B2B Brands: From Invisible to Must-Have
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B2B Brands: From invisible to must-have
The Global B2B market is valued at $83 trillion. (Juniper Research, 2024).
That’s 80% of the world’s economic output. (World Bank, 2024)
It takes months to close a deal. Large Sales teams. Huge Marketing budgets.
And….75% of that is wasted. Most can’t even remember whose ad they just saw. (System 1, 2023)
A typical B2B ad looks like this:
come to our webinar, read our white paper. ‘We worked real hard on it!’ (The use of ‘our’ is of course a way to keep it safe and impersonal. Just like every other brand.)
It’s needy and a bit weird. Like walking into a bar and telling a stranger your entire medical history instead of ‘hey, I love this song too!’.
Then there’s the broad-daylight harassment. Cold emails, cold calls, cold DMs. Predictably, ice cold response.
Creating entire departments of Marketers who are desperate, disillusioned, burnt out.
And that’s the ‘norm’ in the biggest industry on the planet!
Clearly, this norm ain’t normal. So why is it happening and how do we fix it?
Most B2B companies are either started by or run by specialists – with deep expertise, overwhelming passion for their product and….a surprising overestimation of the role of their product in the wider world.
‘Everyone needs this new CRM software.’
‘Our manufacturing process is worth paying a premium for.’
‘We give way better advice than the competition.’
They presume others care as much.
Studies show they don’t.
Only 5% of the market is actively shopping at any one time. (B2B Institute of LinkedIn, 2023)
So all those webinars? If I don’t need your solution, I won’t turn up.
White papers? Why would I care to spend time reading about something I’m not interested in?
It’s building a brand.
Cos 81% of B2B buyers end up buying the brand they knew from before. All this talk of ‘long sales cycles’, technicalities, and multiple stakeholders be damned! Think of those poor Marketing departments. Fighting a losing battle, day in and day out. All cos they focus on the wrong thing.
All hiding in the safety of the brand that:
looks the same, sounds the same and even claims the same thing as their competition.
Brands that are invisible and need to be shoved down people’s throats.
Instead of positioning themselves as a ‘must-have’ and letting people come to them.
The million dollar question:
How do you do that?!
Many books and frameworks have been written about it.
Mostly complicated, so that one could charge a lot for them.
Here it is for you in one sentence:
Undermine Industry Norms. That’s it.
Work in AI?
Everyone is exploring some mystical future outcomes.
Few can show specific results in weeks.
Break down your offering. Claim that.
Selling HR software?
Everyone focuses on advanced features.
Nobody acknowledges that in 2024, ‘corporate culture’ is truly broken.
State the real problem. Become the preferred solution.
Make huge sturdy trucks?
Everyone talks them up in pretty brochures.
Actually put them to the test. Silence the competition.
(Jean-Claude Van Damme optional.)
Dare to do the unobvious, that’s how you win. Especially in B2B.
Call it ‘Blue Ocean strategy’, ‘Challenger Brands’, ‘Disruption’ or any other buzzwords.
Business books are worth nothing, unless the advice is implemented.
It’s time….
Or you could of course go back to the endless grind of B2B Marketing.
Another webinar… Another white paper…
Your choice.
Diana Caplinska
Diana Caplinska
Diana Caplinska is an outstanding (word-pun intended) Brand Strategy Specialist and upcoming speaker and workshop facilitator here at SAJ.
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