The ultimate tips for B2B corporate public relations and communications!

This article summarizes the "ultimate secret of To B corporate public relations communication", which is four words, 12 characters: labeling, setting benchmarks, forming alliances, and B2P.

Recently, I have found that more and more friends around me are going to To B companies to engage in public relations and communications. This is understandable. A storm of enterprise digital transformation is approaching, and the entire Internet industry now recognizes that the future is the era of industrial Internet.

But how do To B companies do public relations communication? This is a problem that troubles many friends, because public relations and communication for To B companies is really too difficult.

The three elements of marketing are users, content, and scenarios. In essence, a brand delivers the right content to the right target users through the right scenarios.

Why do many B2B companies find communication difficult?

• Because from the user perspective, the communication audience of B2B enterprises is usually a segmented vertical group. They are professional people, which requires precise thinking when communicating. Ordinary B2C communication methods cannot achieve precise coverage .
• From the perspective of content, the communication content of B2B enterprises is usually more technical , far away from the general public, and mostly obscure and difficult to understand;
• From the perspective of scenarios, the business processes of B2B companies are relatively long and the marketing scenarios are relatively scattered .

I have been engaged in To B public relations and communication for many years, and have summed up the "ultimate secret of To B corporate public relations and communication", which is four words, 12 characters: labeling, setting benchmarks, forming alliances, and B2P.

1. Labeling

In the recently published book "Super Tags: The Communication Method to Reshape User Minds", I proposed the "Super Tags" methodology. In the communication of To B enterprises, the "Super Tags" methodology is even more effective.

Because the target audience of B2B companies are enterprises and professionals, they demand more professionalism than the general public on the C-end, so it is better to say that it is "creating concepts" rather than "labeling". The label of B2B corporate communication is more of a new concept. It also needs to conform to the general trend of industry development, meet customer needs, be supported by its own advantages, and be differentiated from competitors' labels.

The label that Kingdee proposed for its new world of management is "Finance for Everyone". Xu Shaochun, the founder of Kingdee Group, said at the Kingdee New World of Financial Management Launch Conference held in May 2018 that 80% of the current repetitive and basic accounting work will eventually be replaced by artificial intelligence, realizing "unmanned accounting", but finance will not die out. On the contrary, its importance will become more prominent. 60% to 70% of accounting will grow into business finance.

After the wall between finance and business was broken down, Xu Shaochun pointed out that "no accounting, everyone finances" will be the next direction of corporate financial management and the core concept of Kingdee's new world of financial management.

Under the new concept of "Finance for Everyone", Kingdee Cloud uses four new technologies, A (artificial intelligence), B (blockchain), C (cloud computing), and D (big data), to make data more three-dimensional and multi-dimensional, innovate the interactive experience, and drive financial transformation, so that everyone can have their own process information, business information, and financial information, realize employee self-drive, assist in predicting risks, let data serve everyone, and let everyone become their own CEO.

In the cloud computing market, which has been very popular in recent years, we can also see excellent tag-based communication. For example, Alibaba Cloud’s slogan in 2018 was “Come to Alibaba Cloud for the cloud”, which was a way of positioning itself in the entire cloud category; Tianyi Cloud positioned its label as “security” and proposed the slogan “Tianyi Cloud, secure cloud”.

When talking about Alibaba Cloud, we have to mention another label it has established: "De-IOE" . It has played a crucial role in the rise of Alibaba Cloud.

In 2008, Wang Jian was transferred from Microsoft Asia Technology Research Institute to Alibaba as chief architect. This chief architect, who is respected as "Doctor" within Alibaba, is not a programmer by profession and is an architect who cannot write code. However, it was this chief architect who cannot write code who proposed a concept that shocked Alibaba internally: "De-IOE", that is, removing IBM minicomputers, Oracle databases and EMC storage devices in the process of Alibaba's IT construction.

The reason why it shocked the insiders was that Alibaba's IT infrastructure at the time was based on the most commonly used IOE, and most of the technical personnel were trained in IOE architecture, and many of them had jumped from IOE. However, Alibaba persisted and finally completed this seemingly impossible task within the company in 2013.

It has to be said that "de-IOE" is a brilliant move. It conforms to the general trend of domestic equipment procurement and independent research and development. It also makes Alibaba a model for IOE to its own cloud computing (Alibaba Cloud), and plays the best role in promoting Alibaba Cloud. Therefore, after the "Prism Gate" incident in 2013, when the government, finance and other industries that were sensitive to IOE began to purchase domestic products, Alibaba Cloud became the biggest beneficiary.

