There’s a lot of love out there for B2B brands right now. But don’t just take our word for it.
Last year, we contributed to Havas Media’s ‘Meaningful Brands’ report. The report surveyed over 1,700 B2B professionals and found that 81% of respondents would care if B2B brands disappeared. However, previous Havas research revealed that consumers wouldn’t mind if 75% of B2C brands disappeared.
That’s a profound difference in how people feel about B2B vs B2C brands, and it reinforces what we’ve been talking about for years — investing in brand is absolutely crucial to the success of any B2B business.
Access the full report here to get the full story, and keep reading for our additional insights on this topic.
Attitudes towards brand are changing.
For years, B2Bs have weighted investment strongly towards performance vs brand marketing. And as marketers, we all know why.
Performance marketing offers the prospect of fast, measurable results (like leads and conversions). Whereas brand is more of a slow burn and trickier to quantify (offering the prospect of increased awareness and salience). Faced with mounting pressure and shrinking budgets, it’s easy to see why marketers invariably choose the quick-win option.
But perceptions are changing.
According to Dentsu research, ‘brand building’ has jumped from the fifth priority in 2023 to the number one priority in 2024.
Meanwhile, Jon Lombardo and Peter Weinberg, both formerly of the LinkedIn B2B Institute, recently suggested B2B brands have woken up to the importance of brand in a moment they call ‘the flippening’ (well worth a read).
Why is brand becoming more important?
In large part, it’s because mounting evidence shows the enormous influence brand has over buying decisions.
For instance:
- Bain & Company and Google have found that 92% of B2B buyers already have a shortlist of preferred vendors before they start the buying process.
- Forrester research has revealed that 77% of purchase influencers consider brand awareness when deciding whether to trust an organization.
- LinkedIn has discovered that 81% of B2B buyers say the product they eventually buy was known by everyone in the buying group on day one.
There’s a common thread running through all this research — most B2B buyers have decided their preferred vendor long before seeing any of your product-focused content. Which means a strong brand identity isn’t just a nice-to-have — it’s fundamentally important if you want to influence early buying conversations.
“Brand has become as important as technology, data, talent, and sustainability to building future-proof businesses.”
Andrea Glenn, CEO of Ledger Bennett, a Havas company.
It takes courage to make the shift.
The evidence is clear — investing in your brand is hugely important and most marketers know it. The question is, are you prepared to make that investment, knowing what it takes to get there and how long you may have to wait for results?
Depending on your current position, it’ll probably involve reworking your marketing strategy and getting comfortable with a longer-term mindset. And ultimately, it’ll require convincing internal stakeholders to reallocate resources away from bottom-of-funnel activities.
None of this is simple and some of those conversations might be hard. But if you’re looking to make that shift, we can help. Not only by helping you with the process of building a strong B2B brand presence, but by helping you make the business case for doing so in the first place. To find out more about Ledger Bennett’s approach to brand strategy, get in touch with us today.