B2B Brand Positioning Guide – The 4 Steps for Creating an Industry Leader Brand Online

Most B2B service providers still think that brand building is only important for consumer brands – which is a huge mistake.

B2B brand positioning and brand building is the ultimate key to getting more clients, charging higher prices and increasing customer loyalty and customer lifetime value.

Building a B2B brand is a longterm procedure that involves many factors such as advertising and of course, most importantly, providing an amazing service or product. There is one vital requirement that every strong brand needs to have – and that is a clear and sharp brand positioning. 

People need to know what your brand stands for and what it does not stand for. 

No matter if your brand is new or has been on the market for decades – questioning and crafting your positioning is always important.

In this brief guide you’ll learn the 4 simple steps of creating a B2B brand positioning.

Let’s get started…

What Is B2B Brand Positioning?

B2B brand positioning means the process of deciding which values your brand stands for and which it doesn’t. A brand is always affiliated with feelings, emotions and sympathy. A brand that feels like it shares your values is far more likely to succeed compared to a brand that just feels unrelatable. 

A classic brand building example are car manufacturers. Cars are a very emotion-driven product and manufacturers leverage positioning to attract and retain customers. There are sporty brands, luxurious brands, modern brands – attracting different groups of buyers. While you personally may not like some car brands, there will certainly be people out there who absolutely love them.

The same applies to all B2B brands. Some of them position themselves without really thinking about it – leaving potential on the table.

Only if you know how and what you communicate, you can proactively work on it and attract your ideal clients. 

Start working on your positioning today – and get an edge over your competitors!

Why Is B2B Brand Positioning Important?

Brand positioning can be a game-changer for any B2B business.

Strong and unique brands can charge higher prices because they are not easily comparable. People are attracted to them in a natural way.

By clearly taking a stand and showing which values you follow, you will be remembered by new clients as well as existing ones. Brands that don’t have a clear positioning will be very hard to remember. 

The biggest trade is to accept that you can not attract everyone. 

For example, you can’t attract both clients from a classic corporate environment and sweatshirt wearing startup people at the same time. Trying to be friends with everyone never worked.

It’s all about the decision who you want to attract and then positioning yourself according to it. Have you ever heard about the “law of attraction”? It states that you attract the people you appeal to with your positioning. And it works wonders…

What Does Brand Positioning Have to Do with Traffic, Reach and Sales?

If you want to increase your brand awareness, grow your visibility online and sell more of your B2B services, you will benefit from a strong brand. Your offers won’t really resonate with your customer’s expectations until you both agree on the values you represent. Do you and your clients both wear a suit and tie? Or do you both wear a hoodie? It might sound ridiculous… But it really matters!

Sympathy matters. Being perceived as an expert who understands the client matters. Agreeing on a similar world-view matters! 

And the effects are even stronger than you could imagine – because of the many synergy effects that come with it. A client who experienced your company as a business that is relatable, shares the same value and the same world-view will be easily memorized and maybe also recommended to colleagues or fellow business owners. People like to stay within communities and groups of interest.

As an effect, you will not only have it easier to close sales, but your entire business and website’s traffic and visibility will grow. It’s one of the most important growth factors and highly underrated.

Pro Tip: Check Out Your Top Competitors

One great way to get a feeling on how strong B2B businesses leverage brand building is doing a competitors research. Check out the most successful providers in your industry or use Google search to identify the industry leaders. They usually have a strong community of loyal fans around them.

Reverse Engineering - Define Your Ideal Client Persona and Go From There

The easiest and most rational approach to brand positioning is “reverse engineering”. That means defining your ideal customer, creating a persona so you can visualize it more easily and then building your positioning around that.

Let’s start off with creating a client persona:

We recommend actually taking a pen and paper and thinking about what your best clients are like, the ones that are easy to work with and earn you the most money.

  • Who are they? What interests do they have?
  • What keeps them up at night?
  • What are their dreams and desires?
  • Which kind of people to they surround themselves with?
  • How do they dress? Formal or informal?
  • What do they expect from a business like yours?

Give them a name. Take your time and write down some notes until you exactly know who you’re talking to. If you’ve got a team of colleagues or employees who are in touch with clients too, integrate them into this process.

Now that you know who you are talking to, you can go from there and create your positioning that attracts your ideal client – and automatically rejects or disqualifies people who are not within your audience.

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How to Create a Brand Positioning Strategy for Your B2B Business - 4 Steps

After creating your positioning by developing your brand communication strategy around what your ideal clients like, it’s time to proactively get it to use.

We boiled down the most important measures to 4 steps only.

