A BLUEPRINT FOR B2B BRAND PERFORMANCE
Recent research commissioned by Google and BCG shows that brand matters for Business Industrial (B2B), as "humans are humans, no matter if they are buying for their business or themselves," however, budgets do not reflect the size of this opportunity.
Companies are under-investing in brand due a lack of ability to measure impact, not having key stakeholder buy-in, and not having the internal capabilities (e.g., creative skill sets) necessary to do brand marketing. In fact, excellence in brand marketing can unlock significant value: Amplifying brands see 54% higher returns on their brand marketing investments than nascent brands, significant long-term value from customer acquisition, cross-sell, and awareness, and strong correlation between upper-funnel metrics and sales growth.
To achieve brand excellence, B2B marketers need:
- Clearly defined strategy and brand value proposition
- Sophisticated trusted measurement: Measurement is key to unlocking other critical components, e.g., optimized activation, stakeholder buy-in, additional investment
- A diverse set of skills across the team, including creative development skills as well as segmentation and analytical skills
- To activate their brand marketing consistently and cohesively across all channels and customer touchpoints
- A cross-functional operating model that engages stakeholders across the organization: "It takes a village to build a brand"
- Automated and integrated tech in order to unlock sophisticated measurement, understand customers, and manage creative
We'll dive into how mature brand's see higher value than those that are nascent, and the steps to get there.
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Doug Novack
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Managing Director, Business and Industrial Markets Practice
Google