Does your company sell mostly to other businesses? As a commercial real estate professional, the answer is yes, and your target audience is easily defined! You sell to the CEO or the business owner. Simple. And how nice that is for helping you determine your branding and positioning strategy!
This simple targeting approach is fundamental to having an authentic and effective brand in a business products and services (B2B) category such as commercial real estate. But some salespeople and even some business owners argue that end users of equipment, software, services and yes, buildings, highly influence decisions and must be sold first. Sometimes, managers do the “shopping” and make the final recommendation and therefore can seal the purchase decision–or so you may think.
The target of all B2B marketing is the CEO! CEOs have a unique mindset and language. They don’t think like general consumers when making business buying decisions. They wear a very different hat for that. Business buying decisions are just as emotion-based if not more so, but for very different reasons. CEOs cut through the minutia and get to the key points fast (even when being patient with others out of courtesy). They are starved for new information that can guide their decisions.
Additionally, the CEO may have his or her own personal motives for choosing a space for their business, and nobody can know exactly who else that CEO knows or what else could motivate their decisions. Remember that “blood runs thicker than water” and relationships make a difference, sometimes all the difference–all things being equal, or even not so much. The lesson here is to take the time (and be patient) to build relationships with the owners and CEOs in your target market.
Marketing: Your Intangible Sales Force. These selling principles apply in B2B marketing. Position your brand only for the owners and CEOs in the industries you serve. Don’t try pushing your list of features. That’s a consumer-based commodity approach! Explain, rather, the actual and differentiated results your solutions provide clients.
As your messages get through to your CEO targets with the ringtone of relevance, your brand will begin to develop a subtle (even if at first subconscious) mental interest. Then a natural value-focused curiosity will make learning more about your firm part of their to-do list. With a consistent delivery of strong messages, your inventory or services will be investigated or inquired of–your opportunity to close new business.
Chuck Sink is principal at Chuck Sink Link, Contoocook, N.H.