Huawei Cloud’s label settings are also quite unique. Huawei Cloud entered the public cloud market relatively late. In order to highlight its uniqueness, especially to differentiate itself from those leading Internet companies, Huawei Cloud proposed the "Three No's" label . That is, "don't develop applications, don't touch data, and don't make equity investments." The label established by Huawei Cloud is not what it wants to become or what it wants to do, but what it doesn't do. This approach highlights its attitude, which is to abide by the boundaries of cooperation with customers, to do what it should and shouldn't do, which plays an important role in winning the trust of its customers.

Therefore, for B2B companies, labeling is more urgent and important than for B2C companies. This label often represents your judgment on the future direction of the entire industry. The correct label will highlight and continuously strengthen your leadership position in the industry, leaving your competitors behind.

2. Setting a Benchmark

What is setting a benchmark?

In layman's terms, it is case dissemination. When it comes to B2B communication, there is no more effective method than case communication. The essence of case dissemination is to set a benchmark and have a strong demonstration effect on other customers and potential customers . If labeling is to create concepts and is idealistic, then setting benchmarks is to make concepts concrete and is practical.

However, the case dissemination of B2B enterprises has been unsatisfactory for a long time, and there are three major problems.

• One of the problems: Most of them are from the "business perspective" rather than the "user perspective" , which makes the cases more like self-talk and a kind of "self-indulgence", always talking about how great they are instead of talking about what value they can bring to customers.
• The second problem: The case presentation was dry and boring , mostly consisting of enumeration of technical parameters and dull statements of facts, which failed to turn the case into an interesting story.
• Problem three: The case format is too simple and is still basically in the form of text, unlike B2C corporate communication which has rich and interesting forms.

Three problems restrict the effectiveness of B2B communication. If we want to set a good benchmark, we need to change from the following three aspects:

• First, change the "corporate perspective" to the "user perspective" , tell more user stories, and let the user be the subject. Instead of softly implanting your own technical solutions and your own role, it will have a counterproductive effect if you implant yourself too hastily.
• Second, the case should be told as a story . What are the characteristics of the story? I think what is more important are details, numbers and conflicts. Details can make the story vivid, and numbers can attract readers' attention. A story without conflict will be dull and boring.
• Third, we should learn from the communication methods of to C companies . In addition to text, we can try pictures, cartoons, and even short videos.

Alibaba Cloud’s 12306 project transformation case is worth mentioning. The previous 12306 website (the only official website for online ticket booking of China Railway) was complained by many netizens. It always said when you needed it most: The webpage cannot be opened.

On January 23, 2015, Jack Ma said at the Davos Forum in Switzerland: "Recently we have some government projects. Every Spring Festival, tens of thousands of migrant workers return to their hometowns from cities. They need to buy train tickets to return home. The government's system (referring to the 12306 website) has collapsed every year for the past five years.

I told the young people at Alibaba to go and support them without charging a penny. Because I don’t want to see my fellow migrant workers unable to buy train tickets. This is not for money, not for the government, but for those brothers who don’t have to wait on snowy nights to buy tickets, but can buy them smoothly through their mobile phones or computers. ”

"Not charging a penny" and the difference in experience before and after the transformation of the 12306 website have become Alibaba Cloud's most valuable advertisements. The implication of this case is: Alibaba Cloud can ensure the smooth operation of such a complex system, so what do other customers have to worry about? No matter how complex your business is or how heavy the load is, can it be bigger than 12306?

Therefore, this example reminds the majority of B2B companies that some projects may not be profitable and can be treated as strategic projects or demonstration projects. When you invest all your technology and resources into this project, it will become a benchmark for you and a lasting and permanent living advertisement for you.

When it comes to case dissemination, the "Chinese Management Model" promoted by Kingdee is of great reference value.

Kingdee is a company that makes management software. Its regular case studies involve talking about the changes that customers have experienced after using its management software. However, this kind of communication looks too much like direct soft articles or advertisements, and its structure and dimension are too low.

How did Kingdee do it?

It proposed a new concept (label) of "Chinese Management Model", and together with the business schools of six well-known domestic universities, launched the selection of "Chinese Management Model Excellence Award" with the aim of "making Chinese management model rise globally". Through this public welfare award, Kingdee and professors from major business schools have visited hundreds of Chinese companies that have achieved outstanding achievements in the field of management model, and sorted out, refined and disseminated their management cases.

