• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Submissions
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Jul 3, 2022
  • Startup
    • Creating a Plan
    • Funding a Startup
    • Franchise Center
    • Getting Your Office Ready
    • Making Your Business Official
    • Marketing Your New Business
    • Personal Readiness
  • Run & Grow
    • Customer Service
    • Human Resources
    • Innovation
    • Legal
    • Operations
    • Risk Management
  • Leadership
    • Best Practices
    • Communication
    • Green Initiatives
    • Open Culture
    • Strategic Planning
    • People Skills
  • Sales & Marketing
    • Advertising and Lead Generation
    • Marketing Innovations
    • Marketing Plans
    • Online Marketing
    • Relationships
    • Sales Activities
  • Finance
    • Budgeting and Personal Finance
    • Payments and Collections
    • Tax and Accounting
    • Pricing Strategy
    • Working with Investors
    • Working with Lenders
  • Tech
    • eCommerce
    • Hardware
    • Software
    • Security
    • Tech Reviews
    • Telecom
  • Shop

SmallBizClub

Helping You Succeed

Home / Sales and Marketing / Marketing Plans / B2B Marketing Must Become More Humanly Relevant
B2B Marketing Must Become More Humanly Relevant

B2B Marketing Must Become More Humanly Relevant

1939 Views

Mar 9, 2015 By Elaine Fogel

Data, mobile, social media, digital, blah, blah, blah. What’s B2B (business-to-business) marketing all about? Being human!

 
So says a terrific article in AdAge and I couldn’t agree more.
 
“Data and automated messaging are hot topics, but b-to-b marketers say their marketing must get more personal in 2015. ‘We need b-to-b to be more human,’ said Andy Goldberg, global creative director at GE. That sentiment was echoed by other marketers and agency execs who shared their predictions for the top b-to-b trends of 2015.”
 
When did the humanity in marketing lose its luster? When we allowed ourselves to be distracted by the “next big things?” 
 
Now, I don’t want to disparage my marketing colleagues who specialize in a variety of marketing specialties. Many are doing great work.
 
Related Article: Selling B2B in the Social Media Age
 
But, let’s be real. When their livings depend on these specialty areas, of course they’re going to say, “You’ve got to do it.”
 
Call me a back-to-basics marketing girl. I believe in a holistic approach to marketing—one that’s based on a solid marketing strategy that encompasses the most appropriate digital and traditional marketing channels to reach your target audiences. And, that means being personal and demonstrating your humanity and personality.
 
Where to start? No matter the size of your company, it’s important to develop a branding strategy along with your marketing plan.
 
Here are some of the branding components you need to identify*:
 
  1. Brand Positioning Strategy: the way you frame your brand/products and/or services to each market segment. It’s also how your segments perceive them.
  2. Key Messages: the main points you want your target market segments to remember about your business, products, or services.
  3. Brand Vision Statement: “an articulated description of the aspirational image for the brand; what you want the brand to stand for in the eyes of customers and other relevant groups like employees and partners.” (David Aaker, Aaker on Branding: 20 Principles That Drive Success)
  4. Brand Values: the beliefs, actions, and behaviors your company delivers to, and shares with, its customers.
  5. Brand Personality: when you give your brand human characteristics and personality.
  6. Brand Identity: is how your customers perceive your brand, company, product, or service. However, in many marketing circles, it has come to represent the brand’s visual elements such as colors, typography (font styles), symbols, graphics, marks, and logo.
  7. Brand Promise: represents what a brand promises to deliver to stakeholders and customers—focused on the benefits for them.
 
*Based on my book, Beyond Your Logo: 7 Brand Ideas that Matter Most for Small Business Success. Sign up to receive news about the book launch!
 
Does your business have a branding strategy that gives it personality and makes it human?
 
This article was originally published by Elaine Fogel

Filed Under: Marketing Plans Tagged With: B2B, Branding, Elaine Fogel, Marketing, Personality

Elaine Fogel

Elaine Fogel

Elaine Fogel is a marketing, branding, and customer experience evangelist, professional speaker, and author of Beyond Your Logo: 7 Brand Ideas That Matter Most For Small Business Success. People in 100+ countries regularly read her blog, Totally Uncorked on Marketing and her articles have appeared in many publications.

Related Posts

  • WSJ Author Barry Gabster on Making a Million-Dollar Identity
  • 3 Offline Ways You Can Promote Your Small Business
  • how-to-win-with-compliance-brandingBranding Yourself: A Critical Decision

Primary Sidebar

Random

freelancers-are-the-new-entrepreneurs-for-services

5 Benefits to Using Freelancers for Your Small Business

Jul 1, 2022 By Lending Tree

6 Evergreen Content Ideas to Inspire Your Editorial Calendar

Jun 30, 2022 By Eleanor Hecks

Custom Pop-Up Tents for Events: Pros & Cons

Jun 29, 2022 By SmallBizClub

Want To Deliver Better Customer Service? Follow These Tips

Jun 29, 2022 By Jeremy Bowler

3 Steps to Set Up a Digital Asset Management System

Jun 29, 2022 By Michael Dunlop

Footer

About Us

Small Biz Club is the premier destination for small business owners and entrepreneurs. To succeed in business, you have to constantly learn about new things, evaluate what you’re doing, and look for ways to improve—that’s what we’re here to help you do.

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • RSS
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2022 by Tarkenton Institute, Inc. All Rights Reserved | Terms | Privacy