FAME BEATS FEATURES

Fame gets a bad rap these days. Talk of fame conjures up images of vacuous and vain celebrities who are famous for being famous. Or desperate C-list reality TV ‘stars’ and social media influencers who will turn up to the opening of an envelope.

But renowned advertising creative and author Bob Hoffman, known as “The Ad Contrarian”, argues that the most profitable driver of brand or business success is fame.

He goes so far as to say the perfect advertising brief contains just three words: Make us famous.

Interestingly enough, this approach maps closely to Byron Sharp’s theory in “How Brands Grow” of mental availability. That is, when a customer or prospect thinks of your category, it is imperative that your brand or business also comes to mind. Or put simply, that you are famous in their mind for what you do and how you help solve the problem they have.

Let’s take a look at how seeking fame applies to B2B businesses.

A focus on features

Most B2B businesses spend far too much time talking about features. Think capabilities, differentiators, technical advantages and product comparisons. And those things absolutely matter.

But they usually matter much later than most businesses think. Because in B2B buyers rarely begin by comparing features. Mostly, they begin with familiarity.

Being known creates an early advantage

Most B2B buying decisions don’t start with a detailed product analysis, technical specifications or feature matrices. They start much earlier, and with something much simpler – recognition.

The prospective buyer might have:

• Heard your name

• Encountered your ideas

• Seen your content

• Noticed your consistent presence over a period of time

That familiarity creates comfort, and comfort reduces perceived risk.

Buyers rarely shortlist unknown companies

In fact, the opposite is true. We’ve written before about the Rule of Three, which says that when B2B decision-makers move into buying mode, typically one to three brands pop into their head.

Here’s the kicker. When they eventually buy, in 90% of cases the successful vendor came from that initial mental shortlist.

This doesn’t mean that the “best” product never wins. It means that buyers are far more likely to evaluate companies they already recognise.

This is especially the case during long B2B buying cycles where:

• Multiple stakeholders are involved

• Decisions carry risk

• Trust matters

Being known creates an advantage before feature comparisons even begin. One of the most iconic lines in B2B marketing came out of the 1990s and illustrates this idea perfectly:

Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM.

Features help justify decisions

Familiarity can help get you on the shortlist. But features will help buyers justify the decision internally.

Both matter, but familiarity comes first.

Visibility builds commercial advantage

This is why consistent visibility matters so much. And why we keep banging on about it!

Not because every blog or email or LinkedIn post will immediately generate pipeline. But because repeated exposure quietly builds recognition, trust, credibility and mental availability.

Over time, your business becomes easier to remember when buying decisions are in play and when conversations begin.

Being famous in B2B looks a bit different

It’s not celebrity. It’s not vanity metrics. It’s simply being known by the right people, inside the right market at the right time.

The companies winning attention today are often the companies that will win pipeline tomorrow.

Because buyers rarely choose vendors they have never heard of.

If you want to become famous in your market and among your prospective customers, talk to one of our experts.