6 Keys to a Successful B2B Brand Positioning

Targeting businesses rather than individual customers come with unique challenges. Understanding these differences is key to developing effective branding that attracts and engages other businesses. Here are six essential elements of a B2B brand positioning that can help your company connect to its targeted base.

1. Establish Yourself as a Thought Leader

Establishing yourself as a thought leader will help you stand apart from competitors by both distinguishing you from the competition and improving your SEO. You can achieve this from a branding standpoint by creating original content.

If you have a blog or social media channels, your posts should provide a mix of informative content, facts about your products and services' applications, and opinions about the latest trends in your industry.

Demonstrate Your Trustworthiness and Stay Authentic

Establishing brand marketing that's straightforward and informative without losing your unique personality and voice is certainly challenging, but it's key to separating yourself from competitors while maintaining an articulate brand. To achieve this, aim to describe your products and services, their unique advantages, and how your business helps others in as few words as possible.

Note that your branding isn't just words. Clarity and simplicity should be a part of your logo, web design, marketing material, and all other parts of the user experience and interface.

2. Know Your Audience

It would be a mistake to approach a business like you would an average customer. Instead, you should first understand the unique needs that companies have and then appeal to those pain points. For example, as a brand that's marketing to another company, you can strip away some of the artifices that might attract a consumer and get down to the details quicker.

Also, take the time to research your clients individually. Even if you have products or services that are universally applicable to companies in certain industries, you should speak to businesses individually and note how your enterprise can solve their specific problems or help them reach key metrics. Identifying the following can help you with this process:

• The business's competitors and what they need to stay on top in their industry.
• The business's financial history and goals regarding profits, growth, etc.
• How your company has helped similar businesses in the past.

3. Collect and Leverage Data

How you've helped businesses in the past is a critical selling point in the B2B space. The companies you'll speak to will likely want specific details about how your products and services have made a difference.

Having this ready means putting systems in place to track how your enterprise actively improves your current clients' operations. It's also helpful to use testimonials and referrals to prove your reliability and effectiveness.

This data should be part of your branding, too. It's easy to simply describe your products and services as helpful without expanding on the tangible results you've achieved. So, make sure to include real-world results in your branding.

4. Be Interesting and Open

It can be very easy to get lost in creating information to convince a business to work with your business. Sure, the prospective customer is going to want to see numbers and data that back up your assertions, but that's not all there is to a presentation.

What you want to do is present that information in a way that's interesting for readers, viewers, or listeners. There's nothing wrong with using light humor to break up the pace and show that your company, while serious about the work, can take a breather now and again.

Another option is to present positive feedback that builds interest in a potential client by showing that others have worked with your company and were happy with the results.

The goal is to get a potential client to take a closer look at what you have to offer and togive them an insight into your operations. Someone who takes a closer look at what you have to offer is far more likely to work with you because they feel like they know you.

5. Stand Out

There is a good chance that you're competing with other businesses who offer products similar to yours. It's easy to get lost in the shuffle because everyone's offering the same thing by and large. Find ways to make your product stand out from the rest such as adding a unique feature or a detail that edges out the rest of the competition.

In summary, make sure that all the whistles and bells on your product work right the first time it comes out of the box. It's an immeasurable boost to your brand personality and reputation.

B2B branding can be challenging, but it's critical to your success. Stand apart from competitors by establishing yourself as a thought leader, being trustworthy and authentic, knowing your audience, and using data to your advantage.

Image via Flickr by rawpixel.com

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