The B2B Institute: The 5 Principles Of Growth In B2B Marketing

Mar 4

Back in 2019 the LinkedIn B2B Institute commissioned the first-ever B2B cut of the IPA dataset.

In the report that followed, Les Binet and Peter Field explored the 5 principles of growth in B2B marketing.

Here’s a summary:

Principle 01. Invest in share of voice: In B2B, brands that set their share of voice (SOV) above their share of market (SOM) tend to grow.
Principle 02. Balance brand and activation: In B2B, brands should balance the budget between long-term brand building and short-term sales activation with a 50/50 split.
Principle 03. Expand your customer base: In B2B, customer acquisition strategies tend to be much more effective than loyalty strategies.
Principle 04. Maximise mental availability: In B2B, campaigns that aim to increase a firm’s share of mind are the most effective, and the more famous they make the company, the better the business results.
Principle 05. Harness the power of emotion: In B2B, emotional messaging is more effective in the long-term, and rational messaging is more effective in the short-term.

The findings are tentative. The sample sizes are small, the case studies are skewed towards the UK & tend to have big budgets.

Despite this, the authors findings suggest B2B operates much like B2C.

The whole report is well worth a read. Get you copy here.

Alex Murrell

Paul Arden: It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be