Virtually Every Market Sector Bears Out The Power Of Branding

Yes, it takes a lot of work to rise above the competition, especially in well served markets with many competitors. Yet, in a world of disruptive technologies — especially from newer Internet based firms — branding is an essential process. Today you must ensure that your brand resonates with the audience you’re trying to reach. No one is immune to power of branding!

To do the job properly, you’ll need a great product and good instincts for how you want your customers to perceive your company. You’ll want them to enjoy a great experience while searching and learning about your product, and an even more pleasing reality when they actually purchase it.

Today’s customer enjoys unlimited access to information. Their choices easily and naturally expand as they search websites, blogs and microsites, or when they share information on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. Additionally, their instincts are calibrated to the unique brand propositions encountered online, which is another reason the Internet has become so disruptive to established brands.

Here’s a good way of thinking about branding: Your brand is a psychological concept held in the collective mind of your customers.

• It’s not in a permanent state of existence.
• You move your brand forward based on the collective opinion of your customers.
• Their trust is an important asset;

But you won’t fully manage your brand’s reputation until you realize the customer’s trust a also perishable.

• It can be lost by neglecting your core values;
• Dedication to maintaining your brand will help you thrive over time.
• The process is never finished.

Branding begins with the core values: honesty, integrity, excellent communication and a commitment to customer satisfaction delivered every day. Core values help you create quality products and establish your marketing message. They represent the credibility of your brand proposition and provide a foundation that helps your company advance. Core values are fundamental to your marketing appeal. Think of them as:

• The most important idea you want your customers to perceive;
• Including how they will benefit from your brand.

Writing The Brand Proposition

Your strategy and message should originate in your proposition along with the original insights you have for your product or service. It should be memorably conveyed in your campaigns to help you gain traction among customers and employees, while also creating a sense of loyalty. It should touch the customer in an emotional way by eliciting a deep passionate sense of attachment (think Apple).

The brand statement should be expressed as promise and refined through strategic planning and research. It says what your customer receives, i..e, the major value or benefit. Something unique and very positive should occur in how the customer, or buyer, responds to the product and the satisfaction they derive from using it:

• From knowing they chose the right vendor to supply close tolerance components for a critical space mission, etc.
• From wearing a very stylish blouse or pair of blue jeans.

A strong proposition statement should be clear, engaging, unique, relevant, consistent and demonstrate a commitment to outstanding quality and value. Your team needs to know it and live for it in how they approach their job.

If your products, services and customer support don’t deliver on the promise, you’ve got trouble. Eventually business slows down and your brand fades as customers lose trust in your brand. Your proposition statement reflects your core values and brand promise in unshakable terms. A firm promise that you’ll live up to it, no matter what, by offering emotionally positive solutions to the customer’s needs. After all, if you don’t live up to it, what’s the point of building a brand?

By bringing your promise into reality, you will enhance your brand, which in turn will attract more customers.

Establish A Strong Promise That Stands Out

If you provide something that’s just good enough, but nothing to write home about, you’ll never stand out. The customer already expects something “good.” Meeting a low expectation won’t captivate anyone, or lead to strong emotional relationships. Better to offer a unique, relevant and engaging promise that makes you live up to something you’ll strive for in order to succeed.

Most companies fail to stress what’s truly unique about their product and what makes it compelling. Think of it as your special niche. You should be looking for this as a natural opportunity for your product or service. Your brand should mean something special. It is the essence of successful branding.

Strategy

With your core values and a brand proposition statement, you’re ready to create a detailed marketing strategy. In most firms this requires a formal SWOT analysis of your: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Yet, it can and should do more than this. Your marketing strategy should grow from your branding proposition and statement. It should tie-in to current market realities and conditions. Essentially, you’ll want confirm target audience, competition — including history, current markets, overall industry structure — and the potential for future growth. You’ll want to cover these customer questions as thoroughly as possible:

• Who’s the target audience? What are their convictions and desires regarding your products?
• What do they need most?
• What do they desire the most?

Do some actual research. With so many online options — including Zoomerang.com and others — original research is a very good idea. Engage in a quest to dig out the most salient insights including in-depth reports on your industry sector. Don’t stop until you have the information you need.

Be realistic in what your product offers, especially when compared to your competitors. Find out what they’re offering; how they became successful.

• Know who they are, what they make and how their particular brand strategies are working.
• Think creatively about new innovations that might better fulfill customer expectations.
• Find new insights to convey your message (or create a distinctly different message or voice) in an engaging manner.

Develop your campaigns based on your best point of positioning. Build up and maintain a well written summary to remind you and your staff of the fundamentals. As a rule of thumb: your proposition won’t change unless something very fundamental happens to change your point of view. But your marketing strategy may evolve over time.

Creating Emotional Attachment

If you think about the brands that create emotional attachment, you’ll set yourself to a higher standard. Think about your own perceptions of products and services you have dearly loved over time. Or couldn’t live without. From great sports cars, to fine retailers, to suppliers of industrial goods in a business-to-business (B2B) sector… all of whom have earned:

• Substantial recognition.
• Higher margins, profits and price per earnings, or price per share.
• A much more highly differentiated position in the mind of their customers.

Making The Final Connection

Build your brand promise on positive, relevant and unique qualities inherent to your customer’s needs, desires and satisfaction. Excel in delivering these qualities!

Though it may sound obvious, delivery is a challenging arena: the very place where the customer’s response means everything. It can either make or break the positive emotional attachment you have been attempting to build. Think delivery everyday. Train your people accordingly. If you perform effectively, and if all goes well, you’ll do fine. If not, a disconnect may take place between the your perception you’re trying to create and your customer’s response to the product. The moment of truth takes place at this critical point in time for your brand. You should be looking for it and responding with keen attention for excellence and customer satisfaction.

In summary, your brand proposition should convey an essential truth that aligns well with your core values in a clear and uniquely relevant manner. It should also

• Be emotionally engaging;
• Resonate powerfully with targeted groups;
• Say something special which you’ll strive to deliver;
• Perform well in all media;
• Encourage your team;
• Adapt to changing conditions and markets