Craft a powerhouse B2B brand message playbook in 8 steps
By Rachel Henry
When your brand message lands with your audience, it sets the stage for meaningful relationships for years to come — and in turn, powerful business growth for your tech company. In contrast, if your message falls flat, potential customers are likely to scroll right past your content.
Think about the last time you were engaged in a conversation so interesting or free-flowing that you could have kept talking for hours. Your B2B brand messaging should strive to achieve the same goal — to keep your audience engaged and wanting more.
If leading a conversation isn’t your strong suit, we’ve got you! Say more with less stress and hone your message with our brand messaging guide. Here’s what we’ll cover:
Why a B2B brand messaging playbook is your critical marketing foundation
Mapping out the core components to your playbook
Conducting customer research for the best results
Establishing a distinct and consistent brand voice
Engaging your audience with a strong brand story
Crafting four types of compelling brand messages
Developing a customer-centric strategy to translate your messages to your content
Writing top quality content imbued with your B2B branding
Why your brand message matters
If you’re feeling the pressure to be omnipresent online, you’re in good company. But it’s not enough to just pump out content. In fact, the opposite is true — quality trumps quantity for discerning B2B buyers. This means the content you create must be original, carefully thought out, impeccably written and on-brand. It’s a tall order.
The numbers reflect this sentiment. A 2022 LinkedIn study showed that more than 67% of B2B marketers planned to maintain or increase their brand building spend over the following six months.
There are myriad reasons for investing in B2B branding, from building trust and driving long-term sales growth to maintaining visibility in your industry, as cited by marketers in the survey.
So, it’s time to ensure your brand message hits the mark with your audience. Let’s dive into our eight-step guide.
8 steps to a pitch-perfect brand message
1. Acknowledge the importance of branding
Branding is about more than making your B2B tech company recognizable. It also establishes your market position and drives customer loyalty. Strong branding creates an emotional connection with your audience — and a good first impression is crucial, since 50% of customers develop brand affinity the first time they buy from you.
So, treat the task of branding like the critical mission it is, and get ready to embark on the journey. Looking for a little inspiration? Check out seven successful branding examples from B2B companies.
2. Cover all of the core components
When crafting your B2B company’s brand messaging guide (or playbook), follow a process that produces replicable results. This means not skimming over the essentials.
While the visual aspects of your brand are important, branding dives much deeper than your logo and colours. You need messaging that communicates your mission and values, and that makes it clear you’ve got a unique solution to your market’s problems. Learn more about the core components of a rock-solid brand.
3. Conduct customer research
Understanding your customers’ behaviour and goals is imperative to ramping up demand for your brand. Conducting a voice of customer analysis (a form of customer research) can help you achieve this, and ensure your target market knows your offerings are tailored to them.
Create a loyal fan base that raves about your brand. Dig into three ways to drive demand with a voice of customer analysis.
4. Establish your brand voice
Out-of-tune brand messaging can sound like nails on a chalkboard. To create a brand voice your customers want to hear, start by assessing your audience and competitors. Identify phrases that resonate with your buyers and gaps in the market that you can fill.
Knowing your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses can help you stand out and develop a voice that avoids jargon and corporate-speak. Clunky language is not music to anyone’s ears, so steering clear of this can give you an edge in the B2B SaaS world. To find out more, explore the four key steps to brand voice development.
5. Write your brand story
An impactful brand story should have heart, evoke emotions and differentiate your B2B company from similar brands. It should also strike a balance between talking about your organization and bringing your audience into the narrative.
When you combine a strong brand story with high quality offerings and targeted marketing, you can boost your visibility, revenue, and impact while nurturing authentic relationships with customers. Write a brand story that grabs — and keeps — your audience’s attention.
6. Craft compelling messaging
By now you know that solid messaging is a must-have to get your audience to heed your call to action. Constructing compelling and consistent brand messaging for a specific buyer and purpose helps weed out unsuitable customers and ensures that your audience understands how your solution applies to them.
Consider the various stages of the buyer’s journey when crafting your B2B brand messaging. You need multiple types of messages to support your marketing efforts. Discover the four types of messaging you need to keep your content fresh, relatable and effective.
7. Develop a customer-centric content strategy
Every aspect of the way your B2B company interacts with prospects and customers contributes to their perception of your brand. So, be sure you’re delivering exactly what they need. Create branded content for each customer use case your company serves.
Beyond addressing use cases, your brand messaging should also be imbued into content that supports customer experience, which in turn, drives retention. See how B2B companies have used these strategies to excel at brand development.
8. Leverage content to build your brand
A brand messaging playbook is an incredibly effective tool, as long as you take the time to weave your messaging into your content.
You now know the core components of B2B brand messaging, how to conduct customer research for the best results, and how to establish a distinct and consistent brand voice. You’ve also got the road map to a strong brand story, compelling messaging and a customer-centric strategy to translate your messages to your content. It’s time to explore five ways to brand your business using content.
Become a marketing juggernaut
Brand messaging is the bridge that connects B2B tech companies to their audiences. It’s also the foundation upon which you can start creating binge-worthy content that drives sales.
Download our free in-demand brand guide for actionable steps to build an undeniable brand and generate non-stop demand for your offerings.
