You brand is like a shark – not because it strikes fear into your competitors (though it should) – but because it needs to be in constant motion to stay alive. John Gezema, the chief insights officer of Young & Rubicam Group, coined a term for it: energized differentiation. While Gezema works with consumer companies, you’d better believe that the same core principles of energized differentiation apply to B2B brands.

Gezema’s article in the BullDog Reporter provides a nice synopsis of brand valuation for consumer companies with excellent examples from companies we know, such as Geico, Whole Foods, Ebay and Wal-Mart. But the basic tenets of energized differentiation – and the how PR supports them – make sense for B2B companies, too.

Public relations should support your branding efforts at every level. All too often, the following conversation plays out between PR practitioners and their clients.

Client: Hi, I got your voicemail. I was out of town at the industry’s award dinner.
PR Counsel: Oh, great, how did that go?
Client: Nice. Good food, too, for a change.
PR Counsel: Were the awards interesting?
Client: Oh yeah, the team was really excited about winning the Innovator of the Year award and the three other categories.
PR Counsel: [Pause] Ah, oh, I didn’t know you were nominated?
Client: Oh, didn’t I mention it when we received the letter three months ago? It’s just an association thing.

The opportunity is missed. It’s not to blame, but often we are all too close to see the forest for the trees.

Continuously leveraging these opportunities keeps a brand in motion. They showcase your company’s dynamism. In a case like this hypothetical one, the PR would also demonstrate the company’s vision, another key element in energized differentiation.

The key is to not take any opportunity for granted. It takes a lot of food to keep a shark swimming, and in the case of B2B, more than usual. A longer and more technical sales cycle means you need to continuously chum the waters to grow a shark big enough to scare your competitors out of the water.

Related posts:

1. Word of the Week – Brand Equity
2. B2B Public Relations, Advertising, and Editorial – the Great Divide
3. Eliot Spitzer-style PR
4. Big 80s marketing will not return big online conversions
5. What’s in Your Marketing Fall Line-up?

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About the author:

Brian Courtney is a Sr. Social Media & PR executive, bringing Schubert more than 15 years of corporate PR and editorial experience. Brian enjoys traveling to exotic locations, creative writing and spending time with his family.