Business-to-business branding means more than ever before, but many B2B marketers aren't embracing it fully. To illustrate the point, let's forego a long treatise and use an imaginary conversation to look at the problem and the opportunity. Here, we imagine that "B2B Branding” is a company. 

One day, the CMO at B2B Branding Company dropped by to discuss a business problem.

Godfrey: What is the marketing challenge you are faced with?

B2B Branding CMO: In a word, we have a branding problem.

G: B2B Branding has a branding problem? So your new tagline isn’t working so well?

B2B: What – “Not your father’s branding?” Nope. We fired the agency that came up with that one.

G: So can you summarize the problem?

B2B: Well, our research shows that most of our audiences – B2B marketers and their senior managements – have strong awareness of us, but when you ask their perceptions what comes back are things like logos, corporate identity, business cards and letterhead, and taglines.

G: Ah, the basics. How about overall brand positioning?

B2B: OK at best. I mean, most people get that effective branding does require more than logos and taglines; there has to be some good thinking behind it that positions the brand. Most marketers do a pretty good job differentiating themselves from their competition, but most don’t focus enough on the needs or situation of the customer, which can make a huge difference in effectiveness.

G: And what about some of the deeper aspects of projecting the brand into the B2B market? You know, beyond logos and taglines…some of the things that B2B marketers are picking up from the consumer world now that the B2B marketing landscape has changed so dramatically. For example, brand personality – the voice, the tone, the vocabulary, the visual vocabulary.

B2B: Now you’re getting to one of our big issues. Even the B2B marketers that are doing that aren’t going far enough. They are still in the “push” mode of putting together branding messages and pushing them out into the market in a controlled manner. They assume that customers and prospects will engage with the sales force, who will follow the company line, and everything will go according to plan.

G: How last century! Have you told them why they should care?

B2B: What do you mean?

G: Talking tools like brand vocabulary isn’t enough; they need a reason to change. They need to understand that, in the new B2B marketing landscape, the push model is outdated. The audience is more in charge of the conversation. They can choose where they go and who they talk to. They experience the brand long before they engage the sales force. Online. So branding has a huge role to play in the look, feel, message and functionality of the marketer’s web presence.

B2B: We haven’t really done a good job communicating how things have changed.

G: Or in social media, that’s a whole different environment, more of a conversation where you hope that many people throughout the company are engaging customers and prospects…in their own way but still aligned with the tone and key messages of the brand. To do that, they need to understand the brand and when and where to engage in the growing array of sites, networks and platforms.

B2B: You mean like internal branding and brand guardianship?

G: Yes, but more intense and intentional than ever before. This isn’t just about how the switchboard operator answers the phone, or the customer service rep’s script. It’s making sure that many more people are informed, empowered and motivated to engage the market and customers online in a way that benefits the marketer. And marketers shouldn’t wait for an acquisition or crisis to think about it. If B2B marketers still think brand guardianship means the corporate ID manual, you have a problem.

B2B: We have a problem, yes, but it looks like we really have a great opportunity, too.

G: You bet. B2B branding is more important and influential than ever before. Since so much more of the marketing and sales process is online these days, and since online and branding are typically the province of marketing, this is a great opportunity for B2B marketers to help their companies project a positive experience for their customers and prospects, by living their brands online.

B2B: “Living their brands?”

G: Yes. Taking all of the elements of the brand and figuring out how that brand “behaves” in all situations – how it speaks, how it looks, what it stands for, how it provides service, how it is to do business with, etc. And then educating a lot of “brand ambassadors” within their companies.

B2B: It sounds like you are saying that B2B branding is about everything and how it is communicated everywhere.

G: Sounds a little ambitious. But just so we’re clear, when we say branding, we think about everything. Brand is the experience…every interaction with your customers, your suppliers, your audience, your market, your world. If you do that right, then the logo and tagline are the symbols, the shorthand of the customer’s brand experience.

B2B: So can you help us retool our branding to fit today’s B2B marketing environment?

G: Sure, let’s get started!