Creating B2B brand awareness is a critical step that impacts your entire revenue generation program. You might wonder at first why brand awareness matters with B2B. Isn’t it more important in the B2C world?
It’s important not to confuse “B2B” and “corporation”. There are no faceless entities here. Though most B2B buying decisions go through a buying committee, you are still dealing with people.
In order to create B2B brand awareness campaigns, it is important to follow the five stages of B2B brand awareness. Using this framework ensures you hit the right audiences at the right time with the right messaging.
Now let’s talk about those five stages so you can start incorporating them into your marketing strategy.
Getting prospects to transform from knowing nothing about you to knowing everything about your brand is where you want to get to with your B2B brand awareness campaigns. Those who become “most aware” of your brand are called your brand ambassadors.
Brand ambassadors are the voice of your brand. Due to their deep involvement, they are in a position to speak on your behalf. They’re typically strong influencers and aren’t afraid to tell others about why they trust in what you do.
These people can help your brand achieve its goals by building relationships with customers, asking for referrals, providing feedback, and even creating user-generated content. The key to having a successful brand ambassador is the ability to accurately identify who has reached this category and then finding ways to make those in-person connections that build trust. For this, a partnership manager or customer marketing manager is an excellent resource.
Building brand ambassadors take time and resources. After all, it is the end goal. The best way to get more brand ambassadors is to focus on building a community. Over time, the most engaged in the community naturally rise to become brand ambassadors. You can then work on further enabling them in the broader community.
People at this stage know they have the problem that you help solve. They also know that you exist. Your marketing campaigns brought them into your “world”.
These people are on your email list and get your follow-up messages. Or, they’re paying attention to you on social media.
They might have active buying intent or are considering your competitors. It is important that you really stand out by marketing unique propositions. Limited time offers or increased incentives work well for product aware audiences helping them take the next step. If they are not ready to buy, you need to continue with your nurturing program.
Anyone sitting at this stage doesn’t think they need any solutions because they’re not aware that a problem exists.
The seasoned demand generation experts start marketing at this stage. It’s so early in the game that none of the competitors are pursuing – that means it’s the perfect opportunity! A unified demand creation and demand capture strategy is the best way to convert unaware audiences. Your entire team needs to align to make this happen.
Now that you know the five stages of awareness, it’s time to find out where your B2B brand awareness tactics and campaigns require adjustments.
Ask yourself where you’re missing the mark in getting unaware prospects to take notice of your brand. Where are improvements necessary to more effectively get problem-aware and solution-aware prospects to see your brand as the top solution to their problems?
If you do your job right, then you can pick up new prospects through every stage and end up with brand ambassadors who bring you more customers for free.
I’m a seasoned Digital Marketing Consultant with over 11,700 hours of hands-on platform experience. Let’s discuss how I can help you unlock the full potential of your digital marketing.
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