Embracing the Industrial Branding Concept

Co-written by Adriana Espinosa

Many industrial companies don’t recognize how the Industrial Branding concept relates to them. This concept is sometimes ignored or the benefits of branding are underplayed because the popular thought is that branding is meant for consumer products.

We have been asked time and time again how branding can work for industrial products or services.

Here’s how.

Engagement within online communities of an industrial company requires certain knowledge on the topic. True. However, in the past few years this idea has been proven wrong. Industrial B2B companies, indifferent to their business market, can be both interesting and educational for general audiences as well, no expertise required.

Let’s take Engineering companies for example.

Engineering is a broad field of study. It’s the science behind everyday gadgets, bridges, transportation, environmental solutions, robots, household appliances, and the list goes on. All in all, engineering companies are interesting sources of information for general audiences to learn how things work, or the latest advances in technology.

Whatever the case, online branding and social media are great tools to communicate with customers, students, new engineers, suppliers, collaborators, the media and anyone that might hold an interest in the world around us.

Thus, in the world of products and services of the industrial sector, branding is the magic ingredient that can spell marketing success.

Branding is about differentiation. It’s about making it easy for people to tell you apart from your competitors and choose you over them. But a true branding strategy seeks to go much further than that. The goal should not simply be to make your customers and potential customers choose you over your competition – but instead, to have them see you as a solution to a need.

In essence, branding has to appeal at a deeper level. Even the most practical people, after analyzing the facts, comparing prices, quality and all other important factors, will ultimately base their decision on “what feels right”. So your Brand has to get into people’s minds and hearts…easy? Not so much. A brand’s character has to be defined and it takes time to mature; it has to convey a promise and a vision that connects with consumers. The process of defining brand character involves understanding what end-users like and dislike, and what values they associate with the core of the brand concept.

Great brands evoke unique values in customer’s minds that stay there for a long time. Companies that own great brands work consistently to build and maintain the brand’s character and sense of worth, showing a consistent commitment to their brand’s quality and values in the long term. It’s about creating and maintaining a reputation. Representing a lifestyle with a quality product.

The common link between great industrial and consumer brands is the ability to tap into consumer emotions, among others, through communication, using metaphors that connect with people at deeper levels.

A great example of how to define a brand’s character can be seen in the LOESCHE Group case. As an engineering firm that manufactures mills for the cement industry, it can seem very specific from a marketing point of view, but for the sector it has become a point of reference. This was achieved through solid branding: offline, and later, online.

With the amazing marketing tools of today, building a community through social media to keep audiences informed about innovations, newest developments and advances, as well as general news related to the industry, offers a great opportunity to showcase a brand’s commitment, mission and values. When brand positioning soars it becomes a reference in any sector worldwide.

Bottom line, how well a company positions itself as a world class, leading organization makes a big difference. Every brand designs its personal voice on social media. There are great examples out there and in every industry, and even when two brands share similar interests, the way they communicate their ideas and share their experiences is very different from one another.

But being able to communicate with everyone in a more direct way and to incorporate the human side of a brand is what makes the difference, and it’s one of the most outstanding aspects of social media today: telling the stories of an industrial brand from a people perspective.