B2B Brand Building: Why Buyers Need Sound, Not Just Spreadsheets
B2B marketing likes to think of itself as rational. Specs, prices, service levels, a business case. Yet research on B2B buying decisions keeps finding the same thing: the numbers inform the choice, but trust triggers it. That is where B2B brand building earns its keep.
John Smeddle, our creative head, explains in a piece for LBB why that makes sonic branding a B2B issue, not just a consumer one.
Two reasons B2B ignores sound
John sees two. First, a refusal to accept that most purchase decisions, contracts included, are made subconsciously. Second, uncertainty about where sound would even go in a B2B world.
The first is answered by the data he cites from B2B International: decisions may be informed by numbers, but they are triggered by a willingness to trust. In other words, by emotion.
Our sonic identity for Sharjah Asset Management.
View case study ↗Foundation, not add-on
Because B2B is built on relationships, John argues that consistent sonic branding should be treated as foundational rather than as a nice extra. The real risk assessment, he says, is what happens if you don’t invest.
As for where it goes, once you stop thinking of sonic branding as a jingle on the end of a logo, the answer is almost everywhere: culture, service, innovation, the two seconds of familiarity at the start of a call. Read John’s full piece on LBB.
Our take
Our B2B clients usually find their sound in places they hadn’t counted: the webinar opener, the product demo, the trade show stand, the hold line, the app. Each one is a small moment of trust, and together they add up to a relationship.
We have written before about sonic branding in the B2B terrain. John’s piece adds the sharper point: the risk isn’t spending on sound, it is leaving those moments to chance.
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