Branding In A New Economy

The Importance of Brand in a Down Economy Creating Emotional Attachment to Gain Market Share and Don’t Be Afraid of the Consumer

Today’s Objective
Our goal today is for you to think about YOUR COMPANY’S NAME HERE Difference.
As the CEO/President of your company, do you know if your brand story being told consistently at all levels of the organization.
What we’ll do today is talk about brand and why it matters and how it has changed.
We’ll talk about how your brand is delivered and why perception of your brand is constantly changing.

Review Session: Why is a Brand Important?

Review: Why a Brand?
We understand your customers trust you. You have a personal relationship with them, but they also have a relationship with you as a brand .
We are here today to talk about your brand. If a company wants to grow, especially in a down economy, they must pay attention and manage their brand – and then they must give their consumers a say in the brand.
If you don’t articulate your brand, the competition will.

Review: What is a Brand?
It is not just the name, symbol, design or mark associated with a brand. It is the experience a consumer has with a brand that enhances the value of the product or service beyond its functional purpose.
It identifies a promise. A strong brand is a trustworthy, relevant, distinctive promise. It is more than a trade mark.
It is a trust mark of great value.

Review: Benefits of a Brand
Awareness - People need to be aware of it.
Benefit – It fills a customer’s ‘want’ or ‘need’.
Performance - The brand never lets you down. It will provide superior delivery of your wants and needs.
Emotional Linkage - A relationship between the brand and the customer that will make the customer feel the purchase has value.

Review -- Branding is the Key to Decision Making
Customers believe your product to be an important answer to their needs, and if it’s something the competition doesn’t have, customers will buy it - or at least consider it seriously.
Therefore, the job of branding and marketing the brand is to provide important, believable uniqueness and communicate it effectively.

Review: Branding is the Key to Decision Making
You choose ‘not to’ buy brands the same as you decide ‘to’ buy brands.
Therefore, all purchasing decisions are based on the brand.
Consider the decisions you make relative to athletic shoes, groceries, cars, electronics, wireless carriers, etc.
Brands are not just important in consumer goods, they are more important in the B2B.
People who buy custom manufactured products, electrical components or signage are also consumers – they think and react like consumers

Review: Branding is the Key to Decision Making
People buy brands, not products.
A product has specifications. A brand has personality .
A product is used. A brand is experienced .
A product says a lot about the manufacturer. A brand says a lot about the customer.
A product has a price to it. A brand has value .
The fact is that customers pay more for trusted brands.

What is Your Company’s Current Brand?

A company leader should be able to articulate their brand. Every team member should also be able to do this. Think about the words that describe your company’s difference. Then, go deeper describing what these words mean to YOUR company.
People
Service
Products
Flexible
Innovative
Easy to work with
Reliable
Trusted
Relationships
Your Differentiation

What Your Brand Means for You
Be aware of the promises your company is making to its customers and the community.
Take pride in the reputation and trust you have created with customers.
Believe that you are truly different from your competitors.
Live up to the promises you make to customers, vendors and competition.
Think differently!

How to Think Differently

Think about how your brand is delivered:
Most branding concepts are derived from advertising approaches. The problem is that most concepts of modern advertising were developed decades ago:
a stimulus (advertising)
leads to a response (consumer remembers the brand)
this evolves into brand equity (future purchase consideration)
And all of this is under the control of the brand owner. This makes all communication outbound, all messaging is linear, and we believe the results can be measured.
It’s the marketing Field of Dreams -- Send the message out and they will respond!
Linear vs. Network Thinking

Today, we realize that the world is not a linear system (one thing leads to another and is repeatable).
We know the world is a network – and you should think of your brand this way, too.
According to Martin Lindstrom author of Brand Sense , brand is a network of “sensory experiences” including visual, audio, touch and feel, smell – that combine to create a brand experience. This is true for B2C and well as B2B.
Brand today, is not a linear brand promise developed and delivered through impersonal, outbound mass media.
Brands must be thought of as a combination of the marketer and the consumer both adding something and both taking something away from the exchange.

