The A to Z of B2P

A is for Audience

Every successful B2P brand starts with not only identifying the audience, but understanding them and how you can build a genuine connection with them.

Good old-fashioned people-to-people research is really valuable but is often overshadowed by SaaS products. AI tools can help you sift through large amounts of data and questionnaires are great for overall volume for things like satisfaction scoring (quantitative). However, in our experience, you get more output from talking to someone, as you can ask deeper questions (qualitative).

B is for Benefits

Benefits beat features every time. Don’t simply focus on what your product or service does. Focus on how it benefits your audience. People want benefits.

Here’s an example:

Features led copy: We have 20 years of experience in data and use AI to accelerate results

Benefits led copy: Ask anything, and our AI will answer

C is for Connection

Every ambitious brand should strive to create meaningful connections with its audience. The term ‘meaningful connections’ can sound a little fluffy, but don’t let that put you off – it’s these connections that will create long-term value.

So, how do you check you have a meaningful connection? It’s all about knowing your audience (both internal and external) in-depth and avoiding these common connection-breaking mistakes:

• Failing to understand your customers
• Not training employees for customer service
• Not practising active listening
• Under-communicating

D is for Digital-first

Today’s audience is digital-first. If your brand isn’t, it won’t just feel dated, it’ll feel prehistoric.

What do we mean by digital-first?

Creating a brand that can effortlessly work in on online space. This means UI guidance, motion principles and examples of digital activation within your brand guidelines.

E is for Emotion

Research consistently shows that our business decisions are driven by the heart and not the head, even if we don’t consciously recognise it. So, if you can develop a brand that understands and aligns with the needs of your audience, the better the chance of success.

You can help your business stand out by giving a memorable, positive experience and by having a novel brand. Our brains are wired to respond to novel stimuli and we naturally focus on how something looks and feels. Aesthetics play a big part in unconscious emotional triggers and determining whether you want something or not.

F is for Future-Proofing

No brand is completely future-proof, but adopting a Business to People approach will give your brand the best chance of being able to adapt to changes.

Our Business to People approach put people (your audience) at the heart, which ensures your brand appeals to them and triggers their buying-behaviour.

G is for Goals

Visualising the business in 3-5 years will enable you to work backwards and set some goals for the future (be that next week or next year). Business goals play a key role in any rebranding project – your brand needs to be designed for the future ‘you’ and for the business you want to become.

H is for Human

Out Business to People approach isn’t about making a brand ‘feel more human’. It’s all about understanding the audience and the business, and using that understanding to create a genuine human connection through design.

I is for Inspiration

Don’t simply turn to your competitors for inspiration. Instead, be sure to look outside of your sector (and your comfort zome) for insights and opportunities. The best brands understand you need to be different to stand out.

Look at at Domino’s pizza – not only have they stayed away from the expected and typical colour palette of red, white and green, but they turned to audience behaviours to inform some of their best design decisions. Knowing that 96% of Dominos pizzas are sold in pairs allowed them to bring their distinctive logo to life (and into the hands of their customers) across their pizza box packaging.

J is for Jaded

If you sense that your brand is feeling jaded, then there’s a strong chance your audience will think so too.

Seize the chance to rebrand before they begin to look elsewhere.

K is for KPIs (KPIs = key performance indicators)

How to judge ongoing success from your branding? By defining KPIs that count, you then ensure you’re checking against them. Here are some example KPI’s to measure brand success:

Set a brand awareness KPI

You can use social listening to track both mentions of your brand and the words associated with it. This allows you to understand both negative and positive sentiments and score yourself on brand awareness.

Understanding and setting a customer lifetime value

Branding helps ensure that you are developing brand fans (some call these tribes). Brand fans are your repeat customers – a loyal follower and avid purchaser.

Focus on measuring the total amount of money that a customer is expected to spend with your business over their entire relationship with you rather than just the one sale.

L is for Listening

Your audience are an invaluable resource. If you’re not listening to them you’re likely to miss opportunities — and challenges.

Here’s three quick ways to get a sense of what your audience (or potential audience) think of your brand:

Interviews

Face to face sessions with your audience should always ensure they are comfortable enough to give frank answers.

Social listening

There are many products and tools that can help track how your brand fits into online conversations. They allow you to compare your brand to competitors. From a branding perspective, social listening gives a good overview of other topics that your audience are discussing.

Customer surveys

A very quick way to get a snapshot of your audience’s views, opinions and expectations. Ensure you keep surveys short and allow space for respondents to add their own comments.

M is for Marketing

Marketing won’t work if you haven’t put a strong foundation in place. And that starts by having a well-considered, coherent brand.

