Corporate Branding

Stifel Marcin has been working with manufacturers and industrial clients for more than 20 years. In that time, we’ve witnessed a dip in the industrial marketplace as well as a resurgence. These hard-working, growing companies have a great story to tell but often struggle to tell it; how they’ve delivered when competitors could not; how their products are superior; and how their capabilities directly meet unique client needs. Therefore, it’s important to work with proven industrial marketing experts to develop a strong B2B brand identity to support your unique products and services. The Importance of B2B Brand Identity in Demonstrating Manufacturing Leadership A large number of our manufacturing and industrial clients provide customized parts and services. They either alter standard designs to fit unique requirements or create brand-new solutions. In these instances, the importance of having a strong B2B brand identity to communicate your company’s benefits and leadership capabilities is critical to ensure customers that you are the right group for the job. We work to market the complete package: your technology, equipment, engineers, experience, track record and company culture to demonstrate that your company will indeed deliver. Promoting your company’s manufacturing leadership shouldn’t be confined to your mission statement. Your leadership needs to be consistent throughout all your marketing and sales efforts. Your brand image, website, advertisements, even your on-hold message, should speak to your well-developed brand message. Marketing Manufacturing Leadership vs. Price Demonstrating a company’s leadership and breadth of capabilities is integral to any manufacturer’s marketing plan. We work to highlight how your services and products make life easier for your customers. There was a time when overseas manufacturing beat out a lot of bids, simply by price. Even with shipping, the cost per piece was the main factor driving decisions. But what people quickly realized was, that while the price per piece was lower, these vendors were often more expensive in the long run. Quality standards weren’t the same, materials were inferior, customer service was lacking, and hence more work was done to make the arriving order acceptable, increasing the overall price. Demonstrating and marketing your company’s value-added services in this globally competitive marketplace is critical. It defines why they should choose you, no matter their main decision-making factor (price, service, etc.). With the importance of B2B brand identity top of mind, to develop this essential brand messaging we learn about your company, and ask questions about your processes: Defining your benefits and getting that message out is critically important when marketing for manufacturers, industrial and technological clients. We learn about your company, help to define your message, and work to market your leadership and capabilities across all your marketing and advertising. Things to Consider When Marketing Manufacturing Defining a marketing message is often more complex for manufacturers. Some of the techniques we use when marketing a manufacturing or industrial company include: We Speak Manufacturing We understand the importance of B2B brand identity. Our technological and manufacturing website designs target the right audience. Our designers and search engine optimization copywriters understand the language of the B2B world. Often the audience is made of engineers and purchasing agents. Customers that need something very specific and want to be sure your company can deliver and can be trusted. Stifel Marcin has worked with clients in the manufacturing, industrial, medical/life sciences and technological fields for 20 years. We offer a complete line of advertising and marketing services and work with you to become an extension of your company. Give us a call or fill out the form to get in touch. We can talk about your business, the importance of B2B brand identity, and look at the ways Stifel Marcin can help position you for growth. Stifel Marcin – The B2B Marketing Agency Unlike many advertising and marketing agencies, B2B isn’t just something that we do, it’s all we do. We’ll work to help your brand achieve its goals through the strategic combination of creativity, communication and technology. Our focused client intake processes give us the ability to thoroughly understand your business, products and objectives, working to identify the competitive advantages and opportunities that will grow awareness, leads and sales. We develop innovative marketing plans with strategic, data-driven processes, presenting complex ideas and compelling messages that position your business ahead of the competition. As your cooperative partner, our integrated B2B marketing agency is dedicated to your success. Our branding services will convey your brand promise and position to the right customers. Contact us today. Share this…