This is a very wonderful way to spread the case. First, it elevates the "management model" to the "Chinese management model", demonstrating the confidence of a major country and easily resonating with the Chinese people. Secondly, publicity management software and promotion management model are two different levels.

For example, Deppon Express, which once won an award, mainly relies on its "Family 1+1" welfare system: "Every month, 200 yuan is taken out from the employee's salary card, and the company takes out another 200 yuan, all of which are sent to her parents." This system enhances the cohesion of the company by creating family relationships. This was eventually upgraded to "Chinese-style people-oriented management", with the efficient support provided by Kingdee's IT system.

For B2B companies, case dissemination is a powerful communication tool, and we should really rethink how to improve and enhance it.

3. Alliance

In addition to labeling and setting benchmarks, there is another very important secret for B2B corporate communication, which is "forming alliances." The meaning is very clear, which is to unite all possible forces to spread your own label to the greatest extent.

First of all, we need to take stock of what are the forces that can be united?

There are media, opinion leaders, government and industry associations, research institutions, customers, employees, end users, etc. These so-called stakeholder groups are all forces that can be united.

IBM's "I'm IBMer" series of internal posters leverages the power of its employees. It uses comics to show the work content of real employees, making everyone believe that IBM can truly influence all aspects of life and society, making life and the world better, and stimulating employees to produce content. To put it in a popular way now, it means building employees into personal IPs, cultivating many opinion leaders within the company, and letting every employee represent IBM.

The communication of B2B companies also requires the help of consulting companies and research institutions. For example: In the field of cloud computing, consulting firms such as Gartner, IDC, and Frost & Sullivan regularly publish relevant reports. If you perform well in the reports, you will be able to leverage the momentum for promotion.

Of course, you can also customize a report together with a consulting company. You must pay attention that this customized report must be objective and can only talk about one aspect, but it cannot be false.

Kingdee's "Chinese Management Model" that we mentioned above also pays special attention to "forming alliances".

• First, it is to form an alliance with well-known management scholars and other opinion leaders in the management field. The China Management Model Excellence Award Selection Council was initiated and supported by Cheng Siwei, and well-known management professors such as Professor Chen Chunhua of Peking University participated. Later, it was upgraded to the China Management Model 50-person Forum, consisting of 25 management scholars and 25 entrepreneurs.
• Second, the Chinese Management Model Award has been strongly supported by entrepreneurs such as Guo Guangchang of Fosun Group, Dong Mingzhu, President of Gree Electric Appliances, Gong Fangxiong, Managing Director of JPMorgan Chase China, Wang Shi, Chairman of Vanke Group, and Wang Xiaokang, Chairman of China Energy Conservation Investment Group;
• Third, we have formed alliances with top domestic business schools such as Renmin University of China, Southeast University, Central University of Finance and Economics, and Beijing Technology and Business University, and have gained their support;
• Fourthly, Kingdee formed an alliance with China Central Television (CCTV). Kingdee and CCTV jointly produced a large-scale documentary "The Power of Companies", which was broadcast on CCTV-2 and attracted widespread attention. Afterwards, Kingdee and CCTV jointly launched a series of special programs titled "Discovering China's Management Model".

This kind of alliance can also be with companies that are "completely unrelated" to one's own industrial chain, which is what we usually call "joint marketing." Next, let’s talk about joint marketing in detail.

Joint marketing requires attention to four thoughts:

• The first is “user thinking”, that is, when doing joint marketing, you should not just be creative for the sake of creativity, but should focus on users . When brands engage in joint marketing, they must be "equally matched", which means that even though the brands are in different fields, their target users should be the same.
• The second is "point thinking", which means not to cover everything, but to achieve breakthroughs at key points . This point is the label you establish.
• The third is "product thinking", that is, how to productize joint marketing . Joint marketing basically returns to zero after completing one activity and cannot be settled. Therefore, it is important to use productization and operational thinking to turn joint marketing into a position. In this regard, the JD.com East Union Plan and "Intel Inside" that we mentioned earlier are the embodiment of product thinking.
• The fourth is "open thinking", which means that only by changing competitive thinking to open thinking can we truly achieve good joint marketing results.

4. B2P

B2P is the sublimation of B2B2C. Many people may wonder, if it is B2B, why should it have a relationship with C?

There are two reasons:

• First, you (the first B) and your client (the second B) have the same position, both want to bring value to the end user (C) ;
• Second, the ultimate communication target of a B2B company is also individuals in the client company (C).

B2B2C is essentially B2P (Business to People). Although the target of your communication is enterprises , you must make the communication personalized for people. Otherwise, it will be difficult to achieve results if you just do the communication in a cold and institutional way.

