Collaborative. Responsive. Client-focused. Innovative. These are some of the most commonly used go-to-market messages for B2B organizations. Nearly identical value propositions like these create a dangerous "sea of sameness" for this industry. As marketers, we must dig deeper. We need to find a point of view that is authentic to the character of our organization and unique to our competitive set and vertical. Without this, it's impossible to separate from the pack and present your clients and customers with a brand experience that is more than just your snappy color palette or slick logo. John Simpson (CEO & Founder) and Ryan Schulz (Director, Brand) discuss how to differentiate your brand, avoid the sea of sameness and activate Brand across all of your digital touchpoints.

1. Activating Your Brand Across Digital Touch Points
John Simpson & Ryan Schulz – One North Interactive
ENGAGE & LISTEN
03.16.16

2. Did You Know? …
• Only 30% of organizations still engage in cold calling.
• 57% of purchase decisions are completed before a supplier is
contacted.
• Only 55% of B2B Marketers have programs dedicated to client
retention.
• More than 75% of buyers are very likely to refer their firm.

3. Forget the Funnel.
• The right audience is more valuable
than a large one.
• Buying decisions are only the
beginning of the conversation.
• There’s no room for loyalty in the
funnel.
• Buying decisions aren’t only driven by
the messages you deliver to clients.
They’re also driven by what clients
say about you and to each other.

4. The Relationship Cycle

5. Finding the Balance
What Your Client
Does
• Identify Need
• Research Solution
• Active Evaluation
• Formalize
Relationship
What Your Firm
Does
• Generate Awareness
• Drive Consideration
• Follow Up
• Establish Trust &
Advocacy

6. Awareness in a World of Organic Discovery
Source: http://www.google.com.au/think/collections/zero-moment-truth.html
71% of people use the internet DAILY to make decisions
about business purchases.
According to Forrester Research, the first thing 80% of people
do when they confront a problem or have a question is to go
online and search for an answer.

7. Awareness in a World of Organic Discovery
Source: http://www.google.com.au/think/collections/zero-moment-truth.html
“The internet clearly is now the new trade show.”
Sam Sebastian, Google

8. Awareness in a World of Organic Discovery
“The Zero Moment of Truth (ZMOT), when people
research products before buying, applies across
all customer bases ‘whether you're buying a big jet
engine or a refrigerator,’ says Beth Comstock, SVP
and CMO of GE.”
Source: http://www.google.com.au/think/collections/zero-moment-truth.html

9. A DIGITAL-FIRST BRAND APPROACH
We believe that in today’s connected communications environment, digital must be
the lens through which all customer touchpoints are developed.
Brand Platform
Print
Campaigns
Events
Internal
Partnerships
Pitches/Proposals
Digitally Centered Brand and
Communications Strategy
Seamless Marketing
Brand/Customer Experience

10. The Relationship Cycle

11. Business-to-Business organizations
seem to be persistently in the
middle of an identity crisis.

14. Most organizations go to
market touting the same core
messages.

15. Why?

16. Survey Time

17. How many of you use one or
more of these core messages?
q Quality
q Superior Client Service
q Trust and Integrity
q Results Driven
q Collaborative
q Innovative

18. These Are Not Differentiators
If another organization wouldn’t claim the opposite, by
definition, the message is not a differentiator.
• Poor quality
• Terrible client service
• Shiftiness
• Process and profit driven
• Selfish
• Stuck in the past

19. These Are Not Differentiators
If another organization wouldn’t claim the opposite, by
definition, the message is not a differentiator.
• Poor quality
• Terrible client service
• Shiftiness
• Process and profit driven
• Selfish
• Stuck in the pastX We can do better.

20. If these aren’t differentiators,
what are they?

21. A Positioning Framework
Target Audience
Frame of Reference
Key Benefit
Reasons to Believe
For _______________
who are looking for
__________________
there is ____________,
the _______________
because only ________
is _________________.
The segment for whom the
positioning is focused on.
The category of services in
the competitive set.
What the brand delivers to
the market that is credible,
differentiated, and relevant.
Activities, technologies,
and capabilities that prove the
brand is capable of delivering.

22. For _______________
who are looking for
__________________
there is ____________,
the _______________
because only ________
is _________________.
A Positioning Framework
Target Audience
Frame of Reference
Key Benefit
Reasons to believe
Target Audience
Frame of Reference
Key Benefit
Reasons to Believe
The segment for whom the
positioning is focused on.
The category of services in
the competitive set.
What the brand delivers to the
market that is credible,
differentiated, and relevant.
Activities, technologies, and
capabilities that prove the
brand is capable of delivering.

23. For _______________
who are looking for
__________________
there is ____________,
the _______________
because only ________
is _________________.
A Positioning Framework
Target Audience
Frame of Reference
Key Benefit
Reasons to believe
Target Audience
Frame of Reference
Key Benefit
Reasons to Believe
The segment for whom the
positioning is focused on.
The category of services in
the competitive set.
What the brand delivers to the
market that is credible,
differentiated, and relevant.
Activities, technologies, and
capabilities that prove the
brand is capable of delivering.

24. Differentiation is key to client
identification and developing
real loyalty…
and, it’s a whole lot easier to tell a story about.