A strong positioning and well-defined brand will prove invaluable when you start to market your product, service or expertise. It’ll ensure you know who you’re talking to, what they expect from you, and how you’re different to competitors.

N is for Narrative

We’re hard-wired to respond well to narratives and anecdotes. Ideas that are presented as stories more relatable, memorable and believable.

Building narrative into your brand isn’t about writing long essays, it simply means developing engaging ways to communicate your proposition.

O is for Opportunity

In order to unlock and maximise opportunities, you’ll need to understand where your brand sits in the market and in the mind of your audience. Where are your competitors positioned? What are their brands communicating to the audience? Where’s the space in the market that your brand should ‘own’?

Once you’ve identified where your brand should focus you can then define a clear, distinct positioning and brand strategy to ensure your marketing is on point.

P is for People

At the heart of every great brand is a focus on the people that make up its target audience.

An unwritten rule of design: if your messaging, imagery or CX feels too impersonal, people will find it harder to connect with your brand.

Q is for Questions

Here are 3 questions every brand must answer…

What makes you unique? Why should your audience care? And what problem do you solve for them?

R is for Results

You don’t need to know what exact return metric you want to see as a client. The agency can provide that. But you do need to direct the agency on where the pain points are. Here are some ideas of what to include in your brief:

We need to…

• Attract more ‘XYZ’ type of people
• Consolidate and reduce spend on brand execution by ‘XYZ’
• Be consistent everywhere our brand communicates
• Increase our reach and have a higher recall
• Attract the right talent to add to our team
• Stand out from our competitors
• Pivot our business and grow a community in ‘XYZ’

S is for Simplicity

Simplicity might not be simple to achieve, but complexity kills the connection.

Brands that succeed invariably do so because they connect quickly. They know how to deliver their key messages succinctly, and how to communicate their difference and value. They work hard to remove any barriers that make their messages appear complex. They understand where to add additional emphasis to make their ideas stick.

Simplicity begins with being absolutely clear what your brand is communicating.

T is for Trust

If you have a great brand it will build trust in your products, services, expertise and people. Build trust by doing these 3 key things behind the scenes:

Firstly, explain what you do – simply and clearly – in a language your target audience relates to and gets. Being clear builds trust.

Ensure that you sound, act and look like the quality expert you are. Expertise builds trust.

After a rebrand ensure all of your communications are singing off the same hymn sheet. Consistency builds trust.

U is for Understanding

A vital part of any brand building is truly understanding your audience and their needs. If you can, experience what it really is to be a customer (for example, be a secret shopper for the day). How does your brand make you feel and behave? Do you feel the same when you experience a competitor’s service?

Don’t shy away from having an independent party speak to your customers and staff either. People really open up when they talk to a stranger, which can give you very candid and honest feedback on where your brand can improve.

V is for Values

Many brands miss the point of values. If you don’t believe in them then you’re not using them properly. They are behaviours to live by, not a list of phrases that stay within a PDF document on your server.

Values should be used to:

• Help you sense check if a business decision is the right one
• Hire and and onboard people by, and fire if they are not aligned with them
• Show up within your customer service or front-of-house teams
• The leadership team should embody the brand values daily

Watch out…if you have generic and bland values, don’t expect your brand to behave any differently.

W is for Work Brain

The truth is we use the same brain whether we’re at work, home or the gym (or anywhere else for that matter). Our Business to People branding approach addresses this simple truth: there’s very little difference between our work brain and our out-of-office brain. So, treating B2B and B2C marketing differently is redundant.

Whether we’re at home or work, it’s a connection that counts.

X is for the eXperience in CX

But what is the role of the brand in CX? CX is all about giving a great experience.

Having the right brand will help you:

• Understand the person (customer) you are talking to
• Talk to them in a way that engages them
• Create a positive emotional experience for customers
• Ensure a consistent experience across all channels and interactions
• Foster a culture that prioritises customer needs
• Define a clear, shared vision to define what great looks like

In summary: a clearly defined brand will ensure a seamless, connected customer experience (CX) across every touchpoint.

Y is for Younger Audience

Is your brand ready to connect with tomorrow’s business audience?

There are many ways to start future-proofing your brand by understanding the next generation, the channels they frequent, the beliefs they share and their engagement levels.

Gen Z are already in the workforce and often spend more time researching before making a purchase decision. Ensuring a positive customer experience beyond your own brand presence is key. This could be via Glassdoor (if you’re looking to recruit), or via third-party review platforms such as Trustpilot if you are selling products or services to them.

Z is for Zig 

When everyone else zags, zig.

The human brain is wired to ‘wake up’ when it spots a disruptor in the routine of daily life.

Remember: copycat brands are unoriginal, uninspiring and don’t resonate with your audience. This makes the people you’re trying to reach stay asleep (zzzz…).