The Importance of Developing a Brand as a Starting Point to Creating Demand

From the earliest days of business, executives have tasked marketing with creating demand, building pipelines, and generating MQLs to drive sales. Modern marketers embrace this mission while navigating budget constraints and the demand for cost-effectiveness. However, the notion of "If you build it, they will come," popularized by the movie "Field of Dreams," doesn’t hold in the competitive business landscape. You must ensure your target audience is aware of and engaged with your brand. Building a brand is more than just letting the world know you have something to sell; it's a strategic imperative.

Why is Building a Brand Important?

Creating a brand and investing in branding is essential for any startup or growth company. A powerful brand provides differentiation, builds trust with customers, and drives long-term growth. Established companies have spent years investing in their brand to reach their current status.

While demand without a strong brand is possible, it typically requires leveraging innovation, utility, and aggressive marketing tactics.?This usually means, big budgets or larger teams who are consistently scrappy, sales people with a rolodex of buyers waiting for a call or strong word of mouth with a PR strategy behind it. All of this can create initial momentum and success but it is not sustainable. And most companies don’t have all of the above.

Today, the barrier to entry into a category has never been lower. Competitors are waiting to launch something a little bit better or a slightly cheaper. For customers, the switching cost is equally less intimidating.

Investing in brand building from day one is just as important has building a great product. Over time, strong brands connect with audiences faster and engage more deeply leading to stronger pipelines and shorter sales cycles. Consider how Apple’s consistent brand messaging and customer-centric approach has placed it among the top of all brands worldwide.

Components of Building a Strong Brand

1.?????Brand Identity?

How do you communicate who you are and what you stand for without a clearly articulated mission, vision, and set of values? Every employee is a salesperson, and if they cannot articulate the company’s purpose, your target customers won't understand either. A strong UVP (Unique Value Proposition) helps distinguish you from competitors, providing a foundation beyond product features and price.

• Develop a mission statement and refine it over time if the business and market changes.
• Create a vision that everyone internally can visualize and buys into.
• Articulate a simple set of core values that guide your business internally but also is used when connected to prospects and customers externally.

2.?????Know Your Target Audience?

Understanding who you want to sell to and the pain points you address is critical. Good marketers must be great researchers and able to quickly analyze data, constantly asking questions and listening. In an ABM (Account-Based Marketing) world, knowing your audience intimately allows for messaging that engages people both 1:1 and 1:Many.

Unless you are a large company, most likely you do not have an in-house market research department let alone extra budget to run quarterly or even annual research initiatives, but….

• Every sales person should know they must be active listeners and data capturers and bring that information back to marketing
• Set up weekly, biweekly or monthly calls with sales to get the “pulse of the market.”
• There are multiple online tools, including Survey Monkey, that allow you to put simple surveys into market at any time.
• Customer feedback through phone outreach, online survey or account management/customer success engagement should be part of every marketer’s toolkit
• Social Listening – If you are doing ABM right, you are consistently scanning the online world for news and information about your customers, targets and the decision-making individuals you are trying to reach. Create a process and system where you are capturing this data on an ongoing basis

3. Voice and Messaging?

Your content, visuals, and advertising are often the first points of contact for prospects and customers. A strong and defined voice consistently represents your brand. Aligning your corporate culture with your brand voice ensures consistency, which builds comfort and trust, eventually leading to customer loyalty.

Customer loyalty is critical for expansion and increased engagement. Consumer marketers need word-of mouth to spread the message and bring in new customers more cheaply and faster than a marketing campaign. B2B marketers must have customer references and case studies to reinforce comfort and trust with prospects.

• This is not just a marketing team project. Bring together marketing, product, sales, and executive leadership to develop the company voice. This will be used as much internally as externally and multiple departments can play an important role in defining and refining your company voice.

4. Connection-Storytelling?

Your product solves a specific pain point; this is your story. A brand narrative that creates an emotional connection keeps customers engaged and invested in your success. Strive to create clients, not just customers, as clients are more likely to be references and participate in case studies.

5. Consistency?

Multiple touchpoints across a buyer’s journey are necessary to build awareness and engagement. Consistent communication reinforces your UVP and builds trust. Brand guidelines help align everyone in your organization, influencing everything from emails to content development and product discussions.

Call to Action

Building a strong brand is foundational to creating demand. Start by defining your brand identity, understanding your audience, developing a consistent voice, and telling your story. Consistency across all channels will build the trust needed for long-term growth. Ready to build your brand? Begin with a strategic plan and watch your business thrive.

Suggested Articles

1.?????Brand Is A Long Game: The Tangible Value Of B2B Brand Investments -?https://www.forrester.com/blogs/brand-is-a-long-game-the-tangible-value-of-b2b-brand-investments/

2.?????Why B2B Brand Marketing Matters -?https://www.bcg.com/publications/2021/why-brand-marketing-matters

3.?????Peter Weinberg’s 6 Benefits To Brand Building -https://www.b2binternational.com/publications/6-benefits-to-brand-building/