You’ve heard it before, and we’re going to tell you it again. B2B audiences have changed. And so must B2B marketing.
The good news is, if you can get today’s relationship- and experience-building process right, your customers will become your biggest brand advocates. Or, as we like to call them, Forever Customers. And Forever Customers mean predictable, recurring revenue.
Brand strategy, a solid foundation, and the three C’s.
By engaging your customers after they purchase from you, you can turn them into Forever Customers by:
- Continuing to give them emotional and rational reasons to engage with you beyond the initial sale.
- Capitalizing on the brand love that occurs right after the initial sale.
- Gaining a deeper understanding of your broader audiences (users, influencers, and decision-makers) before strategy creation — so when the time comes, you know how to reach them.
- Presenting a clear and consistent brand story at every interaction to expertly guide customers to brand advocacy.
And it’s worth doing — Forever Customers will reward you with a vastly higher customer lifetime value than the traditional buyer.
But you won’t win Forever Customers unless your brand strategy is built on:
- Clarity
- Consistency
- Culture
Clarity: Who are you?
Buyers in the B2B marketplace are likely to be inundated with companies that seem to offer exactly what you offer. So how do you stand out (for the long-term, not just one campaign)?
By telling a powerful brand story.
It’s now established that B2B buyers don’t just purchase on facts and figures — they’re influenced by their emotional response to your brand story. Telling the right story requires clarity. It should be simple, relatable, and easy to understand.
You’ve got to figure out how your company meets the needs of your customers – and find a clear way to communicate it.
Consistency: Walking the walk.
Having a clear brand strategy, with a story your users can relate to, isn’t enough on its own. It needs to be delivered consistently:
- Throughout the customer journey, from awareness to purchase, loyalty, and advocacy.
- Across your portfolio.
- Before and after the point of sale.
- Both inside and outside your company.
An inconsistent message is confusing and can make a brand feel less credible. Which in turn, can undermine trust. And if your audience can’t trust you, they’re not going to become brand advocates. For brand acquisitions, the risk of story fragmentation is greater, and so is the need for consistency.
Culture: Internal versus external.
Since the Forever Customer journey includes post-sale relationship-building, both your internal and external teams need to embody your brand strategy. It needs to become part of your culture.
Remember, “culture eats strategy for breakfast”. Buyers today won’t just make decisions based on their emotional response to your story and the rational reasons to choose your product. If your brand is perceived to just be ‘window dressing’ (not something you live and breathe), it could undermine any trust your customers might have.
And, if your external brand strategy is clear and consistent, then your culture should simply be an internalization of that strategy.
Brand and campaign strategy for the future of B2B.
With the right brand and campaign strategy, you can succeed in the B2B marketplace. You’ll be able to:
- Entice prospects with a powerful, relatable story.
- Create a whole new audience by building an engaged community of users.
- Build a long-lasting relationship by continuing that story throughout every interaction.
If you do this, you’ll soon have your own mass of Forever Customers — brand advocates who subscribe to everything you offer (while telling their friends and colleagues about you, too).
Want to know more about how we can help you build the perfect brand and campaign strategy? Send us a message and we’ll help you on your journey to Forever Customers.