According to LinkedIn, “78% of [salespeople] outsell peers who don’t use social media.” A compelling statistic for sure, but you may be wondering exactly what is B2B social selling? Social selling is all about interacting and engaging. It means a person – not a brand – is establishing a dialogue with current contacts, potential customers, industry leaders and influencers – not with a hard sell about your products or services, but by sharing valuable information and thoughtfully responding to questions and comments. Social selling, by design, is meant to feel personal and genuine. Social Selling Vs. Social Media Marketing Social selling differentiates itself from overall social media marketing by the mere fact that it brings “social” to the forefront. But most importantly, social selling enables sales professionals to leverage their personal networks and channels to grow their lead pipeline and eventually make sales. Social media marketing utilizes the platforms to promote your company’s products or services, but overall serves other KPIs others than sales – think awareness building, follower growth and/or views. Social media marketing is also brand centric – coming from the brand itself, vs. from a salesperson or leader within the organization. For our agency’s clients, the goal of B2B social selling is visibility, development of long-term relationships and trust building. Consider these recent statistics from B2B buyers:  • 84% use social media when making a purchasing decision • 76% have increased expectations around personalized solutions to their specific needs • 53% agree that vendor reputation is key to standing out in the B2B industry A thoughtful social media strategy, including social selling tactics for your sales and leadership teams, can help raise brand awareness, establish credibility in the marketplace and increase sales. If you need help developing a B2B social selling strategy, drop us a line. As a full-service B2B marketing agency, our team is ready to help. LinkedIn is a Great B2B Sales’ Team Resource When it comes to the business-to-business space, LinkedIn® stands out with its detailed professional data and robust information. While omni-channel B2B social selling can and should take place across multiple channels, LinkedIn itself is designed directly for business networking. As a sales professional, if you’re leaning into B2B social selling, LinkedIn is likely the place to start engaging in meaningful dialogue with prospects. An added bonus: LinkedIn provides a quantifiable way to measure the effectiveness of your B2B social selling efforts called the Social Selling Index (SSI). The SSI measures four factors to produce a score between 1 and 100: 1. Your professional brand – optimize your LinkedIn profile by updating each profile section (don’t forget that professional photo), publish meaningful posts and actively engage with content. 2. Find the right people – think of this as finding not just prospects, but the right prospects. Utilizing LinkedIn’s tools, hashtags and good old-fashioned research are key. Some tools are available only through LinkedIn Premium, but even those without paid resources can filter searches by people, companies, jobs, services, and more to help narrow the focus. 3. Engage with insights – saw a relevant industry article that you found insightful? Share it with your thoughts to demonstrate that you are keeping up with news and trends. Or comment on another thought-leader’s post and pose a question to encourage dialogue. LinkedIn looks at these types of engagement activities favorably when it comes to the SSI. 4. Build relationships – like we noted above, social selling is about making genuine connections, establishing trust and growing credibility. Here are a few ideas to consider if you are looking to increase your contacts: LinkedIn notes that 51% of social selling leaders are more likely to meet their quota. If you have key performance indicators you need to meet, then utilizing the SSI to evaluate your personal score and following some of the tips above and below may be just the trick to increase you and your team’s leadgen opportunities. More Tips to Help You Excel at B2B Social Selling In addition to the insights listed above, here are some further best practices to improve your B2B social selling skills: Think about your customer first. From your social media profiles to the way you engage in comments, include information that resonates with your target, rather than making it just about you and what you are selling. Your prospect wants to feel heard and understood. That starts with listening and reacting accordingly. Let’s Power Up Your Social Marketing Strategy With 84% of B2B decision-makers and buyers looking at social media during their purchasing journey, the importance of social media as part of a strategic marketing plan can’t be understated. You can find more helpful insights on our blog, including “B2B Social Media Best Practices” and “The Power of Hashtags for B2B Social Media.” Actively engaging in purposeful social selling helps connect you to the right prospects in the right place at the right time. Stifel Marcin understands the unique needs and challenges of B2B organizations. Whether you need to build a comprehensive social media strategy, or pay-per-click social media marketing to increase traffic, conversions and brand loyalty, our experts are here to help.  If you would like to discuss how we can help your team with a B2B social selling strategy, contact us to set up a time to connect. Stifel Marcin – The B2B Marketing Agency  Unlike many advertising and marketing agencies, B2B isn’t just something that we do, it’s all we do. We’ll work to help your brand achieve its goals through the strategic combination of creativity, communication and technology. Our focused client intake processes give us the ability to thoroughly understand your business, products and objectives, working to identify the competitive advantages and opportunities that will grow awareness, leads and sales. We develop innovative marketing plans with strategic, data-driven processes, presenting complex ideas and compelling messages that position your business ahead of the competition. As your cooperative partner, our integrated B2B marketing agency is dedicated to your success. If you have questions about B2B social selling or are looking to create a social media strategy for your organization, let’s talk.

