Positioning is all about having an in-depth understanding of your target audience–from a very pragmatic to a highly emotional level. It is about understanding your target's key “care-abouts,” their needs, their wants, and their aspirations–in other words, the very fabric of their lives.

1. By Marianne Moore, Partner, Strategic Services, Stein + Partners Brand Activation
Positioning B2B Brands In A B2C Way
Much has been written about the difference between positioning B2B brands and B2C
brands.
Some say that positioning B2B brands should not be different than positioning B2C
brands–that people are people whether deciding about a car or an enterprise software
solution. Others say this is true–but only to a point. In their view, positioning brands
targeting “prosumers” and small businesses is the same as positioning brands targeting
consumers.
Yet there are those who say positioning a B2B brand, which requires building reputation,
has to be considered very differently than positioning a B2C brand.
As an experienced marketer who has spent half of her career working on consumer
brands and the other half on B2B brands, here is where I stand.
Positioning is all about having an in-depth understanding of your target audience–from a
very pragmatic to a highly emotional level. It is about understanding your target's key
“care-abouts,” their needs, their wants, and their aspirations–in other words, the very
fabric of their lives.
And in truth, people's personal and professional lives are blending more and more these
days. Yet one cannot ignore that people have different care-abouts and sensibilities in
their personal and professional lives.
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2. What it all boils down to is getting actionable in view of these care-abouts and
sensibilities. Getting to this level of understanding is the same process that one has to go
through whether it is a consumer brand or a B2B brand.
Ultimately, my perspective is that positioning a
B2B brand can be accomplished by undertaking
the same type of analysis and due diligence into
the hearts and minds of the target that one takes
when developing positioning for a B2C brand. So
you might say, you are best-served by doing B2B
positioning in a B2C way.
Case in point: Recent positioning work we did for
the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE)
VIX product revealed that what institutional
traders care about is managing risk (a pragmatic
business benefit). But what that really means, at
an emotional level, is that they fear making a
mistake. This insight lead us to develop
messaging and marketing for VIX that plays to
both the pragmatic and the emotional, but
emphasizes the latter (see one of our ad
executions, at right).
Since so much has been written on the topic of whether the art of positioning changes
when marketing in the consumer world or in the business space, I’d love to know what
you think.
Read more: http://www.cmo.com/branding/positioning-b2b-brands-b2c-
way#ixzz27aZDqwYc
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