How to Build a Lasting B2B Brand

Having worked for several law and consulting firms that are often referred to as prestige brands, I've discovered there is no magic to building a strong brand, whether it's one of prestige, innovation or integrity. However, there are important lessons that can help you whether you aim to be Tiffany 💍 or Target. 🎯 💎1. Mission and Brain Brand Understanding your firm’s mission and how it differentiates itself is the first step. I call this the “brain brand.” Consensus on what you want the firm to stand for is essential. Without clarity and constant communications about your mission, even the most beautiful logo and storied history of deals won’t matter. 💎2. Excellent Work and Training At the heart of any strong brand is an excellent product and training. Hiring top talent and providing continuous mentorship and training are crucial. Prestigious firms invest in regular training to keep their lawyers updated on the latest developments, technologies, and best practices in innovation. This commitment not only enhances expertise but also demonstrates a dedication to professional growth and client service. 💎3. Strategic Marketing Decisions What you say "yes" 👍 to is as important as what you say "no" 👎 to. In the pursuit of prestige, discernment is critical. CMOs are constantly approached with sponsorship requests, and ad campaign and industry conference invitations. The most successful firms spend their money strategically. Quality of marketing activity always trumps quantity. Ensure all marketing and business development activities align with your core values and strengths. 💎4. Consistency in Public Relations A consistent and strategic approach to public relations and media interactions is essential. Craft a coherent narrative about your firm’s mission and values. Engage with the media and have frank and honest conversations, respond promptly to inquiries, and provide expert commentary on relevant issues. Being seen as a reliable and authoritative source enhances your brand and visibility. Never, ever lie to a reporter. It will come back to haunt you. 💎5. Visual Brand Professionalism First impressions matter. A prestigious brand requires a professional and consistent visual identity. This includes everything from your logo and website design to marketing materials and office environment. Avoid random acts of marketing—every visual element should reinforce the same high standards of professionalism and quality. (Say “no” to the partner that wants his “personal” PowerPoints to have a neon green background.) 💎6. Treatment of People How you treat people—clients, employees, and vendors—is crucial. Your firm’s reputation can be significantly impacted by the behavior of its partners and staff. As the saying goes, you are only as good as your worst-behaving partner. If a snarky partner does well with clients but mistreats staff, prestige gets sucked out of the window. #strategy #brand #mission Legal Marketing Association

I recently met with a business owner who spent an entire year working with an ad agency and walked away totally disappointed. 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐦: Clicks ≠ customers. Especially if you’re a B2B service company. The truth? Most B2B businesses don’t have an ads problem. They have a funnel problem. Here are 4 things you 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 need to level up your marketing: 1. 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐈𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐫. If you’re talking to everyone, you’re converting no one. Get laser-focused on who you’re trying to reach. Are you going up-market? Down-market? Make sure you're not “marketing” to the masses. 2. 𝐀 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭-𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦. Referrals don’t scale, unfortunately. You need consistent credibility. Think case studies, thought leadership, and outbound strategy that position you as the go-to. 3. 𝐀 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰-𝐮𝐩 𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. Nurture. Nurture. Nurture. Clicks are just the beginning. What happens after they land on your page or meet you at a conference? That’s where you can impact revenue. 4. 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭-𝐁𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 (𝐀𝐁𝐌). Done right, ABM lands you in the hands of the right person who can say "Yes" to your offer. It aligns your sales and marketing to create real relationships with the right accounts. 𝐏𝐫𝐨 𝐭𝐢𝐩: Use your brand as leverage, but only as you build an outreach system that nurtures your pipeline and primes it with account-based marketing (ABM). This is where a 𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫 can save you 365 days of wasted time and budget. The goal is to create strategies that stop the guessing and start executing to actually drive business results. When you're unclear on what you need, you end up paying for tactics that don’t move the needle. It was a tough lesson for that business owner, and I’m sharing it to help you avoid making the same mistake. #B2BMarketing #B2BSAAS #TechMarketing #FractionalCMO #ABM #GTMStrategy