Many companies know they should have a Brand Standard Guide. What they may not fully understand is why it is so important. In fact, it may be the most important marketing asset your company uses. A Brand Standards Guide does more than provide a reference for vendors or employees to make certain that all materials conform to corporate standards. The Guide is a preservation tool – a brand preservation tool. Many studies show that there is a definite “inconsistency impact” on brand loyalty – where customers lose trust in their favorite brands when they notice differences in visual or verbal communication. These subtle inconsistencies can create an image of instability and internal confusion, and even when seemingly insignificant, can have dramatic impact. Creating a Brand Standards Guide preserves your brand and builds the loyalty of your customer base. From a branding standpoint, it might be the most important tool to ensure the growth of a company. Cost vs. Benefit of Brand Standards Yes, creating a Brand Standards Guide does involve a marketing spend. But the cost of not creating and utilizing brand standards may be more significant, and far more than the cost of any marketing expenditure. Remember, it costs more to attract new customers than it does to nurture existing ones. Losing your loyal customers is a cost no company can afford. When thinking of the value of a brand, it’s important to consider how long it took for that brand image to be developed. Each customer touchpoint – every website visit, every service call, every business card – presents your brand. Building a brand can take years and can – in all seriousness – be destroyed in an instant. As a Forbes article explains, “You have to create brand differentiation in your customers’ minds and have them ‘feel’ there is no good substitute for your product or service. If you don’t, then you will compete on price all the way to the bottom.” What your brand image is has an incalculable value. And at the root of virtually any brand, are positions of professionalism, reliability and dependability. Ensuring the visual presentation of that brand as professional, reliable and dependable is critical. Maintaining and Controlling the Brand Most companies have a variety of vendors, and sometimes distributors, who create materials across many mediums. Brand Standards save time and money by providing a go-to resource for sizes, specs, colors, as well as how you want your company to be presented. Costly mistakes without standards often are significantly more expensive than creating a Brand Standards Guide in the first place. Your corporate marketing department and your lead outside agency should be the points of contact for approvals, libraries of images, usage questions and other matters related to brand governance to ensure accuracy. With the ever-increasing availability of digital tools, the ease at which marketing materials can be developed, changed and shared via social media, is rapidly increasing. Setting – and controlling – your valuable brand is critical in the modern age. As a company grows, its staff and needs grow, and controlling how each piece of marketing and sales collateral is created is more important than ever. Purpose of a Brand Guide Think of your Brand Standards Guide as an essential tool. It is a central repository where brand information can be easily referenced, in clear and direct language. An effective Brand Guide clearly spells out the “brand rules” – what you can and cannot do – as well as provide links to assets, images and contact information for approvals. Making sure your Brand Guide is the automatic reference point for creating any asset avoids costly mistakes. What a Brand Standards Guide Should Include While every B2B Brand Standard Guide is developed based on the company, its needs and its unique marketing initiatives, there are some core assets that virtually every guide will contain, such as: Why Brand Standard Development is Critical for B2B For manufacturers and industrial clients, technology and innovation is often critical in brand positioning. It’s important that imagery and text be controlled to convey your company’s story – highlighting its technological edge. Marketing materials that don’t adhere to these standards dilute this important position. In the manufacturing and industrial sectors there are often even more instances where brand standards are important, such as plant signage, tradeshow displays and internal campaigns designed to recognize employees or announce workplace accomplishments. Maintaining standards for these important touchpoints is just as crucial, especially as many of these brand impressions are in-person. Setting Up Your B2B Brand for Growth and Expansion Even more important for international companies, these standards keep the image of your company consistent across multiple locations, multiple languages and multiple countries. And there’s also this important internal motivation to consider – when your brand is instantly recognizable in any environment it reflects corporate pride and belief in what your company has created. Think of the effect of this consistency on not just your customer base, but also on your workforce, and the workforce you hope to attract. As Forbes explained in an article on the critical importance of Brand Standards: “A style guide is essential to keep your brand identity consistent, recognizable and ownable.” Your team has worked hard to build a brand that represents quality, expertise, and positive customer experiences. Make sure at every touchpoint that you own it. Expert B2B Brand Standard Development If you’re ready to take your brand to the next level, whether you need some help developing your brand marketing or establishing brand standard guidelines – we are here to help. With more than two decades of B2B branding expertise, we can help put you on a path for future growth. Contact us today to learn more or discuss your needs. Stifel Marcin – The B2B Marketing Agency Unlike many advertising and marketing agencies, B2B isn’t just something that we do, it’s all we do. We’ll work to help your brand achieve its goals through the strategic combination of creativity, communication and technology. Our focused client intake

