Alex Luff, managing director at brand consultancy, Corporate Edge, explains why the terms B2B and B2C are becoming outdated.
Creating a personalised business approach
A company’s brand is often the most valuable thing it has. The brand communicates and defines what the company stands for; it’s values and vision. The brand ideally should resonate with several different audiences, both internal and external. In a typical organisation this will include customers, staff and stakeholders. The old-fashion silos of business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) are now outdated – brands need to be communicating with people. We call this business-to-people (B2P).
This cannot be achieved simply by slapping a company’s logo on products, services and the company website. Companies must build a reputation for themselves by business-to-people communications across all internal and external channels. While marketing can act as a tool to communicate an organisation’s value, the real challenge lies in aligning people with the brand identity.
Leading with the brand
Back in summer 2007, Lord Coe and the Olympic committee revealed the London 2012 Olympic logo. During the unveiling, Coe said: “It’s not a logo, it’s a brand that will take us forward for the next five years.” This statement by Coe expresses how much more the brand is than just a logo. It is going to drive forward the entire communications for the organisation. Four years on, this brand has continued to be at the forefront of the ticket sales, media coverage, advertising and interviews. As a result, the London 2012 brand is gaining a huge amount of momentum and excitement with less than a year to go until next summer’s events.
Going social
There has been an explosion in social interactions across the web over the past few years. Increasingly, companies are adopting digital social channels for listening and distributing content to key audiences. Truly successful digital brands will forget the silos that exist between different communication channels and engage with people directly through a number of digital and social platforms. This could be through launching an annual report, running a webinar or developing a ‘best practice’ series over email, social media, TV, YouTube and of course in person.
Places like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube not only present an opportunity for content distribution, but also allow brands to develop a likable and honest personality that captures people’s attention. Today’s marketers need to take corporate communications further and concentrate on revealing a brand’s genuine identity across a multitude of platforms and channels.
Adopting a business-to-people approach will allow your company to run innovative communications campaigns across exciting platforms, all the while keeping the brand at the centre of the company’s vision, values and activity.
By Alex Luff
Managing director
Corporate Edge
http://corporateedge.com/
