Much has been written about the changing role of marketing in B2B businesses and the rising importance of brand building, but for many, there is still a long way to go.
As a result, marketers – and organisations more broadly – are being urged to recognise the importance of brand in B2B marketing.
David Keene, Europe CMO of IT services firm Wipro, describes it as a “missing link”.
Much has been written about the changing role of marketing in B2B businesses and the rising importance of brand building, but for many, there is still a long way to go.
As a result, marketers – and organisations more broadly – are being urged to recognise the importance of brand in B2B marketing.
David Keene, Europe CMO of IT services firm Wipro, describes it as a “missing link”.
“Brand has been neglected by an awful lot of businesses,” he said, talking at B2B Ignite last week (3 July). “There are so few [B2B] organisations out there [where the] brand is amazing.”
As buying behaviour changes, clients are increasingly looking for authenticity from the brands they partner with, he added, and brand building is key to this.
“People, they buy the values and the attributes of that organisation, so you’ve got to build those, otherwise you’re not going to close the deals,” he said.
“Brand building is all about people choosing you and not choosing somebody else,” he added, sharing that some businesses where he worked previously struggled to get the deal “over the line” because there was a “residual lack of trust, lack of engagement with the brand”.
However, despite the value of brand building, Marketing Week’s State of B2B study revealed just 16.1% of B2B marketers focus on long-term marketing. Of the 600 B2B marketers who responded to the survey, one-third (34.1%) said budget allocation was mainly focused on short-term tactics, with a further 18.3% saying there was a slight focus on short-term marketing. That amounts to over half of B2B marketers focusing on the short term.
A lot of people have drawn into this industry because they want to be creative, they want to be storytellers.
Susannah Streeter, Hargreaves Lansdown
For Sarah Thomas, executive vice-president and CMO at consultancy firm Capgemini, brand is also incredibly valuable as a conversation starter.
“A strong brand is the door opener,” she said, explaining that it’s the starting point for any relationship and a way of getting people in at the top of the sales funnel.
However, she also emphasised that it is marketers’ responsibility to change the narrative around their position within the wider business and ensure the organisation “sees the role that we play and the value we add at all points of the sales cycle”.
This is particularly important, given 46% of marketers responding to Marketing Week’s State of B2B survey said marketing is less of a priority from an investment perspective than last year. More than a third (35.3%) also feel marketing is not given as much respect as it deserves as a means to drive growth.
Given the importance of brand building and the fact its value is still not fully grasped by businesses – if at all – Thomas urged marketers to speak up.
She said: “We have an opportunity that is also going to mean us being involved and us reinventing ourselves and thinking very differently about marketing.”
Similarly, the influx of data and new technologies is also having a profound impact on the way B2B marketers operate and the decisions they make. But that’s all the more reason for marketers to embrace their roots in building narratives and creative output.
Head of money and markets for Hargreaves Lansdown, Susannah Streeter, said: “A lot of people have drawn into this industry because they want to be creative, they want to be storytellers. They want to communicate messages.”
By focusing on brand and, by extension long-term strategy, marketers have the opportunity to influence their organisations. Streeter added: “Transparency, information, guidance, there’s a great opportunity ahead.”
