner, not just a supplier: 


Anticipate your client’s needs, or ask them to share with you their future plans. Share case
studies of how you helped solve problems or create winning products for past clients so that
prospective clients can see the benefit in partnering with you.

<<Please embed this video here: [Link]

Example of an interview with the top management at in2log, a warehousing solution for top
beauty brands, talking about how his company helped their client create innovative solutions
(created by Zen & Zany films)

3. Show industry expertise:


If you’re a B2B supplier, you might have a range of products. While the prospective buyer will
be interested in your individual product offerings, they will also be interested in knowing how
doing business with your specific company will result in future growth for them. You can go
beyond just showcasing the products that you sell: you can tell stories of how you learnt from
past experiences, created innovative models, and what your current perspective on the
industry is. This will prove to prospective buyers that you’re committed to the values of
innovation and building your expertise - not just selling a single product or service.

Create a strong Brand Persona

Your brand persona - or personality - is created through the messages you deliver to your
audience. Each time you create a message, you’re adding to your brand story. And each brand
story is adding to the brand persona that the audience has in their minds of who you are.

Image from: Firebrand

Think of your brand story as what your client might tell someone else about you. And your brand
persona is the central character of that story. Your key decision is to understand what your brand
persona is like: is your company more friendly or more corporate? Do you want to come across as
high energy or as careful and meticulous? There are really no wrong answers - none of these
characteristics are better or worse in the absolute sense: you have to understand what’s the right
fit for you.

Image from: [Link]

Once you understand in detail what your brand personality is like, then you need to ensure that all
the content that you create is infused with the same tone, style and personality. Everyone in your
company who is outward facing and doing sales pitches or customer services needs to
understand what your brand stands for, and how to speak to the client in the same way. This will
ensure that your brand persona is strong and comes across clearly to your clients across multiple
platforms and sales personnel.

Great B2B brands you can learn from

Oracle: Digital Bank of the Future

Computing giant Oracle strongly on our brand story-telling strategy #3 - showing industry
expertise by creating the Digital Bank of the Future content series. In partnership with different
experts, it created articles on the disconnection between current consumer needs and banking
services. This campaign “yielded 350,000 new contacts and leads and $28 million in pipeline for
Oracle”2.

Dropship hacks:

As a very different example in terms of its style and tone - have a look at what Jason O’Neil, an
Amazon expert does to generate B2B leads on Linkedin: He creates live free webinars for
interested clients and shares his insights on how to build profitable businesses on Amazon. His
target audience are Amazon web sellers who are interested in growing their sales. This is a direct
example of our brand story-telling strategy # 1: Create authenticity by talking about your own
model and innovative ideas to help your prospective clients.

2 [Link]
inspired-by-7-of-our-favorite-b2b-campaigns-from-2019
Salesforce: Barclay’s success story
Salesforce, the leading CRM company creates a great brand story by letting its customers talk
about their success using Salesforce: it created a series of testimonials using our storytelling
strategy # 2: Become a partner, not a supplier. Salesforce proves that by letting its customers talk
highly of its service, it’s a real partner for its clients, not just another vendor or supplier.

A glance at the top B2B brands in the world show us that the most profitable brands are the ones
that have recognisable names and brand stories. These B2B brands have consistently invested in
telling their brand stories through different mediums. Strong brand storytelling is at the heart of
creating value for your clients and winning business - we hope you’ll get a jumpstart on growth in
2021 by following these B2B brand storytelling strategies!