Destroying your brand image can be done in one foul swoop, but it’s often the result of a systematic failing across multiple areas of an organization. There are ways you could destroy your brand image, from a lack of brand ethos to a misalignment of marketing strategies with brand goals, B2B brands can suffer at the hands of brand damage as often as a B2C brand would – it’s just that B2C brands find themselves in the spotlight more often.
Currently, only 54% of B2B businesses have a B2B brand program in place that analyses their brand awareness, ranking, and overall appearance. That can lead to fundamental areas of improvement being missed. The guide below will give you some pointers on the areas that you might want to consider as the building block to your brand awareness program.
A Lack Of Buyer Incentives
As a consumer yourself, you’ll know a business is far more enticing if they offer buyer incentives – B2B brands are no different.
In fact, we would go as far as to say they expect it. Who can blame the buyers if they’re spending large sums of money? Some statistics prove why a B2B brand should focus on B2B loyalty programs. For one, if you retain 5% of your customers, you’ll enjoy an increase of profits of anywhere between 25 and 95%. And, it’s estimated loyal customers will make up two-thirds of all future sales.
To secure that all-important future profit, consider the power of business-to-business loyalty programs. From a business point of view, loyalty programs help protect profit margins by cancelling out the need for profit-damaging discounts, create brand advocates, and raise brand awareness. From a buyer’s perspective, it provides a reason to shop and return, so click here to see an excellent example of a B2B loyalty program offered by Incentive Smart.
A Poor Content Marketing Strategy
Content marketing is an excellent strategy for improving brand awareness and image. According to the Content Marketing Institute, out of those that created a successful content marketing campaign, 80% thought it created brand awareness, and 75% thought it built credibility and trust.
While 49% of marketers choose to outsource their content marketing strategy, it’s not necessarily a massive job to do it in-house. Regular blog posts on your business website, a social media post here and there, and a regular email newsletter is enough to keep some B2B marketers happy. Don’t forget how easy it is to market content on LinkedIn – a platform 96% of B2B marketers advocate using. Another tip, incorporate the use of videos into your content market strategy. 87% of B2B marketers agree video marketing provides them with a positive ROI.
Terrible Customer Service
Terrible customer experiences won’t exactly boost your brand appeal. But, if you can find the sweet spot with your customer experience, 86% of buyers agree they will spend more, according to a study by Lumoa. Another one by Lumoa found that 80% of buyers expect the buying experience to be like that of B2C.
Considering that B2B brands are adopting more B2C trends as the years go on, think about the use of live chats, interactive website features, and speedy checkouts that cut out the need for complicated buying forms, and lengthy back and forth. In the B2C world, 41% of shoppers prefer live chats for instant contact. You might also want to follow in the footsteps of Amazon and launch a one-click purchase option for buyers with saved details.
Poor Website Usability
The rise of B2B eCommerce leads us to discuss the determinants of a poor website and that could destroy your brand image. The old days of B2B sales wouldn’t have dreamt of using a website as their primary source of sales, but there are a lot of stats that support the need for a B2B brand to have a website with an interactive and easy to use interface. According to a study by the Zfort Group, 76% thought the design of a B2B eCommerce store design is the most important factor for influencing a buying decision.
To improve your website’s usability, incorporate effective call-to-action, one-click checkouts, and think about the use of white space to highlight the information you want buyers to see first.
Brand image is easier to destroy than it is to build. A positive brand image is one with brand alignment, positive customer experiences, and alignment with buyer needs. Brand image builds over time by, at the core, focusing on buyer needs and what the buyer wants to see.
Taking care of the above ways you could avoid destroying your brand image.