Why B2B brands outgrow their reputation
One of the biggest challenges in B2B sales and marketing is dealing with brand obscurity and mixed perceptions. Your company might be known for one specific product or service, but many of your other offerings stay under the radar for your customers and potential clients. This often comes from a mix of mispositioning and lack of visibility. Many businesses overestimate their brand’s recognition, thinking their audience has a good grasp of what they offer. The reality, however, is often very different…
The B2B dilemma: Lack of visibility and mispositioning
Companies operating purely in the B2B space don’t tend to generate the same level of mainstream buzz as consumer brands. They’re not household names plastered across advertisements and social media feeds.
This limited visibility can be frustrating for many sales teams, but even more pressing is the issue of not being known for the right things. For example, while being an established vendor definitely gives you a leg up when pursuing additional business with a client, that advantage only matters if they truly understand the full breadth of your offering suite. Even salespeople who work for well-known brands experience feeling misaligned with what they are trying to sell, facing challenges in both cross-selling discussions and new customer dialogues.
So, what is the reason behind this perceived inability to be known for the right things in the right sales dialogue? We asked Christopher Strandell, an experienced ABM advisor at InZynk:
– It often happens when a company evolves past its original brand identity. Picture a manufacturing company that was once known for a classic hardware product but has since shifted gears into software and IT services. Their new offerings may be really good, but the brand is still stuck in the past – customers only think of that old-school product line when they hear the company name. Creating credibility and trust in this new space becomes undermined by the company’s otherwise biggest asset – that brand recognition they worked so hard to build.
The hidden risks of business as usual: a closer look
So, what happens if you just keep doing the same old thing without considering new approaches to showcase your offerings? Christopher Strandell, again:
– Well, first off, you risk missing out on valuable opportunities. Imagine this: not only do you lose potential deals, but you’re not even part of the conversation when important discussions or bids are happening. You’re sidelined before you even have a chance to demonstrate your value. If your clients aren’t aware of the full range of services or products you offer, they might turn to competitors who have already established themselves in those areas. And if you start letting competitors encroach on your territory, how long can you expect to retain your clients? Your rivals might swoop in and offer what you’re known for at a better price, potentially stealing your existing business too.
Taking those first steps toward sharper positioning
You can’t perfectly group customers by the messages they need since every company is different, so you’ll always adjust your approach. Instead, the challenge is to offer the perfect positioning for every client – and their respective stakeholders – in every deal, every time. A solid starting point is focusing on your 10-15 most important accounts driving your business currently.
For each one, take a step back and reflect: How are you currently positioned in their minds and how do you actually want to be positioned? From there, you need to start actively marketing that desired positioning – through both your marketing channels and sales conversations, syncing up efforts to align as tightly as possible with that specific opportunity. Positioning gets turbocharged when the same people the customer talks to are also seeing and hearing that same positioning echoed in other contexts through broader marketing efforts. Christopher concludes:
– To truly treat each major account like its own unique market from a marketing perspective, having the right technical capabilities is key, whatever those may be. You can’t just blast out a firehose of hyper-targeted positioning through mass marketing – that gets expensive fast and won’t be relevant to the vast majority. Instead, you need to find ways to actually deliver tailored messaging at the account level.
In the next blog post, we’ll take a closer look at how to take those next steps toward more strategic positioning. We’ll also explore some of the technology solutions and platforms available to enable more personalized, account-based approach. Positioning may be an age-old challenge, but modern marketers have powerful new tools to finally master it. If you want to dig deeper into the complexities of visibility and positioning (and mispositioning…) – check out our recorded webinar called The Power of Visibility that’s available for you to watch on demand.
Check out the recorded webinar: The Power of Visibility
