Abstract
- We aim to be memorable. In B2B marketing, being memorable is key to building a Day One list of vendors.
- Fame increases trust. When fame and visibility come together, it increases trust and brand preference.
- Fame guides strategy. Ask if your marketing efforts will make your brand more famous in the market.
What do you end up with when you simplify everything you need to do in a B2B marketing strategy? Two words: Become famous.
The number one goal of your B2B marketing strategy: Be memorable.
In marketing, this is less about celebrity and more about being memorable. The main goal is to ensure buyers are considered first when shortlisting vendors. In the world of B2B marketing strategy, this doesn't happen often. Investing six-figure sums in software or changing accounting firms are highly disruptive and often high-risk. Therefore, it is the marketer's job to ensure that their company benefits when buyers consider making changes.
Related article: Master B2B marketing strategy in the digital age
Google rebrands AI chatbot to Gemini
Last month, Google rebranded its AI chatbot. You'd be forgiven if you didn't know he was previously called a bard. In any case, he is now called Gemini.
Why did Google do this? Well, I say generative AI chatbot, you would say…ChatGPT. And therein lies the problem. Google, an AI pioneer, was relegated to the bench as the perfectly timed launch of OpenAI quickly pushed AI into the mainstream.
Wired reported that Google conducted a blind test with users of Gemini and other major chatbots and found that its product was the “most preferred chatbot.”
This takes me back to the days when Pepsi regularly beat Coke in blind taste tests. We all know which brands continue to lead today.
Winning at Marketing: Be Not Just the Best, Be Memorable
The reality is, if you want to win at marketing, being the best at what you do isn't as important as being memorable. Today, having a great product or service is the price of admission. Social media and online reviews tend to kill the bad guys before they reach critical mass.
Google knows this very well. The fact that we're talking about searching for something on Google rather than Bing it shows the power of being the first brand that comes to mind for users. That's why Google pays billions of dollars every year to be the default search engine for various browsers.
Related article: Brand differentiation: What is B2B marketing?
90% of sales go to brands on Day One list
A survey (by Google and Bain & Company) of 1,208 employees of U.S. companies involved in purchasing software, cloud hosting, hardware, telecommunications, logistics, marketing, and industrial equipment found that 90% of sales A staggering percentage end up on the buyer's Day One list of vendors. By day one, we mean brands that buyers already know.
Day One lists include little to no research. These are likely to be the safest choice as they are already widely known and consist of vendors whose names come immediately from memory. As a species, we tend to think that things that are easy to recall are inherently more valuable than things that are difficult to recall (this is also known as the availability heuristic).
This is why marketers must do everything possible to become famous in their category, niche, sector, that is, to take advantage of the limited mental availability of buyers.
When potential buyers think about your category problem, they'll immediately think: Of course there is [your brand]is worth considering.
Related article: Quality over quantity: Why personalized marketing strategies are the future
How to become famous
Assuming you already offer a top-quality product or service, how do you become famous?
The cruel reality is that it probably doesn't matter all that much what you're known for, as long as you're generally positive.
There are many ways to become famous in your category.
- Become known for the way you treat your customers.
- Become known for your perspective on the industry.
- Become famous for people you don't work with.
- Become famous for that quirky character you use in all your communications.
- He became famous for choosing orange in a sea of navy blue.
- Become famous for the way you speak.
- It becomes famous for using hand-drawn illustrations instead of tired stock photos or obviously AI-generated images.
- Become famous for being emotional when others are robotically rational.
- He became famous for his simple speaking style, which was dominated by industry jargon.
The list goes on.
Related article: 4 marketing strategies to survive the consumer recession
Fame and visibility: a winning combo in marketing
But is it enough to simply be well-known and famous?
Marketers who work in risk-averse industries such as insurance or certain professional services will know that convincing upper management to go against policy can be more like pulling teeth. Many CEOs have said to their heads of marketing: “Why would we want to stand out when we can blend in and be seen as a safe pair?”
A 2023 study by Newsworks suggests that fame and visibility can work together to increase trust. It connects the concept of brand prestige with social proof, the concept that a brand is tested if it is seen as valued by others. It states that prestige works in parallel with familiarity, which accumulates over time, and helps give brands confidence and increases buyer trust.
Fame strategy also makes determining your B2B marketing strategy much easier. For what you are trying to do, you can ask: Will this make us more famous in the market?
If not, think twice about whether you need to do it in the first place.
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