Making the Connection: 3 Key B2B Communication Principles

Making your brand easily and instantly recognizable is an important goal for every business. This is especially true for B2B brands where complex offerings can sometimes pose a challenge. No matter what product, service or value proposition you’re selling, recognition drives response.

But coming up with a catchy tagline or the perfect logo – though those elements are important – just isn’t enough. Recognition alone won’t build your brand. You need to create a lasting, meaningful connection with your customers. When it comes to these relationships, how your brand speaks to potential customers often carries the day. And while every audience is different, there are a few ways to make sure the conversations you’re having with your customers are more memorable, recognizable and relatable in the future.

Limit jargon & insider speak

It’s easy to fall into the trap of presenting your brand in the language you understand. In fact, it’s natural. The closer you are to your business and the more intimate you are with your brand, the more likely it is that you’ll sometimes forget your audience isn’t necessarily speaking the same language. This is especially true for B2B brands that need to communicate sometimes complicated technical advantages over the span of an extended sales cycle. But whatever you’re selling and however long your buyers’ journey may be, limiting insider speak (jargon, acronyms, etc.) helps your audience quickly understand what you’re offering, and why they should keep listening.

There is no quicker way to lose a customer’s interest than to present them with a series of acronyms that are never explained, or jargon that disrupts a selling point’s flow. In short: If there is a more straightforward way of explaining something that people both inside and outside of the industry would understand, it’s a safe bet to go that route.

Remember: Nobody has time

You and your audience have one very important thing in common: You have no time to waste. Your business is, most likely, one of many options potential customers are investigating – and the faster you’re able to present them with the information they need, the more likely they are to keep you at the top of the list.

Clarity is the key to speed. The harder it is for customers to understand what you’re offering, the harder it is to convince them to learn more or move closer to a purchase in their buyer journey.

By providing not only easy-to-understand information but also multiple ways of consuming that information (infographics, videos, etc.), you’ll satisfy your customers’ need to gain knowledge quickly and easily.

At the end of the day, B2B marketing is a conversation between people. Talking to a title, role or demographic without understanding the basic human motivations we all share is a surefire way to miss a connection with your customers.

Ask the right questions before answering with solutions

As a B2B marketer, you need to go beyond the hard sell and act as an advocate for potential customers. When creating marketing material, consider the questions your customers have posed in the past, and do your best answer those questions for your prospects. Then dig deeper. Ask yourself what questions haven’t been answered in the market. This can be tricky, particularly if you’re deep in the business of whatever you’re selling – but looking at all material before it goes out the door and figuring out what questions still exist is a great way to make a stronger, more memorable connection.

Of course, not every piece of material you create about your brand must explain every detail of every offer, but it should at the very least answer more questions than it raises in your audience’s mind.

If nothing else, remember this: Your approach to B2B marketing and advertising is an essential building block to how people understand your brand. Whether you’re constructing a simple web ad or a longer, involved process document, the narrative you create is part of an overall brand experience. Each and every story you tell is affecting how you are seen and understood – use the opportunity wisely!