25. Finding Fresh Ground Is Essential
• Makes audiences pay just a little more attention
• Gives people a little hook to hang their memory on
• Could give you a better rationale for your pricing structure
• Might offer a framework to organize your offerings around
• Gives context to your reasons to believe

26. The Path to Differentiation

27. You need a point of view.

28. Q: What does having a point
of view have to do with
differentiation?

29. A: Everything

30. Three Steps to Understanding Your POV
1 2 3

31. Three Steps to Understanding Your POV
1 2 3
1. Know what you sell.

32. Know What You Sell
• It’s not your product/service
• It’s not industry expertise
• It’s not innovation
• It’s not collaboration
“Glamour is what I sell,
it’s my stock and trade.”
- Marlene Dietrich

33. You Sell a Feeling
• Confidence
• Security
• Bandwidth
• Perspective
• Focus
• Salvation
• Advantage
• Etc.
“Glamour is what I sell,
it’s my stock and trade.”
- Marlene Dietrich

34. Three Steps to Understanding Your POV
1 2 3
2. Know your audience.

35. Know Your Audience
• Not their names
• Not how much they spend
• Not what they do
• Not where they live

36. Surprise Your Audience
You need to:
• Know what drives them
• Know what your work does
for them.
• Know how they feel when
they are successful.
• Know them as people.

37. Three Steps to Understanding Your POV
1 2 3
3. Try to understand why
they chose you.

38. Understand Why They Picked You
• This is always changing
• Be ready to adapt
• Ask them why
• Be open to really listening
to the answer

39. Three Steps to Understanding Your POV
1 2 3BONUS: Be disciplined

40. What is your point of view?

41. The Obsessed PerfectionistThe Informed Optimist
The Blue-Sky StrategistThe Premium Pragmatist

42. What? + Who? + Why? =
Your POV

43. Music is a great metaphor.

44. Art Commerce
The Music Industry
Requires a clear
point of view.
Requires the
exchange of funds.

45. “Musicians are essentially all alike.
Audiences just want a tune they can
tap their foot to.”
- Some Music Executive

46. Full Screen Image
Common Traits of Music
You listen to it.
Made of notes
and rhythms.
It’s meant to
provoke a feeling.
It’s played for
pleasure.

47. What if musicians existed
in a sea of sameness?

48. “I am a full-service musician offering
the highest quality songs available. I consistently
collaborate with a wide variety of innovative
musicians playing both regional and global
tunes for audiences everywhere and nowhere.”
- Some failed musician

50. Lame.

52. Major Themes in Art
• Culture
• Politics
• Economics
• Identity
• Time
• Love
• Revenge
• Beauty
• Power
• Family

53. It’s all about building
brand equity.

54. How Do Artists Build Brand Equity?
• They have a unique POV.
• They know where and when to invest.
• They know the impacts of the investment.
• They have a keen understanding of their audience
and how those audiences might react.

55. Positioning Framework
Target Audience
Frame of Reference
Key Benefit
Reasons to believe
For _______________
who are looking for
__________________
there is ____________,
the _______________
because only ________
is _________________.
Target Audience
Frame of Reference
Key Benefit
Reasons to believe
The segment for whom the
positioning is focused on.
The category of services in
the competitive set.
What the brand delivers to the
market that is credible,
differentiated, and relevant.
Activities, technologies, and
capabilities that prove the
brand is capable of delivering.
Target Audience
Frame of Reference
Reasons to Believe
Key Benefit

56. Positioning Framework
For _______________
who are looking for
__________________
there is ____________,
the _______________
because only ________
is _________________.
Target Audience
Frame of Reference
Key Benefit
Reasons to believe
The segment for whom the
positioning is focused on.
The category of services in
the competitive set.
What the brand delivers to the
market that is credible,
differentiated, and relevant.
Activities, technologies, and
capabilities that prove the
brand is capable of delivering.
Target Audience
Frame of Reference
Reasons to Believe
POV

57. Pop Superstars With Clear POVs

58. David Bowie

60. Who Is David Bowie?

61. The Futuristic Iconoclast

62. Bruce Springsteen

63. 1970s 1980s 2000s

64. Who Is Bruce Springsteen?

65. Blue Collar Rebel

66. What Can We Learn from These Guys?

67. Having a clear point of view has
given each of them two
important things.

68. Guide Rails
Permission
Defines where you are allowed to work.
Sets expectations around that work.

69. CONTEXT

70. Bruce Springsteen
• Familiarity leads to loyalty
• His audience is looking
for something they can
count on
• When you are familiar,
the songwriting has to
be great

71. David Bowie
• Perceived as an innovator
• Deeply rooted in all the
arts, especially fashion
and film
• Ultimate freedom to
make mistakes
• Motivation to keep pushing

72. Their Nicknames Say it All

73. They know the value
of building brand equity.

74. How do you build brand equity?

75. Building Brand Equity
1. Establish a clear point of view.
2. Align to that point of view.
3. Be disciplined and don’t stray.
4. Allow your POV to inform your purpose.

76. Finding Fresh Ground for Your POV
• A long history or storied past
• Super premium services/luxury
• Quantifiable business
intelligence
• Specific offerings that
become unique when
combined
• A specialized region or
an industry

77. Find your POV.
Stick to it.

78. Don’t Get Distracted by Shiny Objects
• Never follow the
competition.
• The competition’s story
is not yours.
• Unless, of course, you
decide to make it yours.

79. A Story About Following the Competition
TayTay Ryan Adams

81. “I write pop songs.” “I write songs about
heartache.”

83. “Every poet is a thief.”
- Bono

84. Translation:
“Go ahead and steal…
but make it your own.”
- Ryan Schulz

85. By uncovering your unique POV and
applying it consistently across the
relationship cycle, you can
experience both creative freedom
and true differentiation.

86. Thank You!