Does your GTM need a mid-year makeover? New research in the "2025 B2B Benchmark Report" from LinkedIn for Marketing highlights 1) video and 2) creators as primary ways to build capital in the biggest currency in B2B, trust. "Marketers who lead with authenticity, invest in credibility, and deliver value through human-centered content are setting themselves apart and seeing the results," identifies Tequia Burt, Editor in Chief @ LinkedIn. "Because when buyers trust your message, they’re more likely to act on it. And when they trust your brand, they come back." Some eye-catching data was previewed in Tequia's article (check it out here: https://lnkd.in/gw3dPX53): For example, 55% of B2B marketers leverage influencer marketing and still partner with classic content creators, but now also select subject matter experts, practitioners, and other trusted industry voices. Why? "Trust is a competitive advantage,” explains Lee Moskowitz 🌈, host of Lee2B. "It's why brands exist," agrees Drew Neisser, CEO of CMO Huddles. He also explains why it's so elusive: "Most companies don’t have the patience and courage to build enduring trust." But is the ROI on "trust" there? Brand plays typically take longer to pay off, but now is the time to invest. The data reveals that companies using influencer marketing are more likely to expect budget increases next year (84% vs. 58% for non-users), suggesting that trust-focused strategies are also gaining leadership support. “Anyone can run an ad to an audience," explains Brendan Gahan, CEO and Co-Founder of Creator Authority, "but getting a positive review from a well-known thought leader in their niche is the best content you can run on social." It's because authenticity matters to balance the AI slop. (Love this term, Lee!) “In B2B, trust isn’t earned in a pitch, it’s built in moments,” Vasileios Mylonas 🤘, Founder & Chief Strategist of The Cool Lion, shares. And beyond the data proving video is the most effective format (it does), it's the HUMAN feeling those moments that matter, or trust-building opportunities, evoke: AJ Wilcox, founder of B2Linked | LinkedIn Ads Performance Agency, confirms, “I feel more trusting of a brand after watching a 1-min clip of their founder talking than if I read five of their blog posts.” What do you think? Are you integrating video, creators, or other trust-building activations into your GTM? Let me know in the comments. I also recommend the LinkedIn for Marketing blog for the latest in B2B marketing news: https://lnkd.in/gFja4maA

“B2B Marketing and the 95:5 Rule” - new cartoon and post: In 2021, Professor John Dawes of the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute introduced the 95:5 Rule, a simple but powerful concept that challenged conventional thinking in B2B marketing. In his research, John showed that up to 95% of buyers are not in the market in any one time (and perhaps won’t be for months or years). As he put it: “This is a deceptively simple fact, but it has a profound implication for advertising. It means that advertising mostly hits people who aren’t going to buy anytime soon. And in turn, that tells us about how advertising works: it mainly works by building and refreshing memory links to the brand. These memory links activate when buyers do come into the market. So, if your advertising is better at building brand-relevant memories, your brand becomes more competitive.” This runs counter to the short-term pitch approach taken by so much of B2B advertising — trying to drive immediate marketing leads. Marketers can’t push out-of-market buyers to buy now, and only 5% of buyers are currently in market. As Peter Weinberg and Jon Lombardo wrote about Dawes’ work when they led the B2B Institute: “Effective marketing increases future sales in future buying situations. How? By increasing the probability that the brand comes to mind when the buyer goes in-market. Simply put, the brand that gets remembered is the brand that gets bought. You can’t push buyers down a funnel, but you can, to quote Professor Jenni Romaniuk, ‘catch buyers as they fall’.” This framework also expands the remit on B2B marketing to be a heckuva lot more exciting than it is often perceived. It’s not just about features and benefits and driving qualified marketing leads. It’s about long-term brand building. I often think about a quote Eric Ryan shared when we worked together at Method: “There are no low-interest categories — only low-interest brands.” >>> Sign up for my weekly marketoon email newsletter (link in bio). #marketing #cartoon #marketoon Marketoonist