Digital marketing is not just about informing people about your products and services. B2B Marketing is not simply about finding prospects and trying to convert them. A B2B marketer is not just selling a product or a service. He or she is selling an idea which comes wrapped in a brand. When we think of Apple or BMW or any other well-known product, it is the brand name that we recollect. You might not be able to recollect every product feature of an Apple feature, but there is a certain quality that you associate with it. That association springs to your mind whenever you hear or speak the word Apple.
If you are involved in B2B Marketing for your product or service, then you need to work on your brand personality as well, not just on B2B Data. You need to also spend time and effort to understand how your prospects and customers perceive your brand. This perception may or may not be directly proportional to your brand’s features. That is why a research based brand study is a very important component of B2B Marketing.
This kind of brand study refers to quantitative and qualitative research which helps to define and streamline the best brand management strategy for any business. Initially, when the business is starting off, such research could help form the outline of the marketing strategy. Later on, when the business has moved ahead on its product life cycle, brand research can help with specific aspects of branding, like packaging, advertisement, product mix etc. This helps augment the marketer’s B2B Data and tells him or her whether the positioning and promotion of the brand is progressing in the right direction, and what corrective actions are needed, if at all.
Here are 5 benefits of doing a research based brand study:
1. No business can claim to be a ‘one-stop shop’ for all needs of all customers. Brand research could help it find its true calling, in terms of what its strengths are and what the customers really want. Once a business has identified its real differentiator the marketing strategy is much easier to formulate.
2. Let’s say you are an automobile brand. If your research tells you that the majority of your prospects and clients are worried about fuel consumption rates, you will quickly realize that it should be the thrust of your messaging, rather than the looks or the safety features.
3. In today’s digital age, a B2B marketer uses multiple touch points to reach out to prospects. This could sometimes lead to dilution or cross messaging. A thorough brand research informs the marketer whether the message sought to be conveyed is actually getting conveyed in exactly the same manner across all platforms.
4. When a new variant of an existing product, or a new product is sought to be launched, thorough research is imperative to understand the right messaging and promotional mix for this new entrant.
5. Finally, good brand research provides rich content for the right marketing content, which hundreds of internal brainstorming sessions can’t provide.
