To many a brand is the logo on your business card and your web site but to others it’s the life blood of their organisation. Their reason for being, their soul, their purpose. How comes Apple has a qeue out sides it’s store on the release date of most of its products? I’m not aware of an Acer or HP store and queing for these brands tends to happen once prices get near the “HOT DEAL” section. There’s cheaper technology available, there’s perhaps more beautiful technology but Apple has ‘followers’ people that believe in it’s mission, it’s purpose – and it’s this that sets it apart from the competition.
Now I work with fairly small software companies who don’t have the sort of marketing budget of Apple. But they do have soul, they do have purpose and when they meet with prospects they’re very good at expressing their enthusiasm and expertise for their subject. But, for many, their reputation does not preceed them. It’s left to chance because it’s not that important.
I used to work as a Microsoft VAR as a salesman. I did plenty of cold calls during that time and I always go though because my opening line would be the same. “I need to talk to your CIO, It’s Jon from Microsoft UK”. Now cynics may think I just leveraged the might of a large corporation to flatter some CXO’s ego (which is partly true) but I was actually leveraging the brand perception that Microsoft has worked so hard to develop, and I think it’s some think Smaller IT solution company can learn from this.
Why is it so many smaller B2B IT firms invest so much in lead generation activities only to find their ROI fail? For me it’s because they just don’t invest in their core message. Why should anyone care who they are let alone what they do?
When you pose a management team with this question they’re normal response it to say ‘ it saves them money/ our service is better’ – really! doesn’t everyone? Why should I believe you? “‘cos we’ve done it for these people”. Sorry TOC and client testimonials just aren’t enough to convince your CXO to shift from legacy systems or processes. They need a real, believable reason to change behaviour. A bolt of lightening, a boot up the bum. This is where your brand comes in. If you can disrupt the market before you pick up the phone everyone will want to talk to you.
So before you dismiss branding as a waste of money. Think about your target markets challeneges, look at your market leaders, are they missing a trick? Is there an opportunity to get closer to the market by disrupting the market leader – thats what good branding can do. It can create a new market for you and you alone to own.
Take Huddle. Huddle took the idea of collaborative working and they owned it. They took it from Microsoft, SFDC and Oracle who should have been talking about it but they where too far removed from their customers they missed the opportunity.
If you are in a crowded market and want to created some space with your offer. Try looking at forum discussions, carry out a survey on social networks, get to grips with the key challeneges of your market and align your company against it. If your small you can’t afford to be a generalist. Be the specialist with a passion for what you do and be bold, express it to everyone that will listen. You’ll soon find your lead generation activity converting.
To find out more about the importance of branding for small B2B IT organisations I suggest taking 20 mins to take a look at this inspiring video. If you’d like some help defining your offer or working out how you can take it to market please get in touch and I can share some got to market and branding success stories.