Branding: It’s Not Just A B2C Thing, It’s An Everything Thing

“This is exactly as the future of marketing will play out … where the path to purchase begins and happens. I’m really passionate about this change … this going back to the past to have a better future …”

I love to watch and listen to brilliant marketing minds, such as SparkToro’s Rand Fishkin (whom I paraphrase above for his keen understanding of audience insights and evolving marketing approaches), Simon Sinek (for his “Start with Why” philosophy and deep connection to branding and purpose), Brian Solis (for his focus on digital transformation, customer experience, technology, and change), and the late Steve Jobs (the master storyteller with brand as hero). They inspire me, as do so many others.

I’m one of the lucky ones who started my career immediately by doing what I always wanted: marketing. That meant being recruited from business school to begin my career as an assistant product manager at a consumer-packaged goods company in Cincinnati. I was part of the Drano (Clog Removers and Cleaners) team. To this day, I can speak with authority about the differences between a grease clog and a hair clog and the best method to remove either.

During my packaged goods years, I was taught all the disciplines relevant to marketing a successful product: advertising, promotion, packaging, market research, sales, public relations, merchandising, and the mother of all disciplines: the brand.

I’ve been privileged to work on many consumer brands, including those stored under a kitchen sink and those housed in a medicine cabinet above a bathroom vanity, scents sprayed in the air, and those you applied to pulse points on the body. I’ve been part of corporate marketing and communications teams for upscale home furnishings, luxury cars, and short-haul trucks. And yes, I’ve worked across categories of professional services, including law, accounting, and consulting.

For all those products and services, both consumer and corporate, the brand, that mother of all disciplines, really mattered. Ultimately, it was the brand and the soul of that brand where it all began. Yet somehow, in the B2B universe, without strong stewardship, it often gets muddled and misunderstood.

A brand's core is its emotional essence—the image conjured in someone’s head when they see a logo or hear a product or company name. The emotional essence forms the bond between the buyer and the seller, regardless of the type of product or service offered. Tied to the emotional essence is the rational brand positioning, or the specific benefits and differentiating features that set a brand apart from the competition, promise value, and deliver on those promises. To be a successful brand, you need proficiency in both.

So much of what we buy today is overshadowed by a sameness factor. This is not something new. Back in the 60s and 70s, crewneck Shetland sweaters were the rage, and even though they differed based on fabric, fabrication, color, and price, from afar, they all seemed to be the same. But they were not. You felt the (physical) difference when you touched them and the (emotional) difference when you wore them. Back in the day, I worked on Woolite (Fine Fabric Wash), which gently pampered those sweaters so you looked better in them. Branding. All of it. We spent heavily on advertising and PR to deliver the emotion and promise, with the marketing team charged with providing products that matched the promised benefits.

In B2B, the intangible, not physical, touchpoints connected to the services provided to the clients of law, accounting, finance, or consulting firms help distinguish each. However, the customer experience makes their differentiation even more apparent. While packaged goods have traditionally relied on advertising and promotion to deliver their promise, professional services firms must rely on their people, those who are client-facing, to do this. They prove their promise by providing services that match the firm’s brand. And they must be trained and committed to doing so.

Beyond the visual design, messaging, and marketing (both digital and traditional), the most recognizable professional services brands are delivered by the people within the firms themselves. Those selling and providing services best communicate brand values, vision, and mission and do so with immediacy, day in and day out. In the end, in professional services, people deliver both the emotional and rational components.

Professional services firms may poo poo branding as a professional discipline. However, those same firms often create the most impressive brands, particularly when their culture encourages their teams to be on board, open to training, and with conviction in and about the firm they represent.

Is focusing on the brand going backward? Or is focusing on the brand the only way to go to the future?