How Salesforce thinks about brand marketing

This week on the podcast, we spoke with Colin Fleming, EVP Global Marketing at Salesforce about the value of brand and bold marketing moves for B2B companies. B2B folks, you won’t want to miss this one. 

—Elena  

 

Top B2B brands have $1 trillion in untapped potential.      

The top 100 B2B brands globally have a value of $2 trillion. But even the biggest and most well-known brands could do more to grow their brand value. 

 

B2B marketing is marketing to humans.     

Creativity is not just for B2C. B2B buyers are the same people (yes, B2B buyers are people) who make dozens of B2C purchases regularly. And B2B purchase decisions can be even more emotionally charged than B2C due to factors like job security and peer influence.  

So crafting marketing strategies that resonate on a human level is a must. 

Salesforce is one of the biggest B2B brands in the world. It’s ranked in the top five internet and software brands alongside Microsoft and Oracle. It’s also invested heavily in brand-building—and seen huge gains in share of voice and market share as a result. 

Colin Fleming explains how when he joined the team at Salesforce, he uncovered a major gap in aided and unaided awareness. People knew of Salesforce but had no idea what the company did. The solution? Bringing relevance and awareness to their offering through memorable and creative work. (You may have seen their adorable forest-themed characters). Leaning into personality and emotion helped make a sometimes confusing and technical industry fun and approachable.  

It’s a lesson most B2B brands could benefit from. Listen in on our discussion.

"Global Most Valuable B2B Brands Index”      

This 2023 review of the top 100 B2B brands by Brand Finance uncovers untapped opportunity, but also covers how a select group of B2B companies are leading the way to more effective marketing. Read the report. 

 

Be clear, be bold.

“Marketing is... a complicated and noisy world, and we're not going to get a chance to get people to remember much about us. No company is. So we have to be really clear about what we want them to know about us.” 

—Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple