The Impact of

BRANDING
on Lead Generation

Overview
B2B marketers who view branding as a soft, non-quantitative marketing initiative are sadly
mistaken--and its costing them money.
Poor branding gets in the way of sales ability to get in front of the prospect and communicate
key value messaging, product information and detailed lead characteristics. Good branding,
on the other hand, allows sales to have the most relevant, timely and efficient conversation
with their prospects, which enables them to prove value to potential buyers at the beginning
of the sales cycle. Doing so gives sales a 95% chance of closing the deal, as opposed to a 5%
chance for those entering the sales cycle at the tail end [Gitomer].
Having a brand that properly communicates your core message and value proposition and a
marketing team that is able to provide effective tools directly impacts the sales teams ability to
sell.
Organizations that have successfully aligned sales and marketing work as a group toward a
common goal to generate more demand and close more business. That common goal is the
brand--what it means, the weight it carries, and how it helps the customer.
The MathMarketing Alignment Benchmarking Study shows that businesses with the greatest
degree of marketing and sales alignment close 38% more proposals and lose 36% fewer
customers to the competition than less-aligned or non-aligned businesses.
Without a powerful brand, backed by an aligned marketing and sales culture, B2B companies
looking to reach full revenue potential face two major hurdles:
1. A greater number of non-qualified leads find their way into the sales funnel, costing
millions in list scrubbing, lead qualification activities and misappropriated sales and
marketing resources.
2. B2B sales executives cant get past the gatekeeper, get in the door, and speak with
decision makers face to face.

Where to Start
Getting Better Leads Into the Sales Funnel From the Get-Go
Eighty percent of a companys profit goes to the least valuable 20% of customers. And the
most valuable 20% of customers generate 150% of revenue [Angel Customers & Demon
Customers, Larry Selden and Geoffrey Colvin]. Sales activities, such as cold calling, use the
highest amount of resources, yet net the lowest degrees of success.
With better quality leads from the onset, B2B marketers and their lead generation teams,
sales engineers, and sales executives can start the sales cycle earlier, and can more effectively
nurture them to close.
An effective brand drives more high-quality leads into the sales funnel and directly affects the
bottom line.
Better Brand = Better Leads
A good branding strategy:
Increases credibility
Communicates value proposition
Lowers perceived risk
Encourages prospects to take action
Sets expectations
Fills the funnel with better quality leads
Paves the way for future profits
Makes an offer tangible and believable.
Differentiates the solution from the competition
Saves time, money and resources
Most importantly, a good branding strategy drives consumers to take action.

Next Steps
Getting Past the Gatekeeper, Getting in the Door, Getting Face-to-Face
Its no longer enough to have the best ROI or best feature list. B2B buyers are bombarded with
the same message from companies who look and sound the same.
Marketers must break through the clutter and differentiate from the competition. Its important
to note, however, that those B2B buyers are peopleand people need to connect with and
trust in a brand on a logical and emotional level.
In order to initially get past gatekeepers, through the door and in front of decision makers, a
brand must carry a message of value that emotionally connects and resonates with prospects
(people).
Another important note: A brands number one competitor is not always another brand.
Instead, the number one competitor is indecision. To get a face-to-face appointment with a key
decision maker a brand must communicate why that person should make the effort to listen to
the sales executive and change what theyre currently doing. Sales executives must convince
the decision maker that the pain they believe theyll feel by changing is not as great as the pain
they will experience if they dont take action [Corporate Visions].
A good brand gets sales executives in the door and helps to encourage prospects to take
action.
Good Branding Strategy
Good branding strategy differentiates a product, service and/or company from the competition
and puts it in a league of its own.
In fact, with good brand positioning, smaller companies can take on bigger companies with
ease--and win over customers by proving they arent the same-old-same-old. One such
example is of a smaller bandwidth company that branded itself as the anti-phone company.
This message of pain when working with Ma Bell immediately and deeply resonated with
telecom buyers who may not have realized there was another option. With consistent visual
and common-thread messaging, this company built a small empire and became a formidable
player in the bandwidth field, capturing lucrative opportunities from Ma Bell converts.
Three Basic Steps to Building a Brand Strategy
1. Convince the buyer they should care about the offer. Create compelling messages for
segmented prospects (based on their specific concerns, problems and needs) in order to
deliver the most relevant story.

2. Articulate the differentiating factor. Think of two intersecting circles. The circle on the left
represents what customers want, need and believe they can get. The circle on the right
represents features, what can be done for the customer and what is different about the
brand than any other. Where the two intersect is the differentiating factor on which to
build brand strategy. Reinforce the differentiating factor in a way that is believable--and
do so in every single touch.
Your Brand = Everything You Do
At the end of the day, your branding comes through in everything you do, and it affects your
bottom line. From email communications to whitepapers to the way the receptionist answers
the phone--your brand is in front of an audience, making an impression and directly affecting
the ability to sell.
The Good Brand Litmus Test:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Is messaging consistent across all communications and collateral?

Can every employee communicate the brands value proposition?
Is the brand credible?
Does the brand set the right expectations?
Does the brand have a good reputation?
Does the audience see rich design and professional copy in branded materials?
Does the audience connect with the visual and written brand?
Does the audience receive quality materials, such as a letterhead postcard vs. a plain
sheet cutout?
9. Is the brand in front of the audience too often, or too seldom?
10. Is the brand recommended by others?
11. Where does the brand collateral lead the prospect?
12. Are brand messages consistent and cohesive across all collateral?
13. Do branded materials make it easy for prospects to navigate the next step?
14. Does your brand understand what the audience wants and needs?
15. Is it easy to share your brands message?
16. Does the brands voice resonate with the audience?
17. Is the brand original?
18. Is the brand clear?

About IDS Technology Marketing

IDS Technology Marketing is a full-service marketing firm focused on delivering end-to-end,
tightly integrated sales and marketing solutions for savvy B2B technology companies throughout
the United States and abroad.
Our deep hands-on experience in technology sales and marketing helps us understand the
needs of todays IT buyersCIOs, IT directors, managers, and administrators. And it helps us
understand the importance of the influencers and how IT purchasing decisions are distributed
across many levels and departments of a business.
Many of the worlds leading manufacturers of hardware and software for storage, security, cloud
computing, virtualization, networking, and mobile technologies rely on IDS Technology Marketing
for:

marketing strategy
marketing campaign design
development and implementation
sales enablement
lead generation and nurturing
B2B telemarketing and outsourced inside sales

Get in Touch with Us

16435 N Scottsdale Rd. Suite 195
Scottsdale, AZ 85254
Phone: 877.675.8303
Email: hello@idstm.com