5 big brand awareness myths, busted

You know what I love most in a client? A challenging brief? Ambitious ideas? A chunky budget? Actually, no. It’s low expectations. 

If someone comes in demanding that their campaign goes viral in the first week, I know they’re going to be pretty hard to please. 

But someone who thinks B2B brand building cowers under B2C? 

Oh buddy do I love when the bar is that low. 

Brand building in B2B is extra fun because expectations tend to be low. That also means standing out is often easier than you’d think, and disproportionately impactful for campaign success, customer loyalty and, critically, revenue. (So much so that we wrote a whole call-to-arms manifesto about it).

So why don’t more B2B companies go big on brand? I don’t have a grand unifying theory on that (yet). 

But I do have a list of objections I hear all the time that I want to call shenanigans on.

I often see talented B2B marketers unconsciously stifling their own ambition because of misconceptions about brand building that simply aren’t true (or at least, don’t have to be if you’re willing to challenge them). 

I’ve called them myths here not only because they’re false, but also because they function a bit like marketing folklore; stories we tell ourselves to explain a world that’s hard to understand.

This post is as much about correcting falsehoods as it is about laying the groundwork for some new stories in marketing — about why B2B needs to change its relationship to brand awareness, and why the companies that do win so big.

Ready? Then let’s make like Adam Savage and bust the shit out of some myths.

Myth 1: Building a B2B brand is harder than building a consumer brand 

Fact: Building any brand is hard. It’s the classic trifecta of Offer + Creative + Media. If you don’t nail all three, your brand won’t take off. 

Do you have good product market fit and a killer USP? Competitive pricing? Do you make people stop and pay attention with some great tone of voice and engaging design? Did you put yourselves in the path of your best buyers, wherever that might be? 

B2B and B2C have important differences. But these are universal advertising principles for brand building. They’re agnostic to whether you’re selling software or shampoo. Building a brand is hard whatever side of the aisle you’re on — but it’s worth it several times over. 

Myth 2: B2B budgets aren’t the same as B2C budgets 

Fact: Budgets are based on how much a company values awareness and, ultimately, marketing’s contribution to revenue. If a company has never invested a proper proportion of budget in brand building activities and only focused on lead gen, the first month will likely look like poor ROI in terms of cold, hard sales figures. 

But if you’re looking at holistic measures—uplifted traffic to the site, engagement on social media, views and downloads of content, etc.—you should see the investment pay off. 

In fact, you plan to see your brand investments pay-off. Creating specific links between brand activities and desired actions is a big part of what our Big, Beautiful B2B Blueprint aims to achieve. Get your copy here (no email address required).

Myth 3: Awareness doesn’t work when B2B buying cycles are long and buying committees are complex

Fact: We’ve all heard the stat that 95% of our potential buyers aren’t ready to buy from us. Udi Ledergor of Gong spoke about it here, and we’ve talked about how you build a strategy to build engagement from the 95% while engaging the 5% in posts like this. 

It’s specifically because buying cycles are so long that brand plays the biggest role in influencing the buying decision. The technical whitepaper you’ve created to demonstrate use cases and compatibility with your audience’s needs is great if they’re deep in comparison mode. The feature-packed data sheet is helpful if they have their spec in hand and need to double check viability with their existing tech. 

But brand plays reach people that aren’t looking at functionality (and might not even be in-market at all). It’s a long game that’s hard to measure — right up until someone does eventually need that whitepaper and data sheet, at which point they see your branding and go: “Oh, I know these guys.” 

Myth 4: B2B marketing should stick to traditional channels and tactics 

Fact: Does the world really need another eBook? Is your audience even reading that eBook? Isn’t it time to meet them where they actually are? (Hint, it’s not lurking at 2am on your gated form). 

Tactics like OOH can be surprisingly successful, even when you’re selling software. We’ve had a few clients recently get great brand leverage out of tactical OOH buys, where digital billboards are displayed outside of a specifically chosen target account office. Plus, billboard stunts can be captured on video to live online for far longer than the original billboard. 

I’ve also seen some excellent examples of B2B podcast advertising, where brands capitalize on the subject matter expertise of a podcast host. In a Soundrise article published this year, they noted that “Host-read ads benefit from the trust and rapport established between the host and their audience. Listeners are more likely to trust recommendations coming directly from a familiar voice they respect and admire.” Even content with an incredibly narrow focus can really resonate with a core audience. 

And the same goes for creating a podcast. This isn’t a flippant recommendation – I know it’s a heavy effort to get to a polished product, but it is surprisingly low investment. In fact, we talked about building content as community earlier in our new GTM series.

Myth 5: B2B marketing can’t be fun

Fact: B2B might be serious business, but it doesn’t mean the marketing always has to be. How many times do we have to cry into the ether that SaaS needs more sass? 

Buying decisions might be made by committee, but the steps leading up to that moment can be heavily influenced by heart feel. Sometimes, brand impact comes from a punch to the gut (or a charming wink). Experiment, engage, play. If you’re not having fun, neither will your audience.

For instance: B2B needs more jingles. Following on from our podcast advertising recco, it also creates the opportunity for audio branding, a part of the brand book often ignored. Wouldn’t you love to have a following of people humming along to your brand’s [unexpected] theme song? I am here for that brief. 

So, if you’re confident you know what your audience is looking for and how you can meet their needs, then your marketing should drive the outcomes you need to justify the balance of brand and lead gen. If you’re not quite as confident then our B2B Marketing Blueprint will offer you a step-by-step fill-in-the-blanks guide to a new, unified Go-To-Market that slam-dunks your wildest KPIs. 

Don’t put brand in the corner

Most of the time, B2B brand awareness is the thing sailing silently over most marketer’s heads. The thing whacking them in the face is the need for better quality leads, right now this second, and better ROI. Brand can look like a cost center and so is more easily ignored. 

But it should be (and is) a force multiplier that uplifts the hard working tactics that fall below it. It should be seen as urgent, impactful and just plain stupid to overlook.

If you think building a B2B brand isn’t worth it, I’m not sure you’re in the right place. But if you’re on this journey with us, we have a truly stellar series for you. 

Packed with useful tips, advice from some of my B2B heroes and a do-it-yourself workbook heaving with examples, this is the content series that links brand to performance in the happiest alignment.