A well-constructed B2B brand strategy isn’t just about logos and color palettes—it’s about defining what your brand stands for, who you serve, and how you communicate that value consistently across all customer touchpoints. Here are steps to get you started.
1. Define Your Brand Promise and Incomparable Advantage
The first step in building a strong B2B brand strategy is defining your brand promise—what your business guarantees to deliver every time—and your incomparable advantage—what sets you apart from the competition.
“Your incomparable advantage is the thing that you do better than anyone else in your market that matters to your customers. If you’re not serving an urgent and expensive need, if you’re not solving that kind of problem for your customer base, you have a very strong problem with either your product-market fit or your problem-solution fit that you need to resolve before you try to build a brand around it.” – Daisy McCarty, Blender CMO
Your brand strategy should be rooted in what makes you indispensable to your target audience. Without this, no amount of marketing can create a sustainable competitive edge.
Action Step:
- Clearly articulate your brand promise in one or two sentences.
- Identify your incomparable advantage by asking: What do we do that no one else can replicate? Why does this matter to our customers?
2. Understand the Difference Between B2B Brand Strategy and Tactics
One of the biggest misconceptions in B2B branding is confusing brand strategy with marketing tactics. Many companies rush into execution without a strategy, leading to scattered efforts that fail to build long-term brand value.
“Branding is not your marketing plan. That is about distribution and reaching your target market. However, branding increases profit, it increases valuation, and it greases the wheels for you to scale in the future—if you have a brand strategy in place.” – Dacia Coffey, Blender CEO
Action Step:
- Take a step back before launching campaigns. Ensure you have a strategic foundation that outlines:
- Who your ideal customers are
- What message resonates with them
- What channels are best for reaching them
3. Start with Your Brand Purpose
A successful B2B brand strategy is built around a clear purpose. As noted in the podcast, companies that succeed in branding are those that understand why they exist beyond just making money.
“For most organizations, they know they’re in it for more than just making money. There is something that they care about, and there’s some kind of impact that they want to make. They may not be able to articulate it, but once they can, that’s when they have inexhaustible energy to pursue that.” – Daisy McCarty, Blender CMO
When your brand has a defined purpose, it becomes easier to align your team, customers, and stakeholders around a shared vision.
Action Step:
- Define your brand purpose by answering: What impact do we want to make in our industry? What do we fight for? What do we fight against?
- Make sure this purpose is authentic and easy for employees and customers to rally behind.
Watch our full episode on B2B Brand Strategy on The Marketing Blender Show:
4. Identify and Prioritize Your Best Customers
Your brand should not try to appeal to everyone. Instead, focus on your highest-value customers.
“You never have a hundred different personas, each one making up 1% of your revenue. It’s always a very small number of personas that drive the majority of your revenue, and your brand needs to be targeted at appealing to them.” – Daisy McCarty, Blender CMO
Action Step:
- Identify your best customers—the ones that bring the most revenue, are easiest to work with, and see the most value from your solution.
- Build detailed buyer personas based on these ideal customers.
5. Differentiate Your Brand Through Market Positioning
Positioning is one of the most critical aspects of a strong brand strategy. Your brand must stand out in a crowded market while clearly communicating your unique value.
There are three strong positioning strategies (as noted in the awesome book “Positioning” by Al Ries and Jack Trout):
- Be the first: Own a category before others do. Xerox and Kleenex are good examples
- Be a strong alternative: Position your brand by offering the opposite of your competitors (e.g., 7-Up has positioned itself as the “Un-Cola”).
- Reposition competitors as less favorable: Highlight what competitors lack and position yourself as the superior choice.
Action Step:
- Determine how your brand is perceived in the market.
- Identify a positioning strategy that differentiates you without imitating competitors.
6. Develop a Consistent Brand Experience Across All Stakeholders
Your brand is not just for customers—it should also resonate with employees, partners, and investors. A strong brand strategy ensures that every interaction with your brand, whether internal or external, is consistent and compelling.
“Your brand should be founded on something so solid that it would inform merger and acquisition strategy. It obviously informs customer strategy, but it also informs culture, talent attraction, and the employee experience strategy.” – Daisy McCarty, Blender CMO
Action Step:
- Develop brand guidelines to ensure consistency across all platforms.
- Align internal culture with your external brand message to create authentic brand advocacy.
7. Use Brand Archetypes to Define Your Brand Voice and Scale Your Message
Brand archetypes—universal personality traits associated with brands—can help scale brand messaging effectively.
“Brand archetypes can really crystallize that voice and the brand experience you engage the market with. If you accurately capture the type of character your brand plays in the hearts and minds of your customers, it becomes easier to scale because it’s so intuitive and easy to interpret.” – Dacia Coffey, Blender CEO
Action Step:
- Identify the brand archetype that aligns with your mission (e.g., Hero, Sage, Explorer).
- Document clear brand voice guidelines so your message remains consistent across content, ads, and sales conversations.
8. Document Your Brand Strategy for Long-Term Success
Finally, documentation is key to maintaining a strong brand over time. Without a clearly documented brand strategy, teams can drift off course, leading to inconsistencies.
“Documentation is so critical because you don’t want an accidental decision to destroy your brand equity. Your team needs to be very clear: ‘This is who we are. This is how we act.’ ” – Dacia Coffey, Blender CEO
Action Step:
- Create a Brand Playbook that includes:
- Your brand promise and value proposition
- Buyer personas
- Key messaging and positioning
- Brand voice and visual identity guidelines
Final Thoughts: B2B Branding is About Controlling Perception
“Branding is about being in control of the emotional component of branding. It’s making you so much more memorable and magnetic. And when done intentionally, it stacks the deck in your favor.” – Dacia Coffey, Blender CEO
A strong B2B brand strategy isn’t just about marketing—it’s about owning how your company is perceived. When done right, your brand builds credibility, trust, and loyalty—shortening sales cycles, increasing conversions, and making your marketing far more effective.
To learn more about building a successful B2B brand, contact us to schedule an initial consultation.
