Why B2B Branding Works – And Why It’s More Important Than Ever
If you buy the wrong brand of peanut butter, you can always buy another brand when you finish the jar. The wrong trio of underwear, you might be out $14.99, but buy the wrong computer software or hardware solution for your business and you have a major problem. Brands matter in the B2B world, sometimes more than B2C. A strong brand means the perception of reduced risk and makes doing business — whatever the business — easier. As with B2C, buyers of B2B products value vendors’ reputation because it makes the purchase decision safer.
In fact, a Forbes survey found that B-to-B purchasing decision-makers consider the brand as a central rather than a marginal element of a supplier’s value proposition. Their survey found that decision-makers say the brand is almost as important as the efforts of sales teams in encouraging them to make out a purchase order.
I’ve never been one to announce my New Year’s resolutions, but this year is different. This year I resolve to abolish the whole idea of New Year’s Resolution in favor of “Seeking a Higher Algorithm.” Let’s face it, there is an algorithm for everybody and everything, making us all increasingly predictable. As a marketer I am a contributor to this revolution via the data-driven marketing practice known as “Personalization.” In this week’s Sunday Business section of The New York Times, I was reminded of personalization that targets… me, which I have to admit I found a little irksome.
Back in January, I wrote a post on 
A couple of years ago it became quickly evident how ubiquitous the iPad had become amongst our C-level and VP clients. I recall making a critical first website design presentation to a new client only to find the CEO disconcertingly playing on his iPad while I was presenting. After a few minutes of this, the CEO looked up with a grin and showed us his screen on which was our website design in perfect proportion with great resolution. He was quite pleased, and it confirmed to us that the device criteria on which we tested our work had officially expanded.