So what does this mean for you?
You probably have said “we ran an ad and it didn’t work.”
Traditional advertising is not the answer anymore
Brands are dynamic – because they are networks they continually evolve and change and adapt.
Both the brand owner and the consumer are in play to define the brand

What do you do?
Understand that the consumer is in the power seat
Understand how value is created for, by and between you and your consumer
Ask your consumers – engage them at every turn and listen to what they say
Think of your customers as partners in your marketing efforts
Understand how each of you impact the brand and the buying decision
Think about how you control and change the “Brand Network”
Who in your organization is in charge of your Brand Network?
Use a marketing mix to optimize your Brand Network
Engage your consumer on the emotional level – the level of the senses and emotions

Creating an Emotional Connection

In today’s economy it is difficult to convince a consumer to buy. You need to get them on the emotional level – the level of the senses and emotions.
Corporations must build stronger connections and relationships which recognize the consumer as a partner.
An emotional connection will overcome a price objection
Emotional connections help consumers connect subliminally with companies and their products
Think about Axe – It is not positioned as a better body spray, it is positioned as the brand that helps young men get an edge on the dating game
Emotional Brand Connections

How do you do this?
Listen carefully to people in order connect with them
Get to really know a good customer – what is their spouse’s name? What are the children’s names? (CRM)
If your customer is a Baby Boomer, why do you have a GenXer in your marketing materials? Are you trying to be all things to all peopls?
Think about the sensory experience a customer has when the encounter you. Both B2B and B2C companies create a sensory experience. If you are B2B, utilize some of the conventions in retail companys.
What does your facility look like? What music is playing? What are the colors?
What are your employees wearing? What are they saying?
What does your facility smell like? Is it hot or cold?

How do you do this?
Think about creating a dialogue with your customers, not just communication
Exploit how your product or service can save your customers time
Time now has more perceived value than money.
Think about the nostalgic value of your product or service and exploit it – Retro is cool, history is comforting.
Cause Marketing – stand for something

What Should You Do?
Review how much consumer input is going into your product development, packaging, marketing messaging, pricing.
Think about your consumer experiences. Are they linear or do they have high involvement?
Are your messages outbound only, focused on what you want to say – not what the customer wants to hear?
Are you using user generated (community-based) marketing vehicles:
Linkedin
Facebook
Twitter
YouTube
Are you allowing customers to make pricing and content decisions? Think about eBay, Priceline and Wikipedia
The Beginning

What Should You Do?
Are you doing any market research – lots of inexpensive ways for small and midsized businesses to do research:
Survey Monkey
Webinars – be the thought leader
Build your database, gather intelligence, generate leads
Website email blasts
Blogs
Events
Update your website. Does your site come up in searches and does it offer:
Customer interaction/ Voice of the Customer
On-line community/on-line promotions
Customer survey
Third Party Endorsement/Testimonials
The Beginning

What Should You Do?
Determine your company “story” – our brains are hard-wired to respond to stories
Stories make good marketing tools because they create an emotional connection with an audience
Stories are memorable. Think about proverbs “He who laughs last, laughs best”
Statistics are hard to relate to, stories are not
Stories communicate emotions. Our so-called rational behaviors are strongly influenced by our emotions
Bike Helmets are not for safety – they are to protect mothers from their fear of their children getting hurt.
Concentrate on the users of your products, not the products you make and sell
The Beginning

What this does NOT mean:
According to J. Walker Smith, president of Yankeovich MONITOR, a marketing consultancy:
Companies should not let the consumer control their marketing, product development, pricing, etc.
Consumers want to participate – they don’t want to manufacture, distribute or sell our brands.
Consumers don’t want to control marketing, they want to control their experiences with brands.
Consumers want to manage their engagement, they don’t want us to create the rules of engagement.
(Scion, Mini Cooper, Build a Bear)
The Beginning

What Should You Do?
Use the uncertain economy to think differently and act differently about your brand
Opportunity cannot always be found through research and analysis. Instead use this economy to create opportunity for your products and services by making decisions in conjunction with your customers.
Don’t look to the typical top-down framework to make business decisions (not just marketing decisions)
Seek partnerships, leverage flexibility
Transform uncertain situations into new products and new markets
Forget the “spray and pray” approach – today’s climate calls for more targeted and more personal marketing
Don’t let the relationship with your customers be static—learn more about them
The Beginning

Adversity doesn’t build character, it reveals it. -- Anonymous

Insanity is doing the same things over and over and expecting different results. -- Albert Einstein

Marketing mix modeling is a really good metric in the short term. Brand equity is a good metric in the long term. Tony Palmer, CMO Kimberly-Clark

“ There are no great marketing ideas with out great customer insights that no one else has.” -- Sarah Puls VP of Brand Management, ITW Food Equipment Group

Branding In A New Economy

by karenholzer

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