As customers’ needs and behaviors change – adjusting to the continued impact of COVID-19 – marketers must proactively adjust to an evolving landscape. Business operations and customer actions have changed at one of the fastest rates in recent memory, leaving some marketing plans in need of TLC.In late 2021, studies showed that 45 percent of full-time U.S. employees continued to work remotely some or all of the time.  With supply chain disruptions and inventory shortages on-going, now is the time to make sure your marketing strategies are up-to-date with a changing marketplace. 5 Digital Marketing Tips to Maximize Effectiveness and Value 1. Check Your Goals, Targets and Realign Be mindful that your target customers, and the way you had delivered messaging to them, may have changed since the onset of the pandemic. Business continues to shift – with companies changing expectations, plans, personnel responsibilities, and in some cases, even changing what they sell. Your ideal customer profiles, personas and behaviors may be dramatically different than just a year ago. And the strategies that were months in development, may need to change as well. Consider what your KPIs (key performance indicators) are right now. Do those KPIs shift from lead generation to contact building, or perhaps to brand engagement? And how do your marketing tactics and messaging need to evolve to achieve these new goals? Are your current marketing materials going to work with an evolving economic outlook and new customer engagement patterns? Now ask the same questions for what we predict conditions to be like 3- and 6-months from now. Be nimble and strategic at the same time. You can’t put a pause on your brand or your marketing “until this is over”, because who really knows if, and when, things will return to what they were. For the foreseeable future there will be changing conditions, and marketing needs to be able to refocus and meet the right KPIs, probably more than once. 2. Be Mindful of Message Tone, Timing & Delivery Marketing messages and sponsored content need to pay attention to the emotional pulse of the reader, as well as consider timing of when it is released. Right now the content your marketing may appear within, or directly alongside, could be highly-charged. Be thoughtful when creating messaging and materials so that you are sensitive to the current situations. Appearing to be too “hard sale” or business-focused may be off-putting to customers, and potentially even damage your brand’s position. Carefully consider the words you select in your messaging: 3. Be Relevant and Stand Out Good marketing connects with a reader emotionally. It’s critical that messaging and ad materials still make those valuable connections that draw in hearts and minds, while not appearing to capitalize on reader sensitivities. It’s also critical for brands to stay on track. The marketing plans that were created during 2021 may have to be changed, but your core brand positions probably are the same – positions which should remain a cornerstone of your communications. Artfully combining relevant content, marketing messaging and brand positions (that – as noted in the above – are mindful of tone and timing) will connect with customers in a powerful way, get attention and generate response. 4. Stay on Top of The Digital Trends Many marketing strategies have shifted to be, or are working to be, increasingly digital. When correctly deployed, digital platforms reach customers with highly-specific profile targeting, leveraging features such as Google’s custom intent audiences. Even though that many are working remotely from their home office, marketers are still able to target and communicate key messaging with potential customers. However, we must consider how users are engaging with content much differently than just a few months ago. Right now, interest-based campaigns that reach customers higher in the marketing sales funnel are outperforming text search campaigns. Be sure your digital marketing team, or the agency you partner with, is remaining nimble – interpreting data, watching the shifts and repositioning ad campaigns to continually maximize return. Digital behaviors and routines have also shifted. The data you built your digital campaign strategies around has probably changed – and now must be evaluated and readjusted for today’s customer behaviors. For example, if social marketing (paid or organic) is part of your mix, have you revisited those campaigns in depth? Some platforms are reporting a 66% increase in social media engagement, and across some demographic groups, people are reportedly spending 3-7 hours per day on social sites! Beyond just increasing social activity, how are you altering your desktop verses mobile ad deployment, ad timing, content delivery and platforms? 5. Track and Shift Whenever you shift marketing messaging, targeting or objectives, you need to track and analyze. Right now, many organizations have changed all three of those considerations. Add to that an economy and a workforce that has undergone huge changes, and major parts of your marketing plan may need to be addressed. Be flexible, be fast and be smart – and get help when you get spread too thin. One positive point is that most marketers already have heavily integrated data tracking tools into their performance reviews. The increases in digital engagement over past months has provided enough data for marketers to extract trends, analyze patterns and make predictions. Staying attuned to performance metrics is critical now. Marketers on top of the data and can be nimble – adjusting while staying on plan – have an opportunity for significant success. Stay Results-Focused, With Partners That Can Support Your Needs Today’s climate requires dedicated attention and a proactive approach to effectively navigate changes. It takes time, attention to details, and a collaborative approach to address what virtually none of us have dealt with before. If you’re looking for a B2B marketing agency partner to help you with marketing strategy development or digital marketing, we’re here to help. Contact us for a free consultation and let us help you Power Up Your Marketing. Stifel Marcin – The B2B Marketing Agency Unlike many advertising and marketing agencies, B2B isn’t just something that we do, it’s all we do. We’ll work to help your brand achieve its goals through the strategic combination of creativity, communication and technology. Our focused client intake processes give us the

