Will B2B Services Firms Break
Out of a Branding Rut?
Joe Walsh
It used to be that B2B and professional services firms invested
in pioneering brand efforts to earn awareness and stand
out. When the recession took hold, we began to see reduced
brand activity and sameness. Once creative and compelling,
service brands (via websites, advertising and more) seem
less visible—both quality and quantity of branding efforts
appeared to suffer.
Conventional wisdom suggests that in times of recession it’s
better to tighten the belt and cut marketing and branding
expenditures to focus on sales. But the recession was such
a constant in the economy that the short run brand-building
cuts became a long term operating practice. The result, the
post recession state of professional service branding is like
(look, feel and voice) unique? Do they consider the brand to
be innovative?
The results are striking:
• Only 20% feel their brands are extremely innovative
• 69% say the same about their visual brand identity or
expression.
Marginal uniqueness seems to be the resting point for firms
around the world. Yet 95% of CMOs and 92% of CEOs/
Managing Partners believe their brand is moderately or
extremely important to success. The fact that only 21% believe
their brands are well or perfectly understood by prospects
should be a blazing red flag that they
could be replaced by the firm down the
street—and it’s likely nobody would
notice.
There is hope on the vast “Plain of
Same.” Our survey revealed that 69%
of respondents plan to update their
brand within the next 3 years. Weigh
that against another response: 82%
said they never or rarely refresh their
brands. This indicates that the “rare”
time is upon us, and we hope that when
the focus turns to the brand there is a
true emphasis on differentiation.
Professional services firms that do revisit
their brands are choosing the right time
to leap off the page, as our research
indicates an imminent branding boom.
It will be far easier to stand out on
the “Plain of Same” by leading the
pack than it will be to follow. Indeed,
everyone agrees that innovative brands
grab attention, and that viewpoint
should translate into action during t