How to stay ahead when you can’t compete on size

One key advantage lies in being meaningfully different, rather than trying to compete on messages of size, capacity and reach. Buyers remember brands that stand for something distinctive. What people remember is stories rather than facts. Thinking about how a brand sounds, feels and moves – from a film or event to a reception space or client presentation – gives audiences more cues to connect with, recall and associate with the organisation.

From Accenture’s messaging around ‘unmatched scale’ to Amazon Web Services framing the size of its network of data centres as the only choice for reliability and computing power, professional services firms tend to rely on size and reach when it comes to brand storytelling.

But in a B2B market where 95% of buyers aren’t actively in-purchase at any given time, the brands that win briefs are often those that earn a place in memory – and size alone doesn’t guarantee memorability.

Particularly in law and finance, firms often use scale as shorthand for trust: the number of partners, employees, offices or deals handled. These credentials have their place, but brands looking for market share have a real opportunity to cut through with a change in narrative. Not by matching the top three market leaders on messaging around volume; but by ensuring that their brand is the one people recall when today’s inactive 95% eventually become tomorrow’s 5% of buyers.

Here’s how they can change tack and build that hyper-memorable brand.

Articulate your meaningful difference

One key advantage lies in being meaningfully different, rather than trying to compete on messages of size, capacity and reach. Buyers remember brands that stand for something distinctive.

Most businesses genuinely are different from their competitors. They may offer similar services but how they deliver them, their ethos and how their people behave often varies wildly. The challenge is that these differences often go unarticulated. Working with offshore law firm Collas Crill on its recent rebrand, for example, we helped identify how working with them was distinct to working with their competitors. The difference lay not in levels of expertise, but how that expertise was delivered.

One clear advantage lay in a partner-led model where senior expertise was felt throughout client engagements. That creates tangible client value through direct access to experience, with all of the judgement, clarity and faster decision-making that affords. Collas Crill’s new positioning was built around this clarity of approach and celebrated its culture of being easy to work with, ‘unlawyerly-like’ lawyers. Bringing together both the cultural and practical advantage of working with a firm whose ambition is not to be the biggest, but the best.

Lead with emotion

To make such messaging truly memorable, you need to reinforce it through specific, repeated habits. The first of those is to make people feel.

What people remember is stories rather than facts. And they make decisions intuitively, not logically. As advertising pioneer Rory Sutherland said, “The human mind does not run on logic any more than a horse runs on petrol”. The reality is that we make choices based on intuition, emotion and context. Stories create tension, consequence and connection, transforming dry information into an experience or an opportunity to connect.

Some brands are already realising the importance of emotional storytelling in B2B marketing. PwC’s recent rebrand, for example, moved away from the language of being an innovative, future-focused consultancy and instead centred its proposition around a much simpler, more human idea: showing clients that it cares. Crucially, the narrative focused not on PwC itself, but on client outcomes. It was a move from talking about credentials to talking about impact.

Contrary to popular opinion, emotional communication has an important place in B2B brands – in employee engagement, must-win pitches, and definitely in B2B marketing campaigns. It doesn’t always require a wholescale rebrand, either; it can manifest in tone or personality, and in the stories that brands tell. Whatever the situation, leaving behind something that lingers in the mind matters. After all, the people who are buying B2C brands for their home are the same people making choices in the B2B world, and they expect the same level of experiences in buying.

Signal with intent

How we curate these experiences is of equal importance. We need to signal with intent, considering every touchpoint to strengthen memorability through implicit as well as explicit communication. From thought leadership and proposals to websites and social content, brands are constantly signalling who they are and what they stand for.

The strongest brands are disciplined about those signals; they recognise that every interaction is a chance to signal trust and value. They ensure their visual identity, messaging, tone of voice and content consistently reinforce the position they want to own.

A good example comes from Addleshaw Goddard, whose campaign with the line ‘Almost right is 100% wrong’ took a familiar legal truth – that near-enough isn’t good enough – and expressed it in a way that was distinctive and memorable. Rather than relying on generic claims about expertise, the campaign dramatised the value of precision through a simple, ownable idea. Beautiful line drawings of unexpected pairings (‘burger and flies’, ‘macaroni and trees’) made the point in a creative and arresting way (and the campaign ended up achieving 10 times its original commercial target).

Ignite the senses

Memorability is also strengthened when a brand reaches beyond words on a page. In B2B, communication often defaults to PDFs and pitch decks; but the more senses a brand can activate, the richer the impression it leaves. Thinking about how a brand sounds, feels and moves – from a film or event to a reception space or client presentation – gives audiences more cues to connect with, recall and associate with the organisation.

This equally applies to the customer journey. The most memorable brands think deliberately about the moments that will linger. For professional services firms, that might be how an event is experienced or how a project is closed. By designing these moments with intent, brands can move beyond simply communicating a message and instead create an experience that stays in the mind long after the interaction is over.

All brands should think carefully about where those opportunities exist and how they should be positioning themselves through them. Considering the connected brand experience is so important here.

What we signal visually and what we signal verbally and through other senses is so powerful when creating meaningful, emotive brand experiences. A simple example for Collas Crill was messaging on coasters at hosted events which supported their proposition ‘Refreshingly clear. Reassuringly human’. Highlighting the value of relationships and time together, while celebrating the expertise ‘at their table’ through the messaging ‘Bright sparks leading the way’ and ‘Beyond lawyers to friends’.

Their new colours were brought to life through customised drinks, umbrellas and merchandise which reinforced the message that working with them would be a refreshingly genuine experience.

If you put these habits in place by standing for something distinctive, harnessing emotion, signalling with intent and creating immersive experiences, you won’t need to compete on number of offices or clients. You will start creating those memory structures that will show prospective buyers exactly who you are and what you stand for when they’re next looking to purchase.

Tara Cloak is strategy director at HB. 

How to handle Data (Use and Access) Act rules – In June 2026, new rules were introduced under the Data (Use and Access) Act. Becky White explains how to handle data complaints from now on

Are trade shows still worth the investment for B2B brands? Trade shows are costly, in terms of both money and time, but the value of connections could prove to be immeasurable

Can regional R&D clusters power Britain’s next growth chapter? Mark Leaver explores how devolved R&D clusters can provide the bridge from prototype to commercial success