Fresh USPs for a Thriving B2B

Project profiles
Written By Jo Cowper

Lockdown 2020: Columbus UK had never been busier. As a provider of managed IT and communications services for SMEs, start-ups and microbusinesses, the switch to remote working had heralded a period of unprecedented demand for advice, support and problem-solving from Columbus’s expert team.

 Throughout lockdown and beyond, Columbus saw their clients’ needs evolving fast, and they were ready to help. Service demand shifted away from ‘simple’ communications services, towards more holistic, digital-first solutions. This was the domain where the team knew they could add the most value, pairing handpicked tech solutions with made-to-measure advice for clients of all sizes, and business was booming: yet Head of Business Development Jason George recognised that the public presentation of Columbus UK had not kept pace with the evolution of the business.

Put simply, the Columbus UK brand no longer did full justice to the business’s strengths and service offer.

 Jason told Scotland Business Magazine :

“When lockdown arrived, we became the digital equivalent of a first-responder to help our customers migrate from offices, shops and warehouses to home working literally overnight. We had to ensure that customers had the right communications, technology and security services to work from home and continue operating with as little disruption as possible.

 Through the Dunbartonshire Chamber of Commerce’s ‘Together for Business’ scheme, Columbus pledged to provide free support and advice to those businesses that needed it most, helping hard-hit local businesses to adapt and thrive.

“Whilst we were incredibly busy ourselves, we still wanted to do what we could to support other businesses through a very difficult period. We helped numerous businesses with a wide variety of issues; from improving home broadband connections and providing mobile broadband solutions, solving laptop performance issues, setting up remote desktop services, guidance on using Microsoft 365 and Teams, as well as setting up reliable cloud back up services.”

It’s a familiar situation: business is good; service demand is growing and resource is focused on service delivery and individual client needs. Communications and brand development very often take a back seat at times when a team is fully focused on servicing clients’ demands.

Yet as Jason recognised, busy times like these also provide perfect springboard to propel a brand forward into its next phase of growth. This was the ideal time to close the distance between the presentation of the brand, and its reality, by finding the right words and tone to capture the true strengths of Columbus UK.  

Columbus UK’s loyal customers understood the value they were receiving. The team understood the value they were delivering. It was time to put that value into words that Jason and the team could use to communicate clearly and simply with Columbus UK’s target future customers and partners, and this is where I was delighted to help.

 Specifically, Jason was looking for objective, external support to identify Columbus UK’s ‘USPs’ (Unique Selling Points), and to translate those into a digital communications plan that he and the team could use to connect with prospective target customers and support the next phase of growth for Columbus UK.

It’s often easier to identify a brand’s USPs as an outsider, bringing a ‘customer’s eye view’ to the question of what factors really make that business not only different, but different in a way that is of positive value to its target customers. To work that out, I always look at three areas: 

  • the business itself, including its background, its current operations and resource, and its future direction of travel;

  • customers or clients, including current and future target groups; and

  • competitors/comparators, again including current competitors and aspirational comparators.

After researching all three areas, I was able to advise Jason on the messages that would really make Columbus UK stand out from the competitor crowd, and provide a digital content and channel strategy that he or his colleagues can use to communicate those messages consistently to the right people as the business continues to thrive and grow.

Jo Cowper
Next

Scotland's Geotech Experts Prepare to Grow