As we said before, B2B communication is difficult because the content is too professional and difficult to understand, and the target audience is too vertical and niche. At this time, letting the communication reach the public will popularize professional content, allowing as many people as possible to know and understand you, and use your customers' customers to pressure your customers.

B2B2C requires that your content be as interesting as possible. If your field is too professional and difficult to understand, is it possible to cross over into other fields such as entertainment and culture that are familiar to and liked by the public?

The cross-border collaboration between Intel and Li Yuchun is worth learning. On October 27, 2017, Intel and Chris Lee's studio released the MV "It Rains Today, But We Are Together". In this MV, Intel used real-time 3D face reconstruction technology to synthesize various special effects such as rain and ripples on Li Yuchun's face, which blended perfectly with the MV scene.

Specifically, Intel uses cameras to detect and recognize faces, locate 78 key points, and track head movements and facial expression changes in real time. After intelligent analysis and feature extraction of the image, different special effects are superimposed through calculations.

Is this very different from traditional B2B marketing? For this kind of AI technology, traditional B2B marketing may talk about the advantages of the technology, or at most talk about the application of AI technology in some professional fields. However, Intel has crossed the boundaries between AI technology and entertainment. Through this cross-border, it has stepped out of the professional technology circle and entered the public eye with the help of entertainment.

B2B2C, you can also present your professional content in a novel and interesting way. Since 2014, the B2B company Kingdee has launched something almost every year on May 4th Youth Day to explain its strategy.

On May 4, 2014, Xu Shaochun, the founder of Kingdee Group, smashed his laptop at Peking University to promote mobile office. On May 4, 2016, Xu Shaochun smashed his office, claiming to break organizational boundaries, but in fact he once again emphasized the promotion of mobile office. On May 4, 2017, Xu Shaochun smashed "ERP", the office chair that symbolized the boss's identity, and the identity of CEO, with the aim of promoting Kingdee's cloud computing. On May 4, 2018, Xu Shaochun smashed the wall representing the old world of financial management, with the aim of promoting "no accounting, everyone's finance".

Compared with conventional communication methods such as press releases, media exchanges, and case communications, this "smash" is extremely impactful and also brings up topics of its own.

The "Cloud Way" created by Huawei Cloud in Terminal 2 of Guangzhou Baiyun Airport is also a communication case for B2B enterprises to reach the public. On April 26, 2018, Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport T2 Terminal was officially put into use. On the second floor of this terminal, Huawei Cloud and Baiyun Airport jointly created a real-time multimedia visual light show.

I have to say, the idea of ​​"Cloud Way" is great! Baiyun Airport, cloud computing and Huawei Cloud all contain the word "cloud" and have the same purpose. The cloud approach chooses the hub channel of Baiyun Airport's T2 terminal, which has busy passenger flow and is the best place for display. In addition, the newly opened T2 terminal of Baiyun Airport has attracted high public attention. The right time, right place and right people all come together to make Yunzhidao the most beautiful landmark.

B2B companies can also try viral marketing used by B2C companies , especially on April Fools' Day, which is a great opportunity. Because people generally accept "unorthodox" marketing content on April Fools' Day, this is the opportunity to create some viral content, which can reach the public without worrying about being called unprofessional.

Alibaba Cloud is particularly aware of this and often releases videos on April Fools' Day to showcase its technology through some creative ideas.

For example: On April Fool's Day in 2017, Alibaba Cloud released a video titled "Unprecedented Biological Computing, Alibaba's "Cloud Garlic"", claiming that it had developed a new product: a garlic called "Cloud Garlic". Alibaba Cloud introduced this product like this: Alibaba Cloud has developed a super cloud computing system based on garlic - Cloud Garlic. It is green, environmentally friendly and safe. Garlic clusters can perform large and complex calculations through photosynthesis, and their computing power exceeds the processing speed of any existing ordinary cloud.

Although it was an April Fool's joke, it showcased their creative ideas, established their own technological label, and brought the lofty and cold technology companies into the public eye. Such jokes can still be made.

Finally, let’s summarize. The secrets of B2B brand communication can be roughly summarized as: labeling, setting benchmarks, forming alliances, and B2P. Specifically, it is necessary to set a suitable label, then establish a benchmark through the dissemination of innovative cases, and unite all possible forces to form an alliance, and reach the general public in a B2P (B2B2C) manner.

Author: Yan Yuelong

Source: Yan Yuelong (ID: yanyuelong2014)