Brand strategy fundamentals
How you define a brand. Another fundamental to establish is a brand’s definition. At IAS it is: ‘The sum of company contact formulated by the receiver.’ Or to put it another way… The beauty of a brand is in the eye of the beholder – wherever they come into contact with it. Think of brands like people: defined by their actions not by their self-image.
Taking this view makes it easier develop your brand around the people that count, your market. It enables you to think about every action of your brand and how it will affect market perceptions. From the functionality of your website to the way people answer the phone – an effective contact strategy should take it all into account.
Why B2B brands are special
It all comes down to the purchasing decisions and the stakeholders in those decisions. B2B products and services aren’t bought to fulfil consumer wants or whims. They’re bought to keep a business successful. So there’s often a lot at stake relative to B2C. The more there is at stake, the more stakeholders there are in a purchase (including third parties e.g. industry regulators). Those stakeholders create a web of influence. Successful B2B brands build relationships with everyone in that web to sway the influence in their favour. IAS is expert in identifying and building dialogue with the full web of influence that surrounds purchasing decisions. See research, channel planning and contact strategy for more on achieving this.
How you measure brand success
Brand strategy is built around your business strategy, your opportunities for increasing market share. And that’s where we ask it to be judged – on retention of existing customers and attraction of new ones. See Brand Asset Management (BAM) for how we work with you.