A company branding kit may just be the most important marketing asset your company produces. Thorough brand standard documentation not only helps to guide the direction of every piece of marketing, from ads to presentations to packaging, but it also informs your employees, vendors and partners about how to best present your look and voice at all times. In a digital world when even your logo can be edited with the quick click of a mouse, providing a clear blueprint about your brand identity and how to preserve it pays dividends. This is especially true if multiple stakeholders within your organization localize marketing assets or have access to your website, social media and other digital components. Brand Consistency Matters Seventy-seven percent of B2B marketers say “building a strong brand is key to their company’s growth.” Yet only 25 percent of companies have formal brand guidelines that are enforced. Consider the following statistics: · Presenting a brand consistently across all platforms can increase revenue by up to 23 percent –  indicating the impact of marketing and improved brand recognition.· 60 percent of millennial consumers expect brands to be aligned across different platforms.· Consistently presented brands are 3.5 times more likely to enjoy excellent brand visibility than those with an inconsistent brand presentation. A different color used here, or an incorrectly cropped logo there, may seem insignificant, but over time these subtle inconsistencies can negatively influence your target audience, who is looking for dependability and stability in the brands they choose to trust. Even minor discrepancies in visual or verbal communication can lead to a loss of that trust. If you are unable to create an effective brand presentation, customers may wonder how they can trust you to be effective when fulfilling their needs. What to Include in Your Company Branding Kit While a brand guide is unique to every company, there are common components that should likely be included, such as: · A corporate messaging overview (which may include mission statement, core values, elevator statement, etc.)· Tone of voice· Logos – including sizing, usage and reproduction guidelines· Fonts – primary and secondary· Approved color palette with both print and digital standards, such as breakdowns for CMYK, RGB, Pantone®, Hexi, etc.· Stationary (including business cards, letterhead, invoices, etc.)· Email signatures· Social media graphics and guidelines· Digital assets and approved imagery· Marketing and branding project workflow management and contact information to support questions regarding compliance and usage It’s All in the Details Your company branding kit should also clearly detail the do’s and do not’s, especially related to your logo, fonts and colors. Thoroughly detail rules like “the logo should never overlay a photographic image” and communicate the specific formats for different applications – such as Pantone, Hexi, RGB and CMYK primary and secondary brand colors. While some traditional brand manuals speak solely to its visual representation, don’t overlook the importance of addressing your company’s tone of voice and critical content such as tagline usage, mission statement language, social media and more. Your brand voice is how you communicate and connect with customers – consistency in that messaging is just as vital as the visuals. A company branding kit can quickly become a dense document. At Stifel Marcin, we often consider developing one-sheeters for internal usage for staff that are simple to reference and encourage easier adoption of the guidelines. More on that below. Craft Brand Guidelines That Encourage Your Employees to Share Your Story Social media is an area where additional support for staff can be crucial. Internally, those working to support social media on company accounts should be well-armed with a blueprint that is specific to your social channels   – think approved messaging and subject-matter, appropriately sized imagery, channel-specific recommendations, and instructions on how to make any modifications if necessary. Just as important to your company profiles, providing all of your employees with guidance on how to share your company messaging, news and industry updates with their personal networks can reap rewards as well. Often an employee will want to share more about your organization on their social media channels but may hesitate to do so for uncertainty about what to say or how to share it. Or their well-intentioned posts may inadvertently include inappropriate subject matter – like a poorly cropped logo or perhaps a photo that shows people on the shop floor which is not compliant with safety standards. Here are some helpful hints about what to include on an internal social media one-pager: · Approved/suggested hashtags· Links to approved images/article links· Correct company social handles· Guidelines on what is not permissible to show· Recommended subject matter, or tips for common post types· Internal social media contacts to support your team in case of questions If your B2B organization has a large announcement or campaign planned, providing your staff easy ways to become actively engaged online can benefit your brand as well. You may not even realize it, but some of your biggest brand influencers may just be within your own walls. Creating a unique social content distribution guide that supports your overall branding guidelines, and provides campaign/announcement-specific recommendations, can be a worthwhile investment to help staff spread the word while staying true to your branded messaging and visuals. At Stifel Marcin, we’ve supported clients in specific initiatives on social channels. For example, if an organization is promoting the launch of a new product, a campaign-specific company branding kit might include: · Specific messaging – what is the correct way to promote and present the announcement (remember small words can matter, for example “acquisition vs merger”)· A clear CTA to define the action your followers can take when they see the news· Links to approved imagery/video assets (sized appropriately for each social channel)· Sample templated messaging that includes correct company handles and external links· Branded hashtags· Specified embargo dates if applicable – be clear when employees can start sharing online Social impact and reach can be a powerful tool, but it also must be thoughtfully and purposefully managed