1. Create Brand Positioning Through Differentiation – Attracting Your Client Persona

As described before, your brand should be created around the clients you want to attract as a B2B business. 

Try to constantly ask yourself if what you are doing is aligned with your clients’ expectations. If you’re about to offer services to law firms, you better analyze who these people are, how they dress and what they like. Otherwise you will have a really hard time getting in touch with new clients, because they want to feel you understand them.

When building your website and starting your B2B Content Marketing Strategy, you should use the sort of language and tone they like and that they are used to. If you’re creating an “About” page for your website, you should present yourself in a way that law firms are used to and attracted by.

Attention: Don't Exaggregate & Try Too Hard!

Our advice of mirroring your ideal client and becoming a bit more like them doesn't mean you should artificially "fake" something or someone you are not. If you can't imagine wearing a suit and tie at all, don't do it. Wear a shirt and you'll be fine. It's all about being a little bit more like your clients, not exactly like them

2. Use The “About” Page On Your Website to Communicate Both Your Mission And Values

When creating a B2B website, there are certain elements that you should focus on. The two most important elements are the “Services” pages, describing what you actually offer – and the “About” page, showcasing you, the people behind the company and why someone should work with you!

The “About” page is highly underrated. Statistically, learning more about the people behind the company is one of the most important infos people are seeking.

Your “About” page should contain the following elements:

  • Your Business Story – Why does your business even exist? A classic story that always makes sense is describing how the founders recognized there is a problem in the market that there is no good solution for.
  • Your Mission & Values – Your mission & values are simply communicated within the solution that you found or created for the problem that existed. If the problem is that there was no proper bookkeeping software for small business owners on the market, then it’s obviously your mission to change that by providing a better solution, using the skills or network you have.
  • Your USPs or Benefits – The end of your “About” story should always be the reason why people should chose you and your business over anyone else. Your unique selling proposition can be any reason you want, for example your 15 years of experience in this field or your solution that you claim is simply better than anyone else’s.
  • Your Personal Introduction – The last part that your “About” page should contain is your personal introduction. Ideally, show a picture of yourself and your colleagues and quickly describe what makes them especially good at solving their clients’ problems. Skip the part of their hobbies and what food they enjoy.

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3. Content Marketing Is The Ultimate Key For B2B Brand Positioning and Brand Bulding

Content marketing is the most effective way to show your target audience what you are capable of and who you are. It’s a way to prove you are a topic leader and an authority in the market.

Through collaborations with industry experts, online magazines, or even via Youtube or podcast, you can get noticed by your audience. 

If you create content that your readers get real value from, they will share it with other people and you will be able to increase your online reach exponentially. All businesses claim they provide value – but creating valuable guides for your website’s blog means actually showing proof about your knowledge and your ability to provide it. We created this comprehensive B2B Content Marketing & SEO guide for you.

Note: Topic Leaders Are Industry Leaders

As a client who doesn't know your industry and who doesn't know who's actually more established or doing more revenue, the first impression counts. Ranking up high on Google, showcasing valuable insights and guides around the topics that are relevant for your clients is the best way to being perceived as an expert, an authority and an industry leader.

4. Stay Authentic and Focused – Show that You Are a Specialist in Your Field & Stick to Your Values

Don’t chase every new trend but always follow your mission. This way, your brand will grow in value over time. Many businesses underestimate how long it took for their older competitors to build the reputation and positioning they have. Just like Google values older, proven website domains, the market values businesses with decades of experience and market presence. 

Brand building measures such as content marketing or simply providing good services compound over time. If you continue to follow your positioning strictly over a long period of time, you will succeed building an unshakeable brand. 

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Conclusion - Get Started Now Building Your B2B Industry Leader Brand

The most successful B2B businesses leverage brand building and craft their unique positioning. You can do it too and it doesn’t even have to be as complicated as you might have thought.

Creating a great B2B website that helps your clients understand your unique positioning as well as producing valuable guides build the foundation of your digital brand building strategy. Many businesses fail at leveraging these opportunities!

Focusing on the basics and following a clear path will get you real results that can eventually lead to sustainable growth for your business.

We’d love to learn more about you and your business. From strategy creation and consulting to website optimization and content creation – we’ve got you covered. Schedule a call with our experts or use the contact form to get started!

Toby Fischer, MBA

Toby Fischer, MBA

We help B2B companies sustainably build a brand and increase their sales through content marketing & SEO. Benefit from our proven methods that we successfully use to grow our own as well as our clients websites. Book your free strategy session now to find out how we can help you grow!

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