Leading B2B Insights For Driving Successful Brands

B2B Companies Increase Brand Strategy Spend

BOSTON, Feb. 9, 2017 /PRNewswire/ — In the next five years, 81.3% of business-to-business (B2B) companies expect to invest more in their brand strategies, according to new research published by Boston-based brand strategy consultancy Spencer Brenneman.

Most expect a modest increase of up to 20% or a larger one between 21-40%. That is on top of the increased spend that took place over the past five years: 86.7% cited an increase in spending. Half of them at a rate of 20% or less, according to the study.

“There was lots of data out there on how B2C companies were investing in their brands, but very little for B2B. So, we set out to find it,” said Douglas Spencer, Spencer Brenneman president. “We wanted to quantify the connection between strong B2B business performance and the right brand strategy. Even we were surprised by the results.”

According to the study, those bigger budgets generated real results for most, as 82.3% of the organizations that increased their spending saw the larger investments pay off. The biggest area where this payoff occurred was increasing sales and landing additional customers, which was true for 56% of those who cited a specific payoff.

“Another clear trend we saw was with research,” said Spencer. “It pays off. Those who increased spending showed improvement, but those who increased spending and conducted continual research did even better.”  (See graph.)

Spencer said that those companies with an established verbal identity also fared better, citing a 12% increase in shareholder value as compared to those brands without a distinct voice.

Working with Connecticut-based market research firm Great Blue Research, Spencer Brenneman surveyed 150 B2B marketing executives who consider themselves ultimately responsible for or an expert on their organization’s brand strategy.

A new white paper explains these results and more. It is available free-of-charge on the Spencer Brenneman website.

About Spencer Brenneman, LLC
Spencer Brenneman helps brands in transition. Whether that’s creating a new brand from scratch, retooling one that’s been around for a couple of years, or bringing together two established ones, we show companies how to grow their businesses with the right brand strategy. For more information, visit spencerbrenneman.com.