Written by Matthew Morgan

Chief Executive

5 ways to grow your brand, whilst everyone is screaming for leads

According to the recent McKinsey report, ‘Past forward: The modern rethinking of marketing’s core’, the number one priority for CMOs this year is building brand distinctiveness, strength and trust.

Great, I hear you think, but how do you actually do that with your particular slice of the B2B world, with the inevitable pressures you’re facing from stakeholders to deliver results over short time frames.

 

Here are five practical ways to get started:

1. Set some memory objectives

  • What do you want your target customers to remember in 12 months?
  • Stop thinking in terms of campaigns and performance metrics that are just based on the 5% of your audience that are ‘in-market’. Build memorable impressions for the 95% and measure them.
  • Here’s how: survey, gather opinions, repeat with same audience/profile. Track how brand lifts conversion rates in performance channels over time.

 

2. Include your brand promise in every brief

  • Consider how your planned campaign brief will connect target customers to your overall brand value in a relevant way to them – beyond the specific products and benefits you are marketing.
  • How will this campaign connect the dots, how will it build brand belief and preference to them based on their specific needs and viewpoints?
  • Here’s how: lean on your agency to figure this out, to develop a proposition and messaging hierarchy built on genuine customer insight which address the core question of why your brand? (If they can’t do this, find an agency that can)

 

3. Treat LinkedIn like a front-page ad space (not a classified notice)

  • Your customer’s attention is precious and can’t be taken for granted
  • Putting out a social post doesn’t mean that your audience will notice or engage with it
  • Here’s how: Start with a hook, use strong visuals to create intrigue, begin a story

 

4. Treat your customers with intelligence and humour

  • Aim to lodge something memorable in their minds, something which provokes a response, or prompts a smile
  • If you don’t land a big idea to create a human response your messages will pass like a ship in the night. By creating a connection you will build the propensity for the customer to engage with future messages and people, and to recommend the brand to others.
  • Don’t let global campaigns be diluted to suit all tastes
  • Here’s how: Engage & land one clear association. Let the rest of the story unfold. You know the buyer decision will be carefully considered so respect that, support that.
  • Here’s how: Don’t be afraid of using wit and word-play in your global marketing – just test and treat audiences differently. Lean on AI and your global network here.

 

5. Use thought leadership to drive leads

  • Smart companies recognise the need to maintain clear thought leadership positions as a crucial way of building brand perceptions and value
  • Even smarter companies have worked out that it can be used to drive leads and deliver short term metrics, connecting seamlessly to sales, and therefore justifying the marketing investment on every level and timeframe
  • Here’s how (and it’s remarkably simple): Track engagements, link to sales, attribute value to leads (to justify the next wave of thought leadership investment), and track conversions – whilst also tracking brand perceptions ‘do you see company x as a digital transformation partner?’

 

If you have any ideas of your own, feedback on this blog, or would simply like to chat about your real world brand challenges, please reach out at any time: [email protected]