How is your image? What do your customers really think?
Part II: Branding
By Ken Gasque
Is your image what you want it to be? Is it accurate? Do you know what it is? What do your customers and prospects say when they are talking about your service and your products? Why do they think that? Is that what you want them to think?
Your image, or a more inclusive marketing term, "your brand," is what your customers think it is. Your brand is your customer's perception of your company, its products and services. A brand is the essence of a company. It is a claim of distinction that separates your company or product from its competitors. A brand, claim of distinction, is the promise made to the customer.
Most sales trainers and marketers feel that all sales are emotional! It can be argued, but I think most will agree that there is an emotional element in any sale. If you are about to sign a $1,750,000 contract, I bet you may have some sweaty palms--that's emotion. Brands make us feel good about our purchases and ourselves.
A brand makes it easier for your customer to make a decision because a brand is a belief, their belief. A brand is not a slogan or a particular style of graphics or colors, or a unique design or song or jingle, although these tactics are used to help communicate the meaning of the brand.
Branding begins with a promise--a differentiation in your product or service.
There are no commodities; everything can be differentiated.
Theodore Levitt--The Marketing Imagination
Differentiation is one of the most important strategic and tactical activities a company does and does continually. There is no such thing as a commodity, only managers who have a commodity mentality.
Quality and customer orientation are rarely differentiation ideas. Quality is a given. Service is a given.
Differentiation gives your prospect a clear and defined reason to do business with you. If none exist, your brand is a commodity. And a commodity is the lowest price. This is not where most companies want to compete. Some companies have changed their thinking and turned a perceived commodity into a brand. Consider Evian Bottled Water.
Value
Customers perceive brand services to be of higher quality, more reliable and a greater value for their money. This also applies to company. Companies with strong brand recognition are more valuable than companies without brands. It has been said that the Coca Cola brand is of greater value than all of the company's other assets combined.
Brand building is company building. If employees believe in the company, the belief will manifest itself in the product and the results will be better quality and fewer rejections. Better brands help recruit better people because the best people want to be associated with the best brands.
Loyalty
The definition of "brand loyalty" is the recurring stream of profit generated by repeat and referral sales. Repeat
and referral sales can reduce the cost of sales by as much as 90 percent.
How do you brand?
Listen. Listen to your customers, your vendors and your prospects. Have teams listen and report back to the "Branding Team" their findings. It is important that the President and CFO participate in this exercise.
Identify your core brand values
This may not be the case with your company but we have found many companies have never studied their core values. This is a three step process:
1. Understand why it is important
2. Determine which values are true
3. FOCUS and articulate
A good example of a very familiar set of core values is that of the United States of America which are stated in the Declaration of Independence: unalienable rights, life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
Discover your differentiation
There are many methods. We have perfected an easy interactive technique that we call Magniqueª, magnifying your uniqueness. The discovery process causes you to focus on the unique aspects of your business, products and services. The first step is to form a team of about seven members and a facilitator. You begin the process by examining everything: every detail, feature and benefit, from the method of creation, or manufacturing process to the final product or deliverable. Through this discovery process you will discover what is truly unique and proprietary to your product or service. At the same time you will discover what can be changed and what needs to be changed. And other magic happens to make the process fun and worthwhile. With all of the prep work done in advance this process can be done in about a day.
The second step of the process is to take all of the information and distill it down to four words (that is my rule, not everyone agrees) that represent the brand to the prospect. This is a brand statement. It contains the truth, the essence of your product or service. This is a statement that could be used by your competitor if they thought of it before you. But if you make the claim of distinction first, it's yours! Consider Federal Express, its brand statement is "When it absolutely positively has to be there!"ª At the time of its creation, this brand statement could have been used by several companies, including the USPS. Once the claim of distinction is made and delivered, it cannot be claimed by anyone else.
The brand statement is derived from the essence of the product.
1. It must be simple and clear
2. It must differentiate you
3. It must be true
4. It must be consistent with core values
5. You must be the first to say it
A brand may be created.
Maytag's brand is dependability and its brand statement is "The loneliest repairman in town."ª
Maytag developed the brand by design. They decided they wanted to be known for dependability to help differentiate themselves from 13 other brands in the appliance market. They asked engineers to design a product that would not break down. Satisfied that it would not break down, they gave it to marketing and you have "the loneliest repairman in town." Then they kept the promise!
The brand is developed, then internalized.
For a brand to exist, all employees of the company need to understand and buy into the brand statement. If they do not, this may be an indication of a problem in the discovery process. Internalization involves education and involvement by the employees to make the brand a reality.
Then the brand is introduced to the public through press releases, public relation events, and advertising. Customers and prospects are sent letters and notices advising that ABC Company claims this position and boldly plants its flag.
A brand is a perception and because of that, better products do not win! Better perceptions do!
Ken Gasque is president of Gasque Marketing and Advertising, a brand development and marketing planning company located in West Columbia, SC. Ken has been developing brands and writing strategies for new product introductions for more than 30 years. He is certified by Business Marketing Association and has been designated a Certified Business Communicator.
